Final days in New York

The trip back to New York was bittersweet because on one hand, I was glad I could be in New York City again but on the other hand, I also knew that we will be going home the next day and it was just really sad.


We rode the Amtrak back and upon leaving the train, I was immediately greeted by the stench of the subway, and I knew for sure I was in New York.

My Sister decided that since it was our last night in New York, she wanted our stay to be a little better, so she booked a slightly more expensive hotel that was in a prime location, literally across NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Road.

View from the hotel room, the white building is the NBC Studio, which was the Studio where we had a tour of during our 2 day.



Unfortunately, the only thing that was better about this Hotel was the location because it was really really small.  The   lobby of the hotel was super small, the hotel room itself was also really tight and narrow, it only had one bed so I had to sleep on a sofa bed, the walkways are really tight, the bathroom is really small and the whole hotel just felt really squished up.

That being said, I did really like the Interior of the room, even if I don't get to sleep on the bed, it looks more much modern than the other 2 hotels and the colour scheme is probably something I will want to have for my own home in the future.



So the point of this trip back to New York, aside from it being easier to get to JFK Airport the next day, was mainly to get all souvenirs, we didn't buy much during our first trip because packing our bag full of souvenirs then would mean having to travel to Washington and back to New York again with all those souvenirs in the luggage and that wasn't really ideal.



Of course aside from Souvenirs, I also had wanted to make sure to visit Magnolia Bakery one last time, so after our dinner at a Japanese Steak House, which was something like Pepper Lunch, which was pretty good, we made our way to the bakery and unfortunately, because it was really packed, with a queue that was lining outside the shop itself, I decided to drop by again much later at night since the bakery would be open till midnight.



We headed to the nearby Duane Reade and got a bunch of candies and snacks to bring home and I took a long time contemplating whether I wanted to buy a bag of candy for my office colleagues or not because I am not very close to all of them and even though I definitely wanted to get some stuff for the ones I am close to, I just didn't feel like the ones that I weren't were obligated to getting any sort of souvenirs from me.



The last time someone went overseas in my company, he actually brought back a few bags of chocolate, hardly anyone ate them and looking at the bags in the fridge,barely untouched for the first few weeks just made me feel really bad for that colleague. It's underappreciated and no one thanks you for it, so why even bother, I would rather get individual gifts for people I know will appreciate them and also just people I actually want to get gifts for, no point wasting money on everyone.


Anyways, after purchasing quite a few bags of candy and loading them into my luggage back at the hotel, I headed out when the sky got dark and went back to Magnolia Bakery, this time the line all contained in the shop itself. There were like a bunch of people standing outside the bakery initially that I thought were queuing up, but then they just turn out to be just standing around, thankfully I didn't join that cluster fuck thinking it was a line because that would have been a huge waste of time and also extremely embarrassing when they suddenly just left together and I am just left standing there like a stupid tourist.



Since I had cupcakes the first time I visited the place, this time I decided I wanted to try their famous Banana Pudding and also just get a piece of their Cheesecake, which is served in a small round.

Medium Serving of Banana Pudding and a Red Velvet Cheesecake.

The cheesecake is actually really nice, but I couldn't finish it because it was too much. I did attempt to make their cheesecake before following their recipe and I can say they taste pretty similar.

What I like about their cheesecake is that the cheese taste isn't super strong, so it was like eating a very thick and dense mousse, plus the color looks pretty.

I wasn't a huge fan of the banana pudding though, and googling the recipe has made me realize that nothing in the banana pudding is made from scratch, which is just disappointing. The recipe is shared on the Magnolia Bakery's Website and it is essentially instant pudding mix folded with some whipped cream, Nilla wafers and fresh bananas. I could have made this myself, and this medium size cup of banana pudding was about $7 USD, which is crazy expensive for something that was made using mainly instant pudding mix and boxed biscuits.


I got the medium because they were out of small and the large one is just not a good idea, I only had 1 night and the next day to finish everything, if I had a few more days, which I honestly wish I did, I would gotten more cheesecakes and have them throughout the remaining days. Oh, and the reason why I couldn't get a cheesecake during my first New York visit was because the Ameritania Hotel locked the fridge for some reason, so my Sister and I couldn't get any perishables,, which was such a waste because it was our longest hotel stay and I could have used some dairy based drinks in the fridge, like those bottle of coffees from Dunkin Donuts, which I did not manage to try even though I told myself I had to, another regret to add to the list.


So the night essentially ended with me stuffing myself with the Banana Pudding and then falling asleep, feeling sad knowing that this will be my last night in New York.



I woke up pretty early the next day, at about 5.30 am, for some reason I kept waking up early in America, only once did I sleep till 8am, the other times I always got up at 6.00 am, not that I was complaining, I would rather spend more time awake than asleep on my last day in New York.


Started the day with Cheesecake.

And I did my best, tried really really hard, I would have liked to pair it with a hot cup of tea or coffee, but there wasn't any available so settled for the final can of La Croix I got from Washington.


My sister got up about 2 hours later, we washed up, skipped breakfast and headed straight to the nearest Milkbar at Chelsea to get our cookies.

A dozen cookies, strictly for friends who deserve them because its of limited quantity.

