A Brief Travelogue

We're done with the first half leg of our travel. Came back from New York yesterday noon and will be leaving for San Francisco and Singapore tomorrow morning. I have more than 5 loads of clothes to be machine-washed and a couple more to be hand-washed. Not sure if the clothes will be dried enough to be repacked into our suitcases tonight though. Sigh... It's such a chore to pack, unpack, wash then repack! I wish I have more days in STL before heading out again n I definitely wish I can have more days in SIN!

Anyhow, the last trip was nothing too spectacular. The only 2 things worth mentioning were the once-in-a-lifetime countdown experience at Times Square, New York, and that I bet we walked/ran 50km in 8 days! It was horrendous and torturous at Times Square on NYE, standing in the cold for 2 long hours at -10 degree celcius, almost -20 deg with windchill. I do not know how I managed to survive through that. The last 30mins was the hardest to bear. I salute my friends who were able to remain in the open for 5 long hours! It was absolutely crazy! That was the pain we went through to be part of the world's largest countdown party; something I will never do again if given the chance. The saddest thing was none of us caught a glimpse of the ball falling when the clock struck 12. We were all too engrossed in the surroundings and taking pictures/video, that the highlight of the night was missed just at the crucial time. Hubby and I did not catch the fireworks too. What a waste.

Washington D.C. was at its quietest when we arrived on Christmas Eve. Such a shame. I could almost safely say that only the Homeless and us were strutting the streets on xmas day night. The homeless were somehow in abandance in D.C.. Most of the eateries were closed, the roads were pretty quiet, but the places of interest were all bursting with patrons. Those were probably the only places open during the festive season, thus the crowd. In short, we visited D.C. at the wrong time.

The streets near our hotel in Philadelphia were a nice sight. It's been months since we see crowd and pretty lighted shops. It was alot livelier than D.C. and STL. However, that's about Philly. The main attraction, the Liberty Bell, was not exactly a sight to behold.

New York was way beyond my imagination. I thought of it as a posh, clean, fun place to be in. Instead, it has one of the most dingy subway stations. The roads were dirty, buildings old, air polluted. Some parts of New York reminded me of Bangkok. Times Square and Chinatown were the only nice, brightly-litted place, but the roads were still in a pretty bad condition though.

Having at least 3 more loads of clothes to be washed, and luggages to be packed, I definitely have no time to describe our trip in details or to post pictures here. Look out for them on Facebook, if Hubby or/& I have the time tonight.


P.S. The problem we had with the 14-kg huge box has been solved. Going to deposit it at SFO airport storage facility since it closes just before our flight back to SIN and costs only $15/day. Phew... All thks to Eve for her suggestion!