i want to be a part of it

new york freakin' city!!!


holy crap, how do i write anything about a city that left me speechless?

NYC well and truly blew me away, every which way i turned there was something that dropped my jaw, and i can't say it without sounding like a wanker but this city is just so ALIVE! it positively buzzes! (wow, i was right, that did sound dumb)

with the world being such a large place, it amazes me how two mates from a sleepy coastal town like Newcastle, Australia can have their separate travel plans somehow align to have them both in the same city at the same time on the opposite side of the globe from where they grew up -- and thus begins the tale of Mitch and Mitch taking on New York City!!
Mitch Tomlinson and I somehow realised that we'd be there on the same day and made plans to catch up and go exploring -- and of course it's always so much better to be able to exclaim "WOW!" out loud to a buddy than it is to think it to yourself inside your head!

now with such a limited timeframe to be spent in such a mind-blowing city, obviously sleep was restricted to only the very necessary amount that would keep my body functioning, the rest of our time was spent on the streets exploring -- taking it all in like greedy kids in a the proverbial candy store

it was all a bit crazy being smack-bang in the middle of it, with so many familiar things around us though we'd never been here before; and things we'd only heard about in movies started making sense: words like "The Lower East Side" or "42nd Street" or "Broadway"!

we ventured down to Ground Zero to pay our respects, and well...
uh, well, i guess i just don't have what it takes to process something like that -- how does anyone process something so massive like 9/11?
one look at that construction site (or i guess i should say reconstruction site) is enough to make you feel like you're wearing the world's heaviest boots -- you prepare yourself for what you're about to see on the journey down there, but when you're actually standing there looking at, looking at the memorials, you can't help but remember the sheer destruction and loss that this place suffered, and the sadness is overwhelming...


but this trip wasn't all doom and gloom, aside from the time spent at Ground Zero i mostly couldn't wipe the dumb smile off my head -- i probably had quite a few New Yorkers thinking they had a retarded boy walking amongst them judging by the look on my face!
i continuously felt like i was on the set of Friends and Seinfeld and Sex and the City (minus Sarah Jessica Parker's crazy wardrobe -- i never suited the oversized-flower-in-my-hair trend)


Mitch and Mitch's adventures in New York City:
venture to Times Square, stand right in the middle of it, and innocently ask a policeman for directions to Times Square . walk along Broadway, looking at all the theatres and musicals that are playing, wishing you had just a little more time to see one . catch the subway down to Soho hoping to stumble across a nice restaurant -- or someone famous, i wasn't fussy . have a meal at The Mercer Kitchen, an awesome underground restaurant "where everyone goes", with a massive open kitchen where you can watch them cook your meal -- but uh, photos are not allowed (but as if that stopped us) . suffer a headache from walking past a Starbucks on every single street corner and not being able to decide which one to get a latte from . walk in to the four-storey M&M's World and somehow start believing that you need that M&M's beach towel, and that M&M's coffee mug, and that M&M's baby stroller, and that M&M's bottle opener, and that M&M's photo frame, and oh god if you can think of an item, it was there at M&M's World -- with an M&M's logo on it (and i didn't buy any of it) . purchase the obligatory fridge magnet for the collection . do what every tourist who visits new york city needs to do and purchase an "I♥NY" t-shirt . take a ride in a New York yellow cab! i love those damn taxis!:

Mitch Fong: "Uh, sir, do you mind if i take a photo in the back of your cab?"
Cab Driver: "Say what now, son?"
Mitch Fong: "Um, i said, do you mind if i take a photo in the back of your cab?"
Cab Driver: "Huh? Speak up, boy!"
Mitch Fong: "Oh sorry, do you think you'd mind if i was to take a photo in the back of your cab?"
Cab Driver: "You want to take a SHIT?!"

walk past Radio City Music Hall and picture myself playing music on its rooftop to thousands of adoring fans just like many great artists have done before -- but become exhausted at the very thought of learning to play a musical instrument and hunting for thousands of adoring fans . stand on a steaming vent in the pavement, and wonder why my jeans don't billow around me famously like Marilyn Monroe's dress did around her -- and wonder why i don't have a crowd of adoring fans crowd around me like Marilyn Monroe did . give my cashcard an absolute workout on Fifth Avenue -- Tiffany's! Gap! Abercrombie & Fitch! The $1 Dollar Shop! -- it's times like these that i'm glad i don't have a credit card: if i can happily spend all of the money i've worked hard to earn, i can only imagine how easily i'd spend money that someone had just GIVEN me! . eat a pretzel (and yes, it made me thirsty) . be absolutely devastated when you find out that Central Perk Cafe doesn't actually exist . take a walk through central park, pat the horses and feed the ducks -- or actually, maybe i just pat the horses and took a photo of the ducks, yes, that sounds more like it (as if i was gonna share any of my pretzel with a DUCK...and besides, it would have just made them thirsty) . pass by a busker playing the sax on Fifth Avenue and secretly wonder to yourself if he could be one of your future band members that'll help you to get a gig on the rooftop of the Radio City Music Hall . buy some soup from The Soup Nazi made famous on Seinfeld -- and then sit on the pavement and eat it -- (a small part of me was hoping that people would think we were homeless and would start throwing coins at us...or $50 notes, i wasn't fussy) . stand in the street waiting for a group of break-dancers to start their show -- ten minutes later they eventually did start their show, and it wasn't really worth the wait (which is disappointing, cos I mean, who has ever heard of an american being a bad break dancer? it's as unlikely as an asian being crap at karate, or an ethiopian being crap at running: a country has got to have its talents, people!) . at Ground Zero, secretly place one pebble on top of another, in some abstract (yet lame) attempt at helping to rebuild this incomprehensible disaster . back in the shopping district, finally acknowledge that enough is enough when the sales clerk politely tells you that your cashcard has been declined -- fair enough, my arms were getting tired from all the shopping bags anyways, and i didn't even need another pair of jeans anyway, right? RIGHT?! OH GOD!


here are the photos:



stay tuned, next up: LONDON, AGAIN!!! (i think?!)


let the good times roll!!