Friday, June 10, 2005

a bite of the Big Apple


Finally got the internet connection up and running… It’s the sixth day in the Big Apple and New York is hot! Met a native today that recognized me as a tourist from the Lonely Planet bible in my hands (which P borrowed for me from the local library as I forgotten mine in the half an hour mess of packing I did right before my flight after rushing out the 5 day translation course outline), and he actually apologized for the weather, it’s August-summer- sweltering and seriously seems worse that Singapore! Thank goodness the nights are still relatively cool in our Brooklyn apartment…

But sauna weather aside, it still didn’t deter me from my determination to shop, I must have gotten bitten by the retail bug… went to Soho, East Village, and the Lower East Side and had quite a good haul. I do enjoy the different form of shopping from the malls, popping into individual boutiques, each unique and personal in design and browsing through their collections… stopping to rest with a glass of iced tea in quaint cafes. Esp love East Village with its good collection of vintage stores and cafes. The abundance of sushi restaurant helped as well :p Also went to the Garment District which seemed pretty much catered to wholesalers but I was sidetracked by the Asian stores of Little Korea on the 32nd anyway. However, I did manage to find the tote bag I was looking for, so am very happy :)

Other activities include walking around Brooklyn Heights. Went to Brooklyn Promenade for the incredible view of the Manhattan skyline and harbor with the islands as well as the harbor front park for a marvelous view of the two bridges. Strolled across Brooklyn Bridge, the weather was pretty good that day, sunny but windy so you don’t feel so sticky, and the close up look at the Gothic architecture of the bridge as well as the view you get hiked up above the traffic was worth the trek.

Also went to Chelsea for gallery-hopping today and saw a couple of collections that I liked (minus the whole lot of abstract paint-flinged-onto-canvas and stuffing a mixture of stuff into stockings and piling them up). Esp. liked the one by a French photographer detailing her 92-day trip to Tokyo, counting down to the day she got her heart broke on the very last day. Another gallery had a video clip comprising of a collection of photographs of daily New York scenes superimposed with garish cartoon like splashes of color depicting war scenes of destruction set to the soundtrack of lullabies and a radio report with helicopter noises in the back. It really strikes the heart, esp the familiar scenes of knee deep snow piled in parks and people walking their dogs….there’s a chant inserted somewhere in the soundtrack...”Its never going to end” which seems so true.. as long as there are human beings, there’ll always be war…

Broadway show count is at 4 currently, with Naked Boys Singing on the top of my list. Perhaps I’m just not a big production kind of girl, always do like the smaller budget shows that seem to be more personal somehow and speaks to me in a way…

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