My NYC

I'm a creature of habit, whenever I walk to work from home or the other way around I have a certain route. I usually don't stray much. Same thing when I'm in New York City, I have a certain route I choose to walk. I'm familiar with certain areas that allow me to explore a bit, but anything too far from my route will confuse the heck out of me and potentially get me lost. (Well, not really since the streets are all numbered but anything south of Houston has the potential. ^^)

My New York City consist of Chinatown, Little Italy, Soho, NYU, West Village, Chelsea, Times Square areas. Occasionally I'd go to Century 21 down around Wall Street, up to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Central Park, Barney's and Shanghai Tang around the Rockefeller Center, Todai Japanese Buffet around Empire State Building, when Principe was with me, we used to go to the Argentina Pavilion to have churrasco and ropa viejas. When I crave for real Japanese food I would got to the port authority and take the bus to the all glorious Mitsuwa in Edgewater. It's brilliant there, not only can you find the rarest ingredients and the food court is to die for, I wouldn't mind living in there for the rest of my life and the view of the NYC from across the river is beautiful.

So let me walk you through my route. Being a self-proclaimed foodie, I do have some favorite spots. On Mosco Street, there is a little dumpling shop that sells 5 gyozas or 4 fried pork buns for $1. Perfect, tasty little gyozas. It's probably the best buck you can spend. Around Mott and Bayard, there's Ajisen Ramen, their soft pork bone ramen noodles is a must. There's Tearrific Cafe which sells magnificent bubble teas and other delicious fruit-tea mixed beverages, foreigner-friendly Shanghai Cuisine restaurant with passable Shanghai food (Try the steamed pork buns, scallion pancakes and the cured beef), Tai Wong restaurant is always mobbed by people with their authentic congees and BBQ rice platters. There are also some music stores and an underground mall around the corner on Elizabeth street that sells cute knickknacks and hard to find anime comic books in Chinese.

On the corner of Mott and Canal sits a great Chinese pastry shop called Tai Pan bakery, Joe.My.God posted it on his morning view segment before. Chinese bakeries like other Chinese businesses earn their money by volume and speed, so don't get irked if the food seems too cheap or if they rush you to make your decision. Across the street on Mulberry is little Italy, where I always have to fight my urge to get a gelato and get my thrill by walking in the middle of the streets on Saturdays and Sundays. Turning left at the end of Little Italy lands me in Soho, where street vendors sell various art and jewelry. Also, interesting and eclectic shop are all around. My favorites are Pylones, Sur La Table and the MoMA/Muji complex.

Up and down Broadway there are tons of clothing store, it is like a mall. Speaking of buying T-shirts, Yellow Rat Bastard is the megaload. Turn left on Bleecker Street and right on Thompson Street, there is a very interesting chess shop, turn left again on West 3rd and you'll see jazz clubs and a park with half naked men playing handball at the end of the street. There are usually another batch of street vendors on Bleecker street selling jewelries and little charming eateries lining up and down the street. Last week when I was there I discovered a new chain of yogurt shop called Pinkberry that I've seen on the new American Express commercials. I'm not saying it's anything special, but they are apparently popping up everywhere. (I wonder how they will survive when winter comes.)

Crossing the 7th Avenue and it is the heart of Greenwich Village where the gays roam. I always goes to the Factory to catch my breath, but they seemed to have closed down either for restoration or for good. That's a shame, I loved their tin ceiling and the staircase that goes nowhere. Walk up 7th Avenue there's a novelty store called the Pleasure Chest, it's a nice birthday gift store for close friends. (Well, gag gifts mostly) Turning onto 8th Avenue it'll be Chelsea, I usually can sense the attitude coming from skinny queens everywhere around. :) There's a gay bookstore on 8th and 20th called Rainbows and Triangles, since A Different Light closed its New York branch, that would probably be a more interesting store.

Occasionally I'd go to Times Square or Union Square but it's not a habit unless I'm showing friends around. I like the Virgin Megastore in Times Square but Joe.My.God said that it is closing. Sad to say, but Times Square's Toys 'R' Us is probably the more convenient one for me, I find the other ones physically closer to me harder to get to. The past weekend, my friend showed me around St. Mark's where Japanese Yakitori bars and stores are popping up like mushrooms. I also went to two gay bars in the East Village; the Phoenix and Nowhere. I really liked how comfortable and the basement feel of Nowhere.

I always walk a whole lot when I'm in New York, with all the things to see along the way and my iPod on, I really don't feel that I'm actually walking until the next day. It's a good workout. And when I get tired, I'll just go to a coffee shop and sit down or hop on the subway, took my friends around a fw times and they are always complaining how much I walk though. I find it funny when they told me that they are scared of taking the subway though. :)

Well, that's my slice of New York City.



1. DollarGyoza, 2. 20060709 ajisen, 3. Having Bubble Tea at Tearrific!!!, 4. Shanghai Cuisine, 5. Elizabeth Street Center mall (chinatown), 6. TAI Pan Bakery - NYC Chinatown - 01.10.07, 7. Little Italy - Street, 8. MoMa Store 01, 9. Yellow Rat Bastard, 10. so many choices, 11. chess shop, 12. Handball Court, 13. FACTORY, 14. The Pleasure Chest, 15. Street band. Times square. NYC. Manhattan 18-03-07, 16. Virgin Megastore on Times Square, 17. toysrus, 18. NYC Subway, 19. Oh Taisho, 20. Manhattan Bridge Arch