I ordered a Birthday Cake Shake on my first day in New York, and on my last day, I ordered a Birthday Cake Latte, it feels like such a full circle experience for me, starting and ending the trip with a Birthday Cake flavored drink from milkbar.


I was drinking it in Starbucks though, my Sister had to use the bathroom, so I had to be really conspicuous about it and  I hid it behind my bag of cookies, was really tempted to replace the pink straw to a Starbucks green straw, just to really sell it, but the bag felt like a good enough cover.


After this, we took our final Metro ride back  and went to the MoMA Store to get some last minute gifts for my family members.

It was really difficult to shop there because even though everything made for a great gift, 90% of the items there were way too expensive for me to get, so most of the gifts I could get for my friends were strictly MoMA branded gifts that were more affordable but definitely still a little too expensive in my eyes.




We were at the MoMA for a while, then headed back to the the Hotel after, packed everything up, checked out of the hotel, left our luggage with the hotel and headed out for our final lunch.

It was a hot day and I kept thinking this must be New York physically preparing me for my trip back to Singapore, except I completely forgot about the crazy humidity in Singapore. I wasn't sweating in New York on the last day despite the higher temperature, but the moment I landed in Singapore and was walking into the airport via the jetbridge, I just started feeling sticky.

Our final meal of the trip. After the steak I had the previous day in the Japanese restaurant, I was just craving for more steak, so I ordered it and it wasn't as good, it did satisfy my cravings for steak though, so it did it's job, although my one complaint was that the stick was not done to my request, I asked for medium rare and they just gave me well done. It was a very thin piece of steak.



After lunch, we still had a few hours to kill, so my Sister and I decided to split up once again, she do her own thing and I will do my own, then we will meet back at the Hotel Lobby to prepare to leave for the airport.



I had clearly overestimated the things I wanted to do, we had about 2 hours of time to do our own stuff, I was done in about 45 minutes. If I had more time, say if I had till night, I would have maybe visited SOHO and gotten cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcakes, or even took a train to the Upper West Side, just to take a final stroll through the neighborhood, but I didn't want to risk it, so I just settled for the hotel lobby, probably the worst Hotel Lobby out of the 3 Hotels we stayed in because of how small it was and how limited the number of seating was, one arm chair and a bench that could sit just 3 people, and it was the most expensive hotel we stayed in, such a waste.



My sister comes back about half an hour before we leave and then the van that was set to pick us up and head for the airport arrives about 15 minute late.



It was not a good ride to the Airport because traffic was abd, the driver kept honking at cars while we were still in the Manhanttan area, calling out pedestrians for crossing when the light isn't red, because that is one thing that New Yorkers do, just cross the road whenever they felt like it, no one there gives a shit about the traffic lights, it's crazy.


The ride took about an hour and it was quite agonizing because of how bad the traffic was, thankfully my motion sickness was still manageable by the time we actually reached the airport, and as we were coming up into the different terminals, the driver ask everyone which terminal they were headed to, almost everyone in the bus was confused by the question.



My sister and I knew our Terminal, so we shared the info with the driver, then another couple shared theirs, then there were this bunch of French Tourist who were just confused and kept giving the driver the wrong terminal, one of them eventually figured the correct terminal after checking their flight online so their shit got resolved, but then there was this one particular guy who just completely did not give a single fuck...

Driver : Which terminal?

Guy : I don't know, I am taking Delta Airlines.

Driver : Which terminal is that?

Guy : I don't know.

... and the way he was saying "I don't know" was so nonchalant, like it was not his problem to deal with, that it was something the driver will eventually figure out for him, he doesn't even bother checking his flight details online to confirm the terminal and I was just completely blown away at his attitude.



Luckily for him, a few of the other passenger in the van happened to also be dropping off at the Terminal where Delta Airlines was located, so he did get to the right terminal, but my gawd, looking at how unbothered he was when the driver was desperately asking him for the terminal just makes him so punchable. 



My Sister and I were the last to be dropped off because our Terminal was the furthest away. The driver was nice enough to lend us a hand with our luggage, so my Sister tipped him and we made our way into the Airport, did our check-in, went through TSA and the airport was kinda boring, it was definitely no where near as mall like as the one in Changi Airport, there were a few shops here and there, but we spend most of our time in the food court waiting, I got myself a Pretzel from Aunty Anne's and then got myself a Pink Drink again from Starbucks.



After a few hours of waiting and doing nothing, we were finally able to board the plane, I went to a nearby gift shop and got myself a last minute gift, a nice little soywax candle and that was it, the trip was officially over, we were in the plane and that was the start of a fucking nightmare of a ride. Now when I think back to that flight experience, I actually feel so upset that my amazing trip was had to end on such a horrible note because the airline allowed one fucking druggie on the plane and did nothing about it when he became a disturbance to everyone who was seated around him.



I had to deal with the druggie's antics for 3 fucking hours before I got moved, and even then, the new seat was also not great, so many shit happened on the flight back to Doha, my Sister actually helped me write in a complaint letter but the response to the complaint was just a generic...

"Sorry for the bad experience, unfortunately it was beyond our control...." 

.... no, it was not beyond your control, you could have trained your attendants to deal with the druggie by confining him somewhere else where he wouldn't be a nuisance, but they did nothing, they left him where he was for the entire duration of the flight. I was lucky because I voiced out and requested to be moved, there were others who weren't so lucky and had to sit through his shit for 12 hours.




