New York City

Prior to this month long trip, I went to New York City twice; first time was my first night in the United States where I touched down at JFK International Airport. My objective then was to meet two of my friends who were there earlier, so we would take a train down to North Carolina together. My second time in NYC was to attend Singapore Day 2012 at Prospect Park. Both times I didn't manage to have a good look and feel of NYC.

NYC is easy to navigate like Philadelphia, because streets and avenues are numbered appropriately. The difference is that NYC is way bigger than Philadelphia, so we couldn't simply walk from one place to another. The good thing is that NYC has a very comprehensive subway system, so with a map and a 7 day unlimited pass, we were able to go anywhere we wanted.

NYC is exactly what people say it is: the city that never sleeps. Even when it was late at night, the city was still almost as crowded as it was in the day, and the area around Times Square was overwhelmingly bright.

World's best burgers. I think its true.

Ripley's Believe It or Not museum. Not too bad. A little pricey, but I came to realise later that everything in NYC is expensive.

It was like all the movie scenes that I watched displayed right before my eyes.

越夜越美丽。

Central Park. A huge park right smack in the middle of the city.

To get the cheapest tickets to watch Wicked we had to enter a lottery on the day of the show. And very amazingly, we got the tickets on our first entry in the lottery.

When a roadside stall is so successful that there are queues, you know the food must be good. And in this case, cheap too.

We took the Staten Island ferry which was a free ferry that ferries people between  Manhattan and  Staten Island, passing by the Statue of Liberty along the way.

We went to Woodbury Common Premium Outlets on one of the days, but the only shop that really caught my eye was Sony's. I think the electronics there were really cheaper than outside.

We went down to Wall Street! Pictured here is the New York Stock Exchange.

the 9/11 Memorial. It was a pity the museum was not ready when we were there. Till today I still feel sad whenever I get reminded of the attacks.

At the United Nations Headquarters. Didn't stay long there as we decided not to go for the guided tour.

Watched the Mamma Mia...

...and the Jersey Boys, which was highly recommended. Personally liked Jersey Boys more than Mamma Mia.

Watched the Phantom of the Opera too, but was too abstract for me to understand haha.

Brooklyn Bridge. Very impressive architecture.

Panoramic shot of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Nintendo Store! Too bad it was closed by the time I got there.

On board the ferry that brought us to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island!

Statue of Liberty. It was closed for renovations, so we could only take photos from outside.

Ellis Island Immigration Museum. Ellis Island was like Singapore's St John's Island in the early days, where all immigrants into the US had to go to first to get through immigration and get checked for diseases.

The Manhattan skyline.

I don't really have comments for New York. Its a nice place I guess, but maybe not exactly a place where I will want to stay in. The highlight of my New York City tour was probably watching all the Broadway shows, which weren't too bad.

New York City