I don't Love NY (Part III B: The Manhattan Experience)

Continued from I don't love NY (Part III A: The Manhattan Experience) , Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Double Decker Tour

The double decker hop on and off is a good choice to get around the Manhattan Island. The only problem is that if the weather isn't nice enough, you can get a good splash. On my occasion, I can't really tell whether it's a bit of a drizzle (very cloudy that day) or just water sprayed out from the air conditioning from the tall buildings. 

Talk about old buildings! These high rise babies are older than I am. Wonder if they are still safe to experience a 6.0 earthquake. 

 

The distance of the trip is not long, but the traffic sure is horrible. And talk about pollution, it is somewhat serious if you're stuck bumper to bumper and have to inhale the carbon monoxide. 

 

Ah! The empire state building! Takes a few minutes to get to the top. Who in the world wants to live here? Gotta be very healthy in case of power shortages cause a long walk up the stairs would be required. According to the tour guide, there are 50 something elevators in this building, each with its own Postal Code. 

 

The next most visited site seeing place, Central Park. Known to be the breathing lungs of New York. Note, the Apple Store is somewhere around the corner here. To be honest, I'm not too impressed at this site, cause it's dirty and smelly, at least, outside of the Park. 

Talking about romantic carriage rides? Big bucks and oxygen masks needed. It costs about USD50 for 15~20 minutes of ride. And because animals do sxxt, they have this bag behind the horse's behind where their manure can drop in. So if you do take the ride, and trying to feel romantic, you won't, because the constant manure smell will breeze to your face, hair, and clothing. After being "smoked by horse manure for 15~20 minutes, it's guaranteed that you'll be smelling rather shitty after the ride. 

 

As the saying goes, Times Square is not a square but an area. But whatever the case, it is rather small and crowded. Can't imagine being squeezed into this section of town for the countdown for every new year. There are two towers opposites of each other with huge LED ads, Samsung and Toshiba. 

Lots of cabbies, but not enough vacant ones. On other occasions, I did have the chance to take the local city cab and I sure don't like it. Three main reasons: (1) No air conditioning. Have to take the ride with open windows, sucking in the carbon monoxide emissions from the traffic. (2) What is this thing with tips? The drivers can get rather rude if you don't give tips. How come I don't get tips? (3) The drivers sure know how to use time. They can read the papers, text, or be on the phone when they are driving. For this, it's a -10 points for NY cabs, bringing the total count to -30points! 

One particular thing on the double decker, DON'T stand up when the bus is moving. If you do notice the traffic lights, you'll know what I'm talking about. The bus is about 2.5M tall, the lights are about 3M from the road, which means if you stand up, you'll get a free trip to the local hospital and a free head wrap. I'm not sure whether insurance covers for this type of suicidal action since the guide constantly screams "sit down, senarse por favor!" 

Food

In US, eat as the US do! I got the location of this place from a cab driver. I asked for a restaurant with good rib servings, thinking of trying out the Soul Food in NY. But there must have been some form of miscommunication because he took us to this posh place a couple of paces from the Empire State Building. As we were starving, we didn't want to go try to find another restaurant, so, we stepped into Capital Grille. We had to wait around 15 minutes before we got seated. During the wait, we noticed something on their billboard that says they are rated Michelin 3 stars, which would be better than great since I love food. 

 

On the overall, the reception area was nice and cozy. The whole place had this aroma of "high class" dining. We couldn't wait to try out the food!

 

To start off, we ordered a good bottle of wine, selected by one of our friends in our group, a certified wine taster. And, this is a good wine if you disregard the price (USD75). 

 

Then came the selection of soup. I got my clam chowder with oyster crackers, which to my palate, was a bit salty. But I kept my silence as I didn't want the chef to come at me with his kitchen knife. My smoked salmon (USD15) for starters was also only ok.

 

The below soup was another selection. The bread was great though!

 

Just as when I was thinking about the Michelin 3 stars, my main course came, a 10oz sirloin steak (USD26). My other friends had lobster and crab cake (USD19), 8oz fillet mignon (USD27), and 1/2 Chicken (USD16). 

On the overall, the food was ok., but if you talk about price (with a USD56 tip) to quality, I'm not giving them a 3 star. I've had better steaks at a lesser cost (check out: http://genshueh.blogspot.com/2010/07/lawrys-steakhouse.html). To be honest, the best part of the meal was the wine! 

to be continued...

I don't love NY (Part III A: The Manhattan Experience)

Continued from: I don't love NY (Part II: The Arrival and Immediate Rip-off)  Friday, June 11, 2010

My eyes grew heavy and my sight grew dim. Finally, I'm sleeping! The next moment I opened my eyes, it was 04:30am and I'm wide awake as it was 16:30hrs back home. I tried to go back to sleep, but my internal clock tells me I've had enough. 2.5hrs of napping or falling asleep in boring meetings is sufficient for the day. Tick tock, tick tock...05:00am. Still too early for breakfast. I took a peep out of my window, and saw that the Gym across the street was already full of people exercising. Funny New Yorkers. Don't they sleep? They must have gotten up early in the morning to prepare for such heavy exercising.