Now I am actually scared of taking such a long flight back because of the off chance I might get seated next to such an inconsiderate asshole. I was lucky because there were spare seats, but what if there weren't, am I suppose to just deal with it for 12 hours? Seriously, get your shit together Qatar Airways, this is the kind of experience that would scare anyone from taking long flights with your arline.

3 Days in Washington

Right after New York, the next destination was Washington and honestly speaking, I wasn't really sure what to expect from Washington.



We took an Amtrak from Penn Station and prior to the train ride, which I knew was going to be about 3 hours long, I decided to give Dunkin Donuts another chance and got a cup of coffee and a box of Donut Holes.

This time, the coffee wasn't a latte like my last 2 orders, instead it was a brewed coffee with creamer and sugar and it wasn't good at all. It was even more bitter than my last cup, the after taste was just not great and I drank only about 50% of it on the train, donuts were just donuts, 5 of it were regular glazed donuts holes while another 5 was the chocolate variant. I really do not like Chocolate Donuts, I just don't like the consistency, so I didn't actually finish the donut holes.

Shout out to the counter guys at Dunkin Donuts also, I accidentally gave him 3 twenty dollar bill instead of 3 dollar bills and he was very honest about it, another customer who was making his order beside me also said I was lucky that the cashier was so honest about it.  American notes are just confusing because they are all in the same colour, and I really wouldn't have know if I overpaid for my donuts because I was not keeping track of my spending, which was horrible, for all I know, I might have given out wrong bills multiple times, but only the Dunkin Donuts cashier was honest enough to return the excess to me.

Anyways, my Sister and I got lunch from Pret-A-Manger, or more specifically, I made sure to buy enough to feed myself a light lunch and all my sister got was a small grain bowl.

The ride was pretty pleasant, the seats were of a comfortable size and the journey was smooth. Another reason why I didn't finish the coffee was also because I tend to get the runs after drinking coffee and I didn't want to risk having to visit the toilet on the train, read online that it's pretty nasty.

Reach Union Station about 3 hours later and it doesn't smell like piss, the architecture was pretty impressive.

I mean the ceiling of the station looks like this, I was definitely not in a New York train station anymore.

The Washington Capitol Building greeted us from a distance once we exited the station. The place was pretty full, everyone was just fumbling around and so were me and my sister, she called an Uber and it took a while to locate said Uber because of the sheer number of vehicles that were just coming and going.

We did eventually find our Uber and made our way to the Hotel, did all the check-ins and even though the hotel room was much bigger, the ceilings were a little too low for me and it felt a little claustrophobic.

The views from our hotel room

During our unpacking, I got an alert on my phone that there was a tornado warning, my sister's phone started buzzing too and then a huge storm appeared and it was pretty intense, the warnings were urging everyone to stay indoors until 4.15 pm, but my Sister kept insisting that the storm looked like a regular heavy shower back in Singapore, and kept wanting to leave the hotel at 4.00 pm because she was hungry, which was just shocking for me that she was suddenly not making sound decisions.

Luckily when we actually left the hotel, the storm had subsided, so we headed to the closest subway which was just across the street and got ourselves new Metro Cards, then took a bus to Ben's Chili Bowl shop and had Chilis.

It was a pretty good, I had Chili Cheese Fries and my sister just got a bowl of Chilis. 

After that, we walked around a bit and explored a few of the landmarks on our own.

We visited the White House, there was a protest that was happening outside about kidnapped children, it was a small group of protesters just walking around in circles, holding signs and chanting something about returning lost kids to us or something.

I found this building to be pretty impressive looking, in fact, all the buildings in the Washington Mall are very impressive looking, there are no skyscrapers in Washington, all the buildings are pretty low compared to the Big Apple.

 And it was bloody hot, once again, not a humid country so I didn't actually sweat at all, but my face got really disgustingly oily, my nose was glistening in the Sun, it was gross.


The roads were also cordoned off for some reason, so there were areas where the traffic lights really didn't matter, and when me and my sister were about to cross one that was near the White House, it so happened that a car was heading out, I kinda alerted my Sister and we stopped rather abruptly, the driver sees us and ushers us to move ahead, and when both me and my Sister were finally across, she suddenly turns to me and goes...

"OMG, that is Kellyanne Conway."

... and proceeds to sneakily video tape her while she (Kellyanne) was waiting for the traffic lights to turn green.


My sister later googles Kellyanne Conway and confirms that the driver who gave way for us to cross was indeed Kellyanne Conway because she was wearing the same blue blouse she wore that day to give a speech at the White House.


3rd famous person we saw after Stephen Colbert and Julianna Margulies, the latter was a guest on Stephen Colbert Show. It was pretty cool, I mean I was hoping to see at least 1 famous person during the trip but I managed to catch 3, even though the 3rd one is more infamous than famous.

For dinner, the original plan was to visit Cheesecake Factory, so we took the train there and the subway stations are so clean compared to NY, it looked like a set straight out of a Christopher Nolan film.


Unfortunately when we did finally reach the place, Cheesecake Factory was closed because of a power outage, in fact, quite a few stores there were close due to a power outage, I assume it must have been caused by the tornado earlier.


There wasn't much option available at where we were at, so we just went to a nearby convenience store and got a few snacks, I bought half a dozen cans of La Croix and we headed back to the hotel to rest for the day.

