Last full day in NYC already, everybaaady!!!!! But before I start all the reminiscing and perasaan pedih pedih, you all please read Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6 and Day 7 first ok.

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Guess what we did on our last full day in NYC, you guys????? We woke up bright and early to......

..... see the Statue of Liberty!!!!! Again!!! Kwa kwa kwaaaaa.

You'd think that after we saw the Statue of Liberty via water on our 4th day and via air on our 6th day, we'd be very bosan with that statue already, right. But nooOoOoooOooOOooo, laki aku masih ah nak pergi visit the lady herself! This time betul betul on her own island i.e. Liberty Island pulak.

I asked him over and over again, you betul masih nak pergi tengok? You betul belum puas? We've seen the Statue of Liberty upclose and personal already, two times somemore! But mati matiiiii he insisted, mati mati dia nak jejak Liberty Island itself. Padahal pergi dekat dekat pun bukannya boleh pegang bontot!!!!! Haiiiiiii gasak kau lah nak.

13 May 2015 (Day 8)

- Liberty Island (Statue of Liberty)
- Ground Zero - 9/11 Memorial (North & South Pool)
- 9/11 Tribute Center
- Wall Street Walking Tour
- Brooklyn Bridge

Went to redeem our free ferry tickets to Liberty Island (via New York Pass) and the morning crowd wasn't too bad. We didn't have to wait long either, although everyone were subjected to strict US airport-style security checks before boarding the ferry. Had a very, very nice clear view of the Manhattan skyline as we made our way to Liberty Island via ferry, and once we arrived, it was time to check out the lady herself.

The bontot that my husband did not get to pegang.

The ferry operator that we got was Statue Cruises, by the way! If you're not redeeming it under the New York Pass then the regular fee is USD18.00 per adult. Kalau nak naik sampai to the crown of Statue of Liberty, add another USD3.00.

We chose not to naik all the way to the crown because it is 377 steps (via spiral staircase!) all the way up and there is no elevator access from the top of the pedestal to the crown platform. Thanks, but NO THANKS. Siang siang I told Saliheen already, jangan berangan nak naik sampai ke crown, unless he wants to go through another one of my meltdown episodes inside the Statue of Liberty ala my meltdown while trekking in Ubud ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

If you don't want to pay to see the Statue of Liberty, don't mind taking pictures of the Statue of Liberty from afar, don't mind not stepping foot on Liberty Island, and don't mind squashing with 10 million other tourists and locals (who use this mode of transportation to travel to and fro work) then the free Staten Island Ferry will be your best bet. The ferry (which is ginormous by the way) will pass by Statue of Liberty and you can take pictures as it does.

Tak free VS Free

I have to admit I actually enjoyed visiting Liberty Island and seeing Statue of Liberty up-close and personal hehe! I think it was because queues and waiting times weren't long and irritating and it was pleasantly surreal to see the actual icon of New York towering down on you, y'know? Must say the statue is WAY smaller than I envisioned it to be since I was younger, though. All those TV shows and movies making it seem more gigantic than it really is... Haha rubbish!

We hopped on the subway after that, grabbed food for lunch then walked over to the Ground Zero (9/11 Memorial) to see the North and South Pools which used to be where the two Word Trade Centre buildings used to stand.....

This is the new Freedom Tower, which is next to the North and South pools of Ground Zero.

We also visited the 9/11 Tribute Center (entry tickets under New York Pass) to see the artifacts and memorial pieces from the tragedy. I will reserve Saliheen's and my opinions about the September 11 attacks because it is a very sensitive and controversial matter after all, but when we were in the 9/11 Tribute Center, all I wanted to do was remember that there were real human lives lost to such horrible and senseless attacks on that unfortunate day :(

I think I was the most affected when I saw the memorial corner (the one with tissue boxes!!!) where there were pictures of all the innocent victims who died during the September 11 attacks. Took the time to look at every single picture and wondered about their hopes and dreams, their aspirations, and their families and friends who they didn't get to go home to..... I imagined packing Saliheen off to work in the morning and then receiving a phone-call telling me that his office building has collapsed after getting hit by a plane a few hours later and my eyes just started watering OKAY.

After about an hour in the memorial centre, we went on to a guided tour which was pretty nearby - a Wall Street walking tour by Wall Street Walks this time because we wanted to learn more about the workings of Wall Street, the New York Stock Exchange and the financial district in New York. This is more for Saliheen than me actually, since my mind turns into sludge when it comes to numbers, mathematics and finance hahaha WHAT

Graveyard is not part of the guided tour la haha but we saw a plot of land with gravestones next to all the office buildings and modern skyscrapers while we were making our way to the meeting point. It was pretty cool to see something from 1700s against a 21st century setting! And as always, I start thinking about all the possibilities, the way of living, the occupations, the faces and styles, the cause of deaths of all the names that I saw engraved on each tombstone and how the surroundings must have been like between 1700s to just before the current buildings took over...... FASCINATING!

