Food in Chinatown (re-post)

To be honest, I felt a bit nostalgic because it has been a year since last time I was in china with my family and friends. I miss the food; I miss that familiar feeling of being home. And now, I am in New York City and will stay in town for the whole summer, so the problem is temporally solved by the place that is twenty minutes subway away from William Street.

Chinatown in Manhattan is the largest and oldest Chinese enclave in Western countries, and it is located in between Tribeca and Lower East side. Zach and I decided to explore Chinatown after we were back from Central Park. I was so excited when I walked out of the subway. Everything looked so familiar, the style of buildings, the Chinese version billboards, herbal stores, even Chinese bank. I was recharged. When you went to Chinatown, food is barely impossible to be ignored because there were so many restaurants around and the smell of food pervaded the air, it made Zach and I both got very hungry. So we went to a place called QiAO JIA SHAN which is located in Mott St. It was a typical Chinese restaurant because it was very fast paced and crowded. Their food was so delicious. It was built in 1909, Qiao jia shan is specialized in glutinous rice dumplings, eight-jewel rice, steamed puffed cake and cat’s ear snack. Zach had regular size chicken fired rice that was huge and I thought it was enough to server two people, and I got a beef over rive which was also very good. We shared rice dumplings that were very juicy and hot, Zach could not handle chopsticks very well at very beginning, but he figured it out later, so CLAP YOUR HANDS! Overall, it was very worthwhile because of their food value, size and of course, the price.

Comparing with Chinese restaurant in Columbia, most of restaurant here is cheaper. After filling the tank, we needed something sweet, boba tea was our choice, and the taste was so much better than Lollicup. Anyway, it was a amazing afternoon. I definitely will go there more frequent during the summer.

 

 

 

Aerosmith Part 2

Yesterday, i went to the best concert of my life. Aerosmith is currently on tour with Cheap Trick, which is another classic rock band. Comparing with the last concert in Long Island, last night was way much better because i was sitting on the floor. The concert was in IZOD Center, New Jersey. It only took me 20 minutes there by taking the bus.

I feel so lucky to be here this summer because there are so many interesting things happen around. I don’t know whether i will come back after graduate or not, but i like NYC. Although it is always expensive, dirty, and high pressure, i never regret to be here. It just like a opportunity cost, every time you are getting something, meanwhile, you are losing.

I took this picture on the bus. As i mentioned in my previous post, i think New Jersey has the best NYC skyline view.

 

 

 

Because of sitting on the floor, i could see his face and move clearly. However, i iphone couldn’t see it clearly…..Steven Styler was under the spotlight all night, so you can’t get a high quality picture without using a camera.

 

 

 

 

 

One of the best live solo. My hero, Mr Joe Perry.

Haircut

Yesterday, i got my first haircut since last December. The reason why i don’t get haircut very often is because the different aesthetic. Basically, people from different culture background have different ways to deal with their hair. Here, i have to say it again, i love New York, it is so convenient to live here. It is such a unique city in the world, sometimes i think NYC is not just a city of the United States, it is city of the world. Yes, there are a lots of Asian barbershops.

I use YELP.com a lot because it is always the easiest way to find what you want. Hair Kuwayama is a Japanese hair salon, it is on 406 East 13th Street. I went to their website before call, i found they were doing a special price on haircut, so i call them and made a appointment. This is the best one i got in America. Also, there was no sales pitch for products.

 

 

Rockaway Beach

My attitude towards New York City used to be neutral, which meant I love it, and also hate it. However, I changed my mind after went to Rockaway beach earlier today. This was the first time I truly experienced peace and Mother Nature in New York City during this summer. So I started to break the balance and became a fan of NYC. I was so lucky that the beach was not very crowded, and comparing to Coney Island, Rockaway Beach was much cleaner. It definitely made up for disappointment I got from Coney Island. I was in beach 126, there were couple of families there, and some kids were playing ball nearby. Because of the perfection, I passed out on the beach. It was around 5:20 when I woke up, that was why I missed the New York Post visit. In addition, the Tribute Park was another great spot to see NYC skyline. 

I think the beach is so convenient for people living in New York. You don’t have to spend extra money on transportation, and don’t have to waste time on taking rails or ferries, the subway just drop you off right on the beach. Manhattan is the place where you use up your energy, meanwhile, there are a lot of places out of Manhattan can help you to replenish.

SoHo

As I mentioned in my previous post, I haven’t been in home since last summer, and now, it is time to go home. Every time I was back to home for past three years, I always bought some clothes and gifts to my family and friends, Generally, I don’t go shopping a lot, and if I really need to buy something, I always do it online. Since I am in New York City, there is no need of online shopping anymore because you can buy anything you want here and don’t have to wait. This is one of the benefits to live in NYC, no matter how much money you make or what kind of style you like, you can always find a place to shop. SoHo is always my favorite place to go. During the past two months, I went to there couple of times after working for doing some researches, I explored the area and tried to find out what to buy and where to buy. I went to SoHo again on Saturday, I found that most of stores are on sale now, I bought some pants and polo shirts for my dad, and they were up to 50 percent off. 