We went to a nearby Cosi to get some Salad for dinner and it was pretty good, perfect pairing with my LaCroix, its like a healthy meal that white girls would eat because #healthgoals 

The next day, we had a segway tour planned, headed to a Panera Bread for breakfast, ordered a cup of hot chocolate and a bacon egg croissant sandwich if I remember correctly and it was a nice breakfast. American Breakfast is really my kind of breakfast, a nice egg and bacon combo will always work for me.

The segway tour itself was alright, we went to a few monuments to look at the buildings, learn a bit about the history behind some of them, the Sun was extremely hot that day and I actually got sun burnt after the segway tour.

The guide was pretty entertaining and she did a good job keeping what could have been a boring topic for me pretty interesting, the segway itself was very fun to ride, looking at all the other visitors having to walk from Point A to Point B and knowing I can just segway to Point B from Point A within a fraction of the time was extremely satisfying and my leg was very thankful for the segway.

We made a few stops every now and then for some photo taking, I was not interested in taking any photos of myself because the lighting was just horrible. Having sunlight shine directly in my face just made me look kinda fat, really accentuates my double chin that doesn't normally exist. One photo exist on my phone, I might use it as a profile pic on Instagram one day, just for shits and giggles.

We segway along the main road, which was really interesting because the bicycle and segway lanes are actually in the middle of the main road, so cars were just passing us by while we were zipping through. No pictures of that because its dangerous to segway and snap, wouldn't want to segway into oncoming traffic.

This was a long stretch of road and flanked on both sides of this pathway were all the Smithsonian Museums, so many people were walking and it is a really really long stretch of road, so I was really thankful that I could rely on my segway. 

We visited the Washington Monument, the guide asked if I wanted to take a picture with my Sis and we both turn down the offer because horrible lighting.

  Saw the Abraham Lincoln Statue, which was really cool, really crowded as well.

Really nice view of the Washington Monument, this was one of the final legs of the tour, my face was covered in a layer of grease at this point.

After the tour ended and we went back to the Segway Tour shop to return the segways, my sister and I decided to actually visit the Museums, the tour only showed us where the Museums were but never brought us in because it would take way too long to cover every inch of all the Museums.

We decided to split in the Museum of Natural History, so she went to do her stuff and I did mine. I didn't stay very long though, after walking the grounds once and seeing how crowded the museum was, I immediately lost interest, went to the souvenir shop to get a few stuff for my friends and then headed right out.

The goal that day was to drop by Georgetown Cupcakes to get cupcakes from there, but it was lunch time and Georgetown Cupcakes was too far for me, so I scrapped the idea completely and went to milkbar, because I am really predictable. 

This time, I made sure to take a photo of the interior, because the queues were pretty long here, unlike the one in the Upper West Side in New York.

Did not get any cookies, but got myself a bagel bomb because lunch and I needed something savory, a cup of milkbar pie iced latte or crack pie latte, not sure why different stores have different names for it, and a chocolate birthday cake. I wanted to get the regular birthday cake but just blurted out chocolate cake when I ordered it, stupid boy.

The bagel bomb was pretty good but it was not enough for lunch, so I did get a chicken noodle soup from Pret-A-Manger near the hotel as an accompaniment, it was a good meal. Not super sure how I feel about the birthday cake frosting though, it was not a texture I was familiar with me.

I lingered in the hotel for a while, didn't really want to explore Washington all that much, so I just waited till my Sis came back from her Museum visits and then we headed off for lunch at Momofuku, which was literally in the same space as Milkbar, I went to the same place twice for lunch and dinner.

I got myself a bowl of Dumpling and it was about 8 USD, which is crazy expensive for 5 pieces of dumpling, it was not bad though.

After this meal, I went to get Gongcha because there is one near the hotel and surprisingly, the prices are the same, so what is $4.50 in Singapore is also $4.50 in American, but in USD, numbers are the same, currency isn't. They were really slow when it came to preparing the drinks, I was waiting for way too long for a cup of bubble tea, there is definitely a difference in drink preparation efficiency. 

I actually realize that there is a Bubble Tea shop in New York called Boba Guys that supposedly sells the best Bubble Tea there after I came back to Singapore, so I am really sad that I did not do ample research on it and missed it completely. 

That marked the end of the 2nd day in Washington, on the third day, it was time to leave and since we had to check out of the hotel by 10 am, there really wasn't a lot of time to travel to some fancy place for breakfast, so we settled for a cafe nearby called Compass Coffee. 

Pretty nice interior, the Sun was just shining in like crazy, it was bloody hot. It is actually a lot warmer in the air-conditioned room than it was outside.

I got myself a cup of Cherry Blossom Cold Brew and Croissant, really fancy stuff, I don't really know why, but I drank a lot of coffee when I was in America, it's like my default drink, I have a cup everyday even though I hardly touch one when I am in Singapore, it's something about the air that makes me want to look like a fancy coffee drinking connoisseur.

Last day was pretty short in Washington, it was less than half a day because by 1.30pm, we were on the Amtrak, on the way back to New York, which I was very happy about, but also extremely sad because that meant that the trip was very soon coming to an end.

