New York for New Year's Countdown !

Hey there people !

First of all I want to wish you all a Happy New Year. The year 2008 has passed on by and a new year has dawn on us. I hope all of you have made your resolution of 08' came through and a new list of 09' made and is on it's way to be accomplish.

For me 2008 has been a mix of good and bad. But it has so far to be the best year in my life. I would say I have accomplished most of my resolutions on my 08' list which was to graduate from TARC on time, get accepted for my US Student Exchange scholarship and most importantly got to know a bunch of people from around the world and became my best friends abroad.

Although I am having a lot of fun here I will always remember where my home lies and the people that have came in contact with me before I left. I hope you from home would have an excellent new year of 09', cherish your home because trust me nothing is better than home. And I miss the freaking char kuey teow eh.

It was like a dream that I was in New York for the new year and I would say it was the best trip ever. It is by far the craziest city I have yet to see. People buzzing everywhere, row and rows of shop of every type of thing you can imagine and Times Square is everything like the pictures taken by people and yet still projects a staggering image onto a person who went there for the first time. I think I should skip the crap talk and head straight onto pictures to blow u away like i promised.

I rented a hostel in Brooklyn called Crown Brownstone. The review I would give to it for people that are thinking of going there is that it has a messy system therefore call before you want to go there but in my opinion, the admins there are one of the smartest people ever to run an accommodation. Sometimes even when you get to a hotel there would be some dumb ass arguing based on nothing. All in all I find the place great, clean, friendly, spacious and most important have free wifi.

From left : James (Scotland), Craig (Scotland), Marcus (Malaysia), Stephen (Scotland), Victoria (Wales) and Sara (Scotland).

OMG culture shock. There is a subway ! Finally... For the 6 days we were here, this stop has become a 2nd home to us. If I were to show you a picture of the wall behind me you would say my group is crazy to stay there because it was filled with bullet holes. I am not joking, Victoria is with the police and even she said this is madness...

Us still being so happy because we did not give a damm about the bullet hole ridden wall but instead the happiness of having the freedom of going anywhere without having the need to ask our host to get somewhere.

Our tour guide (Craig) suggested that we go to little Italy for food and boy did we manage to find good Italian food there.

Do like the Italians do it... We had a great meal in the chilliness of New York.

The first impression when I got out of the subway.... WOW...

I would say this is a picture of 1/2 the group of GRSPs that went there for New Years. We are in the hearts of Times Square.

Hard Rock Cafe. I wanted to get some souvenirs from that place but I figured that I only have so much space in my luggage when I leave ATL so i forgo it for a "I ♥ NY" t-shirt !

A freaking ferry wheel inside toys-R-us... Can you imagine the size of the toy shop ?

Of Broadway and 7th Avenue.

Rockefeller Center with the big Christmas tree and millions of people because they have an ice-skating ring and everyone wanted to do it.

"Beam me up!" in Madame Tussauds...

Peace to all from New York !

Einstein and I again. I saw him 3-4 years ago in Hong Kong's Madame Tussauds.

Back to the black and white days of Charlie Chaplin...

More rum fer ya me lad ?

Now now play nice...No ear biting please...

Back to the days of the Beetles...

The ever famous savior of New York...

After visiting Madame Tussauds, we headed over to another museum and the picture above I think have explain everything...And boy it was hilarious and sickening inside...

Let's just say I will never look at the animal kingdom the same way again...

Amazing street performer we encountered at the park where we waited for a ferry to the Statue of Liberty....

Ground Zero.

I saw the horrible event happen on tv while I was on the internet and I will never forget it. This is where 5 thousand people lost their lives thanks to people who belief that they would be given a spot in heaven should they die for the sake of religion.

Brooklyn Bridge.

The night view of Manhattan downtown.

Remember this from the movie Ghostbusters ?

Amazing night line and I love my camera so much with photos like this. The only regret is that I did not bring along my tripod.

Grand Central Station.

I wonder if the Madagascar animals are about to break through the front door anytime now...

A symbolic place from the movies...

They have laser shows on the inside every now and then. It is after all the biggest train station where inter-state stations meet the subways...

The outer part of the building.

The Day after Tomorrow hideout !

Macy's Christmas tree... The shopping center is nothing I have seen before...

A view of Manhattan from the 86th floor of the Empire State Building.

Yes it is freezing and windy up there even for a Scottish. Imagine how many layer of clothing I was wearing that day.

The view around the whole city is just stunning especially in the morning...

A view of our next stop !

I spotted this on our view. Americans and their obsession with all the secret societies...

Imagine this. I edited this photo so that we are standing straight in the picture. That was how powerful the wind was...

Statue of Liberty. The symbol of peace.

A view of Manhattan from the island.

I am here !

The raising of the ball !

Every year during new years, there is a ball which is lifted and dropped as we all usher in the new year and this year the ball is the biggest in the history of this event since 1904.

This is the night view on the eve of new year.

As much as I enjoyed this event, I will NEVER go back for the same event again. Why u ask ? I stood 10 hours at where I took the picture above at temperatures like -5 C. It has to be the nuttiest thing to do in NY. We started in the queue at 2 pm and it was snowing then and when night fell, the winds that blew on the streets of NY is crazy.

If you noticed closely at this picture there are balloons all over the place. The wind was stuck because of the surrounding buildings to the point that it kept the balloons hovering around above us.

The group that stayed through the tough time !

From left : Marcus (Malaysia), Simone (Denmark), Stephen (Scotland), Karolina (Sweden), James (Scotland)

Through out the night, a couple of artists came to entertain the crowd at Times Square.
Above : Taylor Swift !

Lional Ritchie !

"All night long, all night...."

The last hour celebration before the New Year !

The Jonas Brothers...

As the clock ticks down...The crowd goes wild with both song and anticipation for the new year !

The left, right and center view from where I was... It's a friggin' sea of humans !

The Celebrations !




A video to show you the moment itself ! Enjoy !

Of Danish, Sweedish and Malaysian in an Irish pub. Ironic ? More like a blending of internationals...

Got a couple of good chinese food in Chinatown and the best part is that these were made by Hong Kong chefs and boy they were exactly like those in Hong Kong...

PS : I got egg tarts in the middle of New York ! OMG.

Central Park !

It is freezing over.

The ever famous bridge in Central Park.

The weather was a -3 to -5 C when we were there...

Cam-whore !

Tabern on the Green... Awesome view...

Central Park and it's architecture is just amazing and gives you this old feeling and neat about it.

Uptown Manhatten.

All in all the trip was spectacular and I am glad that I made it because it feels so good to be back in a city filled with people. I would say this trip has made our bond as a group of GRSP come closer and we were opened up to a whole different Northern atmosphere compared to the South.

I can tick this off my to-do list because as much as I like it I will not want to do it.

I hope you guys enjoyed my pictures as much as I enjoyed my trip to New York.

I think from now on my blog entry will start to decrease dramatically because the new semester is about to start and I would be stuck in Carrollton again.

Have a Happy New Year and may you readers have a great year ahead of you all !

Marcus