Land of consumerism

We arrived in New York City 2 days ago on a foggy morning after a 10 hour bus ride through Syracuse and Buffalo. My first glimpse of NYC was through bleary eyes - I saw skyscrapers, sandstone buildings and narrow streets. Like Toronto, NYC is an old city consisting of many beautiful old, historical buildings. But unlike Toronto, the buildings and streets are poorly maintained. Everything looks old - not the nicely restored old but the grimy, broken down old. The Port Authority Bus Terminal where we arrived at looks like an underground dungeon. I wonder why since taxes here are relatively high and NYC is suppose to be a developed Western city.

Cui's bro has an expensive little flat by the Hudson River and a 10 mins walk from Times Square. Very convenient and accessible. We bought the 1 week subway pass for $24. Cui is our subway guide cos she reads the incomprehensible subways maps really well. The subway routes form an underground labyrinth and according to the stories I read, there are secret passages everywhere. The subway stations are all dang, dark places reeking of urine. The carriages are none the better.

view from the apartment

New Yorkers are generally unfriendly people especially certain racial groups. Being Asians in a predominantly White and Black city is a disadvantage cos we stand out to much. The service here is shabby; shop assistants answer us curtly or condescendingly. Damn annoying but I guess you'll get used to it. Yesterday we went to the Guess store in Soho to buy a dress for Cui. There was a hole in the chiffon dress she wanted and we asked the sales girls what we could do about it. Ironically, the Chinese sales girl was utterly dismissive while the other sales girl was slightly more helpful. Andy refunded the dress 5 mins after he bought it. Cui and I talked about how the standard of living here can't be very high. The air is really bad, everywhere is old and crumbly and the poor are really poor. We met a few weird beggars and ever weirder people. And people walk around with a pissed off look which you have to adopt to not look like a tourist (after a long day of walking, I mustered that look quite well). Cui was telling me that Toronto's attitude towards foreigners are different. They accept people there while in NYC you have to assimilate (and speaking with a slang helps). I don't feel as safe and comfortable here.

Bad things aside, NYC is indeed the epitome of cool. Cool is probably an uncool word to use here, says Cui, but you get what I mean. People, from preggie mothers to school kids, dress fashionably, use makeup and thing is they seem to achieve all these without trying too hard. Shopping is pure joy cos clothes and shoes below $110 are tax free. There's a humongous range of brands (all those that I see and crave in my mags) and they are all packed around Soho, Upper East Side and Greenwich Village. Chinatown and Little Italy are charming pockets of neighbourhood with a more laid back atmosphere and people seem friendlier. We went to Andy's fav Chinese restaurant - Nonya (exorbitant hawker food. Popiah for $5! But it's quite authentic.) - and got scolded for not tipping enough.

I'm fascinated with the lights in Time Square where all the Broadway musicals (we couldn't get tickets for Beauty and the Beast) have gigantic posters and theatres of their own. Even McDonald's is brilliantly lit up. I'm trying not to think of the amount of CO2 generated. People say that Times Square is over hyped but I don't feel so. Maybe I'm dazzled by the bright lights on Broadway.

Wall St, Rockefeller, Tim es Square, Broadway, Puerto Rico Day

It has been an exhausting 2 days. Cui has just whipped up a breakfast of bagel, cream cheese and boiled egg. We're too lazy to leave the house.