MonkeyBrains
03-11-2004, 09:44 AM
Hey All,
Well I'm finally here to fill you in on the happenings of what's been happening over the last week & a bit.. As you all know I arrived safely to the freezing cold of London.. The flight was good, the night's stopover in KL was good, my Aunty Gloria & Uncle Stumpy were on the same flight as me so we managed to organise to stay in the same hotel which was cool.. We went out & wandered around the hotel & found a local 'restaurant' (I use the term loosely) and sampled some local fare, which was very delicious, despite the aquarium of frogs waiting to be selected to be the next dish served up on the table, watching us!! After finishing our meal U Stumpy & I questioned our choice in one of the chicken dishes, what with Bird Flu going around and all, but never mind I'm still here kicking along.. The flight from KL to London was bit more of a killer, 14 hours of sitting is hell!!
The next few days were spent trying to get over the jet lag, took me a while to stop waking up at 4 in the morning.. Had a bit of a look round, went into London & purchased a beanie (an essential!!) and just wandered around a bit, went to Leicester Square, Covent Gardens & Oxford Street.. Sunday went to Camden Markets, which I think is going to see a lot of my money going through it.. I managed to restrain myself on this visit, just had to keep thinking about the conversion rate & that was enough to keep my money safely in my wallet..
Tuesday we packed up & headed off to New York, which was fantastic.. Got in at around 9.30pm Tuesday night & headed straight to our hostel, which left a little to be desired & was quickly nicknamed 'The Hovel', was a little run down & the plumbing definitely could've used some work, I don't think there was a day when one of the loo's wasn't packed up.. The next 5 days were full of sight seeing & wandering the streets of NY.. Our first full day was spent trying to get one of the very important aspects of all holidays out of the way, SHOPPING.. We headed out to New Jersey where there's have a heap of outlet malls & no tax.. After a few wrong directions, some miscommunication & a long time waiting for buses we ended up on our own impromptu tour of some of the areas of NJ that you wouldn't normally see.. Which was, er, very interesting.. After getting out of there with wallets & lives intact we eventually found what we were looking for & the credit card took a bit of a beating!! I picked up a pair of Skechers for $US20, which in my book is a HUGE bargin!! And a few more T's to add to the collection.. I can highly reccomened Jersy Gardens to anyone heading to NY, it's not that far out of the way & the savings on clothes are amazing!!
The next days were spent looking around NY, mastering the subway system, which is crap compared to London's Underground, lots of walking & trying to fit in as much as possible.. We saw the Staue of Liberty, took a ride on the Stanten Island Ferry, Empire State Building (didn't bother going to the top, the 1.5hrs wait to get there kinda out me off), The International Soup Kitchen (made famous in the Seinfeild Episode with the Soup Nazi), Ground Zero which is still a huge hole & there's still damage to the buildings surronding the area, The Flatrion Building, stumbled across the Hello Deli from Dave Letterman (We even saw Rupert Jee, sorry Freddo), Time Square with all the hussle Bussle & dodgey sidewalk peddlers, we got offered a varied array of goods from, even a rolex, strolled through Central park feeding the squirrles & caught a quick busking session by no other than John Lennoin himself at the Strawberry Fields memorial (ok, so it wasn't really John Lennon, but this guy was very convincing & his name was John..) & also over out onto Brooklyn Bridge..
Interuption to this email.. IT'S BLOODY SNOWING!!
We had a look through the Museme of Natural History which had some amazing displays in it.. Went to Coney Island & took in the New York Aquarium.. And got a quick look at Brooklyn on the train ride there & back, I think the line goes right through the slums.. We also caught a freak show, which was very poor compared to the Happy Sideshow, there was sword swallowing & contorion (totally lame), a really bad a magcian, insect eating, a bit of a dance with a snake & that was about the sum of it, oh except the lesbian clown strippers, who weren't at all funny.. The freakshow was in a club that was owned by Chris North (AKA Mr Big from Sex & The City) who was there along with the old detective guy from Law & Order, he plays Jack McCoy I think?? They were our only celebrity spots.. We also took in a Hockey game, which I'll have to admit wasn't too bad.. But mainly only because of the 4 fights!! Gloves off & great!! We saw the NY Rangers play the Washington Capitols with some scalped tickets, great seats at a very reasonable price, we got $US65 face value tickets for $US40.. We took plenty of pics & I'm hoping once we get them off the digital I'll be able to put them up on the web somehow, but I'll let you know more about that when & if it ever happens..
And now we're back in London, having a bit of a rest & relax before I start looking for a job, can't wait.. Seen as it's cold & wet I think I'll head back acroos the road & curl up in the warmth of bed & enjoy some shit English TV, ah the life of the unemployed!! Speaking of home, I'm living in a 3 story share house in Willesden Green at the moment, it's all very cosy & the other housemates are great, there's Kris the Kiwi who's looking at moving out in the very near future & we're looking at moving into his room on the top floor which is bigger, then Kim the chick from Sydney, Dione another Kiwi & the Dan the Nambian..
Thanks to everyone for their emails, it's been great to hear from you all, sorry I've been a bit slack on the replies, but with being in NY and all it's been a bit hard to get back to you (the life of a jetsetter!!), and the internet rates over there were stupid.. Hope to hear from you all again soon.. And a special thanks to Patty for the sports updates, I'd been wondering what's been happening!!
