The Star-Spangled Sojourn (Part 1): Reaching New York, the Met, Central Park, and Times Square/Broadway

Prologue:

- I was fortunate to have my research paper (actually, a condensed version of my MA thesis) accepted to the 2015 New York Conference on Asian Studies, hosted by Vassar College in Poughkeepsie New York. This gave me a delightful excuse to visit the USA during my favorite season - fall. To be honest, the USA was not a priority of my "must go places" in my travel bucket list. Although I knew that the USA was culturally rich because of the indigenous Americans (i.e. the "native American Indians,") the main historical places of interest are mostly from the colonial era onwards, or places of interest related to popular culture (which I may not totally know or appreciate, since I am not as knowledgeable on American popular culture as much as many of my peers.) The USA, however, has sparked a bit of my curiosity, as I consume a ton of American media, as well as the majority of the Philippine society.

- Preparing for the trip was hassling because of the US visa requirements, and because I scheduled a 2-week trip to New York City (NYC,) Poughkeepsie, and Washington D.C.. Looking for a place to stay in NYC was the most difficult since everything was notoriously expensive. A night in the cheapest hostels in Manhattan, for example, is already worth a night in a 3 to 4-star hotel in Metro Manila. This means that a night in a proper hotel in Manhattan is worth a fortune for the typical Filipino. For Poughkeepsie, the venue of our conference, I had no problem since I was going to share with three other friends from UP Diliman whom I just met up in Poughkeepsie, and our hotel was discounted since we were paper-presenters in the conference. As for Washington D.C., I was fortunate to have a friend who gladly opened her home to me and offered to accompany and tour me around DC as much as she could.

- I still could not believe that I had the chance to explore a bit of the USA on my own, not to mention some of the country's major cities. I usually feel nervous when going to a new city/country on my own, which I think is normal, but this time I felt even more so. This was the longest and the farthest trip I've done and arranged alone (for the most part) so far, and now that I'm back (in one piece) in Manila writing this retrospective blog series, I can't help but feel proud of not getting lost during this "voyage."



The trip:

- Oct 10-11, 2015, Saturday to Sunday

- I was arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Friday night after dinner, and met my college friend Rap who, I found out the night before, was going to be in the same flight I was to Korea. I was to fly to New York via Korean Air with a short transit at Incheon International Airport, while Rap was headed to Korea. We hung out a bit in the airport lounge, since my credit card allows me a free pass to the MIASCOR lounge with a "plus one."

Why hello Rap, this is a pleasant surprise!!

- We left Manila to Korea half past midnight of the 10th. Upon reaching Korea, Rap and I parted ways; he headed to the immigration and baggage claim, while I headed to the transfer hall and to the boarding gates. Although I barely had sleep, I could not afford to sleep during my flight to Seoul and during my roughly 4 hours to spare in Incheon Airport, since I was conditioning myself and adjusting my sleep patterns based on the time in New York, just so I could quickly avoid jet lag once I reached New York.

- One thing I like about Incheon Airport is the variety of activities and galleries located within the airport to entertain guests. This time, I visited a cultural gallery on how hangeul (the Korean alphabet) was used by artists to convey the growing importance and global impact of the Korean language, and the aesthetic quality of the geometric letters. Later on, I saw how Incheon Airport slowly filled itself with life as the sun rose - shops opened one by one, and multi-national passengers and employees filled the airport with murmurs and noise from possibly every language family on Earth.

A special cultural gallery.

World map made up of hangeul letters.

Psy made up of lines from "Gangnam Style."

Mandatory tourist photo with these two dolls. I almost always take a photo with them when in Incheon International Airport.

Free cultural activities in the airport.

- I reached the John F. Kennedy International Airport in NYC after a 13-hour flight from Incheon, with more-or-less enough sleep patterned after the time difference, and a fantastic view of Canada's Lake Ontario (the plane passed by Canada instead of the USA, possibly to avoid airplane traffic,) the Hudson River, and finally, New York City.

Lake Ontario!!

Canada, the sky, the plane, and almost space.

Rivers and supposedly-red trees.

Autumn colors from the plane.

Red trees in the north.

Hudson River.

