so, what's on dmentedboy blogger ? everything dmented about jxe's travels. here, there and everywhere.
dear jxe.
so this one is for me. yes me. coz i deserve this after 3 months of writing to others and i can.so, i am a new yorker now. and i heart NY. i am gonna change the structure of my post. since this post is for me, i am going to give it back to others by providing my personal guide to others from this NEW new yorker.
there is so much to write about NYC and i have done so much. so i will be breaking the post into a few parts and will progressively upload them when i have the time.
but before that .. just alittle bit more about atlanta. when i arrived at the airport in the morning, there were no power. can u fucking believe that ? so my flight was delayed for almost an hour. its atlanta's way of tormenting me. anyway, all was good when the plane got off the ground.
FIRST THANG: GET A TIME OUT MAGAZINE !its a magazine that list every interesting event in NYC, starting from thursday to the following wednesday. it cost only 3 bucks. lots of tips and free listing.
Proudest moment :
so i arrived at la guardia airport. caught the local bus M60 all the way to the hotel. only cost me $2 ! gawd i m soooooo proud of me !
(sydney: no its bloody NYC !)
welcome to nyc. first thing i saw was the sydney harbor bridge. wait a minute. in nyc ? ok who copied who ? its the exact replica. just like i saw the white house in atlanta. some idiot built his house to look exactly like the white house in d.c. so really, you don't have to go to d.c. to see the white house. but then again. go to d.c. cross atlanta off the world map.
was bloody cold and was raining. did a power walk from chinatown through time square right up to central park south ! ended the day by going to florence's colleague's house party. very nice pad in the middle of manhattan. (friday 9th November, day 57)
time square.
(NYC: time square by night)
as soon as i walked to time square, it was dark. i was blown away by the big giant projection screen. its like a theme park minus the rides. what a feeling. they literally wrapped screen onto building facades and cut out holes for the window openings.
(friday 9th November, day 57)broadway.
ok. unlucky me. the day i arrived, broadway was on strike. 90% of the productions are cancelled. fuck fuck fuck.
nyc at a glance ...
skyscrapers.
(NYC: bricks galore)amazingly tall and massive skyscrappers made out of bricks. fucking awesome. they are not those insipid 3 stories walk-up apartments u see in sydney. eventhough i m guilty in living in on. haha.water tanks.
(NYC: no shortage of water supply)
love the water tanks you see up on every building. its almost iconic. i wonder wheres how it would look to have these tanks up the empire state building ?
firestairs.
(NYC: ride the stairs)
exactly like what you see in the movies except, they are everywhere. added to one of my list of things to do. climb one !!!
the fat green chick.
(NYC: staten island ferry ride - FREE)
wanna see the statue of liberty on a free ferry ride ?
take the subway line 1 to south ferry.NOTE: make sure you are in the 1st 5 car or the doors will not open.
once you arrive, go up the stairs into the ferry terminal and on to the ferry and off you go.
(monday 12th November, day 60)
central park
(NYC: central park .. boring !)
went to central park. got so fucking bored and left after 5 minutes. dont bother wasting your time exploring.
(monday 12th November, day 60)
went back after the macy's thanksgiving parade and had lunch with my new buddies. that was whole lot nice. still the place is boring.(thursday 22th November, day 70)
prospect park, brooklyn
(NYC: prospect park .. black or white !)
apparently the northern side of the park is fully black and the southern part of the park is fully white. you would think at this point in time, america would be a fully integrated society but no. we got off on the northern side of the park and whoa.. we were the only lighter color ones in town.
(tuesday 20th November, day - 68)
thanksgiving - macy's parade.
(NYC: macy and asses !)
got up at 7.30 to catch the parade. loads of people everywhere. apparently people started queuing up from 3.30am. idiots ! i got to see kermit's ass because most of the time i was blocked by this guy with a size 40 ass !!!
(thursday 22th November, day 70)
black friday
(NYC: people and shopping bags !)
the day after thanksgiving was major discount day. literally everyone is out shopping. some people camp overnight outside the store just so they could get those ridiculous deals. go figure.