That's all for now..
J x
Well I'm finally here to fill you in on the happenings of what's been happening over the last week & a bit.. As you all know I arrived safely to the freezing cold of London.. The flight was good, the night's stopover in KL was good, my Aunty Gloria & Uncle Stumpy were on the same flight as me so we managed to organise to stay in the same hotel which was cool.. We went out & wandered around the hotel & found a local 'restaurant' (I use the term loosely) and sampled some local fare, which was very delicious, despite the aquarium of frogs waiting to be selected to be the next dish served up on the table, watching us!! After finishing our meal U Stumpy & I questioned our choice in one of the chicken dishes, what with Bird Flu going around and all, but never mind I'm still here kicking along.. The flight from KL to London was bit more of a killer, 14 hours of sitting is hell!!
The next few days were spent trying to get over the jet lag, took me a while to stop waking up at 4 in the morning.. Had a bit of a look round, went into London & purchased a beanie (an essential!!) and just wandered around a bit, went to Leicester Square, Covent Gardens & Oxford Street.. Sunday went to Camden Markets, which I think is going to see a lot of my money going through it.. I managed to restrain myself on this visit, just had to keep thinking about the conversion rate & that was enough to keep my money safely in my wallet..
Tuesday we packed up & headed off to New York, which was fantastic.. Got in at around 9.30pm Tuesday night & headed straight to our hostel, which left a little to be desired & was quickly nicknamed 'The Hovel', was a little run down & the plumbing definitely could've used some work, I don't think there was a day when one of the loo's wasn't packed up.. The next 5 days were full of sight seeing & wandering the streets of NY.. Our first full day was spent trying to get one of the very important aspects of all holidays out of the way, SHOPPING.. We headed out to New Jersey where there's have a heap of outlet malls & no tax.. After a few wrong directions, some miscommunication & a long time waiting for buses we ended up on our own impromptu tour of some of the areas of NJ that you wouldn't normally see.. Which was, er, very interesting.. After getting out of there with wallets & lives intact we eventually found what we were looking for & the credit card took a bit of a beating!! I picked up a pair of Skechers for $US20, which in my book is a HUGE bargin!! And a few more T's to add to the collection.. I can highly reccomened Jersy Gardens to anyone heading to NY, it's not that far out of the way & the savings on clothes are amazing!!
The next days were spent looking around NY, mastering the subway system, which is crap compared to London's Underground, lots of walking & trying to fit in as much as possible.. We saw the Staue of Liberty, took a ride on the Stanten Island Ferry, Empire State Building (didn't bother going to the top, the 1.5hrs wait to get there kinda out me off), The International Soup Kitchen (made famous in the Seinfeild Episode with the Soup Nazi), Ground Zero which is still a huge hole & there's still damage to the buildings surronding the area, The Flatrion Building, stumbled across the Hello Deli from Dave Letterman (We even saw Rupert Jee, sorry Freddo), Time Square with all the hussle Bussle & dodgey sidewalk peddlers, we got offered a varied array of goods from, even a rolex, strolled through Central park feeding the squirrles & caught a quick busking session by no other than John Lennoin himself at the Strawberry Fields memorial (ok, so it wasn't really John Lennon, but this guy was very convincing & his name was John..) & also over out onto Brooklyn Bridge..
Interuption to this email.. IT'S BLOODY SNOWING!!
We had a look through the Museme of Natural History which had some amazing displays in it.. Went to Coney Island & took in the New York Aquarium.. And got a quick look at Brooklyn on the train ride there & back, I think the line goes right through the slums.. We also caught a freak show, which was very poor compared to the Happy Sideshow, there was sword swallowing & contorion (totally lame), a really bad a magcian, insect eating, a bit of a dance with a snake & that was about the sum of it, oh except the lesbian clown strippers, who weren't at all funny.. The freakshow was in a club that was owned by Chris North (AKA Mr Big from Sex & The City) who was there along with the old detective guy from Law & Order, he plays Jack McCoy I think?? They were our only celebrity spots.. We also took in a Hockey game, which I'll have to admit wasn't too bad.. But mainly only because of the 4 fights!! Gloves off & great!! We saw the NY Rangers play the Washington Capitols with some scalped tickets, great seats at a very reasonable price, we got $US65 face value tickets for $US40.. We took plenty of pics & I'm hoping once we get them off the digital I'll be able to put them up on the web somehow, but I'll let you know more about that when & if it ever happens..
And now we're back in London, having a bit of a rest & relax before I start looking for a job, can't wait.. Seen as it's cold & wet I think I'll head back acroos the road & curl up in the warmth of bed & enjoy some shit English TV, ah the life of the unemployed!! Speaking of home, I'm living in a 3 story share house in Willesden Green at the moment, it's all very cosy & the other housemates are great, there's Kris the Kiwi who's looking at moving out in the very near future & we're looking at moving into his room on the top floor which is bigger, then Kim the chick from Sydney, Dione another Kiwi & the Dan the Nambian..
Thanks to everyone for their emails, it's been great to hear from you all, sorry I've been a bit slack on the replies, but with being in NY and all it's been a bit hard to get back to you (the life of a jetsetter!!), and the internet rates over there were stupid.. Hope to hear from you all again soon.. And a special thanks to Patty for the sports updates, I'd been wondering what's been happening!!
That's all for now..
J x