I really didn't care that much about Washington, it was honestly a little boring for me, it was a lot cleaner than New York that is for sure, but it's a very political and history rich place, both are topics that do not interest me at all, so it was nice to go for the experience, but I probably won't go back again for a holiday.

Back to work again...

So work has officially started again today. Haven't reported back to the office yet, but I did meet a client today, Jon and Jenny, whom I signed a contract with before my trip to New York even though I really didn't want to, and I kinda wish I hadn't actually gotten their project because I am still in a bit of a holiday mood.



Still missing the weather in America, the low humidity and cooling weather in New York, not so much the one in Washington because I got pretty sun burnt there.



Heading out today to meet Jon & Jenny wasn't too bad because there was a bit of rain, so the weather was not crazy warm, but the high humidity is something I just absolutely abhor because I just felt sticky almost immediately when I left my house to walk to the bus stop.



Anyways, the meeting with Jon & Jenny was alright, they were nice enough to leave me alone during my New York trip, so when I finally met them today, they had a few changes they wanted to make to their design, we walked around the apartment a little, they turned on all the aircon, which was awesome, and we just did some on site measurements and talk about how small their apartment was because it's just an experience anyone who ever buys a new condo will have, the realization that they had just paid a million dollars for a hamster cage of an apartment.



Every time I get a New Condo project, when the owners get their keys and see their space for the first time, it's always the same reaction...

"I didn't realize it's so small."

... I remember getting my first New Condo project, entering the space and just feeling shocked that the bedrooms are so insanely tiny, which wasn't great for the homeowners because my genuine reaction of shock is akin to adding salt to their wounds.




But anyways, as the meeting was going on, I was really hoping that Jon & Jenny's kids won't show up because I really do not like and really do not know how to talk to teenagers, and they have 2 teenage sons. I'd much rather deal with just the 2 adults, if the kids have any comments, let the parents be the proxy because I just automatically assume all teenagers are going to be brats and difficult to deal with.



The chances of the kids showing up are pretty high, this being the first time Jon and Jenny got their keys to the apartment, it's pretty common for the parents to want their kids to also come with them to see the new space.


So as we were discussing about the different room, Jenny gets a call from someone and she starts talking about how she will open the gate and for the person on the phone to just come up, and from the tone she was using, I knew she was talking to one of her kids and I just wanted to quickly wrap things up and leave before the kid shows up, and then the door bell rings and I hear the voice of a teenage boy echo through the apartment, talking rather excitedly about how his day at school has been and what not.



The immediate thought in my head was..

"Fuck... this.... shit...."

... and then Jenny brings his son over, introduces him to me and he was pretty friendly, very extroverted and honestly was a little too much for me.

He was really chirpy and talkative, almost has this bounce in his step whenever he started talking about his day at school to his Mother and he was waving so excitedly at me.



I am someone who is not naturally chirpy and talkative, but I force myself to be more extroverted when I am with clients so they would feel more comfortable, I just feel like I have to be more outgoing than the client and always have something to talk about around them, I will always have to flip that switch in my head and because I am naturally more introverted and maintaining that outgoing personality can get really tiring for me,  so when the chirpy son arrived, I just felt like I had one up him, or at least be as chirpy and as talkative so as to be able to keep up.



He was really excited about his new room, but not so excited about the original proposal, he wanted to do his own layout but it really doesn't work, so I tried to share with him why it was not a good idea, like how I had explained to his parents earlier who understood the issues the new layout will have immediately, but alas this was his room, so ultimately, he has the final say, and he decided he wanted to stick with his own layout instead, talking about how the original layout isn't good because it was too high risk for him and joking about how he was afraid he might fall out of the window if he tripped, and as much as I would NOT go for his layout, if a client wants it, all I can do is adhere to their wishes since they will be the one who will have to live with that horrible decision.



The kid wasn't pissing on my idea, I mean the idea was never mine to begin with, it was what his Mum and Dad requested, so I didn't really care about him rejecting the original idea, what I didn't like was just how the kid was not listening to why I didn't think his own idea was good and the fact that he keeps dissing on the original idea that had a better layout.



His Mum did share with me that he wanted to become an Interior Designer in the future as well, so maybe he is attempting to take creative control of his own room as a way to validate his future career choice, but honestly speaking, once it is done up, living in the horribly laid out space will do anything but validate his choice, instead, it will just make him realize that he is a complete greenhorn and actively making a decision that goes against a professional's advice is probably not the smartest thing to do.



The kid is fifteen years old, he has his own ideas and that is why I find teenagers exhausting for me to deal with because that is a stage in a kids's life when the parents start letting them decide for themselves and they don't always make the best decision.



Before I left, I did say my goodbyes to both Jon and Jenny, and also extended my goodbyes to their son, telling him...

"It was nice meeting you."

...he gave me this awkward smile...

...followed by a furrowed brow...

...  like he was confused why I was saying "Bye" to him and then finding me weird with that furrowed brow expression. I mean I did straight up lie to his face because it wasn't nice meeting him at all, but I just found that furrowed brow he gave me at the end was really unnecessary.




So that ended my work for the day, on a rather uncomfortable note, then I headed home and started sweating because the weather here is a bitch.



I just wrote a post to bitch about a 15 year old kid, what the fuck is wrong with me.

New York New York Part 1

I am finally back from my New York trip and it was amazing, although the flight back was horrible and such a bad way to end such a great trip, but alas, I am already starting to miss New York and simply not looking forward to returning back to work.