- After landing around 11am, my first challenge was to use the New York Subway, as I have been warned by everyone and the internet that it can be a bit confusing to use. Unlike most metro systems elsewhere (including the Philippines,) multiple trains of the same color may run on exactly the same track, with differences in numbers and letters. For example, the green line hosts lines 4, 5, and 6. The difference between the three lines include where they start/finish operating, and whether they're express (they stop only at the stations marked with white circles in the subway map) or local (they stop at every station.) This is why the train lines are always referred by number and/or letter, rather than color. I shall not go into this deeply in the blog post since a tutorial post would mean a whole blog post dedicated to the NYC subway ALONE; that's how confusing but learnable the NYC subway can be. I can assure, however, that there are plenty of video and blog tutorials that can properly teach future NYC travel-newbies how to ride the NYC subway system properly; I myself learned from those many blogs and video tutorials. I also realized that what everyone told me about the subway stations were true as well - funky smell, "unique" people, and interesting performances. I immediately remembered one of Hanson's earlier singles, "Weird."

After almost 1 day of traveling.

The airport train that I got on, coincidentally, was filled with Incredible India ads. Even the outside of the train itself was coated with big Incredible India images.

All things Indian have learned to follow me whenever I travel. I encounter random Indian stuff even though I'm far from India. 

- I rode the airport train from the airport to Jamaica station (not the actual Jamaica the country,) and bought a 6-day unlimited ride Metro Card. The airport was far from Manhattan, where my hostel and the rest of my NYC travel will be, so it took me an hour to reach my hostel via train. I stayed at New York Budget Inn, located in 34th Street, just a short 5-minute walk from the 33rd Street metro station. The hostel offers both dorm-style and private rooms, and is the best hostel there is in New York. I can say this, because of all the hostels I've searched for prior to my trip, this was the only hostel to be centrally located, reasonably priced (Manhattan standards,) and with little to no negative reviews elsewhere. It also has free wi-fi, free computer use, and free breakfast (donuts and coffee/hot chocolate.) As early as now I'd like to say that I had no regrets staying in this hostel. The hostel was also very in-demand that I wasn't able to book a private room for myself, and had to resort to staying in a dorm-style room with an ensuite bathroom, for around 70 USD a night. (This 70USD a night in a Manhattan hostel was already a single room in a 5-star hotel in Mongolia.) This was a first for me too, since I had never booked in a dorm-style room until I booked in New York Budget Inn. Luckily, the roommates I encountered throughout my stay were all nice and friendly people.

My "home" in NYC.

Looks nice; the door is at the left side of the photo.

I was assigned the top bunk at the back. You can see my open luggage and my backpack too.

- After checking in, changing my bag, and settling my things in my nice room in the hostel, I left and explored New York for the rest of the afternoon. It was around 1 in the afternoon, and I had quite some time to spare.

- The first place I visited was the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or "the Met." After being established in the 1870s, the Met has exhibited, and currently exhibits "my kind" of art - cultural and folk art. These artworks from all over the world are separated into continents and geocultural regions where they came from. The pieces of artworks include masks, jars, rugs, costumes, armor, weapons, sculptures, textile, religious paraphernalia, and other items not commonly considered as "art" by common definition.

- I underestimated the collection of the museum, and spent two hours instead of one. I know that to truly appreciate the Met, a full day in the museum is needed. Since I lacked the luxury of time to do this, I was still able to appreciate the museum, because I just whizzed by the Asian galleries, since I already knew what they were without reading the descriptions. I moved more slowly in the European, African, American, and Pacific galleries, since I have little exposure to the arts and cultures of those areas.

Inside the Met.

An Egyptian statue at the lobby.

Japanese obis.

Gandhara (Indo-Greek) depiction of Buddha.

Gandhara (Indo-Greek) art.

Mother goddess statues from Harappa/Mohenjo-Daro.

With a Nataraja statue.

The whole ceiling/wall was brought to the museum from Gujarat, India. It's from a Jain meeting hall.

Detail on that ceiling.

Tibetan crown.

Assyrian carving.

Cuneiform!!

Guardian.

Stuff people wore during the Silk Road trade. 

A three-story tall embroidered carpet from India.

Safavid helmet and teapot.

Cypriot (from Cyprus) sarcophagus.

Cypriot-Greek art.

Perseus and Medusa's head in the Greek section.

African ritual masks.

Giant Oceanian ritual "mask."

From the Incas.

Etruscan chariot.

Egyptian sarcophagus.

Walls with hieroglyphics.

Carved walls.

So apparently the Egyptians wore a lot of wigs too.

Hatshepsut.