Anyway. We ended the guided walking tour at the Charging Bull, which is pretty iconic la and I wanted to see it for myself in real life. Turns out this is how it looks like during mid week at 3.00pm:

Lahabao betul. Ni dah macam ape tau, macam Expectation versus Reality.

TENKZ.

Didn't bother to get close to touch or take picture with the Charging Bull because at the end of the day kan, INI SEMUA BERHALA! Hahahahaha abeh bitter eh. Okay la bulls made of bronze frightens me a little anyway, I mean, have you guys heard of the brazen bull torture method????? THAT SHIT NASTY.

Once the tour was over, we went to Brooklyn Bridge next! I was exhausted gila after the Wall Street walking tour but how can I not step foot onto Brooklyn Bridge while in NYC kan?! Terpaksa semangatkan diri. Had to walk quite a fair bit before we were really, truly standing on the Brooklyn Bridge but don't worry, there wasn't any epic meltdown, just a really satisfying feeling of accomplishment hahahaha

Went to makan at City Kitchen at ROW NYC after that, the concept is something like our local food courts...? The whole place is air-conditioned, and has about 9 to 10 F&B stalls with popular brand names in NYC.

I mention this because this is one of the makan places that I would return to if I ever patah balek NYC. No halal certified stores though, so if you was was then this makan place is not for you. But if you don't mind checking it out, I recommend the lobster roll set from Luke's Lobster! Much yums. Doughnuts were from Dough, and they were one of the food items I wanted to eat so badly in NYC so - ting ting ting - achievement unlocked! Hehe.

The doughnuts were pretty delish by the way, but I think it might have been better if I had chosen a conventional flavour like chocolate instead of my poppy seed lemon doughnut. Chose it just because poppy seeds are banned in Singapore so kirakan macam mana punya badass ah makan benda yang ada poppy seeds HAHAHAHAHA BYE LA

Went back to the hotel to wash up then we went out to borong the last bits of souveniers to bring home, grabbed a tub of our favourite Magnolia Bakery's banana pudding and takeaway platters from The Halal Guys food-cart then sat down on the famous red steps in Times Square, just eating, chatting, people watching and taking everything in.

We must have spent at least 2 hours on the steps, watching the world go by and enjoying Times Square as it pulsated with its bright lights and loud sounds and almost bursting from its colourful stream of wide-eyed tourists, eager business peddlers and shady characters haha. We left Times Square at around midnight, buzzing from the crazy energy that Times Square fed us with, but also feeling sad knowing that this was the last night we'd be able to that... for now.

Birthday Trip, New York City, May 2015 (Day 2)

After recovering from Day 1 with a full night of sleep, we went out bright and early for our Day 2 in New York City :D

(Little did I know that this would be the only day my carefully crafted schedule will go as originally planned.....)

7 May 2015 (Day 2)

- Explored Chelsea Market
- Explored The High Line
- Went Shopping at Soho
- Coffee at Happy Bones (Broome Street)
- Visited Flatiron Building
- Chilled out at Henley Vaporium
- Shopped at Times Square

I was quite excited to go to Chelsea Market because it looks quirky (I like quirky) and has so many stores selling artisanal stuff, mostly food! I wasn't that blown away by my Chelsea Market experience though - I mean, I liked it, just that it wasn't as interesting as I hoped. Might be because we went there a little too early in the morning or bought the wrong things? The crepe and doughnuts we ate weren't that phenomenal, although I did like my rainbow cookie from Eleni's. But I mean... it's a rainbow cookie seh. You cannot not like a rainbow cookie seh.

Walked over to The High Line next, which was nice, and has an interesting history - it is a public park which used to be a historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattan's West Side. I wasn't that keen to go initially because I'm not a big fan of parks but it is in every single Top 10 list of places to go to in NYC hahahaha siak ah, takkan tak pergi kan kalau dah gitu?! We had a nice time chilling with our coffee from Blue Bottle Coffee (they had a pop-up counter when we were there) anyway so it wasn't a wasted trip. A place to go at least once if you're ever in NYC, I guess!