Before the trip, I was actually really doubtful about being able to enjoy New York because it's a very crowded city, I just kept picturing Times Square, packed to the brimmed, with restaurants that have endless queues, and while it is true that Times Square is a busy place and there are queues that form outside quite a few restaurants,  what I had pictured in my head was just a small part of New York City.




Upon arrival, the first thing we did was hail for the cab, since my Sister was going to cover all the basic cost, I didn't have to pay for the cab from JFK Airport to Times Square.

 Interior of the Cab is pretty large, the ceilings were really high, but it could have use a bit of cleaning if I were to be honest.

The weather was amazing, it was like walking into an air-conditioned room at a nice 17 degrees. I really wanted to take a timelapse video, but it was tiring holding my hands up for so long. The ride was about 45 minutes.

So instead, I just took a bunch of random pictures along the way.

Drove across a few cemeteries along the way and man were there a so many graves, it was crazy how much land America has compared to Singapore, because back here, all of this graves would have been exhumed to make way for HDB buildings.


The driver claims he couldn't drop us off at our hotel because the road was blocked by some food festival, so we were dropped off pretty far away from the hotel and forced to walk for quite a distance, not a great start to the trip, lugging a luggage across the uneven pavement of New York.


I will admit, the first day of the trip was not good, I was not able to sleep on the plane and was on the verge of crashing as I went through the first day of itinerary, unfortunately because we could only check in at 3pm, we had a few hours to spare, so after dropping off our luggage at the hotel lobby, we took the subway to explore New York.

First area we headed to was Upper West Side, which is probably my favourite location in New York, out of all the places I was able to visit during my entire trip there, compared to Times Square, it was just so much quieter and just that little bit cleaner. The place still smells of piss and shit though, like a hint of it.

Got myself a Birthday Cake Shake from Milk Bar, one of the first F&B outlet I visited with my Sister, it was really really really thick, so the first sip was really hard, and it got rich really quickly, my Sis got the Cereal Milk softserve and if I can describe the flavour, it's just taste like Horlick Ice Cream, it's just straight up Horlick Ice Cream, I like Horlick so it was good.

And of course a Compost Cookie, definitely needed to get one of the Cookies from the Milk Bar. I was honestly a little underwhelmed with how the cookies turn out if I were to be completely honest, it didn't blow my mind as much as I thought it would. It was a good cookie, but a little overhyped, in fact, I think I can make a better one with my own Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookie recipe, just gotta replace the Pecans with Potato Chips, Pretzels and a bit of coffee granules.

 After Milk Bar, the next stop was suppose to be lunch, but my Sister kept asking me where I wanted to go because it was still a little early for lunch, so I proposed to drop by Levian Bakery since it looked like it was a walking distance away, plus she had a cup of Ice Cream and I had a cup of Shake, it would take a while to finish those items so why not just walk and finish it on the way.

The walk was pretty long and by that time, lunch time started creeping up, so I told my Sister that Levian Bakery probably sold some savory items for us to get as lunch, and she was agreeable to it. Unfortunately, they don't have a lot of selection of Savory goods, save for 2 small sandwiches on the counter that looked more like display items to fill up the space, so we opted out of it and instead got just the cookies, which is what Levian Bakery is famous for.

I got Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies and Oatmeal and Raisin, both of which I did not touch on the first day because of how sickening the shake from Milkbar made me feel.

Surprisingly, it remained really moist and soft even after 2 days, which was when I finally ate the cookies, sadly I could't finish the Oatmeal and Raisin because it was just a little too much for me. 

Once again, not really mind blowing, really over-hyped it in my head.

After the long walk between Milk Bar and Levian Bakery, we came across a small Pizza Shop and decided to get our lunch there. I got a simple Cheese Pizza, something light but substantial and it was honestly quite yummy. They were really generous with the cheese, and my favorite cheese is melted mozzarella on pizza, so I thoroughly enjoyed my lunch. After lunch we walked around a little more, visited the nearby Bloomingdale Outlet Mall, which was selling a lot of items that heavily discounted prices, and then headed back to our Hotel to check in.

The whole place just had this really chill and relaxing vibe that I just really love and I can't stress just how much I enjoyed the weather.


I made a very bad decision after checking in because instead of taking a short power nap like my sister did, I stayed up and played Legend of Zelda on my Switch until it was time for our next itinerary, which was a ghost tour around Greenwich Village.

Honestly can't remember the history behind this, I'm sure there is a scary story behind it but I was just too tired to listen to the tour guide.

This building on the other hand had no haunted history behind it, I just thought the contrast between the white brick walls and the tree looked really good. The actual haunted location is the building next to it which isn't in frame, which I never took a picture of because I was just bored and wanted the tour to be over.



The guide was talking about orbs appearing on photos and honestly speaking, when someone claims that orbs are "ghost", I just want to roll my eyes because most of the time if not always, the orbs are just light reflecting off the speck of dirt that is floating through the air. I just can't take anything orb related seriously, so when someone goes into detail about what the different color orb represents, all I see is the person desperately reaching for something that just isn't.



I had been awake for close to 42 hours at this point, so I was really really tired, but we still had to go for dinner, so we dropped by Katz Deli for their Pastrami on Rye, which is a must try for anyone visiting New York.



