The Big Apple!

Greetings from the Big Apple, the city that never sleeps.....which is SO true.

Like all the other cheapskates out there, we opted to take the chinatown bus - fung wah- highly recommend them. u save $5!!! =)

Our first impression of new york city?
good ol' chinatown. where the air smelt like.....bus fumes mixed with other funky chinese smells.
We asked the grumpy middle aged woman where we could get a cab, she pointed us in the right direction - the road-

We flagged down our very first NYC taxi to take us home - 232 east 82nd st.
Once we arrived in our basement shoe boxed sized apartment, a thought occurred to us......how on earth were we to fit 6 ppl in this tiny tiny apartment?
i kid you not when i say TINY. it was the size of 2 small bedrooms and a bathroom u could barely turn around in, but its all about the location....so we sacrificed space to be 3 blocks from The Met and central park.

The other girls joined us later that day - jennessa, belinda and poi - bearing gifts of stolen teabags, sugar sachets, salt and pepper and packets of sauce. From them we learnt the art of stocking up on free condiments.

Surprisingly the apartment seemed to comfortably accommodate 6, we slept 2 on the couch, 4 to a bed packed like sardines head to feet, and had to work out shower times, in the end it worked out well....we were nice and cosy =)

NYC is such an amazing city, you will never go hungry here, everywhere we walked there food from giant pretzels to hotdogs, gyros to baked nuts, small delis to Starbucks on every corner.

Lina's birthday was celebrated at superb Japanese buffet - Ichi Umi- for $18.50 ate sea urchin, salmon roe, at least 10 different types of freshly made sushi, tuna tartar, steamed seasoned crab, ramen/udon noodles, seabass, siu mai, gyoza, spicy sashmi salad, oysters, shrimps, clams, miso/ crab soup etc, the food was divine, the waiter was very attentive and we never felt pressured to leave, so had a very satisfying 2hrs lunch.

Vanessa's dumplings in chinatown was another favourite place of ours. $1 for 4 dumplings! bargain!
They also had hot soy milk for $1, peking duck sesame pide bread sandwich for $3.5, dumpling/noodle soup for $3.
This place kills david and cammys/ bobs kitchen/ shanghai dumpling house/ JG dumplings.

Peter Lugers steakhouse was voted the best steakhouse in NYC 26years in a row, with numerous reviews to back it up, established in 1887, they have been delighting the carnivores of NYC for over 100yrs.
So with reviews like that, it was a MUST try. we made the hike to Brooklyn to try this Michelin guide recommended restaurant.
Our waiter was a cheerful old man who tended to our every need, before we even knew what they were!
Water as soon as we were seated, took our photo without being asked, a second serving of bread once we were finished with our first - bread was so yummy, there was herb bread sticks and onion roll- refired steaks which were a bit raw and served them with fresh fries and more complimentary chocolate coins once we finished ours.
The steak was good, tender and precut, it was crunchy on the outside yet juicy and soft on the inside.
Very satisfied

And lastly.....NYC bagels and pizzas. YUMMMMO!!!!

NYC is a very exciting city, lots to see, lots to do and lots to eat!
There were buskers at every subway station some very good and some horrid.
The people are helpful but they are definitely blunt and brisk. We found it quite entertaining that they would tell u off whilst helping you - ie at the greyhound customer service counter, worker to customer waiting in line "You do want a bus ticket dont you? hurry up and come on over here so i can set you up with one. well do you want to go or not!??"
quite amusing to watch.

The only negative i can think of, was the cold -9 -7 heck even -2.......way too cold!!!!