New York City
And onto the second city I visited in July - New York City.
Basically, I had mixed feelings about this city. I'd heard Lyna raving about it for weeks before she left Bahrain so I was looking forward to something special or extraordinary. It was special in many ways. I mean the city is just huge, Manhattan is just a crazy cage full of people running everywhere, it's like they're on those exercise wheels seriously and constantly pepped up on something. The bustle of it was great, I love bustling cities, but the people were quite annoying. They kept walking around yelling randomly or at each other, seemingly unable to have a conversation at a reasonable volume. And everyone had that famous New York "fuck off" attitude. Which is great really, it's great to love yourself and your city but it's time to wake up and smell the roses. NYC is not what it once was, the world is full of cities that rival it in almost everything. Multiculturalism, size, food, drinks, partying, shopping, culture, etc. You name it there's a better city for it - and there's better cities with combinations of them too...
So my lasting picture of NYC was of an big, interesting, bustling city full of people who are proud to be marginally deluded assholes (note: this is a generalisation, and like all generalisation, doesn't apply to everyone).
Although I'm not usually much of a sight-seeing tourist, I did make an effort to see some of the 'sights'.
I checked out Times Square in all its glory and had a Jambo Juice while watching life go by.
Wall St was interesting too. Complete with the big 'fuck off' American flag posted up all over this building and the shitloads of security personnel, cops and God-knows-who-else to go with protecting the bastard. Is there a bigger monument to Capitalist greed than this building? Smack in the middle of Wall St with a massive American flag on it? A big 'fuck you' to the have-nots of the world? I can understand why they have security all over it.
Anyway I decided it would be a good idea to have Starbucks and a bagel on Wall St to feel really part of the New York capitalist scene... and it was interesting to note that people in suits everywhere are exactly the same. I'm sure they have personalities they leave at home but once the suit comes on, the personality hides somewhere while they talk about stock tips, their boss and why Larry hit on them at the office party last weekend... BORING.
i saw the chick with the torch in her hand for free on the passing Staten Island ferry. WoOt.
The best of the 'sights' though was this place, the UNHQ in New York, a place I would love to work one day and a kind of inspiring one. There really isn't much to see inside, apart from a few display pieces in the lobby, a giftshop, a bookshop, a post office (from which you can send UN mail), a crappy cafe and thats about it. It was still enjoyable to just sit there and soak it up for a while... the UN atmosphere, as cheesy as it sounds...
...it was cool to hang out with these guys for at least a few hours :D
So not to forget the purpose of my trip was for a meeting at the AIESEC US office. And an interesting meeting it was.
It's a pretty colourful office. I think that green chest of drawers with the flowers on top of it is a particularly nice touch.
And then onto this sushi restaurant on Paul's recommendation where I actually had decent sashimi for the first time since leaving Australia... oh man I miss Sydney fish markets.
But finally, as usual for me, it's the little places to chill that really count on any trip and, just like that cafe in Frankfurt in my last post, I found an NYC cafe to call my home/office too.
-aroma- cafe, as it was called, had decent coffee (for new york), free wifi, great (albeit pricey) sandwiches and a relaxed student atmosphere. I think I was there 3 times out of the 5-6 days I was in New York. Loved it.
Labels: food+drink, New York, people, travel
Frankfurt, NYC + Bad Air Travel
I feel an update post on what's been happening in Bahrain is in order but first I wanna post about some stuff that's been on my mind of late. So I found out on Wednesday night that 24 hours later I was meant to be on a plane to NYC, cool. Took Lufthansa Bahrain - Frankfurt and sat next to this great guy from Minsk (near my hometown) who was working for Citigroup in NYC and was on a business trip to Bahrain. He told me some interesting stuff, told me to visit Brighton Beach in NYC, the Russian area, and that I could get by there without speaking a word of English... so excited about that. He also told me he was really scared of going to Bahrain initially for the business trip and tried to get out of it. It's amazing, the level of ignorance that exists in the world, as Bahrain is surely one of the safest countries ever and, when compared to NYC, is basically like a church safety-wise. He was Assistant VP of Emerging Markets for Citigroup, which sounds like a really cool job! We spent time complaining about how bad Lufthansa was...
All my days of flying Asian airlines had not prepared me for the air travel world outside. Lufthansa had no personal TVs, no free eye masks, no free toothbrushes, pretty bad food and NO LEGROOM AT ALL (unlike Gulf Air which had all those things and heaps of legroom, by the way, so what if it's going broke). Lufthansa did, however, have Recaro seats... nice.
My 6 hour stopover in Frankfurt was eventful. Thank you Australian passport, I got to go and hang out in Frankfurt, check the place, snap heaps of photos and all that... and still get back to the airport in due time to get my connecting flight. Poor Sahar with the Bahraini passport had to stay in the airport due to lack of visa. Boohoo. Frankfurt is a hell of a town. Plenty of nice gleaming skyscrapers, great period architecture that is unique to Deutchland, nice cafes (had a GREAT coffee there), cobblestoned streets and Turkish people (very friendly too). Had a great chillout with an espresso and my book there, had a great sandwich in the airport and the best part, spent all morning speaking nothing but German... great practice :D
I thought it couldn't get worse after Lufthansa but it did. United Airlines was terrible. Flew 7+ hours from Frankfurt to DC on of their OLD jumbos which rattled and shook. Not only did it not have personal TVs but it only had one projector which I couldn't even see (at least Lufthansa had a few TVs in the cabin). The food was even worse, the legroom was comparably bad, the plane sat on the runway at Frankfurt for an hour while we sweated it out because the plane had... get this... NO CLIMATE CONTROL. Just those little AC vents in the ceiling. Great. The staff were friendly and helpful though, can't fault their service, just shitty at everything else. Sat next to a nice old lady who was going to miss her connection to Tampa, Florida and probably have to stay overnight in DC, damn. I made my connection - just - because it was delayed. Phew. DC to NY was good, a small Brasillian jet, kinda like the domestic flights on Virgin Blue back home.
My general first impressions of NYC are just the same as off the TV. The place is big, brash, covered in skyscrapers and full of people with swagger. New Yorkers swagger around because they think their city is the best in the world. They talk to absolutely anyone and are very "confident" (see also, 'aggresive') in their style. Good people though, happy to help... just don't pussyfoot around in NYC or you'll get stepped on. There's heaps of stuff to do here. Great (and cheap, thankyou weak USD) fashion, good bookstores, cafes, bars... yet to see the big sights though - tomorrow. Spent the day walking around Soho. Aiming to do more touristy stuff + chilling tomorrow.
Chilling in a bar called "Underground" near my hotel with a beer right now, it has free wireless. I'm staying on the Upper West Side, 102nd + Broadway... word. Starting meetings on Monday.
One thing I've realised today, as I've been walking around NYC with all the peple, cars and buildings everywhere, with all the smells of food and dirty things, with all the swagger and all the multiculturalism, with the myriad of things to do... I miss Bahrain. Like Lyna said, sometimes you know you have a second home...
Labels: Frankfurt, New York, travel