Golden accessories.

The interior of a sarcophagus.

Temple of Dendur inside the Met!!

It was made during the Roman period of Egypt.

Sphynx.

Diana.

Knights.

Outisde the Met.

- After visiting the Met, I took a stroll in Central Park. The Met is actually located at the northern edge of Central Park. This famous park is a jewel of nature in the middle of the "concrete jungle where dreams are made of" (cue, "Empire State of Mind" by Alicia Keys and Jay Z.) The park is 315 hectares big, and has quite a few attractions. The roads in the park are not "organized" (i.e. gridded,) which makes navigating a bit confusing. Since the Met was located near the places I wanted to see in Central Park, I was able to maximize what's left of daylight for the day. I went to see the great lawn, where people played games or had picnics, the big Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis reservoir, and the Belvedere Castle. The Belvedere Castle is a fake castle, and is just an artistic observation deck of the park. When I was at the castle, some staff from the Central Park Zoo were making a short lecture about bats. Of course, a lot of kids were there. For me, I was only there for the view.

The great lawn,.

The Eldorado.

From the reservoir.

Veiw from the Belvedere Castle.

Very Euro-like.

Nice view, the sun is about to set too.

From the lake.

A closer view of The Eldorado.

- I underestimated the sunset, and forgot that the days were shorter in New York this time of the year. I reached the Bethesda Terrace and Fountain, both opened in the late 1800s, took some photos, and did not realize how fast the sun was setting. (I was singing "That's How You Know" in my head while I was there. It's the song from Disney's "Enchanted;" they shot the musical number in Central Park with the finale at Bethesda Fountain.) By the time I finished taking photos of the fountain and the terrace, the sun was gone.

Bethesda Fountain.

Bethesda Terrace.

Inside the terrace.

Greatly-detailed ceilings.

It would've been nice to see the terrace with daylight too.

"That's how you knowwwww, that's how you know he's your looooovee." - Giselle, "That's How You Know," Enchanted (2007).

- Now, I mentioned earlier that it was hard to navigate in Central Park even during broad daylight, because the roads are irregular and curved. Since I was so "smart" and did not realize the sunset was earlier than expected, I panicked for a moment because I did not know how I would be able to find me way out of Central Park. Central Park at night is dimly-lit, and with plenty of trees, it was harder to find my way around. I was located in the heart of the park, and had to turn myself into a boy scout in no time. I looked at my map, looked at the buildings around me, took a deep breath, and found my way out of the park. I rode the subway home, and had pizza for dinner at the small pizzeria near my hostel to celebrate my first successful day (afternoon??) in New York.

- I had an early start for my second day. I left the hostel while my roommates were still sleeping, and headed to the famous Times Square, where the annual "Ball Drop" is held during new year. The heart of Times Square is an intersection (of 7th Avenue and Broadway) filled with shops, novelty museums, and theaters that house long-running musicals.

I see this everyday. My hostel is really close to the Empire State Building.

Artsy shot.

With me.

Hello NYPD, hello Times Square!!

Hard Rock.

Good Morning America!!

One side of the intersection wth plenty of cars

Bright lights in broad daylight.

- Broadway was already bustling with people, mostly tourists, even as early as 9-10am. I spent the morning taking photos of the area, and buying some souvenirs. The best place to buy souvenirs is a store called Grand Slam, located right beside the photo-spot along the intersection. This big store has the best prices among all the souvenir stores I've seen within and outside Times Square. Grand Slam even has better prices than the small stores which people assume would have better prices. These small stores may have souvenirs that are twice or thrice as the ones in Grand Slam, even if they're just the same items.

- Along Times Square, there are also mascots walking around. At first, I thought that they were just part of Comic Con or something, because there were Comic Con cosplayers walking along Times Square that day too. It was later on that I found out that these specific mascots were "resident mascots" of Times Square. They have IDs that show that they are licensed "actors" who can solicit money from you if you want a photo taken with them. This is fine, although they sometimes resort to harassing tourists like me, like they force you to have a photo with them even when you've said no countless times. In my case, Spiderman and Penguin decided to jump in my selfie (I wanted to take a photo of me and the view, without any comic-book characters);he even insisted (read: forced) me to take a photo of him with Penguin, then they wanted me to give them money. Because I felt harassed and did not want to have photos with them, I did not give them money. (I would surely and properly give them money if I approached them and voluntarily asked to have photos taken with them.)

