My White Christmas

2010-01-23T12:31:00.013+08:00

Arlington, Texas

I had a white Christmas last year when my mom, Ivan and I went over to Arlington to visit my sisters and brother in law. Was excited as this is the first time I will be seeing snow and reuniting with family members. We were in Arlington from 20 Dec 09 to 26 Dec 09.

Transiting in Chicago. My first sight of snow.

Snowflake crystal taken in the plane when we landed in Chicago. So pretty!

Mom playing Bejewelled on the iphone.

My first frolick in the snow. Outside Chicago O'hare Airport. Freezing!

In Chicago O'hare.

Introducing my nephew Samuel Yam. He is shy...

He finally looks up. hee hee

All bundled up for his morning walk. so cute!

Mom and her grandson outside sis' house

Cute! And I love the tree.

Ivan introducing Samuel to the neighbour's fat cat.

Fei Mao.....

Alan my bro in law said he doesn't like the cat cos it shits in their lawn....

Samuel giving a shy smile... hee hee.

Outside my sister's door

Back in the house, Ivan showing Samuel pics of himself and the fat cat. We taught him 'fei mao'. Then we pointed to him and said 'hong sek kei fei mao'. (Red fat cat)

When we pointed to him in the photo and asked who is this? He said, 'hong sek kei fei mao'. Samuel really is very cute and entertaining.

Fort Worth Museum District

In Texas, you can't go anywhere without a car. So Alan took half day leave on one day and took us around the Forth Worth Museum District which is about 20mins drive from Arlington.

Kimball Art Museum by Louis Kahn

Modern Art Museum by Tadao Ando. So funny I see this in books but I never knew it's so close to my sister's place. This is across the road fromKimbell Art Museum. We only had half an hour before the museum closes so the kind lady at the reception let us see the exhibit for free!

Fighting metal trees

Like how they placed the sculpture in front of mirror

Sticky stream of sweets

This reminds me of the X-men guy with angel wings

Ivan contemplating

Super real figurine!

It's actually very tiny. Like about 40cm high.

I like the dynamism of this scuplture. Wonder how it balances

And the cloak like thing with red on one side and black on the reverse

Dallas Arts District and Arboretum

On another day my sister Lai See took my mom, Ivan and I to the Dallas Arts District

Wyly Theater

Tubular steel cladding

Sloping ramps at the entrance

Winspear Opera House by Fosters and Partners

Interesting glass which becomes opaque as you walk closer or stand at 90deg to it.

Interesting sculpture in Nasher Sculpture Centre

We proceeded to the Arboretum with less than an hour to spare before closing time. Tried to get in free again but didn't work this time...

Love the row of trees...

Love the trees!

Sis and Ivan looking at map... short of time so we had to maximise time.

I like this pair of sculpture blowing the trumpet

Sunset with Dallas skyline

Snow! My sis said apparently in the past 80 years, Texas only had snow 4 times!

Houses in the neighbourhood. People decorate and light up their houses, so Christmassy and pretty.

Sis and Alan's house

Opening presents!

Samuel running around, he looks so happy!

Sis trying to get Samuel to open his presents

Sis making yummy fried chicken wing for her bosses' Christmas party.

Gaylord Texan Resort

My sister and Alan took us to this resort with funny sounding name in Grapevine, a good 45mins drive from Arlington. The resort has a huge glass atrium that allows the internal landscape to look like summer in the midst of winter. We went there to see the ice sculpture exhibition

We had our first Western food here. hahaha.

Quesadilla

Burgers

BBQ ribs and chicken

Pulled pork

The ice scuplture display is based on The Grinch by Dr Seuss. The ice is sculpted by a guy from China, probably from Harbin.

Samuel is sooo cute!!

Samuel cried after sliding down the ice slope but he was very happy to see the penguin outside and kept hugging it. He calls it 'kei ngo' which is penguin in Cantonese

On the coveted spot in the train

This was a good holiday. Felt happy to spend time with family even just hanging around the house. Love the suburban house and the yard at the back. And the highlight was Samuel which is cute as can be and funny.

After Christmas day we left for the Big Apple

New York City, New York

2010-01-23T10:25:00.005+08:00

We left my sister's place for NYC and spent 26th Dec 2009 to 1st Jan 2010 in Manhattan. But after all the flying we only had 5 and a half days there which is too short..

Radiocity Hall. We went there on the first day.

The painting on the wall is so nice and grand.

The Christmas Spectacular Show. It's really quite spectacular.

Fantastic coordination between the revolving bus and the projected image in the background. The bus looks like it's moving along the street.

Nativity scene.. they brought in real sheeps and camels! And I dunno why I didn't take the Rockettes! Maybe I was too mesmerized watching them.

Outside it's raining

People scurrying along in their coats and umbrellas

Around the Streets of Manhattan

Snapshots of buildings along the Highline. This is around Chelsea

Highline is a disused railway line converted into a park

Warmest day of our trip in NY

Love how the floor tiles merge into the landscape

Deck chairs with wheels on the sleeper rails

Interesting building straddling the Highline

Random shots of designer shops in Bleeker Street

I like this red door and the Art Deco numbers on top

I like the external zig zag fire escape metal staircase

Bleeker Street

Bleeker and Grove Street

Pretty house

Chi chi people having breakfast inside the corner cafe

Interesting brickwork

Parson's School for Design from Project Runway! It's near our hotel, between Hell's Kitchen and Times Square.

At Washington Square Park. NYU's campus is around this park. That's my friend Ee Lin on the left.

At Union Square Park. Normally they have farmer's market here but there's only craft item on sale now, maybe cos it' winter.

Rob and Ee Lin walked with us on Sunday.

The Flatiron building. It's called that cos it looks like an old fashioned iron on plan.

