Day 9: Washington DC - New York

After a memorable 3 days at Washington DC, the day for us to leave for New York City has finally arrived. I was up earlier than the rest in the morning as I headed to Mc Donald's again for my breakfast. Once I was done with that, I proceeded to a camera shop to obtain a pouch for my camera (which I was eyeing since the day before). It was already close to 9am when I returned to the apartment, and by that time, all of them were ready to leave and so am I (I did my packing before I went out). So it was how we're going to the airport as how we came into the city, by subway and then a shuttle bus to the airport. By the time we checked in to our flight, it was already 11.30am (our flight was at 12.25pm) and we didn't waited long at the departure terminal before we could enter our airplane.

Again, I spent most of the flight time catching some precious sleep but before I could get enough of them, we had already arrived at the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.


Again, we left our airplane by stairs.


The arrival hall of JFK airport

Now the moment of truth, we were not able to find and reserve a hotel for our trip to New York, and it was only at the airport that we started asking around and making calls to hotels. But luckily, the airport has a service where u get to contact all the hotels within it's vicnity for free. And so we utilised that service and started making calls to all the available hotels on the directory. After nearly an hour of hunt for a hotel, we finally found one which has a pretty good rate and was nearby a subway station (we needed the subway because a hotel in Manhattan will cost a bomb and the subway was a means of transport for us to move around). The Hotel that we had decided upon was Super 8 Motel located in the Queens region near the airport and we got to the hotel by the hotel's free shuttle service from the airport. But there was something that all of us were really upset about, Damien at the very last minute told us that he won't be joining us as Anna will be coming to New York too, so it was only the 3 of us left (I won't want to discuss more about this). And so we arrived at the hotel and took a room for 4, for 4 nights, which will cost us USD 139.99 + tax a night, pretty reasonable considering that we are in New York.


A picture of our room

As usual, we took some time off to settle down and wash ourselves up and it was around 5pm, that we decided to roam the streets of NYC. We took a short walk to the nearest subway station (which was the Jamaica Van-Wyck Subway station).


Our hotel from the outside


The streets in front of our hotel


The entrance of the Jamaica-Van Wyck Subway station

At the subway station, we got ourselves a Metro Pass which will last us a week of unlimited subway rides (which cost USD 25). So, our destination was to the all-famous Chinatown of NYC, and after asking for some directions, we boarded the train which will take us to Canal Street, which was near Chinatown. It was a long 30-45 minutes trip (wasn't really sure of the time) and I slept through almost half of it before we arrived at the Canal Street Station. The moment we stepped out of the station, we were awed by the sight of the city itself, the very city that you always get to see on TV. Below are a few pictures of the streets nearby the subway station that we arrived at.











After a short walk, we had reached the Chinatown of NYC, and we realised that, when most of the billboards started to have Chinese characters on them. And the feeling was as if we were back in Malaysia, where the streets are littered (haha), and people selling stuff by the roads, and of course the noise of the crowd. Below are a few pictures of Chinatown NYC.








Little Italy, which we had a short walk but came back out into Chinatown



Our stomach again started to call when we saw rows after rows of shops selling Chinese food, and finally, we decided on a shop which we couldn't resist as we spotted them selling 'char siu' (BBQed pork). And so, we all had 'chicken rice style (like in Malaysia)' for our dinner.


This is my plate of char siu and duck meat rice (MMMM, delicious, after 3 months)

Once we were done with our dinner, we continued our journey. At first, we had this crazy idea of walking all the way to 42nd Street but it wasn't long before our feet yield to the distance of the walk. And so we decided to take a subway ride instead to the 42nd street. Below are some pictures of New York which has started to get dark.







After a 15 minutes subway ride, we had finally arrived at the 42nd street Times Square station. The moment when we stepped out of the station, we were stunned (I ran out of words to use already :P) by the sheer beauty of the sights and sounds of the 'City that never sleeps' at the 'crossroad of the world'. The place was magnificently litted up with colourful billboards and lights, and was filled with people. Below are a few pictures that you guys will definitely enjoy :)


The exit of the Subway into 42nd street






Me & Hard Rock Cafe of NYC :)








Hersey's store of NYC


The famous Broadway musical theater.

After hours of walking and picture taking, we've finally decided to call it a day, and so it was a long ride back to our hotel but with the knowledge that we've achieved a milestone...