i LOOOOOOVE new york!

just came back from NY. landed in Hong Kong on Saturday morning. it's Sunday night now. and guess what? I MISS NEW YORK! i so wanna go back there. it was 2 weeks of sheer bliss. i shopped, i ate, i had fun and of course i worked. the main purpose of my 2 weeks stint in NY is for my basic training. stayed at Westin Times Square, amazing location - near Times Square, near 5th avenue, near Port Authority, basically near EVERYTHING. but Westin is only a so-so hotel. not very impressive. wish i could stay in a better hotel but oh wells, cant complain when it's free accomodation! haha!

well, i shopped sooo much that i am so broke now. i bought 4 bags ( 1 for mum), 4 pairs of 9-west shoes, 4 tops, 3 sets of pajamas, 2 pairs of jeans, 2 books, 2 pairs of socks, 1 wallet and watch Mary Poppins on Broadway. and all these only cost me USD 1.3K!! and mind you, all of them are branded stuffs. well coach is a brand. 9 west is a brand. levi's is a brand. HAHA. so happy. but feel damaged, financially that is.

this trip i didnt do much sight-seeing as i have done the NYSE, ground zero, bull, empire state building in my last trip in 2007. this time, i can be seen at 5th avenue, SOHO and central park. some nice pictures i've taken:

5th Avenue basically.

Christmas Tree at Rockfeller. missed the lighting up of the tree on 12/02. was in princeton that day and caught up with my previous team-mates for dinner and drinks. didnt regret a bit. totally enjoyed myself.


we have a beautiful christmas at our office at lexington too. pretty right? actually our NY office is pretty amazing. didnt take any pictures as i was shy and afraid that the security guards will haul me out of the office. ha!

i have no idea why but Central Park is simply such a nice park that i wish i have one full day to spend in that park but i didnt and only went to part of the park which i have already fallen in love with. the trees, the partly frozen lake, the squirrels, the ducks, EVERYTHING.

i also have the chance to go to the lower east side because a very nice colleague invited me to his bar crawl party. basically, in NY, the bars and clubs and lounges are located all over the city. so one of the activities for them is to go from 1 bar to another. from midtown to downtown. amazing. totally enjoyed myself. taught them how to play the asian beer games like 5-10 and 7-up. hillarious. they couldnt understand what im trying to say. too drunk to learn. we were at the 7th bar for the night already. unfortunately, none of these places look like any of the bars that i see in SATC. ooh talking about SATC, i did visit a restaurant which was featured in SATC Season 5 Episode 4, i think. it's the Tao Restaurant. food was pretty good but it's pretty expensive but totally worth it!!!

on a more cultured level, i actually visited 2 musuems - Metropolitan Musuem of Art (MET) and Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). i am soooo glad that i did this. this is the first time i actually visited a museum. honestly speaking, have never stepped into a museum in singapore. one thing that i can take back from these 2 visits, i am in love with Claude Monet. according to wikipedia, Claude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature. okay i have no idea what is wikipedia trying to tell me but most of the pictures that i've fallen in love with are Claude Monet's. Let me show you some:

arent they beautiful??? especially the last one. i was sooo mesmerized by it that i stood by it for like 5 mins. pretending to understand the stroke and techniques, which i totally dont but i simply love this painting. it's called Ice Floes. and i've also "made friends" with Pablo Picasso, Van Gogh, Dali and many otheres but Claude Monet is my man!

mmmm, although the main stint of this trip is for work purposes but i havent mentioned anything about work. think i shall leave the "juicy" gossip till my next entry. i just want to say I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE NEW YORK!