That above sentence might be [white noise] to most people reading this account, and I shall ignore it.
What is significant is that New York City so reminded me of the Trantor described in Prelude to the Foundation, where psychohistorian Hari Seldon realised that Trantor is so diverse that you could extrapolate the behaviour of the whole universe from it. And this is where NYC comes in.
NYC is a melting pot in every sense of the word. If it were a dish, it would be rojak. All sorts of people from every corner of the world just thrown into one functional (for the most part) city.
But we all know that human beings are not completely soluble in each other; and hence in this melting pot there is nucleation. Nucleation of ethnic communities. In Singapore, we have Chinatown, Little India, and Geylang as these nuclei of ethnicity. But NYC takes the game to another level.
*
But that's all a side story. I reached NYC bright and early as I had promised earlier; but adventure awaited as I made my way to the hostel. Lo and behold, the hostel was, once more, in Brooklyn. What else could I possibly have expected, come to think of it, considering that I paid even less for it.
However, when I walked to the address given by the website, it was all closed down and boarded up. I walked around the block a couple of times to look for alternative entrances to this elusive hotel, but I probably would have better luck looking for Diagon Alley. All the while wondering what had gone wrong with the booking. Worsening the situation was the fact that this was actually the first time I was using hostelbookers.com rather than hostelworld.com.
Before I decided to try running between the walls of the two neighbouring blocks, a guy with a car recognises me for a lost tourist searching for the hostel. Which meant the hostel must be there; at least it should have been.
Turns out that the hostel was under renovation and they were at another location for the time being. Also in Brooklyn, but in another part. Of course I was hesitant to get into the car with this strange guy, but he seemed to have my name and details so it appeared legit.
The temporary hostel was located even further south of Little Puerto Rico, in a residential area that was probably even more dodgy than the industrial area that the NY Loft Hostel was in. Oh well, the trade off coming from the extra cost.
Anyway, it was an apartment with a few room-mates; so it was way better than nothing.
After dumping my bags in my room, it was off to explore New York. Again. Of course, by now, I was completely aware that there was nothing in Brooklyn. So it was straight off to Manhattan.
*
NYC is the cultural melting pot of the world. So today, I decided to visit the centres of a few of the communities that make up this city which redefines cosmopolitan. First, uptown i.e. Harlem.
Yes, Harlem.
Now that that shiver has gone up your spine, it is obvious why this place should be the first place to visit. No way in hell was I going to be caught in Harlem after dark.
Let me explain. Harlem makes Brooklyn look safe. Enough said.
To be fair, things have improved a lot over the past few years; crime has actually gone down quite a fair bit in Harlem. But still, dodgy place.
Or so reputation had it.
There was one main reason to see Harlem. It has a few relics of Malcolm X's movement back in the day. And purely because that moview was such an awesome movie, I had to go see these remnants of his anti-racism (well sorta) movement.
The second photo, I'm not sure whether it is what I think it is; but if it is, it is one of the Mosques associated with Malcolm X aka El Hajj Shabazz. Anyway I didn't really dare ask anyone about it; nor did I dare take too many pictures (recall Buffalo and the dodgy Puerto Rican Guy?).
As mentioned Harlem is located uptown. So walking down for a bit till the edge of Harlem I came to Central Park. I hadn't dared go too far into Harlem purely out of stereotype; and in retrospect I regret that since I missed out on visiting the Jazz Museum which I know would have been interesting. I mean, Harlem is more than just a dodgy place. Its got something that Brooklyn doesn't - a rich culture. It is the capital of Black America. But fear is a good paralysis drug; so there I was exiting Harlem before I managed to really see it.
Central Park has a whole new dimension in the North.
Harlem Meer is one of the larger water bodies in Central Park. There's a history to this place, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was. There's the issue about writing the account too long afterwards. Something to do with the Dutch.
Anyway History Schmistory; next to the Meer is the Lasker Rink. Well, it is the Lasker Rink in the Winter; in Summer it is the Lasker Pool.
And that was the first time this trip I wish I had swimming trunks. The second would be in Chicago; mind you, so don't wait up too long for it.
(By now, you should have an inkling of just HOW late this account is being written.)
Oh yes, the pool. Awesome fact: its free. Should go once before it freezes up to become an ice-skating rink. And once after it freezes up to become an ice-skating rink.
And on I walked.
Till I came to an opening in the bushes. It was just way too enticing. So I walked in.
Well, it was no Niagara Gorge Hike. Wasn't even a Bukit Timah Hike. Maybe a McRitchie Walk. But still, a walk in the forest is a walk in the forest, and we have to appreciate that. In retrospect, its quite easy to appreciate that - just expand your self-awareness to realise you're in the middle of a forest; completely surrounded by one of the biggest cities in the world.
There. Cool, right?
Unfortunately, at that time, the rain had finally decided that America had suffered its terrible heatwave long enough and decided to (finally) pour down on the US. Recall, the last time it rained on me was in the 3 hours I was in Canada.
Unfortunately, being caught in the rain when you're in the middle of the forest - even a forest that is completely surrounded by one of the biggest cities in the world - is not a pleasant thought. Almost as bad as being caught in a cornfield in a middle of a thunderstorm.
Anyway, thankfully there was some refuge to hide in
where I could wait out the storm.
It soon became apparent that this was New York, not Singapore; the rain may never stop (spoiler alert: it didn't for the next 6 hours at least). I did have my Raincoat that I had salvaged from Niagara Falls.
