WARNING: This is going to be a long post, so please do not feel obliged to read everything. It is pretty difficult to sum up more than three weeks in one post.
The Three Prettiest Places:
1. Haverstraw, NY - Haverstraw is small village I encountered on a very long bike ride along Highway 9W. The entire place seems to be one big marina dotted with beautiful houses reminiscent of Victorian England.
One of the many Marinas2. Piermont, NY - Piermont is also a village along Highway 9W. I pass through here everyday while riding and it still has not lost its charm. It is just a twenty five minute drive outside Manhattan; and yet, you would not know it. The people are friendly and the pace is very relaxed.
The inviting look of nearly all the houses in Piermont
The inviting look of nearly all the houses in Piermont3. Nyack, NY - Yet another village along Highway 9W, Nyack runs right alongside the Hudson River. The farther north you go along the Hudson, the bluer it is and the more it shimmers. Nyack is lucky to be one of the more developed suburbs along the Hudson. It bustles with activity and early architecture.
Downtown Nyack
Downtown NyackThe Best Three Meals:
1. Oriental Garden - Last weekend, my cousin Julie and her friend Amy visited for a few days from Baltimore. They were craving dim sum because apparently, there are two dim sum places in Baltimore that are both bad. The meal was delicious, especially the seafood. Try the Shu Mai, a steamed dumpling filled with shrimp, beef, and hard boiled egg.
2. Grimaldi's Pizzeria - I went to Grimaldi's for the second time tonight and it did not disappoint. Get the Margherita Pizza with extra basil. The mozzarella is snow white and perfectly creamy and the basil leaves taste spicy, like they were just picked in a garden out back.
3. Siam Square Thai Restaurant - I would never have found out about this place if Carolyn had not lived in the Bronx for three years. The Penang Chicken Curry is delicious. I ordered it with three stars of "hotness" and it was hot enough to make me cry and turn my face red, but still tasty enough to experience all of the flavors and spices. Get the sweet sticky rice and mango desert. Words can not describe it.
Top Three Songs:
I listen to a lot of music on bike rides and since I only have an iPod Nano, I have become very familiar with my limited amount of music. The following three songs are my favorite only at this time and are likely to change within the next month.
1. Neko Case - Deep Red Bells - Neko Case is incredible singer with lots of talent. Just listening to a recording of this song I get an image in my head of her on a dark stage, with her eyes closed, deeply belting out these beautiful words. This song is just too complex to describe, you will have to listen to it yourself.
2. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - Contrary to Neko Case, Jeff Mangum does not have an amazing voice. However, his voice does resonate incredibly from deep within his soul. The song is simple (4 chords anyone could play on a guitar: G, E minor, C, and D) and yet, it is still such a beautiful and melodious song.
3. Arcade Fire - No Cars Go - I saw these guys play in Carrboro after my last exam this past semester, and they put on the best concert I had ever been to. As soon as they step on stage, they all seem to become possessed by something celestial. My favorite part of this song is the outro. I feel like I am about to blast off the Earth in a spaceship.
The Arcade Fire
Three Strange Things:
1. Sunglasses in the Subway - People walk into the station wearing their sunglasses and do not take them off. It makes little to no sense to me. But then again, I do not have the best sense of fashion.
2. Mean Bikers - Back home, when biking, 9 out of 10 cyclists will wave or nod their head to you as soon as the two of you make eye contact. Here, 9 out of 10 cyclists will see you, stare at you for a few seconds, and then look back at the road ahead of them without acknowledging you as though you were an oddly colored and slow moving object.
3. Black Squirrels - So, this is not really strange but, I have never seen one before. Fascinating!
Three Hilarious Things:
Unfortunately, as we all know, things are much funnier in person. But please, use your imagination.
1. Carolyn and I drove down into the city to go to her gym on the Upper West Side. She found a parking spot and as she begins to back into it, this disheveled guy, with teeth at least half a centimeter apart from each other and pointing out at all angles, runs up to the car and starts dancing. He is wearing a beanie with Jamaican colors on it and I think that perhaps he is just really high. But then he puts his finger up in the air and starts to twirl it in the clockwise direction, exactly the direction Carolyn needs to turn the steering wheel. And as she finishes up parking, he continues dancing out these instructions for her (to which she pays no attention) and then finally with some heavy pelvic thrusting he points towards the sidewalk. We get out of the car and hand this man a dollar for making our day.
2. This past Sunday Carolyn and I saw Julie and Amy off at the Chinatown bus stop and then walked to Soho to buy some things. As we make the transition from Chinatown to Soho, we get stopped at an intersection and while waiting for the walk signal, we see this very old Chinese lady (4'10", hunched over, with a full head of white hair, and a walking cane) making her way down the street. As a group of people approach her on the same sidewalk from the opposite direction, she suddenly picks up her walking cane and waves it circles in front of her with quite some ferocity with the simple, but powerful, message of "Get out of my way."
3. Last night, Carolyn, Jim, his friend, Dave, and I went to Chinatown to get some vegetarian friendly dim sum (Jim and Dave are both vegetarians). Afterwards, we decide to get some bubble tea at a Chinese bakery. We ask the man behind the counter if they have any taro buns. Taro is a root vegetable commonly used in Chinese baked goods and sounds like it is spelled. The man behind the counter thinks pensively for about thirty seconds before my sister says "ta - ro" in the best Mandarin she can muster up. He thinks for another ten seconds and then picks up a box of strawberries and points to them while raising his eyebrows curiously. Carolyn smiles and shakes her head and we leave after I get my bubble tea. We then call our parents and ask what the Mandarin word for strawberry is. My dad tells us that it pronounced "si do be lei."