(friday 23th November, day 71)
barcelona bar.
http://www.barcelonabarnyc.com/
923 8th Avenye (between W54th and W55th st)
new york, ny 10019 212.245.3212
subway: A, C, 1, B, D to columbus circle
(NYC: barcelona bar - completely trashed)
the one bar i went for a drink, the one night i got trashed. the place is famous for their shots.
highly recommended: full metal jacket & harry potter. and ask for linsay !(wednesday 14th November, day 62)TO BE CONTINUED ... xxx. j.
dear friends again ...
so, totally shocked me. almost 300 hits ! oh wow. i should start accepting ads on my site and earn some additional cash. thank you for making it worth posting.
Saturday 3rd November
Day 51 - Atlanta Day 1
(atlanta: random shots)
Ok arrived at JFK airport, NYC at 11pm 2nd november. had to hang out till 6am to catch the flight to atlanta. i was too cheap to check into a hotel so i decided to hang till 6. If anyone decided to do that in the near future, go to terminal 4. thats the only terminal that opens 24 hours. ppl were sleeping there so comfortably in their sleeping bag. i felt so jealous. all i did was sat there watch.
in the morning there was this big confusion with delta airlines, i literally yell at 5 people there and they had to re-route my trip to DC and before getting me to Atlanta. NEVER EVER FLY WIT DELTA EVER !!! i was supposed to arrive at atlanta at 8.20, instead, i arrived at 11.30 and my luggage did not arrive till 1.30pm. what a pain. AGAIN ... NEVER EVER FLY WIT DELTA EVER !
Welcome to atlanta. OMFG everyone the is FUCKING HUGE !!!! like FAT HUGE !!!. not a single skinny person in sight and i m not fucking kidding. everyone there is FAT and UGLY ! gawd as i walked around, i felt like a supermodel.
Got toby to take me to a diner straight away. i finally got my dose of CRISPY BACON in a classic american diner. mmmm yummy. also as grits. some kinda of corn thing that taste exactly like congee. then the people who worked there are exactly like how jewel described in her song, stephanville,tx.
"housewives, recapturing their youth by wearing floral print and suede,
fixing their hairdos, with pcs, chemical free hairsprays, martha steward taught them to make on t.v. ...."
one thing jewel forgot to mention in her song is ... FAT housewives. these middle aged woman with heavy makeup and funny hairdos, often grumpy serving you. very entertaining. oh yeah. hahaha.
NOTE: Americans has no chicken salt. AND THEY FUCKING HAVE NO CHICKEN FLAVORED CHIPS !!! THEY DONT HAVE TWISTIES !!!!!
Highlight of the day: CRISPY BACON at a diner !
Sunday 4th November
Day 52 - Atlanta Day 2
Didn't get to much, more because there was not much to get to. Toby took me to see the stone mountain, which was literally a large piece of granite rock. anyway, there is this theme park below the rock. and there is this guy who is a sweeper. with that job u would think he gets loads of exercise walking around the park, sweeping. but he weights at least 380 pounds. go figure !
apart from that i tried meatloaf. i remember watching my fav classic american sitcoms - roseanne and often i saw them eating crispy bacons and meatloafs, finally got to try it myself. living on american diet.
Got drove around and i was amazed that fast food chains were everywhere. there were this long stretch of street with huge fast food chains one after another ... mcdonalds, dunkin donuts, kfc, burger king, wendys, crispe kreme ..... and the list goes on. what a shocker. if only they have crispy bacon in everyone of them ...
what else did i do ? nothing. cause there is really nothing to do. haha
Highlight of the day: CRISPY BACON at a diner !
Monday 5th November
Day 53 - Atlanta Day 3
(atlanta: crispy bacon)
Went out exploring and wanted to find something interesting. saw a sign saying ... "voted as the best breakfast in town" took a mental note and need to go check it out tomorrow.
guess what ? i found nothing. but BIG FAT PEOPLE.
Went and saw a movie - 30 days of nights. entertaining.
Highlight of the day: CRISPY BACON at a diner !
Tuesday 6th November
Day 54 - Atlanta Day 4
Went to try whats supposed to be the "best breakfast in town." they do do really crispy bacon. but thats it.
declared today as rest day.
Highlight of the day: CRISPY BACON at a diner !
Wednesday 7th November
Day 55 - Atlanta Day 5
Went out exploring. a little birdie told me there must be something out there worth visiting. found nothing but FAT UGLY people.
Highlight of the day: CRISPY BACON at a diner !