Now as I write this the words of Jeremiah Francisco Luke comes to me: "If one person does something stupid alone it looks stupid; but if many people do it together, its man." (Miah, 2011). He went on to give the example of Scottish men wearing skirts.
But the point is that it didn't feel stupid wearing the Niagara Falls poncho in Niagara Falls when everybody else was wearing it. Besides, if we ever felt silly we could have just looked across the river (i.e. the Border).
Ooooch! (Canadian for "Ouch!")
Anyway the point is that it felt really silly wearing this poncho that clearly stated "Niagara Falls, Maid of the Mist Tour"; basically proudly exclaiming to the world "Hey, I'm Indian and I'm so Cheap!".
Which is true, but hey, why exclaim it to the world? I'm in a country where one can always take out a loan so there's no need to be cheap. Have to fit in just a bit; I already refuse to speak their language (recall Petrol >> Gas?)
Anyway, as best as I can do I cover the "Niagara Falls, Maid of the Mist Tour" and brave the drizzle. By the way, I'm more concerned with my phone, camera and my iPad sitting in my bag getting wet than I am with myself getting wet. If not for the electronics, I think the hot weather over the past few days would make anyone happily walk in the rain. Which quite a few people actually were.
Anyway, I took a subway downtown, still hoping the rain would stop sometime soon, till I reached Chinatown. Part two of the exploration of Trantor.
Rumour had it that Chinatown was a slight misnomer; Hongkongtown would be a better name. I can't really tell if rumour was right or wrong, but I think people were speaking Cantonese more than Mandarin. But I can't be sure. Anyway, walking along in Chinatown was the complete opposite of walking in Harlem. Being in Singapore for so long has made me so comfortable around Chinese people that I think I would not have been so comfortable in India-town.
Indiatown, apparently, is a slight distance away from Manhattan. Where land is cheaper.
Of course.
And there are even more Indians in New Jersey. (Hi Ted Mosby, enough about New Jersey, okay?)
Anyway, there wasn't much to do in Chinatown except walk around and see all the Chinese Food; which is so much cheaper than the food outside. About $4 buys you dinner. Half the price of everywhere else. Anyway, I was quite full so all I had was a Pork Bao. I thought it would be Charsiew Bao, but I was disappointed there.
Little Italy was supposed to be somewhere around there; but mainly due to the weather and some misleading directions and an unclear map, I wasn't able to find it. I mean, by the time I realised that I was nowhere near Little Italy, I was already in Korea Town, at the base of the Empire State Building.
There were really cheap souvenir shops lining Korea town, once again demonstrating the infallibility of the cardinal laws of souvenir shopping. Always go to an Asian shop.
To be fair, the prices were that low because apparently it was a closing down sale as they had lost their lease.
*
By that time, it was about time to start walking up to meet Joy for dinner. So probably its time to explain a little about that story.
Joy (my friend from way back in secondary school) had been on a work and travel programme in New Jersey. However, I hadn't known about this until after I had made all my plans to travel to New York with Pammie. Furthermore, it was easier to contact Santa than it was to contact Joy when she was at New Jersey. Also, I had also thought that New Jersey was a stone's throw away from New York. Half true; because while Jersey City is a stone's throw away form New York City (i.e. across the river) New Jersey and New York were actually very large states. Well, large relative to the city. So it turned out that where Joy was working (Wildwood) was actually quite far away from New York. It would be almost like saying that Niagara Falls (which is in New York State, by the way) is near New Jersey. Which it isn't.
Anyway, purely coincidentally - recall I had never intended to return to New York - it so happened that I would return to New York City on the same day that she would come to visit New York, albeit slightly earlier. She and her friend, YY, were coming in from Miami, her first stop on her after work-and-travel travels.
So I had offered to meet them in Times Square. However, their flight was delayed, so I ended up waiting for them for some time in Times Square. Their flight turned out to be delayed quite a fair bit; so that meant that I took my dinner first. And waited on the tables in the middle of Times Square.
Just for fun I was reading Time Magazine; because that seemed to be a proper thing to do in Times Square. And I actually got bored sitting in Times Square; so I walked around. And came to a giant Toys R' Us store.
Of course, I went in. There were some toys that definitely weren't around when I was growing up - this little toy furry worm that seemed to be able to respond to humans. I really need to know how that works.
Joy was uncontactable again. Then again, she was in the New York Subway, so I couldn't have expected any more. Recall that the New York Subway was impervious to microwaves and hence there could be no signal on your handphone while you are in the system? Yup, so that was what was the case with Joy again - no signal on her phone.
It was already 11.30pm when I decided it was too late to keep on waiting - I had to get all the way back to Brooklyn, after all. And Brookyln is not the best place to walk around at night. Even if its no Harlem. Just the other day there was a small column in the newspaper saying a kid had been shot dead outside his school somewhere in Brooklyn. So better to go back early.
Whilst on the Subway I realised that the bane of construction work on the Subway had struck again, and it was quite complicated to get home. Worse still, I realised that the route I had given to Joy to come down from JFK was among the routes compromised by the shutdowns. That explained very well why she didn't show. And also suggested that she and YY were probably lost somewhere in the maze of the New York Subway, without a map. Poor things.
Anyway, these things happen; so I messaged them when I reached home wishing them luck. Even though I knew for a fact that by the time they got the message, they would probably have reached their destination (Times Square). But the time was already 12.30am and I was dead tired. So having survived the walk from the subway to the front door of the apartment, I turned in for the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment