shinzu.blog

Ehh.. I’m scratching doing the website and am going to post a long ass post through xanga.. beware.. this page is bandwidth intensive and should not be viewed with those who are weak at heart with dial-up hehe.

This text more or less (umm.. more) came from Ben’s xanga.. the original link is here. I edited much of his text and put it into my words since he did a pretty good job covering the trip.

Friday, May 28th

Arrived in New York City at 6:30 am after a 5-hour red-eye flight from Los Angeles. We took a cab to Russ’s apartment in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan (Russ is Ben’s friend from Duke). Anyway, Russ took the early part of the morning off so he could let us in and so we could settle down our bags. After Russ went to work, we took the subway to the Metropolitan Museum (the Met). The Met was pretty sweet. I’ve been there before but not in a few years. Ben and I roamed around the museum until our feet couldn’t take it anymore and saw as many exhibits as we could (all took about 4 hours). When we left the museum it was raining and we got caught without umbrellas so got pretty soaked. Luckily stopped raining and we headed over to Times Square to meet up with Ben’s friend Carrie. It was already a pretty tiring day so we just chilled out in McDonald’s and waited for Carrie to meet us. After we met up with Carrie, waited an hour for Russ before we hit up some Chinese food near Times Square. After that, we headed over to Korea Town and hit up a karaoke place. It was pretty kew seeing Ben’s friends reunited happy and all.Anyway after that, the four of us just hung out for many hours around k-town talking about our lives, stuff and relationships. Went home around 4 am and crashed.

Me in Russ’s apt.

Central Park

Me and Ben in front of the Met

Thumbs up to tourists hehe

Inside the met.. some famous person’

Cool reflection picture

A giant boot

Lack mocking hehe..

Watsup the chinese ghost homies in the hood

Gas attack!

Reminds ya of the theme parks doesnt it’

Big-arse mural

Times square (42nd st)

Empire state building

Left to right: Carrie, Russ, Me, and Ben.

Saturday

Slept in and got out of bed around 2pm. Russ, Ben, and I met up with Ben’s friend from Alice and walked over to Chinatown. Got some food in Chinatown. Walked from Chinatown to Soho where there’s a bit of a shopping district. Alice hadta go, then Ben, Russ, and I took the subway to Fifth Ave. Visited the stores on Fifth Ave and walked over to Rockefeller Center. After hanging out there a couple hours, we went back to Downtown to hit up a bar near Russ’s apartment so we could catch the Lakers-Wolves game. Met up more of Ben’s dukie friends there who were also pretty nice. Anyway, after the game, we decided to try and hit up a club. Unfortunately, while we were lining up for this one club, someone wanted to leave, then everyone left the line and we tried to look for a different club and they were all pretty dead. So just decided to hit up a bar and get fu**ed up ‘ drank so much beer that night. I saw Ben arm wrestle some huge ass guy who beat him pretty quickly hehe (he’s probably quadruple the size of me). After all that we headed back to Russ’s place and crashed.

Chinatown

Me n Ben in Chinatown

Me n Russ in a chinese restaurant

Left to right: Alice, Ben, Me, and Russ

Alice and me

Me in a Trump tower

A very scary shaq.. note the eyes.

Me and Ben in front of an argo statue.

Behind a very captivating cathedral.

Near rockefeller center (behind me)

In front of rockefeller center.

Bens homies from Duke.. left to right.. umm i dont remember the names. In a bar near RUss’s apt.

Left to right: Q, Rosh, Me, Ben, and Russ. In another bar in nyc.. don’t remember where.

Sunday

So we all woke up pretty late. Me and Ben were ok but Russ was still pretty messed up so he couldn’t come out with us. We left around 2pm to meet up with Ben’s friend Carrie in Central Park. Didn’t get to Central Park until 3:30 coz me and Ben took the wrong subway line. Anyway, once we met up with Carrie we just did a lot of walking in Central Park (probably seeing only about 5% of the park). After Central Park, we walked with Carrie to her apartment, checked it out, went to Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel to look for stuff for her new apartment. We also went to a mattress store and looked at the bed that Carrie bought. After some time at that store, got some dinner at an Italian restaurant where the lighting was extremely dim and the clientele was extremely old. Nonetheless it was great just talking.
Later that night, Carrie left, and Mike picked us up (Mike is Ben’s friend from Duke if you haven’t noticed this trend hehe..). Drove over to Flushing and got some bubble tea. Mike and I talked about going to Atlantic City on Tuesday night, so we planned that Ben and I would drive down and hit him up in Philadelphia and stay over a night. (Mike lives in Long Island and works for Accenture but they sent him to Philly and he’s been living there for the last six months). After the caf’, we also went to a pool hall and hit up Mike’s girlfriend’s friends in some 24-hour diner. Mike drove us back to Russ’s place. The next day Russ hadta leave to attend a graduate for his brother.. Over all for my experience all of Ben’s friends I’ve met in New York haven’t just been kind, they all have gone out of their way to help house us or show us around. I truly believe what goes around comes around, and all of them will have good fortune affecting them throughout their lives. An awesome first experience in New York.

Central Park

Central Park

Buildings overlooking central park

Carrie, Me, and Ben in an Italian restaurant.

Ben, Me, Mike, and his girlfriend.

Monday

Woke up late Monday yet again. Since we were close to it, Ben and I visited Ground Zero (the World Trade Center site). I didn’t think about this before, but an appropriate thing to do on Memorial Day. It was, of course, humbling to see. It was a rainy day too so I think the general mood was appropriate. After seeing the site, we walked over to Chinatown again to get some grub. Bought some stuff from the vendors ‘ got some cologne supposedly from Hugo Boss called ‘New Ego.’ Hopefully it wasn’t scented water hehe. Took the subway to Midtown and hung out around 42nd and Lexington. Just walked around. Had nothing to do now haha. Ben’s uncle was picking us up from Russ’s apartment so we could stay at his place in New Jersey (but essentially only around 10 minutes from NYC).

Ben’s uncle picked us up from Russ’s apartment and we chilled at his house. Didn’t get a chance to catch the Lakers game so we used my cell phone attached to my laptop to check the game on the blazing 9.6kbps.

Ground zero

Ground zero in the rain

Eating at another Chinese restaurant.

In Grand Central Terminal (famous for its renovation)

Ghetto-ass subway hall.

Wow it says “US Tennis Open”

Picture with Alex, Ben, and me. Alex is Russ’s roommate. This guy is hilarious. Nothing better than a
French guying saying in a French accent.. “I’m gonna kick your ass in Mario Kart.” Classic.

Ben’s uncle’s house

Pic of the neighborhood street

Our rental car

New Jersey Turnpike.. supposedly famous’

Tuesday

In the morning, woke up early (first time in days) to go pick up the rental car Ben reserved for the remainder of our trip. I’m quite happy Ben got it through corporate cuz we got free Loss Damage Waiver. It turned out later to be a blessing.

Started our drive from Ben’s uncle place in Jersey (just across the George Washington Bridge) to Philly around 10:30 am. Got to downtown Philly around 12:15. Valet’d the car at the hotel Mike was staying in and then met up with him while he was taking his lunch break’ We took a quick walk over to Chinatown and got some Chinese food. Afterwards, Mike went back to work for the rest of the afternoon leaving me and Ben time to kill in downtown Philly. We decided to be all touristy and stuff while we were there. So we walked over to 6th and Market where it was like historic district over there. In short, we hit up a couple museums, saw the famous Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, etc.
Went back to hotel around 5pm and got some sleep before Mike came back around 7. The three of us got some Philly cheesteaks at Gino’s and at Pat’s ‘ two competing restaurants that are across each other on the same street. It’s all about the cheese baby! Seriously’ Anyway so around 8pm we started our drive to Atlantic City (AC, the casino. It took about 45 mins from downtown Philly. Mike and Ben played some 7-card stud while I over course tried video Keno. However it wasn’t the same video keno machines I was used to seeing so err.. I didn’t win anything off that. Drove back to the hotel Mike was staying at in Philly around 1am.

Philadelphia China Town

Pic in the awesome hotel we were staying at.

Picture in front of independence hall.

Left to right: unemployed history major, me, Ben, unemployed history major

In Washington Square.. where Benjamin Franklin held meetings and town halls (i think).

Beautiful philly skyrise

Ghetto-ass mueseum with one statue.

Nothing better than Benny’s place.

Picture with the real liberty bell.

Picture in Independence Hall.. where the constitution was signed.

True philly cheese steak.. jack in the box eat your heart out.

Me, Ben, and Mike in Atlantic City

Ben, Me, and Mike in the hotel before departure.

Wednesday

Woke up pretty early because we had around a 3-hour drive to DC. Thanks to Mike, we were able to score some free Filet-mignon steak breakfasts. Man.. I’m still such in appreciation for people who do things for others even though they don’t know them (namely myself). Said bye to Mike and started on the 95 S towards DC. On the way all those cicadas (ugly-ass bugs) were flying around and shit hitting the windshield. Fortunately that wasn’t the case. Drove into Mclean, VA around noontime. Met up with Ben’s friend Tina for lunch. Anyway, had lunch at Maggiano’s over by Tyson 2 (a mall) and talked about work, life, and missing the good old college days haha. After lunch, the three of us drove into DC to see as many sites as we could. Tina offered to play tour guide, but ironically she’d never done the touristy thing. My first impressions of Washington DC were truly overwhelming. If you look at all of the sites and such, they are simply quite majestic. The size and stature of the memorials are a sight to truly see.

Afterward, drove to Georgetown University, more specifically M Street (the college town area) and met up with Ben’s other Duke friend Karthik. We got dinner at a restaurant/bar on M Street, then afterwards walked around and window shopped. Drove by Georgetown U.

After THAT, hopped back onto the 95 N and drove up to Baltimore (Johns Hopkins). Met up with Ben’s friend Teresa and her friends who were taking summer school. Hung out at a Korean karaoke bar in the ghetto streets of Baltimore. It was already around midnight. Baltimore was quite interesting.. it reminds me of Compton actually haha. How strange, but I met someone there whose home is in Pomona and who knows someone I know from Diamond Bar High.. small world. Met a lot of interesting people there also.

Left Baltimore around 2 am and Ben and I began our journey of either finding a place to stay or driving up north through the night. After driving around a half hour north, we saw a place and just decided to crash. Crashed around 4 am.

In front of Lincoln Memorial

Me n Benny with Washington Monument in the background.

The one and only..

Long view of the washington monument

New ww2 memorial that opened memorial day.

Washington Monument

Le White House

The White House and me.

Georgetown

Georgetown downtown hehe

Top: Danny, ‘, Teresa
Bottom: Ben, Me, John, ‘

Thursday

Around 11am, left the motel and began the 9-hour drive up north to Montreal (Canada) for Ben’s brother’s law school graduation on Friday morning. Pretty much drove through upstate New York to get there. As I crossed the border, I blew a red sign that said ‘Arret.’ And Ben was like err.. you just ran a stop sign.. I was like ooops.. So.. I also made an illegal u-turn which makes it breaking 2 laws in Canada within two hours of getting there hehe. Afterwards after the driver switch, Ben picked up his parents and we ate at a famous Deli.. schwartzs deli or something hehe.

Beware.. entering twilight zone next exit.

Crazy Quebec.. signs in French.

Canada!

Just crossed the border

In Canada you don’t need to drive with your hands on the wheel.

Beautiful sunset.

“stop” in french. How the hell should i know.

In front of schwartz’s deli

Me and Ben.

Friday, June 4th

Got out of bed fairly early to get ready for Ben’s brother’s graduation ceremony. The ceremony was quite interesting.. it was in French and English, but not a direct translation. It was like.. some thoughts are in English, then some thoughts are in French.

Ben and his family took some pics, then headed over to a restaurant for lunch with Ben’s family. After that, walked it off by walking through the ‘Old City’ in Montreal. Old City was supposed to resemble old-town Paris which I guess is true since I don’t know what Paris looks like hehe. Afterwards, me, Ben, and my Ben’s two bros went to see a movie ‘ The Day After Tomorrow. It was just like a disaster movie but a little too preachy on the global warming message imo. So the three of us (me, Ben, and Ben’s Bro) hit up some of the bars in the area. The nightlife (I have to say) is amazing. And the women are all beautiful and so stylish. By the end of the night Ben and I were roaming the streets of Montreal trying to find our hotel while we were (I guess) sobering up from all the beer and hard liquor. Got back around 4 am. Night life in Montreal was off the hook. I’ll definitely spend more time as long as I don’t have the opportunity to break more car laws hehe..

Bens Mom, Me, Bens Dad, Ben, Bens brother

Me and Ben at McGill University (law school where bens bro graduated)

Me and Ben in the subway.. WAY cleaner than new york.

In oldtown montreal

Further in Old Town Montreal

Night-life in Montreal

In a montreal bar

Post-clubbing in Montreal

Ack! Even shopping carts exist in Canada.