Thursday 8th November
Day 56 - Atlanta Day 6
(atlanta: inine + pat monahan)
decided not to give up and went out exploring again. went to a huge mall. it has nothing but FAT UGLY people.
had the best night tonight. went to watch pat monahan (lead singer of Train) at the Variety playhouse. AWESOME performance ! Even the supporting act was FANTASTIC. they are called ININE. I am a total fan now. its great to finally see great cheap pop live music which u dont get in sydney. and you know whats great about the gigs ? its great to see some non fat people for a change. no seriously !
what i dont understand is that everyone is so anti pop in sydney and all the indie bands want to make it big but wouldnt go pop. go figure. good night to end my 25th birthday. yay !
Got toby to take me to a diner after the show and i had pancakes with CRISPY BACON !!! woo hoo.
The gig saved atlanta eventhough i thought i stayed here 6 days too long.
NEXT STOP: NYC !!!
Highlight of the day: CRISPY BACON at a diner, ININE + PAT MONAHAN !
In summary: DON'T GO TO ATLANTA ! DON'T FLY DELTA !
xxx. j.
dear friends,
so another coup out post.
so after all the complains and hate mails that i have been receiving, i will be nice with my postings from now on and not write anything that will portray myself as being nasty. i will censor stuff on this post and put the uncensored one on another site. but seriously, i am actually really really nice.
how is everyone doing by the way, instead of complaining, how about some updates on your lives ? i would so love to hear about what i have been missing down under too. its not a one way street u know.anyway ...
Saturday 20th : Rennes
Day 37
(great recovery at rennes)great. absolutely fantastic. i finally managed to get out of bed, caught the train and made my way all the way to rennes. my chest still hurt but no longer that much. i m finally exploring again. i actually feel as if its the first day of my trip again. the same feeling i had when i landed in amsterdam. felt so alive and well. also i m happily snapping away with my camera. rennes is a very nice city. somewhat reminiscent of strasbourg and carcassonne combined. every corner is interesting and inviting. there were some kind of demonstration there. i couldn't read what they were going on about nor i care if i did anyway. i just walked around them. just when i thought my luck has turned, i got another LOUD snorer in my room. this time i got up and sleep in the common room. as quiet it may be there, i woke up with a chest AND back pain ! hell. decided i hate this place now, i packed up and left.
Sunday 21st: St. Malo revisited - Day 1
Day 38
(st-malo: sunny days are here to stay)
an absolutely beautiful day to arrive. the sun was out and it was actually warm for a change.didnt find chai-i. i guess she must have went to the mont saint michel to see the tides. instead, i went to sit by the beach to just chill and relax. also will go and have pizza at the same restaurant on my previous visit. got this sudden craving for pizza.chai-i came looking for me in the evening. apparently she decided not to stay there because the tides only comes twice a month. every 15th and 30th of the month. instead, we went to the old city and have a really good dinner. we found this really cool little restaurant that serves local food. had a great night.
Monday 22nd: St. Malo revisited - Day 2
Day 39
the sun went away today. it was absolutely freezing. we went to the old city to hang out instead. chai-i had this craving for spaghetti and i had my pizza craving. we managed to find this other really cool cafe that serves both spaghetti and pizza. i resisted the pizza eventhough when i looked around at other people's pizza, they looked so good. i am saving my pizza craving for tonight, back to the other shop. when chai-i saw the pizzas, she couldn't resist it either. she held back and got her spaghetti.
we hung out at a really cool coffee bar after lunch. again, small, interesting and only patronized by locals. very nice.
the journey back to the hostel was a killer. it was freezing. it was nice and warm back at the hostel. anyway, i kinda made chai-i get out of the hostel to the pizza place. she swore at me all the way to the restaurant coz it was fucking cold and u know what ? when we reached the restaurant, it was closed. hah. we decided to skip dinner because it was a bloody long walk to the old city. We met a really cool canadian traveler but i think i shocked him with my inquisition ice-breaking question. hah.
Tuesday 23rd: St. Malo revisited - Day 3 + Dinan
Day 40
(dinan: nice)
woke up today to a beautiful day. so we decided to stay another day. we decided to do a day trip. we worked out that the only bus to dinan was at 12.30. chai-i still had spaghetti craving, so we headed to the same lunch place. same situation. we resisted and ordered the same thing.
(dinan: cats galore)
dinan is beautiful. so glad we came. such an amazing old city. we walked around the place, stalked a few people and relaxed. i will let the pictures speak for themselves.
