Tuesday, 12 May 2009

• 15 Things I Learned From Visiting Manhattan

  
  

  It's been three days since my sister and I breathed in Manhattan's polluted air  and for the five days we were there, I have indeed learned a lot.
  

  Here's my list:

  1. New Yorkers do not follow pedestrian street signs.  They just proceed on walking when there's no car in sight and hilariously run if they see one coming.

  2. In every fast food/restaurant joint, they have choking hazard posters on the wall. Well, we do not have it here. We have warning signs of traces of peanuts in food.  Apparently, peanut allergy is very prominent in this part of the world.

  3. Cost of living is way too high. It costs almost 10USD for a pack of Marlboro Menthol! If you go to duty free, you can get yourself a carton of Marleys for 28USD.

  4. If however you would like to save money on food, there's a Chinatown and some places do offer lunch specials for 3.50 such as Yi Mei along Division Street. There's also another one by Madison Square Park (I think) called L'annam and they have 6.50 lunch special (ambiance more decent than Yi Mei).

  5. Good luck studying their subway system.  It was too confusing for us so we resorted to using what we got.. our pair of legs.

  6. They can rock them rain boots.
  

  7. You get what you pay for, accommodation-wise.  Our hostel resembled a jail cell. However, we did our research before hand so we knew what to expect.  We just tired ourselves out so we could sleep soundly.

  8. New York Cab drivers are the unsung heroes of today.  Seriously, they drive like maniacs and they get you places safely.

  9. New York drivers have an amazing reflex of honking as they wait for the car in front of them to drive through the green light... even thought hey've only waited for .00004539 seconds.

  10. DSLR's are everywhere simply because there's a gazillion tourists lurking around the city.

  11. I loved how Strand Bookstore was filled with people at 2 in the afternoon. You should see our Chapter's (bookstore),  the only reason it's busy is because of the Starbucks next to it.

  12. Do New Yorkers love their coffee that much? There's literally a Starbucks every two-three blocks and they open at 5 in the morning and close midnight! I was in awe.

  13. Good looking men are everywhere. (I just had to get that out. )

  14. Burger King does not only serve you food but also internet. 2USD for 10 minutes. 

  15. Sadly, the racial hierarchy is still evident. Visible minorities who ironically enough do not live in Manhattan work in their retail stores to cater to the dominant majority. 

  Overall, the experience was priceless.  Visiting Mahanttan was indeed a step out of my comfort zone. 
  

  Every minute we spent walking down the blocks of NoHo to Tribeca and back to the Fashion District was definitely worth it.  I am now aware that even though their streets and avenues are marked by simple numbers, I lack sense of direction. Good thing my sister was there.
  

  Our gullibility paid off as one of the ladies from Chinatown directed to where they hide the "good stuff" (imitation bags).  It was like a Jackie Chan movie where the transactions were hidden very well.
  

  Lastly, we got to experience the culture different from ours and we managed to adapt.  I think that in itself is the sole purpose of traveling.

  Next stop: Ottawa.

  Why do you travel? What did you learn from traveling? If you don't travel, do you at least think it's important?

  • 9:13 PM
  • 910 Views
  • 26 eProps
  • 15 Comments