Elmo and Cookie Monster.

Woody.

Billboards.

The northern half of Times Square: Duffy Square.

American flag in front of billboards.

Francis P. Duffy, a former soldier and priest.

Bought myself a typical chili hotdog.

Minions and Hello Kitty.

Olaf!!

Harassed by Spiderman and Penguin. I was really irritated beyond my smile.

- I had (a rather inappropriate) lunch of rich New York cheescake and a black-and-white cookie near Minskoff Theater, where my play was going to be. The Minskoff Theater is where Disney's Lion King is staged. I booked tickets long before the trip, and I chose The Lion King because I've always been fascinated at how they were able to incorporate African cultures and motifs in the theater performance; it's not just a play with Disney mascots dancing around. I've also seen some performances online, and my favorite so far is the Broadway version of "The Circle of Life."

YIIIIIIIIIII. So excited!!

My inappropriate lunch. NY cheesecake and a black-and-white cookie.

Someone's limo.

I think I saw (2015-version) Annie eating her lunch. LOL. (Just joking.)

- My play was scheduled around 1pm, and the play lasted around 2 hours. I had no regrets choosing The Lion King, and it was as amazing and cultural as I thought it would be. I was seated at the first balcony, center, so I also had a great view of the stage, making my Broadway experience perfect.

Can't wait!!

Plenty of people who bought tickets online. It's actually very convenient to do so, than line up on the day itself.

Rafiki mannequin.

She's my favorite character.

Curtains.

Apparently I can't take a photo of it, and I was only told I couldn't after I took this shot. Whoops.

After the play.

- I walked through a street bazaar, and to Radio City, Rockefeller Center, and Carnegie Hall, before going back to the main intersection. I was thinking of what to do to kill time, since I wanted to take photos of Times Square at night when all the lights from the billboards would blind everyone, so I decided to go to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in New York. This is the third Madame Tussaud's that I've been to, the first being in Hong Kong, and the second in Tokyo, Japan (click here.)

I swear this looks like Hong Kong's Ladies' Market (click here.)

How American.

Jimmy Fallon!!

Radio City.

Rockefeller Center. 

Carnegie Hall.

They say that the road to Carnegie Hall is "practice, practice, practice!!"

Perfect way to kill time.

Yay!!

Pink.

Taylor Lautner.

Kim Kardashian.

RuPaul!!

RuPaul photobombing my selfie with Ann Hathaway.

Charlie Chaplin.

Whoopi Goldberg in her Sister Act costume. I really love both Sister Act movies.

- Being the Bollywood fan that I am, my favorite portion in the wax museum was the small area dedicated to two Bollywood kings: Amitabh Bachchan, and Shah Rukh Khan. All the non-Indians who saw my big grin did not understand why I was so ecstatic to see them. The Indian tourists who were there were as as ecstatic and overjoyed as I am. The Indians and me were in our own little bubble of euphoria.

AMITABHHHHH!!!!

SHAH RUKHHHH KHAN!!!!

Jennifer Lawrence looks hungry.

I love Lucy!!

Can we play the Wheel of Musical Impressions. Jimmy Fallon???? :D:D:D:D

Salvador Dali!!

His holiness, the Dalai Lama.

Mahatma Gandhi.

Abe Lincoln.

Martin Luther King, one of my idols.

A big head of freedom!!

Madame Marie Tussaud.

Taylor Swift

Selena Gomez.

Lady Gaga in her old form.

Ed Sheeran.

- After my visit to the wax museum, I took shots of Times Square at night. It was the epitome of the line "big lights will inspire you" from the song "Empire State of Mind."

Times Square at night.

The Empire State Building at night, on the way back to my hostel.

- I later took the train back to my hostel, and bought some deli food at the grocery-cum-delistore nearest to my hostel. They had really great Italian pastas and sandwiches!!

- During my first two days in New York, I realized quite a few things. First, I realized that I've used more Spanish than English, since there were a lot of latino vendors and staff. Second, I realized that my cough of two months immediately vanished after my first day, confirming my latest pulmo's diagnosis that my cough is just a bad case of allergies. Third, I realized that the USA is more interesting than I thought, and I had a lot of fun experiencing the urban culture of New York -- to think this is just the beginning of many more adventures in what's dubbed as the "concrete jungle where dreams are made of." (Please read Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, Part 5 here, 6 here, 7 here.)