Finally waited till it was 06:00am where the restaurant for breakfast was open. Days Inn didn't have any restaurants so they had some sort of cooperation with this eating place across the street. I took a look at the printed note which they gave me at the lobby, USD6.5 for breakfast. As my body cried out for replenishments, I decided to venture into NY City for food.

As I stepped out of Days Inn and waited to cross the street, this peculiar odor flooded my nostrils. There's certainly something in the air as I sniffed out New York. I wouldn't say the smell was fragrant, because it reeked like garbage, mingled with sewage. And wait, there's this ocean smell along with it. To be honest, the air stinks! There's also a lot of trash on the sidewalks and not mentioning the big fat rat that's scuttling across the street with me, that's a minus 5 points to the poor air quality and bad hygiene.

As I started to cross the street, smell of bread, coffee, and cooking oil was in the air mingled with the other unpleasant stench. I finally reached the restaurant safely and read their exclusive breakfast sign: USD4.5 for full breakfast. I stepped in and asked the counter whether this "exclusive deal" was still available. The answer was yes, and he took my order. When I walked to the other side to pay, I noticed the cashier seeing my hotel note. He called out to the other guy (the one that took my order) in spanish asking, which translated into English meant, "Hey, this guy is from Days Inn with the breakfast note. Should I charge him USD6.5 or USD4.5?" The other guy replied, "Charge him USD4.5! He saw our sign for the exclusive breakfast set."

Now, I'm a smart guy, and lucky that I speak near-fluent Spanish, a message was going through my head immediately: If I hadn't seen the "Exclusive Deal" or asked about it, they would have suckered me into paying the extra two bucks for breakfast. Even though this was not a lot of money, the feeling is definitely not good. Another minus 5 for NY, adding up to -20 points in just one morning. I came to a quick conclusion: Trust No One In New York!

I paid my bills, USD4.5 + USD0.55 taxes and picked up my breakfast which consisted of a cup of hot coffee, two slices of buttered toast, two eggs sunny side up, and some baked potatoes. Not a delicious breakfast as the toast was over done and the potatoes were too dry and insipid. As for the coffee, it was too sweet and I would have preferred Cappuccino. But when a man's gotta eat, he's gotta eat. I stuffed the food down and headed back to the hotel.

Now more accustomed to the smelly air, I couldn't help but notice the pot holes on the road. Some were filled with muddy water and splashed up when the cars zoomed into them. I'm totally sure SF and LA is a whole lot better than NY. As there was no conference today, it's tour day till you drop. I got back to the hotel, checked my emails, and awaited for 08:00am where I should travel downtown to find the people that traveled with me, but staying at different hotel locations.

I decided to check out the subway as my means of transportation this morning which was just a block away from Days Inn. USD8 for 4 rides (with a bonus USD1.4 when you purchase the ticket), a flat fee of approximately USD2.25 to wherever you want to go. When I took the stairs down to the subway, I was greeted by a gust of warm breeze mixed with smells of burned rubber and non-ventillated air. And it was sure HOT down there. I was wondering where the air conditioning had gone to. The New York City mayor should check out the subway lines of Hong Kong and feel ashamed (to be neutral, I'm using 3rd party pictures from flickr). New York should be the richest city in US, but why are public utilities and roads so shabby? Where have all the tax money gone to? This is a good question for NY voters.

New York Subway

(Waiting space not spacious enough, Air flow not good, Trash on the floor, and Hot)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwired/269039379/sizes/m/

Hong Kong Subway (MTR)
(Spacious, Well ventilated, Air conditioned, Clean, and Clear Signs)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/globetravelers/405466901/sizes/m/

The subway train arrived, and I jumped on, heading south towards Penn Station (34th Street). Just as portrayed in the scary movies, the train's lights will flicker at some points constantly. The train itself is rather narrow, and the air conditioning is simply not strong enough. Announcements from the train driver was just not loud enough over the rumbling and creaking of this metal caterpillar zooming at high speeds. I have to strain my eyes to see which stations we are passing as not to miss my stop.

People got on and off, and it's getting more crowded the more we move southwards. Examining the people on the train, I'm starting to feel I'm small (don't get me wrong, I'm about 5ft 8, weighing xxx pounds), but some people are just HUGE! Some of their body parts (female counterparts) are bigger than my face! Just starting to feel good about myself and my body mass+weight, my station has arrived.