My eyes were blood shot at this point and I could sense people just looking at me like I was suffering from some of of drug withdrawal symptom. Sadly, Katz is probably the one place I should have but did not take any photos of the food or restaurant to post on my Instagram because I was so fucking tired, I just wanted to go back to the hotel and sleep. I will say that the sandwich is good, but not mind blowing, I had over-hyped it in my head way too much. The serving was pretty big though, so I shared one sandwich with my Sister and we were full.



Knocked out back at the Hotel, but surprisingly, didn't sleep long, I managed to wake up at around 6.00am the next day, had breakfast at Taco Bell, and the main event that day was the NBC Studio Tour at 30 Rockefeller Plaza

We visited a few studios including the set of Saturday Night Live, which was really interesting because the actual studio was really small and it's just cool to see how everything looks behind the scene, there was a strict no photo taking policy, so no photos there.

I ordered a Pink Drink from Starbucks after the tour at the Starbucks in the building just out of fun, the drink took a very long time to make because there were so many people ordering their drinks at the Starbucks, the place was just really pack, but the drink it self was actually really nice.




After the tour, my sister wanted to get Sliders from White Castle, and the closest one was in Harlem.

So we went to Harlem.



The White Castle outlet just looked really depressing, there was no background music playing in the store at all, it just felt like a very sad place to work in, so I was definitely not interested to stay there any longer.

-insert picture of White Castle Sliders, oh I did not take any pictures because I stupid-

We headed back to Central Park via a bus and had our meal on a nearby bench facing the pond, the weather was a little warmer than the first day, but it was still nice and cooling, my sister underestimated the sliders because we ended up eating only 70% of what we ordered before waving the white flag, the sliders were great though, really like the buns, really light and fluffy, flavor wise, it tasted exactly the same as a McDonad's cheeseburger.






After lunch, headed back to the hotel for a quick rest, then headed out for dinner...

We visited a pretty expensive steakhouse, was told to dress up so I wore button shirt, but upon arrival, I could see a handful just wearing T-Shirt and Jeans, I  was not in a good mood that evening because of reasons, so I only took picture of the appetizer they gave us, but the lamb shank was good, a little too much but good, the meat was really soft and tender, and it didn't really have the a strong gamey taste, the ambiance wasn't great though, the place was crowded, the seats were all so close to one another, it was really noisy and I just couldn't wait to get out of there, service from one particular server was pretty bad as well but that concluded the second day.






On the third day, we headed to the 9/11 Memorial Site after a quick breakfast at Chick-Fil-a...

I order a Hash Bowl and it was good, this is my type of breakfast, unfortunately not very popular in Singapore.


Headed to the Memorial and this was the first thing that greeted me when I exited the train station.

This could have honestly passed off as a Singapore scenery until.....

...you start introducing all the Brownstones into the shot and that is when it becomes apparent that is it America again, amazing view of the skyscrapers.

The visit to the memorial was a pretty sombre experience, seeing the names of all the victims who died during the attack on the plates that went around the perimeter of where the towers once stood. Everyone there was pretty respectful, I didn't really see anyone taking selfies of themselves, they were all just admiring the memorial really respectfully.


We lingered there for about 15 minutes and then made our way to the Staten Island, the goal was to see the Statue of Liberty during the ferry ride.

The ferry is pretty big, I was initially afraid that the massive crowd at the boarding area would make it difficult to find seats, but as one can see from the picture, there is clearly more than enough seats available.

It was all about the amazing Skyline during the first part of the trip, many were taking pictures of themselves with the view as a backdrop and it truly is a gorgeous view to behold. I have only seen this view in TV Shows and movies, so to see it in person is just amazing.



And after a few minutes, she started to come into view....

...and she was really small, and I am not just talking about the size that is caused by the distance between her and the ferry, I honestly thought the Statue of Liberty would be this towering behemoth and for a minute, I thought what I was looking at was some sort of replica and that the real one was probably deeper in Staten Island, but nope, she was the real deal.

It was a really really small sight and everyone on the ferry were just clustering at the edge of the ferry taking photo of the Statue, I took a few shots, didn't actually go and see the Statue close up because it's just too crowded and also I don't see a reason why,  viewing it from afar on the ferry is enough, although the Staten Island trip was suppose to be a quick back and forth, we ended up staying a little longer on Staten Island after we found out that there were a bunch of Outlet Malls there.

 I only manage to get one shirt there because the fit was just all wrong, it was also crazy sunny that day but I didn't actually sweat despite seating under the intense heat, it was really odd but also nice to not be soaked in sweat, my face did get super oily though, which is really gross.



We had to rush back after the shopping because the main event of the entire trip was happening on the third day, and that was to watch the live taping of the Stephen Colbert Show, so we actually skipped lunch and joined the queue at about 2.45pm. The weather that day was not air-con like, it was pretty warm and the very first day I decided to forgo my sweater.

There were 2 queues, first was the priority queue, and the second was the general tickets queue, I was in the general tickets queue with my sister and people in this queue aren't confirmed to get in.

Thankfully, after 2 hours of waiting, we were finally tagged with the wristband and confirmed.