(dinan: nice)
the bus back to saint-malo didn't come. so we had to run to the train station to catch the last train back. we kinda just made it.
back to saint-malo, it was fucking freezing again. finally made it to the pizza place and boy i was satisfied.
after having such a great time today, we did some research on where to go next. it was either bayeux, chambourg or some closer destination. unfortunately, the train line and schedule didnt quite work out the way we planned, we decided to stay one more day here before saying our goodbyes.
Wednesday 24th: St. Malo revisited - Day 4
Day 41
(st malo: the tide)
the day today is pretty cloudy. so declared it a lazy day. we had to go back to the same place for lunch this time coz chai-i had to have the pizza there and i ended up getting the spaghetti hah.
hung out in a really cool tea house the whole afternoon.
on the way back, we saw the most amazing tides. the waves came sweeping into the street. apparently its very dangerous and every year, there are a few deaths. people thought its amazing, they stand there and watch, a big wave comes and take them in.
we decided to cook that night and chai-i made a feast. it only cost us 2 euros each. hah.
Wednesday 25th October - Friday 2nd November: Nantes revisited - Days 1 - 9
Day 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50
(nantes: revisited)
(nantes: revisited again)
(nantes: in japan)
eventhough i didn't see the sun at all for the first 3 days, it felt so good to be back in nantes. there is something about this place which i just cant describe. its just a feeling i guess. totally love it. it feels so much like i belong here. i just wanna settle down here. when the sun finally shone, it felt GREAT !
stephane came here for the weekend and as usual it was great hanging out with him. he gave me a great tour and history lesson on nantes.
i found a art house cinema here that actually shows english films in english with french subtitles. i ended up watching 2 films.
1. control - an english film about the lead singer of joy division
2. paranoid park - a gus van sant film. i used to watch every single gus' film right up to psycho. was a big big fan. suddenly i stopped. i dont really know why but after watching this film, i m killing myself for not having watched his other films. now i have to go back to sydney and dig out all his other films that i missed.
found some extremely cool coffee bars :-
1. the cult cafe
2. live bars
3. le lieu unique
4. hangers a bananas
be sure to check these places out should anyone chose to visit me here in the near future.
found a shop that makes sting instruments. how cool.
there is a little japanese garden here. u can actually experience being in japan in nantes. cool.
above all, i did have a traumatizing experience. i needed a haircut bad and since all the french look so good, i thought i wanna look like them. so i went into this hairdresser. she spoke no english at all.
she went "blah blah blah"
i went "just a trim. A TRIM"
she went "blah blah blah" and cut cut cut and "ok ?"
i went "no enough not too much"
she went cut cut cut somemore ? "ok ?"
i went "yes enough ok ok ok"
and she went "yes ?" cut cut cut somemore and "ok?"
and finally i shouted "stop !"
and she went "good good good ok !"
note:
kaori !!! I MISS YOU. at times like this, i really really feel homesick !
also managed to talk to quite a few locals here. its interesting to dwell into the minds of the french people. apparently there is this little competition between rennes and nantes. almost like the sydney and melbourne thing. people here seems to be angry with the current political situation. i dont like controversy so i won't post it here. their president isnt very popular at all. young people here have big hopes and dreams. they actually believe that there should be a fair world. they so should grow up.
ok thats the end of france.
lets do abit of summary ...
the valuables:
lost : susanne's rainbow umbrella, my cap, my beanie, one white t-shirt (dont even ask me where it went), a sock (not a pair but one)
damaged: my sunnies, the straps on my day pack
bought: a pair of gloves, a new cap, the science of sleep DVD
the past:
left sydney: 58
in europe: 50
the lows
coughing days: 40
chest aching days: 5
rainny days: 26
snorers: 2
top 5 top french list
1. absolutely everyone there looks incredibly good. slim, cute and beautiful. if you see anyone fat and ugly, they are either a. american or australian tourist, b. married with kids, c. not french.
2. nantes
3. annecy
4. friendly local people. contrary to what the rest of the world thinks of the french, they are really nice people. just dont tell them you are english. hah
5. coffee bars
bottom 5 bottom french list
1. dog shit. u just cant look up when u walk. dog shit everywhere.
2. dogs. the french loves their dogs. they take them absolutely everywhere. even to trains and restaurants. we all should be EATING dogs !
3. fat and ugly and loud american tourists
4. grenoble
5. montpellier
xxx. j.