Hopping off at the 34th street station, I had to find my way to 42 West + 34th Street Comfort Inn. Taking the escalator to the outer exit, I had no idea which way was N, S, E, or W. Luckily, there was a cop at the exit and I asked him for directions. OK, I have to head west by crossing the street and take a long walk. To my surprise, people here are totally jay walking! No one was looking at the No Cross Red Light. Red lights are just for show.  And to make things worse, a female cop was leading the charade of charging the red light against incoming cars. For a moment, I thought I was in some developing country! No wonder traffic is bad in NY! Minus 5 points for the disrespect of traffic regulations headed by a law enforcers.

Notice the white cap to the bottom right. That's the cop heading a run against the red light. 

Block out West 35th St and Starbucks and you'd think you're in some developing country.

Valuing my life more than the $ from my insurance, I decided to stay put and wait till the Walk sign went green. It was a long walk to Comfort Inn and honestly speaking, it is not suggested for future travelers to stay there even though it was a block away from the Javits Convention Center. The room rate was approximately USD230/night compared to my USD138/night (similar quality rooms). Sure it came with breakfast, was closer to downtown, and closer to the Convention Center, but in terms of $, it was overly charged. Other than that, my friends got into a fight with the hotel manager over the definition of "twin beds." Anyone know what exactly twin beds mean in US? In Taiwan, twin beds meant two separate beds (as two were sharing a room, and this was double checked with the local travel agency), but the hotel manager was trying to convince us that twin beds in US meant one large bed. If twins were one large bed, why not just Queen or King size to make it simple? And from the grammatical side, twin beds come with the "s" making it plural. Deciding not to waste further time, we asked the manager to check with the travel agency. My gut feeling, they were overbooked due to the Convention that was coming up and were trying to weasel out of the fact they ran out of two bed rooms.

Our tour team moved out for a double decker 48 hour day tour and we also picked up ferry tickets to Ellis Island + Liberty Island (Statue of Liberty). Note: For future tourists, buy the ferry tickets some day before the actual date you want to visit the Islands and make sure you get to the ferry location before 09:00am or it'll be packed with people. The ticketing at the boarding location doesn't open before 09:00am, and by the time you get through with tickets, it'll be like 09:30 to get in line for ferry boarding. Then you'd have to wait for another 30 minutes+.

to be continued...

I don't love NY (Part II: The Arrival and Immediate Rip-off)

Continued from "I don't love NY (Part I: The Flight) TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 2010"


The next thing I remembered was someone speaking to me "Chicken or Pork?" I must have dozed off somewhere in time again...as if, there were a lot to do in the cramped chairs. Why is it always Chicken, Beef, Fish, or Pork? How come there's never Pizza, Kebab, Subway, Burger King, or Fried Calamari? So much for free meal even though I've paid in advance with charges embedded in ticket sales, I made my selection of pork. Guess what? Wrong choice! The pork slabs were tough and dry. My baby girl could cook better than this I thought. But still gotta eat, and from my experience, the chicken wasn't any better.


So after 6 hours of flight, Yahoo! New York was in sight and the plane prepared for landing, and a smooth landing this was. As I was traveling light, I didn't need to go pick up my luggage at the carousel, a tip learned from extensive traveling and "Meet the Parents." Of course, getting in the line behind Asians and not old people is another precious tip during traveling. But still, I have to wait for other members who are attending the same meeting as I am.


OK, all luggage intact, we moved throught airport security with no goods to declare and stepped onto the soil of New York City. By the time we got into the airport lobby, it was midnight, and we were tired, sweaty, stinky, and we moved to look for some form of transportation. Bus? Out of the question. Train, don't know where we were and don't know where we're headed to. Taxi was the solution.  There was some Gents in the airport lobby calling out who needed taxi. We were thinking of yellow cabs, but no yellow cab was in sight. There were 4 of us, staying at 3 different locations so we had to split up.


It wasn't a yellow cab, but a black Lincoln model car. The driver had to pay USD24 for parking 30 minutes at the airport. Talk about standard of living, this is expensive! The driver and I made some small talk in the 30~35 minutes drive from John F. Kenndy Airport to Manhattan Island. He came with his father from Bangladesh before 10 years of age. The talk then drifted to Politics and this guy sure didn't like Bush. As for Obama...heh heh, his actions on BP oil spil sure didn't make him a popular president. Seems like the economy of NY was in slumps and the driver said it was really difficult making a living there. Nothing was ever the same after 911 and with the drop in residential value, he lost $$$ big time.