Some pictures from our trip to Chelsea Market and The High Line:

Next, we went shopping in Soho! Mainly for Saliheen because all his favourite brands are there - Billionaire Boys Club/Ice Cream, A Bathing Ape, Stussy, The Hundreds, etc. Member shopping baju macam nak stock up for sepuluh tahun haha. I don't blame him though, because most stores had good solid designs in his size and at affordable prices!!!

All my chubby people friends, you know how difficult it is to cari baju yang fitting baik but won't be so expensive and buat your kocek koyak right. (Although technically if it fits well, it shouldn't make your kocek literally koyak right..... geddit? geddit??? HAHAHA I AM SO HILARZ SOMEONE PLZ JUST KILL MY VIBE NAO)

Ended our his shopping binge at Broome Street, where we grabbed coffee from Happy Bones. Wanted to sit down, rest our feet and ambik gambar hipster kopi atas meja but the space is super small and crowded so kita tapao je. Kwa kwa.

Took the train to Flatiron district, where we gawked at the Flatiron Building pulak. I wasn't expecting much but it turned out to be quite magnificent in real life... no wonder it's an NYC icon and possibly the most photographed building in the world! The structure of the building is pretty cool actually, the building looks 'flat' if viewed from another angle like this. (Also, I got a little too excited when I saw a video clip of Flatiron Building in an old 'Friends' episode that I watched on my flight back to Singapore hahaha)

Walked to Henley Vaporium (a vape lounge) because... you know... vaping is cool and harmless but (unfortunately) illegal in Singapore so... you know... my husband wanted to try it out. You know, for fun. Not like he already knows what vaping is like or anything like that. And not like we could buy anything and bring them back to Singapore. Kan.

I love the dudes over at Henley Vaporium though, they're so friendly and laidback and not pushy at all. If anyone is into vaping or just want to be educated on what vaping is about, they're the guys you'd want to talk to. No pressure, no sales tactics, just pure desire to share more about vaping and let you see and test what's available in the market.

After that we went back to our hotel, washed up, had dinner then went out to Times Square for more shopping hahaha. I borong baju from Forever 21 and H&M!!!!! Because ada size!!!!! I really cinta sama the Forever 21 and H&M stores in NYC lah, both of them have dedicated plus-size sections so plus-sized girls like me pun boleh membeli belah dengan selesa lololol. And their plus sizes bukan adik adik setakat UK14, UK16 je k, they have sizes up until UK20, UK22 segala k. My only gripe about shopping in NYC is that their closing system is damn merepek lah.

For example, if you shop in the evenings like I did and by the time you nak try or nak bayar it is already near to closing time, there is a high chance most of the dressing rooms or cashiers are closed. Sometimes takde orang pun nak redirect you, other times if you're lucky there will be a sour-faced employee nearby who will tell you which level punya dressing room or cashier is still open. So let's say you're at 4th level but all the cashier counters there are closed, an employee will tell you oh you can go down to 3rd level cashier counters for payment. 

You go down to 3rd level, find out their cashier counters are closed too so you're redirected to 2nd level. You see a line of people waiting to be served at 2nd level's cashier counters so you join the queue. Tiba tiba an angsty bitch of an employee datang raging and screaming that nobody can join the queue at that level already because the cashier counters are also closing and you will have to go down to Level 1 punya cashier counters for payment. (True story bro)

KNNBCCB BILA MAU GAME SIAK. TUNGGU AKU KURUS PE?????

I mean, I understand lah dah closing time and everyone working there needs to do packing and cashier closing but why not close the main entrance to stop people from entering so the human traffic stops??? Let remaining shoppers pay at whichever cashier they are at then once dah takde orang you can start your closing kan??? They were still letting people in when I left k, mampos ah cashier counters kat Level 1, semua korang kena settle. I don't think this is common practice in Singapore right????? Tak kasi chance kat tourists who might not know their usual closing practice langsung!

But whatever. Aku nak complain pun buat ape, since I am willing to close one eye and love my shopping loot unconditionally hahahahaha. Susah datang wei dapat borong baju size UK14 in different cuts and designs at prices like USD16.99 and USD24.99!!!!! Selalunya baju plus size mahal k, al-maklumlah kena pakai kain lebih hahahahaha.

Ok dah, please stay tuned for Day 3 punya story, because on that day, kita punya nasib macam kentang bacin.

Birthday Trip, New York City, May 2015 (Day 1)

I am BACK FROM NYC, BITCHES!!!!!

I know I sound a little too chirpy for someone who just came back from her vacation but I cannot help it lah ok??? NYC is shiok lah ok??? Just blogging about it from my home in Singapore pun boleh make me happy ok???