Saturday

I was sleeping in bed for most of the morning and didn’t have the opportunity to thank Ben’s family for their hospitality and such. They were going to drive off to Ottawa (that’s the capital of Canada). We left the hotel around 11 am to head back to nyc but had to wait at the US-Canadian border for 45 mins! So really started driving south on I-87 at around 12:45. We had a 5 to 6 hour drive back to NYC. One might think: Dan and Ben see so much of each other that there must be nothing to talk about. Well, as long as there’s women and there’s gambling, there will ALWAYS be something to talk about. Anyway, we know how talking about women sounds, but gambling is much more enticing. I think we developed a gambling scheme that just might work more than 50% of the time. At the very least, all that talk killed a few hours on the road hehe.

Arrived in NYC around 5:30pm and Ben was driving through times square. Omg I don’t know if I’d be able to drive in ny. Ben adjusted quite quickly to driving there. Ben picked up his friend from Vancouver Lea-Anne on the corner of 44th and Broadway. The timing was perfect ‘ Ben got in touch with her right when she came out of the subway. We then proceeded to 46th to pick up her friend Christy. Both Lea-Anne and Christy just finished their second year at SUNY (State Univ of NY) Optometry School. The four of us went to Chinatown and hit up a restaurant over there. Anyway that was cool then we hit up Christy’s apartment. She lives on the fifth floor and no elevator. Chilled out there for 30 mins before we headed over to Lea-Anne’s place (where Ben and I would be staying for the night before our Sunday flight). I thought it was going to be a pretty chill night, but it was anything but.
We dropped our shit off at Lea-Anne’s place in Queens and changed our clothing into upscale NY no-jeans gear ready to hit up the clubs. Before we left, we all took shots of grey goose. Ben being the responsible one since he was driving only had 3 shots. Me taking advantage of the situation (and having a higher tolerance from all the beer from vacation) took 7 shots in about 15 minutes. Anyway, drove to Lea-Anne’s friends birthday gathering at some lounge.. We weren’t really feeling it so we left after 15 mins. So, me, Dan, Lea-Anne, and Christy hit up a club on Fifth and 12th St. To make a long story short, that was a lot of fun’ Afterwards, drove back to Christy’s place and hung out there for a couple hours’sang a little karoke, and played with her dog. I guess there are animal lovers in the east coast also hehe. Anyways went back to Lea-Anne’s around 4am and crashed.

Freaking tolls in new york..

In china town once again

Ben, Me, Rudy, Le-Anne, and Cristy

Ben, Me, Cristy, and Le-Anne in a lounge in nyc

Me and Cristy in her appt.

Sunday

Had to get to the airport by 2 to make our 4 pm flight to Los Angeles. Nothing more happened today except ONE thing’When we left to the rental car, Ben noticed a huge dent near the front-driver-side tire. The dent prevented Ben from opening the front door. Anyway, this is just relevant coz if we didn’t have collision insurance, who knows wat we woulda had to pay. And to think it was the last day out of 6 days of having that car. Anyway, drove to JFK and chilled out for an hour or so before we hit up our flight.

Dento in el caro

 

Impressions

To summarize, for me I feel it’s honestly been a life-changing trip as clich’d as it sounds. Being a west-coast guy all of my life, it was extremely interesting seeing the east-coast perspective in terms of how they party, how hard they work, and their lifestyle. My perspectives now have definitely been much broadened.

One thing I noticed is toll roads.. throughout the freaking east coast there are toll roads EVERYWHERE grr!
Another thing.. in new york Houston is pronouced (house-ton).. beats me why.

Also, seeing all of the history of the formation of this country in the east coast was truly amazing. Standing in presence of a monument truly made me awe-struck.

People say that east-coast people are mean and blah blah. But it just seems that it is their culture when getting from point a to point b. However all of the people I have met in the east coast were super duper nice and selfless. I’ll truly never forget any of their kindness they expressed while in the east coast.

And of course, I have to give props to Ben, cuz without him there is no way I could have went on a trip like this and experience the culture. Because if you go with a tour and such, you see all of the touristy places which I still think is important. However, what I think is more important is what is the experience down there.. how is ordinary life for people our age. I actually appreciated much more staying at Ben’s friends places instead of hotels and motels cuz I honestly had a chance to live in a little bit of their life for those 9 days.

Honestly I think in Orange County we epitomize what suburban is. The life here is really good, weather-wise and quality of life-wise but I think at any opportunity it’s important to visit other places outside of California. I honestly think down here we live sort of in a bubble. All we know is our environment and our way of thinking. Whether this is good or bad isn’t what I’m talking about. What I encourage more after seeing how life and people are different in the east coast is to try to think out of the box when being exposed to these experiences. As for me.. I’m for sure this won’t be my last east coast visit..

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