Finally arrived to Days Inn Hotel on 94th street. Can't wait to check in and hit for the showers. What's the price of transportation? What? USD155?!? Funny, how come I recall reading something that should be cheaper? Breaking it down, the USD24 parking was on me, but still, a bit expensive, so we had to go through price haggling. A few points went through my head: (1) Let me recall, from SF airport to Silicon Valley was about USD110 on the meter (yellow cab). (2) OK, it was way past midnight (12:40am), so naturally, should be a little expensive as this guy was working overtime. (3) The ride from JFK to the hotel went pretty smooth (air conditioned with FM radio). (4) The parking and toll charges (as he said) were on me. (5) OK, this was New York, pricing should be higher thant the West Coast. (6) The guy was definitely a whole lot larger than me. (7) No cops around on the streets. So USD155 it was, with no tips.


I finally checked into Days Inn, and got into the room. What a dismay! The  room was small. I started to miss the 5~6 star hotels in past jobs. Previously it was Shangrila, Hilton, Grand Hyatt, Four Seasons, Marriot, Conrad, and Shilla in the Investment Banking Industry, now it's 3 Stars or below, Inn grade accommodation (see comparisons below). Putting this aside, I hit the showers noticing there was only soap and shampoo. What happened to the other amenities of tooth brush, tooth paste, and razor? Out of the shower, the USD155 incident was still on my mind.

Days Inn Manhattan 94th Street NY.

Conrad HK Suite Room

http://conradhotels1.hilton.com/en/ch/hotels/photoTour.do?ctyhocn=HKGHCCI

Conrad HK Suite Sitting Room 

http://conradhotels1.hilton.com/en/ch/hotels/photoTour.do?ctyhocn=HKGHCCI

Luckily or rather unluckily, the room had free access to internet and I logged on.


     Search: taxi fare from JFK to NY.
     Result: JFK to Manhattan Island, flat fee of USD45 with no extra charges or night charges.


Kaboom! Lightning struck!  It was a total rip-off! What happened to the honest way of making a living in US? Or was it just "New Yorkers?" The images of blood sucking, everyman for himself, New Yorkers from movies floated to my head. Hey, this was New York, the gateway to US of A! How could the government let this happen by allowing tourist traps straight at the airport?  Did those terrorists also get ripped-off to a point where they got back by hijacking a plane to fly into the Pentagon and the Twin Towers? Or could be just human nature as Madoffs and Enrons are happening everywhere.


Still thinking that I should have gotten his license plate number to complain to NY's City Mayor, it's a minus one to my dollar bills but a minus ten to New York City. After checking by phone that the other two girls got to their hotel safely, found out that their charges from JFK to their hotel was USD165 (with tip). This must be some sort of associated crime! 02:00 in the morning, gotta make some sleep cause still got a long day ahead of me.


To be continued...

I don't love NY (Part I: The Flight)

New York was the dream world. Gateway to freedom, multicultural styles of living, great food, Spiderman, Superman, Sex & the City. I finally got the chance to go there this May to attend conferences and glamour into Book Expo America 2010.

Now the first tough experience was getting there. Due to corporate cost down procedures, I got booked into the "Animal Class (Economy Class). " God! how I miss the good old days of Business class in previous jobs! Boarded China Airlines around 16:00hrs but takeoff was delayed, waiting for transfer passengers. Wait wait wait, and wait. Finally, take off was granted and we were on our way.

First ass test: 9 hours in flight to Anchorage - which would be fine with a good selection of movies. But, the plane was an old model. TV screens are up in the air and the color was terrible. So much for lousy movie titles, tried sleeping. Finally dozed off, but was awaken by chattering and giggling from the corridor near the bathroom. Some teenage girls from HK (speaking Cantonese) were making noise near the toilets and emergency exit. Picture taking on flight with Flash (*$#%&*#@;!!) and sitting onto the emergency door totally ignoring the "don't sit here" sign. I wonder what would happen if they accidentally opened the door?

Still hoping they would get sucked out, made my complaint to the flight attendant, and stared them down from my drowsy eyes. Finally dozed off again and was awaken for breakfast. Watched a movie "The Box" starring Cameron Diaz. Can't find the words to describe it, but it was SURELY THE WORST MOVIE I'VE EVER SEEN!

Finally, Anchorage arrived! Waited to get through immigrations and then to transit. For future travelers, there's a separate bathroom on 2nd floor near the smoking room (also on 2nd floor). There, you can have some peace of mind if you want to empty your body of excess stuff and liquids.

Looking out the window, Alaska is beautiful! You can seen the crispy layer of ice still on the mountain tops waiting to be melted. The best time to visit Alaska (as the airport security says), is June ~ July time frame.

OK, boarding call! Have to board the same old flight from Anchorage to NY. Unexpectedly, joy to the world! The HK girls were NOT on this flight! They got off at Anchorage. So happy sleeping for me. But still, Ass test 2: 6 hours from Anchorage to NY. Have to feed again as we get into flight. Man! These airplane food are really terrible! So to make up, I drowned myself with beer and asked for peanuts (you have to ask these days). I wonder what happened to the good old days when they gave you free peanuts without asking? Probably that darn cost down considerations again.

To be continued...