It was such a great experience to see the live show, watch the guest being interviewed live and seeing how professional it looks on TV, it was amazing to be able to see things from a different perspective. I personally think it was worth it to see a celebrity like Stephen Colbert in person as a tourist from Singapore in New York City.


Unfortunately, the guy who was sitting beside me during the live tapping was this dude with really broad shoulders, so every time we got up to clap for the guest, he would just brush into me and it was extremely unpleasant, a great experience that was only slightly partially ruined by a broad shoulder.

Got some merchandise after the show ended because of course we have to.


This was the episode I was apart of, contributing my applause and what not, and it was pretty cool to see how everything happens live and how crazy efficient all the workers were, got to see guest leaving the stage once their portion was over and just parts that are not aired on TV or uploaded on Youtube.

....after the show, we had ramen at a nearby ramen shop, wasn't very memorable, and then I got cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery....

This was probably at about 8.00 pm and the sky is still pretty bright, which kept screwing with me because it was just so misleading. It only gets dark at about 8.30 pm in New York, so I do tend to loose track of time.

Green Frosting, Red Velvet and Hummingbird Cupcakes. Oddly enough, they taste and smell like the cupcakes I would make at home, so I am not sure if I am a good baker or if Magnolia Bakery just isn't all that amazing. My standards for my own baking is pretty high, so I am highly critical of my own baking.

Fourth day is free and easy, I got a break from my Sister and she got a break from me, we had Dunkin Donuts for breakfast together first, and I was just blown away by how good the coffee was, it didn't leave any bitter aftertaste, the drink just felt really really clean, I kept expressing my shock at how much I love the coffee to my sister and decided that I will get a packet of their coffee beans before we got back to Singapore.



This free and easy day was what really made me fall in love with New York, taking the train and blending in with the New Yorkers alone just felt great, the weather was amazing, it was like permanently air-conditioned, I headed to possibly my favorite part of New York, the Upper West Side and visited Milk Bar

Got my hands on a cup of Cereal Milk Latte and a few more cookies to try out.

My attempts at taking picture of the coffee in my hand while walking. My stupid phone keeps doing this thing where it tries to auto sharpen every photo, so photos take are taken while moving ends up becoming completely fucked.

Sipping on a cold cup of coffee and taking a stroll down Upper West Side just felt great, something I never find myself doing back in Singapore because the weather is just way too hot, it's just what a perfect lazy afternoon felt like, walking outside instead of being cooped up in an aircon room surfing the internet

Before heading back to the hotel, I got a sandwich from a Deli close by after some light shopping at the Bloomingdale's Outlet Store, then headed back to the hotel and ate my sandwich at the Hotel Lobby.

Just a random view of Times Square I took that day.

It was such a simple day, and it's what I like, just exploring familiar places and not doing all the touristy stuff,  I headed to Times Square to walk around a little, visited the M&M store, then headed back to the hotel to rest before meeting with my Sister to have dinner together at an Oyster Bar

  

Ordered a Parmesan Truffles Mac & Cheese because what is Mac & Cheese without any Truffle oil nowadays.

And a few smaller dishes to try, I got fish tacos, my sister for a small lobster roll, and we each had a small cup of clam chowder. Of course we also ordered Oysters but I didn't take a picture of said Oyster Bowl because I am an idiot. Despite the servings being small, it was surprisingly filling, the Mac & Cheese really did it's job of feeling our stomachs.



After which I visited a shop that sells raw cookie dough called DO, actually went to the wrong store but luckily I was sharp enough to notice there was something off about the store, 2 other tourist who were there unfortunately didn't catch on though.

Not a huge fan of raw cookie dough, I much prefer them baked, the taste of raw flour is kinda gross. I only managed to eat about 70% of it and had to throw the other 30% out.


Fifth day is also free and easy, we had Shake Shack for breakfast....

...no long queues like the one in Singapore, but the food there is crazy expensive for a fast food joint, I really like the burger and the shake though, so maybe I might eat it again when the queues have died down in Singapore, although I am not sure how long Shake Shack can last in Singapore with the crazy price point once the initial hype dies down.

Got a cup of coffee from Dunkin Donuts after the amazing one I had for breakfast the previous day, sadly it wasn't as great, this coffee was bitter, it left a sour after taste in my mouth and I also ordered the wrong drink, originally planned to get the Blueberry Crisp Latte, but ended up ordering Caramel Latte instead.

My sister went on to explore Brooklyn after breakfast and I headed to Baked By Melissa after a quick rest back at the Hotel.

The cupcakes by Melissa were super petite, but the sizes were great for eating a bunch of different flavours in one sitting, I only got 6 cupcakes though, kinda regret not going back and getting more flavours to try.

The cupcakes by Melissa were super petite, but the sizes were great for eating a bunch of different flavours in one sitting,

Got a huge sandwich for lunch at a nearby cafe, didn't really like the sandwich very much so didn't finish it, but it was a great to show just small the cupcake is, the sandwich was also pretty huge.




Met my sister for Dinner at The Red Lobster...

The food wasn't all that great, the serving was quite small, everything was over salted and the service was just really slow.

This was the last day at our first hotel, The Ameritania, in New York, so I took some last photos of Times Square before we left, also took a view the hotel offered.


The Ameritania is probably my favorite location out of all the other hotels we stayed in. After this, we headed to Washington the very next day via Amtrak, which is a 3 hour ride from NYC.