After finishing shopping, I went to a place called Evolution. It is a premiere retail outlet for science and natural history collectibles, artifacts, gifts, and home furnishings. They have all kinds of wired things, such as animal specimen and human skull. And every single product there is made by animal, amber, and fossil. 

Baseball and Fireworks

After experienced my first baseball game that happened almost two months ago, Zach and I went to another one today. Comparing with the previous match between Mets and Padres that are MLB teams, the game that we went today was between Staten Island Yankee and Brooklyn Cyclones. Actually, it is the lower league, but they were doing pretty well. One of the amazing things is that the stadium locates just by the sea or the Upper Bay. And the game started at 7:00 pm, so we were able to see the sunset, it was so beautiful, moreover, although it was a little bit far, there was the best spot where I have been so far to watch skyline.

The game was crazy because it was even at 0:0 until the fifteen round, and Brooklyn won the game. According to Zach, I am so surprised that there are so many different level of baseball leaguer in United States, and the baseball systems are very well organized here. Comparing to fireworks in 4^th of July, the fireworks we saw after game were not as fancy as 4th of July, but I enjoyed it more.  

Tropfest Film Festival

New York is always the most interesting and exciting city, at least for most of people. There are so many reasons why I make this point, for example, food in NYC is diversified, no matter where you come from, you can always find your hometown food, and you are always be able to try something new, NYC never says no to you until you broke your bank. Parks are everywhere, and it is easy to find some nice beaches. Besides those things, there is one more thing that you can always experience in NYC, and it is also one of those benefits of living in NYC. There are so many events in this city, concerts, comedy shows, different kinds of festivals, a lot of them are free, even it is not, I believe you still can find some cheap tickets online. Zach and I went to an event called TROPFEST Film Festival on Saturday June 23 with approximately 10000 people on Bryant Park. The festival was hosted by Hugh Jackman, although I am not a fan of him, he did a pretty good job during that night. This event was born 20 years ago in Sydney, Australia, and it is now the world’s largest short film festival. No matter who you are, where you come from, you are always welcome to submit your own film. Unlike Hollywood style films, those short films played in the festival are more educational and meaningful. The film “Emptys”,  directed by Josh Leak, is the winner of the night. It is a documentary that follows people who collect beverage containers as their principal source of income.

Chinatown In Flushing

I went to Flushing to meet my friends on Saturday, although i have been there a couple of times, but they were all very brief. I have to thank my friend for being my guide because i finally understood why my friends always introduce it to me. Chinatown, Flushing, or Flushing Chinatown, in the Flushing area of the NYC borough of Queens. It is one of the largest and fastest growing Chinese enclaves outside of Asia, as well as within New York City itself. The only train serves there is 7, and the last stop is main st. When i got off the station, i thought i was in China, comparing with the Chinatown in Manhattan, there was barely no different races of people, except Asians. Because of locating at Manhattan, The Chinatown over there is more likely to tailor to tourist needs, in other words, it is a scenic spot. Flushing is more like a neighborhood style. So the food over there is 100% typical Chinese food. We went to a restaurant which is famous for spicy lamb noodles, it was so delicious. The name of the restaurant is so complicated, i even don’t know how to pronounce it.

Here it is.

After filling the tank, we went to a sports club and played billiards. Although it was fun, i couldn’t win a single round…

The Staten Island Ferry (Adventure Point)

As i mentioned in my previous posts, I was born and grow up in the inland area of China, there was not so many opportunities for me to experience the “water”, so i am always curious about riding a boat, of course i had boat experiences before, but not ferry. If I am a NewYorker, and someone ask me the places to go in NYC, ferry must on the list. There are couple of ferry routes here, but no matter which one you take, i am sure that you will enjoy it. If you choose The Staten Island Ferry, it is a great and totally free way to see the statue of Liberty and the skyline of lower Manhattan. The terminal is really nice and new, and it is easy to get on the boat. The ferry runs every thirty minutes, so it is very important to check your schedule before you go because you don’t want to miss it and wait for another thirty minutes. Last time i took the ferry was almost three weeks ago, and it was dark, the skyline was amazing, maybe it was not as good as brooklyn bridge, but it was definitely a must do thing. The only thing i was a little bit disappointed about was it was too dark to see statue of liberty, it was very fuzzy. Good thing is Zach and i plan to watch a baseball game in Staten Island on this coming Thursday, i think i will be able to see the statue this time.

 

Brooklyn Bridge (Adventure Point)

If you feel your tank is not empty after working for the whole day.  Brooklyn Bridge is a ideal place to use up your energy, meanwhile, it provides you the best spots to enjoy the beautiful skyline as well. The Brooklyn Bridge, a bridge in New York City, which is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States, in other words, this bridge is the witness of New York City’s prosperity. After put my feet on the bridge, I finally realized that how huge the bridge is. It has three floors. You can clear see Subway and cars pass by under the sidewalk. The view from the pedestrian walkway is very interesting. The bridge’s cable arrangement forms a distinct web-like pattern. Personally, I think the Brooklyn Bridge has the best skyline spot, it is hard to tell why, and probably it is so unique to see it from a bridge.  Actually, it is a little bit hard to take picture over there because the cables block the sight, so you have to be careful when you try to take a picture, you don’t want to fall out of it.  7:00pm30 mins later