New York City

I haven't been keeping this blog in the best of shape as of late. Things changed rather drastically come October last year. I've been coming to terms with changes happening around me and am aware that such changes will continue to happen regardless how bad I feel.

Hence, I've decided to continue blogging. It may be a little late in the year for a 2008 entry but this is my first so I'm going to make the best of it.

Earlier this month I was in New York City for an event hosted by Pixar (Yes, that Pixar. The ones who made Toy Story, Bugs Life, Monsters Inc. Etc). I pretty much enjoyed the one day I had to walk around New York City, I saw lots of different sights and sounds that I've seen so often in movies.

Typical New York City traffic

New York is a really colourful and vibrant place with lots of different kinds of people walking the streets.

I stayed at the Essex Hotel at Central Park South. I didn't get a nice view of the park as my room was facing the back alley. I did however get the opportunity to walk through Central Park on at least three occasions while I was there.

Not a great shot, but this is the outside of my hotel, The Essex House

New York has often been associated to be a crime ridden city as depicted in so many movies. I did not find it so. The city was relatively clean though I must say, I did witness a crime in progress as I walked out of my hotel lobby on the first day.

A bunch of Latinos were carrying a huge Sony LCD TV from the back of a truck, fine I thought pretty normal to see delivery guys. Then the oddest thing happen, one guy walking away from the scene said something in Spanish something like 'Vamos' and the two guys holding the TV dropped it rather hard and scrammed behind the cover of the truck and ran away.

Soon after that a doorman from the hotel ran over to the TV and said "What the F@#$? Who were those guys?". I pretty much came to the conclusion that I just witnessed my first New York crime.

New York isn't all doom and gloom though, down the street from that unfortunate mishap is the Plaza Hotel, a hotel I remember vividly in the movie Home Alone 2.

The Apple Store on 5th Avenue

I payed a visit to the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue. Nothing too amazing aside from the dramatic glass stair case that seems to be a prominent fixture in most Apple Stores in the US. It is definitely a comfortable place to relax and get away from the cold.

A glass staircase. Every Apple store needs one.

I also paid a very short visit to Trump Tower. Apparently it has been there for a long time, my grandfather even mention seeing on his last trip there which was close to 20 over years ago. I guess the only reason it is so famous now is because of Donald Trump's reality TV show The Apprentice. No I didn't see any weeping contestants walk out of the building. It was much too early in the day for that.

Trump Tower stands tall

Pavilion Fashion Show

Man, this blog has been dead for ages. Time to put some new content. I will just start off with some pictures I took over the weekend. On Sunday I went downtown KL to visit the newest shopping mall on the block, The Pavilion.

The Pavilion is built on top of Kat's old school, the ol' Bukit Bintang Girl's School. I was really impressed at how big the mall was. Perhaps it rivals that of Megamall and One U in terms of sheer size.

Shops inside the mall ranged from normal shops you'd find in other malls such as Speedy, MyNews.com, typical restaurants such as KFC and Nandos to never heard of shops such as Angus Steakhouse.

I spent the early part of my mall tour walking the entire length of the mall to pass my time before the fashion kicked off at 1.30pm.

I'll leave the pictures to do the talking as usual. Will upload a few that didn't make it to Flickr.

Long leave

This blog has been dead quite a while now. I've been busy as of late. Went to Singapore 2 weeks in a row. Lots of pics. But put all my pics on Flickr since it is easier to post them up there. Will put one or two here, but the majority of my pics are there.

Just going to recap on somethings that I've been doing over the past two weeks.

I didn't do much on my birthday this year. I decided to take a trip downtown to take some pictures while visiting Kat at her office.

I stopped over near Masjid India and took a long stroll through K.L. Saw plenty of small lil shops around what was little India. Passed by the old Coliseum cafe. Really looks like a shop that is trapped in its own time.

Next stop was the old Sogo shopping mall. I haven't to this place for ages. I can only remember it distantly as some place which I would occasionally go for Sunday lunches when my grandma could still walk, this was back in 1995 or so.

As a kid I remembered a great big clock tower which sorta resembles Its a Small World ride in Disneyland. A huge tower in the centre with little train tracks around it. Fun stuff.

Unfortunately, its now turned into an area where cheap clothes are on sale and SenQ has taken over much of the toy section. Still, the fountain near the food court is still there, though it looks smaller than it did the last time.

Another place I paid a visit to was The Mall, opposite PWTC. I can barely recall anything of the place except for watching some movies like the Rocketeer here and catching a glimps of the then brand new Final Fantasy 8.

This used to be the place where the game shop was. Still feel like I can see the people playing the game there right behind the baner with the number 88.

Man, feel so much older now that I look back at these places where I spent a little portion of my childhood.

Kat's self portrait

This just a test using the W610i review phone i have to upload a picture of Kat up to my blog. Kat, please don't kill me.:-(

Day out at the Apartment

I recently went to dine over at this joint called the Apartment at the Curve. I was along with some of Kat's friends who intially suggested Paddington House of Pancakes. Unfortunately it was full.

In search for food

So off we went to the Apartment. It is a rather new place. When I first saw it, I thought it was a bar.

Eating at the Apartment

The food served there is decent. Ok enough for a light snack. Though it won't be so light on your wallet.

Pasta tastes good

Fish was really good.

Yummy Parfait, which interestingly enough means 'perfect' in French. Note it also refers to yogurt or cream desserts such the one pictured above.

Desserts and such are a nice distraction from the main course food, which tends to be served in small portions.