That concrete jungle where dreams are maaaaaade of!

So, I'm back in the US for a bit. With my new gig starting in June, I had some time off. So what better way to spend it then go to one of the most expensive cities in the world? Apparently Singapore has that title, but I found it much easier to live cheaply in Singapore. Lodging and food were like half the price. Ah well, here I am. It was a family vacation, so it was heavily subsidized regardless.

To try something new and to shift gears a little bit, I'm going to talk less about individual sites, and more about general thoughts overall. Maybe it will be more interesting?

Anyway off we went to NYC, arriving in New Jersey. Which, I know New Jersey is the butt of a lot of jokes. It's not that Newark is bad, but it just looks bad next to Manhattan. We looked around Grand Central for a bit... nice place. After sorting out some logistics we got some amaaaazing pizza, the first of many. I finally get what people say about New York pizza, it can be pretty great. It can also be mediocre. I'm skeptical of the claim that the taste comes from the water, because I've had better pizza (in Myanmar) and worse pizza. Then it was off to the hotel to drop off luggage, and back downtown to Chinatown, oddly enough. But I was disappointed with NYC's Chinatown. It's not really any Chinatown I know. It looks pretty much exactly like everywhere else in New York, just with some Chinese writing. But everyone spoke English, the streets weren't crowded with people and cheap goods, it was just... dull. The Szechuan restaurant we ate at also had some pretty Americanized selections. Ah well.

There were some other things in there, like the top of the Empire State Building (tallish, the Taipei 101 was better), the Statue of Liberty (you can't go inside, so pretty lame), Ellis Island (not bad), and the Circle Line, a boat tour around the city. But the next thing I really have anything to say is the brand new 9/11 Memorial.

For starters, it's really well done. The twin reflecting pools look great, and the museum is very tasteful and a bit intense. But, much less intense than the Nanjing Massacre in Nanjing. Whereas that was more macabre, this one is more showcasey. "Here is the final pillar, here is a flag recovered, here is a time line and news reports." By contrast, the one in Nanjing was "Here are bodies, pictures of people being bayonetted, and people telling how their mother was shot." The closest this museum came to were voicemails from victims. Which were also on the tamer side, as there are more stirring ones available online. I'm not exactly saying this to complain, (I sort of am), but I think they were withholding the full extent of what happened to make it more family friendly or PC. Which, I think is kind of a shame. If you want to bring your 7 year old to a place like this, well... don't. It should be rated R, cause that's what happened.

Regardless, it was an impressive display, extending far underground and a giant records room showing 1 paragraph biographies of everyone who died that day - all 3000 or so.

At one point the parents left, and I was left to my own devices. I wandered around Brooklyn for a bit to find a hostel, pretty much this guy's house with bunk beds. Hey, cheap though. One night he bought everyone beer, so we went on the roof and chilled.

I had wanted to visit the UN, which is actually easy, but to actually get a tour and go around the facility is pretty limited to a small number per weekday. I had checked weeks earlier and they were all sold out. But on a whim I checked again, and they surprisingly had 1 spot left on an afternoon tour. Yazoink. I was the only American in our group, and as expected I got some great photos. I also really liked the art installations, and learned that Nordic countries pretty much donated everything in that building. So, rock on guys. Getting my passport stamped for "leaving" the US was also kind of neat. I'll bet that visa isn't too common (but probably more common than Myanmar's to be honest).

At one point I met up with Chris at his local bar, who regaled me of tales of New York living. Specifically how it can be a lonely city. We started talking to the girl sitting next to us, and turns out she is from Columbus. The bartender said, "Oh, you guys are from Cincinnati? I'm from across the river in NKY." I clarified that so am I, actually, and he's from Latonia. Crazy small world sometimes. Anyway we all had a free shot, and I'm pretty sure he didn't charge me for the second Gin and Tonic. So, right on.

But all in all, New York doesn't really feel like the rest of America, and it's one of the few places in the US I could actually see myself living. The subways great, the people are direct, and they do this cool thing where pennies don't really exist. The prices will be like, $8.47 which comes out to an even 9 after tax. Apparently that and mass transportation are all I need to be happy.

And $1 slices of pizza, that helps too.