new york/atlanta

(started this post more than a week ago. then got caught up in an eighty episode korean drama which is causing me to have severe eyebags and no life. taking a breather from sword-wielding action to finish this.)

anyone looking at the photos taken during our trip to new york will surely go:

huh??? no statue of liberty? no empire state building? no times square?

yes, that's right. 

6 days in new york and all we had to show are photos taken at the metropolitan museum of art and niagara falls.

blame the freaky weather.

when we were there three weeks ago, new york city was wet and cold. so cold that i didn't want to take my hand out of my coat pocket to fish for my camera in my bag.

i was prepared for a cold spring, not freaking 2℃ !! and it was the day we took the hop on, hop off bus! we didn't alight at the touristy spots, preferring to stay in the warm bus. just twisted our necks around to catch the sights.  the only hop off we did was to take a ferry to staten island. 

or at least that was what we had in mind.

two steps into the cold and i felt my insides screaming in protest. as if the chill had gone right into my bones, intestines, organs...and all had became frozen. imagine carrying a freezer in you.

we valiantly walked the length of the path to where the ferry was.

looked at each other, teeth chattering, body bent with arms deep inside pockets. 

pathetic sight, really.

we could see the lady in the horizon, no bigger than my pinkie.

ok, so we have seen the statue of liberty, we decided, so we quickly walked away to wait for the next bus, haha...

the thing about NYC is that there's really no need to take pictures. cos we have 'visited' it so often, on tv, in the movies. it's just a lot more exciting being there.

we had a thousand and one things we wanted to do but only did maybe ten! factor in severe jetlag, upset stomach, freaky weather, delayed flight (from buffalo), and serious shopping, there's isn't much time left. 

managed to catch the hugely popular musical billy elliot, walked to times square and broadway, visited a flea market that was so disappointing, bought a hotdog from a street stall, ate mind-blowingly good pizzas, crappy chinese food at chinatown, great bagels with cream cheese, calorie-laden breakfasts, spent a whole day at woodbury commons premium outlets (with a large suitcase that begs telling in another post. if i feel like it one day), another whole day at niagara falls, and great, great shopping along 5th avenue.....

anyway, a look at the few photos we have:

caught unawares on both counts...

i know it's art but it's damn freaky-looking, to be honest!

for the record, i didn't take this picture.

a freezing, blue sua teng lang in niagara falls, in front of the famous horseshoe falls on the canadian side

trying in vain to capture the gloriousness of the falls. truly spectacular and inspiring.

the falls are less magnificent but more photo-friendly on the american side.

after six days in NYC, we flew to atlanta where oz had his conference and i, my date with more shopping.

met up with angela and ming. and sam.

dinner at justin's

soul food takes some getting used to. i found my pasta far too salty and heavy.

we visited the georgia aquarium, a very impressive and interactive place.

err, those fish behind are real, though they look deceptively wall-paperish.

this jellyfish was pretty in pink.

nemo: sigh. another sua teng lang.

lunch at a tex mex place which incidentally, served truly great margaritas.

at the coca cola place, the polar bear was so animatedly cute, we made a pact to imitate its endearing grin.

well, it looks endearing, i look idiotic :-D

the different flavours of pop available for tasting. the above from africa tasted weird. 

though i am no coke fan, nothing beats the real thing, really.

first heard of The Varsity on tv, on travel and discovery channel some months ago. apparently, it's like an institution in atlanta so had to visit and take mandatory photo.

with the kind of volumes it claimed to be churning out daily, you wouldn't expect fries like this, would you?

not only were they gross looking, they tasted bad too. limp, soggy and oily.

well known for its hotdogs. there's two slaw dogs behind the fries and a naked dog behind the onion rings which, btw, were bad too.

i honestly think the $1 something  hotdogs at ikea taste much better.

maybe we just like our food differently.

ok, end of post. time to go back to my korean drama....