And so instead of landing before noon, we got to La Guardia pretty much at lunch time, after 1pm. Indeed the fog was thick, and I could only see the ground only when the plane's tires were 2m above. We were in a hurry to get to Manhattan and take catch up with the time wasted in Durham airport, so we hopped in a shared minivan cab and were driven into down rather swiftly. We were dropped off among the first one in the rather miserable rainy weather. The hotel was at 31st and Park Avenue, and had the quickest check-in time ever: they didn't even ask for any photo ID.
We just dropped our bags, explored the clean shared bathrooms, put on some rainproof attires and quickly walked out. It was only then that I realized we were smack in Koreatown, with JYP office glaring the Wonder Girls (think 'Nobody' or 'Be my baby') in their ground floor window. We walked down Park Avenue down to Union square, where we sat for a slice of pizza while lamenting about the weather.
We also discussed how cheaper it was to get electronics in his town compared to Europe, and a few minutes later, we crossed the square and ended up in Best Buy, looking for a netbook. Mamelle finallys ettled on one and we also bought a cover for it. Not even 2h and we've bought a computer! And that wa the beginning: we skipped through Little Italy to get onto Broadway, crossed Houston St and did many shops to end up in Chinatown. Funnily enough the sight was not as crowded as it was almost 6pm and some shops were closed or packed up because of the rain. Nonetheless, my dear travel companion was into getting a suitcase.
From experience, I knew she was not a quick shopper, but in the time that she took to choose a suitcase and haggle with the vendor, I had time to buy 2 woolen hats in the shape of animals. Eventually, a price was convened and off we dragged the suitcase, exploring the many shops in the area. I could not find the shampoo I was looking for, and ou feet were starting to complain. So on the promise that we would return, we went back to the hotel to drop a suitcase full of shopping, get some rest, and prepare for dinner.
While resting, None managed to ring me up at the right time to give me some tips on food places in the area. of course it was going to be in Koreatown, and she gave me some worthy addresses to fill our stomachs. Armed with those recommendations, we walked towards 5th Avenue and got into a self service restaurant that would allow you to try different things and weighed your tray to evaluate how much you had to pay. I bough a bottle of soju to share, and we sat in a corner to eat. We took so many things but I remember taking gimbap, beef on stick (a bit like satay), some vegetable, and some rice cake spicy dish. We got drunk pretty quickly with soju, drinking it in shots like professionals..heheheh
Pretty soon though, we needed some fresh air, so we started to walk around in the cool refreshing spring air. An outrageous idea formed in our drunken heads, and giddy to materialize it we hopped on a southbound train to get on the Brooklyn bridge and see the lights.
We crossed it midway, meeting with joggers, priests, rabbis and tourists, up to the first arch. After a few laughs and photos, we briskly walked back to the station as we were both freezing and in need of toilets. Besides, it was getting late, and we managed to get back to the hotel around midnight. Whether we showered before going to bed was probably not a priority then, as we were dead tired. But it was a successful sightseeing.
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