Can't believe I'm already blogging pasal my NYC holiday lah, feels like yesterday I baru panaskan bontot for my 23.5 hours flight. Anyway, you might also need to panaskan your bontot reading my entries because I've decided to post 1 entry for each day in NYC. Actually nak combine into 1 mega entry but sorry (not sorry), too many things I want to say.

6 May 2015 (Day 1)

- Explored Times Square
- Watched The Lion King on Broadway

First day tak buat anything much because 7.5 hours of flight from Singapore to Dubai, 2 hours of transit in Dubai and 14 hours of flight from Dubai to New York = 23.5 freaking hours of travelling is no joke ok?????

Landed at JFK airport at around 9.00am (NYC time) and immediately jumped into a cab. There was no way we were gonna haul our bontot tegang up and down trains or buses so bayar jelah - we knew the cost from research and dah set aside money pun. Flat rate from JFK airport to hotel is about USD60 (We also gave USD10 tip) and journey took about 45 minutes from airport to our hotel, which is nestled in the heart of Times Square.

Our hotel check-in time was 3.00pm so we jalan jalan around Times Square first (also had lunch and bought our SIM card), tried our luck and returned to our hotel at around 1.00pm and found out our room was ready! Alhamdullilah, more time to rest before our only plans for the night... which was to watch The Lion King on Broadway HURRAYYYYY

Sooo happy we chose The Lion King (my other choices were Wicked or Chicago) because (1) it is performed at Minskoff Theater, which is 3 minutes walk away from our hotel aje; and (2) The Lion King is AWESOME GILA.

Saliheen was skeptical about watching The Lion King on Broadway at first because he thinks it's "just Lion King, we all know what happens in The Lion King" and "we all know it's actors dressed like animals, they're not real animals" WTF we also know it's Andrew Garfield dressed like Spiderman, who is not a real superhero in real life, and we know what happened in the comics but we still watch The Amazing Spiderman at the movies kan????? *rolls eyes* In the end, he said the show was bagus gila!!! DARAH NAIK!!! Told him to stop dismissing things that he hasn't experienced!!!!!

Goes without saying I loooooved watching The Lion King on Broadway and enjoyed everything! The costumes and sets were massive and gorgeous and the acting and chemistry was so so good. I love the body movement of the actors and the transitions between scenes were flawless. My favourite character is Scar, Mufasa's evil brother, by the way - the actor playing that character in the NYC performance is sooooo amazing, I JUST CANNOT.

My only regret is watching a Broadway show on the same day we travelled for 23.5 hours. I dozed off during one scene (which had slow lullaby music, in my defence) because I was so. freaking. exhausted. ha. ha. ha. ha. ha.

If you only have money for one Broadway show (like we did) then I most definitely recommend The Lion King!!!!! I feel like it is the Broadway show to watch if you're ever in NYC - I mean, there is a reason why they are America's most popular Broadway musical for more than a decade, you know??? And they're cheaper than Wicked!

There are a few sources online that sell The Lion King on Broadway tickets but I bought mine from their official Ticketmaster here; seemed to offer the cheapest tickets out of all the online sources that I saw anyway, and it was the easiest platform to understand and navigate. A Twitter friend recommended going directly to TKTS booths to get discounted tickets for Broadway shows (You can get up to 50% discounts!) but I didn't want to wait and queue in long lines and another friend told me popular shows like The Lion King aren't usually offered with discounts at TKTS anyway. I'll probably use TKTS if I ever get to go NYC again, and don't mind watching something else.

We paid USD294.70 (SGD392.50) for 2 Mezzanine seats at Row GG (Seats 6 & 8) which were great because Minskoff Theater's Mezzanine section overhangs heavily over its Orchestra section so we were still very near to the stage. Would have chosen seats further in front but Row GG was the closest ones available when we booked tickets online.

If you want to experience the March of the Animals (actors in full costumes marching past your aisles), best to choose seats in Orchestra; we didn't mind not having that so we opted for seats in Mezzanine. In the end, there were actors dressed as storks dancing and singing in our section during a later segment anyway, so that was fun to watch :D

Walked back to our hotel and along the way, we gawked so much at how bright! how pretty! how dazzling! how hectic! how boisterous! Times Square can be especially at night - it was exhilarating, to be a minuscule part of its madness and chaos, nothing you can ever imagine from merely seeing a picture  or a video you found on the Internet.

THIS PICTURE OF TIMES SQUARE IS SO UNJUSTIFIED.

(Well, technically it *is* justified since I set its alignment to 'Justify' but YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN #pun)


KTHXBAI. Time for you to go read Part 2.