30th Dec 2013 Monday
After checking in our bags, we went through security. Catherine was swabbed and tested for explosive residue. They only detected Clarins hand cream. The full body scanner must have received a privacy software upgrade. I could not see my body scan on the monitor, it blinks OK if they don't detect anything. So I could not check on how my haemorrhoids were doing.
The flight to NY departs from gate D, which required a train ride. Breakfast at the diner and then a short wait for our flight. Catherine hadn't tried the slot machines yet, so she blew $4 before boarding.
The 5 hour flight to NY allowed us to catch 2 movies. There is no meal service, so it pays to eat before or bring a packed lunch. You can buy beer or wine for $6/7 which I did. They don't accept cash, (which is illegal, as cash is legal tender) only credit cards as payment.
We landed in JFK which is a really large and modern terminal. I counted a least 3 watering holes on the way to baggage claim.
Simon, Wang Theng's brother, picked us up in 2 cars and delivered us to our apartment in Lower Manhattan. The apartment was organised by Gaik Sim, Wang Theng's class mate from Ipoh. It is in a fab location, very spacious and has great facilities. It didn't have an elevator and was 4 levels up. So between the 3 guys, we lifted a 100 kgs of bags up 4 levels. Hernias and haemorrhoids all got a good work-out and I am sure some internal organs were rearranged too.
Simon brought a most delicious dinner of soup and sticky rice dumplings, and we were hungry and grateful.
31st Dec 2013 Tuesday
Gaik Sim took us around Chinatown and Little Italy after breakfast. Everything available in Asia is availiable here and cheap too, compared to NZ. It was -3C, so all the puddles on the streets were frozen, forming baby-sized black ice.
Gaik Sim then took us to her favourite Cantonese cafe XO and we had a great lunch. Catherine was planning to cook a New Year's Eve dinner, and they were off food shopping.
Melissa and Tessa wanted to visit the Soho shopping precinct, so I took them there. It was very crowded, so we wandered around a bit and made our way home.
On the way, we spotted a shop selling mini chocolate cup cakes called Baked by Melissa. I thought it'd be a good idea to get a shot of Melissa with the shop, which I did.
Melissa was so disarming in the picture that I lost my grip with gloves on and dropped the phone. The screen was completely smashed, and Catherine had to perform first aid on it with gladwrap to stop it from falling apart and cutting my finger when I swiped.
It was a hive of activity when we arrived home. Catherine was working her magic with WT as kitchen hand and Gaik Sim supervising. I served some wine to the ladies and got out of harm's way.
It was again a fab dinner, and the NYorkers were saying they have not eaten a feast like this for a while (some even admitted this is the first meal in months not served out of a take-out container).
I was glad Melissa gave up on her plans to go down to Times Square for the ball drop. There was a million people there, and the queuing started at 3 pm that afternoon. I don't really understand how 1 million people can hang around for that long.
The average bladder holds about 600ml. That's 600,000 litres of fluid, enough to create a small tsunami and wipe out Lyall Bay (I am guessing the latter part).
We waited for the count-down, ball drop, confetti and fire works. Appears NY is amongst the last cities in the world to celebrate New Year. We saw Sydney, HK and London before the count-down. Anyway, a Happy New Year to all of you, my dear friends, and looking forward to a great fun year ahead.
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