That is all until I get back to North Carolina on Sunday. I promise that future posts will not be this long. Hopefully, on the ride, I will update daily and not wait until the last minute to give updates on everything. Goodnight.
1. Oriental Garden - Last weekend, my cousin Julie and her friend Amy visited for a few days from Baltimore. They were craving dim sum because apparently, there are two dim sum places in Baltimore that are both bad. The meal was delicious, especially the seafood. Try the Shu Mai, a steamed dumpling filled with shrimp, beef, and hard boiled egg.
2. Grimaldi's Pizzeria - I went to Grimaldi's for the second time tonight and it did not disappoint. Get the Margherita Pizza with extra basil. The mozzarella is snow white and perfectly creamy and the basil leaves taste spicy, like they were just picked in a garden out back.
3. Siam Square Thai Restaurant - I would never have found out about this place if Carolyn had not lived in the Bronx for three years. The Penang Chicken Curry is delicious. I ordered it with three stars of "hotness" and it was hot enough to make me cry and turn my face red, but still tasty enough to experience all of the flavors and spices. Get the sweet sticky rice and mango desert. Words can not describe it.
Top Three Songs:
I listen to a lot of music on bike rides and since I only have an iPod Nano, I have become very familiar with my limited amount of music. The following three songs are my favorite only at this time and are likely to change within the next month.
1. Neko Case - Deep Red Bells - Neko Case is incredible singer with lots of talent. Just listening to a recording of this song I get an image in my head of her on a dark stage, with her eyes closed, deeply belting out these beautiful words. This song is just too complex to describe, you will have to listen to it yourself.
2. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - Contrary to Neko Case, Jeff Mangum does not have an amazing voice. However, his voice does resonate incredibly from deep within his soul. The song is simple (4 chords anyone could play on a guitar: G, E minor, C, and D) and yet, it is still such a beautiful and melodious song.
3. Arcade Fire - No Cars Go - I saw these guys play in Carrboro after my last exam this past semester, and they put on the best concert I had ever been to. As soon as they step on stage, they all seem to become possessed by something celestial. My favorite part of this song is the outro. I feel like I am about to blast off the Earth in a spaceship.
The Arcade FireThree Strange Things:
1. Sunglasses in the Subway - People walk into the station wearing their sunglasses and do not take them off. It makes little to no sense to me. But then again, I do not have the best sense of fashion.
2. Mean Bikers - Back home, when biking, 9 out of 10 cyclists will wave or nod their head to you as soon as the two of you make eye contact. Here, 9 out of 10 cyclists will see you, stare at you for a few seconds, and then look back at the road ahead of them without acknowledging you as though you were an oddly colored and slow moving object.
3. Black Squirrels - So, this is not really strange but, I have never seen one before. Fascinating!
Three Hilarious Things:
Unfortunately, as we all know, things are much funnier in person. But please, use your imagination.
1. Carolyn and I drove down into the city to go to her gym on the Upper West Side. She found a parking spot and as she begins to back into it, this disheveled guy, with teeth at least half a centimeter apart from each other and pointing out at all angles, runs up to the car and starts dancing. He is wearing a beanie with Jamaican colors on it and I think that perhaps he is just really high. But then he puts his finger up in the air and starts to twirl it in the clockwise direction, exactly the direction Carolyn needs to turn the steering wheel. And as she finishes up parking, he continues dancing out these instructions for her (to which she pays no attention) and then finally with some heavy pelvic thrusting he points towards the sidewalk. We get out of the car and hand this man a dollar for making our day.
2. This past Sunday Carolyn and I saw Julie and Amy off at the Chinatown bus stop and then walked to Soho to buy some things. As we make the transition from Chinatown to Soho, we get stopped at an intersection and while waiting for the walk signal, we see this very old Chinese lady (4'10", hunched over, with a full head of white hair, and a walking cane) making her way down the street. As a group of people approach her on the same sidewalk from the opposite direction, she suddenly picks up her walking cane and waves it circles in front of her with quite some ferocity with the simple, but powerful, message of "Get out of my way."
3. Last night, Carolyn, Jim, his friend, Dave, and I went to Chinatown to get some vegetarian friendly dim sum (Jim and Dave are both vegetarians). Afterwards, we decide to get some bubble tea at a Chinese bakery. We ask the man behind the counter if they have any taro buns. Taro is a root vegetable commonly used in Chinese baked goods and sounds like it is spelled. The man behind the counter thinks pensively for about thirty seconds before my sister says "ta - ro" in the best Mandarin she can muster up. He thinks for another ten seconds and then picks up a box of strawberries and points to them while raising his eyebrows curiously. Carolyn smiles and shakes her head and we leave after I get my bubble tea. We then call our parents and ask what the Mandarin word for strawberry is. My dad tells us that it pronounced "si do be lei."
That is all until I get back to North Carolina on Sunday. I promise that future posts will not be this long. Hopefully, on the ride, I will update daily and not wait until the last minute to give updates on everything. Goodnight.
