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!

Mid trip report..

Ok, it's almost half way into the trip and it's a good time to have a mid-trip report.
Money:
A lot poorer.
Luggage:
Flew in with 1 hand carry, 1 check in. Flying back with 2 check in, 2 hand carry and 1 laptop bag. (oh dear..)
Shoes:
Came with 3, flying home with 8. (another headache...)
Clothes (tops):
Came with 12, currently have 17.
Clothes (bottoms):
In with 3, going home with 5.
Weight:
Was 64kg, am still 64kg. Phew... Gym-ing every other day paid off. Yippee!


Just celebrated another birthday of a course member. Went for a $9.99 buffet! Really good to gorge on Chinese food. And it was rather delicious too!

I'll be going to Niagara Falls this weekend and probably Toronto coz it's another 1 hour drive. So look out for new photos!

Roomie!

The weather is getting worse! Today the weather channel forecasted that temperatures will drop to minus 12 degrees and we'll get 4 inches of snow! Brrr!!!!

Anyways, this blog will be about my roomie:

Yap! (That's his surname) He's a funny chap. He believes that microwaving food will add vitamins to it, runs for 10 mins on the treadmill and then uses it to justify eating half a tub of Haagen Dazs. Haha...

Sometimes he keeps me awake at night....


But on the whole, he's been fun to stay with. Fantastic cook! Oh... this meal caused the fire alarm in the building to go off! HAHA! He even took precautionary measures like opening all doors and windows before he started frying the chicken. But the smoke generated triggered the fire alarm! We had to apologise to the hotel guests that came out of their room coz of the alarm... "Sorry sorry, false alarm, no fire, go back to your rooms." haha...

The Finger Lakes

The finger lakes are a series of lakes in NY state that are shaped like fingers! It's also the premium wine growing region in NY and boasts beautiful scenery. So today, we drove down to the finger lakes to check it out.


Nice scenery from the restaurant and winery that we went to.


Ms Aw is a bit drink after tasting the wine....


But in ther winter, what's left of the vineyards are just wooden stems.


My delicious lunch!


The colourful wine in the winery.


Then in the middle of the tour, we got distracted and took a small detour...


Cornell University is located at the tip of one of the finger lakes. And within its campus is a suspension bridge over a gorge!


It's a beautiful scene, with the frozen waterfalls and banks of the gorge!


So that's all folks!

Albany - Capital of New York State

Did you know that the capital of New York State is not New York City, but actually Albany. It's a small city, 2 hours drive from Syracuse where I live. Perhaps everything evolves around the few stately buildings where the Senate and Assembly meets. Long time ago, the capital was in NYC but coz of the high crime rate, they moved it to Albany.

We parked at the visitor center and made our way to the State Capitol. On the way, we saw a cute little theater showing an Elmo show!

Then the city is on a small, gently sloping hill and it makes a nice picture when taken from downhill...


Then there's The Egg, something like The Esplanade (Durian) of Albany where musicals and recitals are held.


Then we went into the Capitol Building. Here's the grand staircase in the Capitol Building. Frankly, I'm not a big fan of the colour of the stone used. It's an ugly light brick red colour.


Then we toured the chambers where their Senate and Assembly sat to pass bills. Something like the Parliament in Singapore - but I wonder if the Singapore Parliment offers free guided tours of their chambers....


Then we took an elevator to the 42nd floor of the attached building to take in Albany from above.


When we were driving around Albany before we went home, we rounded a corner and found ourselves in a charming little neighbourhood, so we hopped out of our rented Hyundai Sonata and took a few photos!


Altogether, Albany seems like a pretty and quiet little town to love in.


A few meters from the neighbourhood was a park! Too bad its winter, this park would look so much more different in the summer!