more of NYC!

the day began with a subway ride downtown. See how Yap blends in well with the locals!

The financial district of NYC!

And at Wall St, the NY Stock Exchange where billions of shares are traded daily...

A few streets away is the WTC site. Visited a small memorial center for the site and I was struck by the tragedy of the 3000 over lives lost that day.

Also, I took the Staten Island Ferry (free!) to Staten Island. Well, not that there's anything to see on the island, but the views of Manhattan was fantastic!

Also got to see the Statue of Liberty along the way...

Then, I walked on the Brooklyn bridge and took in the beautiful sights of the city.

I'm telling everyone that walking the Brooklyn bridge is one of the must dos of NYC.

See ya NYC! You can bet I'll be back there again!

NYC's architecture & a Broadway musical

The walking tour of NYC continues with stops at the Empire State Building,

Rockefeller Center (whic has a beautiful ice skating rink at the foot of the building)

and St Patrick's Cathedral. The thing about NYC is that it has LOTS of beatuiful buildings and architecture but the entire city is so built up that one can't appreciate the buildings from afar.

And then that night I caught Hairspray the musical! WOO HOO!

And surprise! The secretary from Ugly Betty was performing in the musical too!

The NYC whirlwind tour continues at Central Park!

Lunch was at Chinatown. The weather was TERRIBLE!! Big winds blowing all around...

Then, we split up and I went to visit Central Park. The prettiest buildings are those that surround central park offering park views.

Even passed a few museums...

Central Park is this HUGE park in the middle of a concrete jungle. Even in winter, the beauty of the park, and the respite from the bustle of city noise is welcoming even to a visitor like me!

The park has lots of winding paths and I explored only a tiny portion of it. Lots of things can be found there...

Like bridges...

statues...

playgrounds...

even a castle!

New York City

My trip to New York was unforgettable. We really had limited time there and I didn't do all that I wanted to do but nonetheless, it was a good trip. Would have been better if the weather wasn't so harsh on us!

It was a walking tour of NYC, walk to the attraction, take pictures, then walk to another attraction!

NYC has beautiful buildings. The Grand Central Terminal was huge and magnificent!

It's kind of a strange feeling to see all the places I've seen in TV shows and movies come to life!

Then we walked something like 5 blocks to the United Nations. Unfortunately, tours were only conducted on weekdays so we couldn't really see the interior of the UN.

And while we were inside, it poured heavily outside, so we ended up sitting at the lobby, taking all sorts of pictures...

HELLO NEW YORK!

Oh what a trip! Super exhausted after my trip to the Big Apple. New York is truly a city like no other. But since it's almost 1am now, I'll share my experiences in another post. Watch out for it!

It's not all fun and no work.

It's a misconception that I go to the USA to play and shop and play and shop. This entry is to clear the air:

I CAME HERE TO WORK!!!

As evident in the following photos:

Exhibit A: Joshua hard at work while Ms Aw fools around.

Exhibit B: We study late into the night. Sometimes we are so tired that we don't even have the energy to drag ourselves to bed.

K! Happy weekend everyone! I'm off to NYC this weekend!

Commercialisation of the Falls

It's typical of America to Americalise everything under the sun. Food (MacDonalds), drink (Starbucks), shopping (Walmart) and the list goes on... So it comes as no surprise that America influenced its Canadian neighbour, causing the Niagara Falls to be also commercialised!


The area around the Falls are filled with Las Vegas like action. Casinos, fast food chains, souvenir shops, tacky museums and attractions. I think I walked past more than 5 wax museums! Wax museums for famous people, famous criminals, horror wax museums, Imax theaters, Ripley's Believe it or not museum, Guinness book of records museum...


We had dinner at Boston Pizza. Some restaurant chain that opened a branch here.

The restaurant was interlinked to an arcade and pool outlet. (which self respecting restaurant will do that?) But the food was filling and rather satisfying and we were so tried from walking so no complains!


I was in Canada, so must take picture as evidence... haha


And I made a little friend along the way...


But one thing about America I have no problems with is its FACTORY OUTLET SHOPPING! Done on the afternoon we left Niagara Falls.


And we rounded up the trip with dinner at a Chinese restaurant called Ming's near our place.

Coming up this weekend is NYC!!!

The Niagara Falls

The beauty of the Niagara Falls was kinda lost on me because of the cold cold weather. It wasn't snowing (thank God) but still walking along the banks of the Niagara river while trying to take pictures in freezing temperatures will surely cause your fingers to become numb from the cold. It was so cold that the skin around my knuckles cracked and started bleeding.

This picture is kinda blur... but on my right and left are the Niagara Falls. The one on my left is known as the horseshoe falls coz of its shape.

Made 2 trips down to the falls, once at night and another the next morning. At night, the falls are lit up. White is fine...

But the rainbow colours are just plain tacky.

The day time view is much better...

Although the Falls are best viewed in the summer, when the weather is warmer, winter viewing provided the opportunity to see interesting ice formations on the falls!

The horseshoe falls.. See the great column of mist generated by the falls! Imagine walking in sub-zero temperatures while being sprayed by a mist and coupled with icy winds. Woa...

Then before we left Niagara, we drove 3 minutes down River Niagara to see the whirlpool. Too bad most of the river is frozen upstream or the whirlpool would have been more obvious...

This is the first time all of us went on a weekend holiday together! Ok, 14 out of 15. Spot the missing course member!

Toronto - touch and go!

It is a 4.5 hour drive to Toronto from Syracuse. We woke up at 5am on Saturday morning to make that drive down to Toronto. Reached there at about 11am, toured the city, ate lunch and left Toronto at 3:30pm.


The city of Toronto is built at the banks of Lake Ontario. A HUGE lake - I think bigger than Singapore.

Well, to be frank, Toronto is kinda forgettable. It's got tall skyscrapers, pretty architecture, luxurious waterfront living but still, it's kind of a forgettable city.

Toronto's skyscrapers and waterfront living...

Nothing there is particularly exciting to me. Other than the good Chinese food at Chinatown and the CN tower (which seems to be visible from any point in the city), Toronto is another advanced, built-up, prosperous North American city...


We went to Chinatown to eat at this highly recommended Chinese restaurant.


Outside the Chinese restaurant we ate at. 2 guys and 3 girls from the Air Force ate more food than the 5 boys from DSTA... haha...


Also, the CN tower, which I think can be seen from any point in Toronto...


Toronto's got quite a cool waterfront life. Too bad I can't get to experience it at night. It should be more happening. It's an ice-skating rink behind me.. right beside the lake!


It's also the first time, after 3 weeks, Ms Claudia can join us! She's a real joy to travel with, bringing a jolt of life to the trip!

Next posting... Niagara Falls!