Rockefeller Centre

St Patrick's Cathedral on 5th Avenue

Ground Zero. They are rebuilding around the WTC. There's a temporary 911 memorial centre nearby.

Here we are at the start of Wall Street. The heart of the financial world.

Hmmm..... It's a narrow and very short street actually. Hard to believe that a whole genre of people and companies are named after this street.

NY Stock Exchange. Was hoping I could sneak a glance at the trading floor or see those people on the balcony ringing bell but the place was cordoned up.

Self shot with Brooklyn Bridge in the background. This is take no. 12

At the start of Brooklyn Bridge. We didn't walk across cos we were short of time and my feet aches. Darn those museums.

Grand Central Terminal. It's really grand. Too bad we don't have a wide angle lens to capture it properly. It has lofty ceiling and big collannades with huge chandelier running down both side. It's actually a train and subway terminal. One of the X-men scene was filmed here..the one where the X Men were trying to rescue Rogue from Magneto and his gang.

Love the classical grandness of it!

Chrysler Building

The exit sign is so Art Deco

Times Square

Some oddities in NY

Guy walking around with cat on his head in Union Square. People give him money after they pat the cat

Waitress ties her dog outside the cafe while she works

Construction workers protesting against their employers on this giant rat along 5th Ave

Top of the Rock

View from the top of Rockefeller Centre. The tall building is Empire State.

The flat land is Central Park

The lights in Empire State changes for different occasion. It's green and red for Christmas

Food in NY

We stopped by a coffee shop bar

Rob and Ee Lin

Generally we don't have much time to eat as there's much to see and little time so we usually miss a meal like lunch. We stopped by an eatery which has buffet spreads but charges the food by weight. I try to take a bit of everything.

Ivan chose cheese macaroni as usual... I saw a caucasian boy fill his container with half cheese macaroni and half white rice, the most unworthwhile combination.

We had Korean food at Seoul Garden. Very yummy!

At the one of the two cafes in MOMA. Was a bit disappointed that this one only serve salad at first.

But my salad was the best salad I've ever tasted. This is what i call gourmet cooking. I think it has avocado, thai shrimp dressing and who knows what ingredient but a very yummy and new taste. It's basically vermicelli with chicken strips. The dressing is the killer.

Christmas on 5th

If I had to draw a parallel 5th Ave is like Orchard Road in Singapore. But not as many malls and not as big. And it's usually at places like these that it feels the most Christmassy in the city.

This is the first Macy's in US if I'm not wrong. Macy's is not on 5th but Broadway.

Rotating razzle bedazzle window display

Wooden escalator in Macy!

The crowd outside Macy's. NY is filled with tourist at this time

View of Empire State Building

Rockefeller Centre

Giant christmas tree and ice skating at the Rockefeller Centre. Didn't know that the tree is real!

Statue of Atlas outside Rockefeller

Window display at one of the shops along 5th

That's the Prada shope in the back ground

A series of window display along Bergdorf Goodman, a high class shopping centre. This series is based on Alice in Wonderland. The display is very very nice with a lot of detail. The display in this window is all made of paper.

Closeup of one corner

Queen of Hearts playing a game of cards

A house with many staircases

This reminds me of Coraline's house

Everything is made of glass.

What's winter if you don't ice skate?

Ice skating at The Pond at Bryant Park. One of my most memorable experience. I really enjoyed the experience. Getting in is free but the queue is 2.5hrs long. I paid to get in but it's worth it cos I cut the queue and skate rental is in.

I thought I could ice skate since I can rollerblade. I was wrong.... I'm hugging the rail here. And I left my gloves in the locker.. Arghhh....

Still clinging onto the rail for dear life. But seriously skating in the open is fun. I could move away from the railing after a few rounds of holding onto the rail but nothing close to the care free ways the others were skating. While I was skating I thought about how only when we take risk in life can we enjoy ourselves. haha.

Bryant Park in the day

Snow in the city

On our last day in NY it snowed! So happy to see snow. Funny thing is it's less cold than the days it didn't snow.

Rob's cat, Taj

Snow in Hoboken, NJ. We woke up and outside is blanketed in snow.

Yippeee! On our way to the Path Station to take train to Manhattan.

The worst part of winter for me is my freezing hands. It feels so good to hold a cup of hot coffee. On our way to Guggenheim Museum.

Walking next to Central Park on the way to Guggenheim

Pretty sidewalks covered in snow

Gugenheim in the background

Looking pensive on a bench for the camera.

Entrances to Central Park has a lot of nice sculptures

Frozen Pond

The Pond

Berries!

Ducks and bridge

Central Park is so pretty

Towering buildings looming over the park.

Wollman Rink. It's an skating rink in winter and pond in other seasons

Looking across The Reservoir from the Guggenheim side

Love how the snow rest on the trees

Winter wonderland..

No I didn't make the snowman

The Lake

Angel of the Waters Fountains. This fountain is in quite a lot of movies.

A beautiful classical underpass

The day starts getting dark by 5pm. At 530pm it's totally dark

Museums

Museums are the real time guzzler. I underestimated the time needed to visit these museums. And the queues to get in are crazy thanks to the throngs of visitors.

Natural History Museum

Mommoth skeleton

A dinosour with duck bill and a rhino looking dinosour

Is this a pytesourous... not sure. too many types to remember. some i've never even come across some before

MOMA

Courtyard in MOMA

Some smart guy took ordinary bottles and cut them into these nice shapes

Bag created for women to ward off robbers. Would love to see how the security checks officers would react to these.

Pollack. He likes to throw paint.

Starry starry night by Van Gogh! I actually took a photo with it! Hee hee.

Guggenheim Museum

Kandinsky was on display at that time

The subways

We walked around on foot most of the time. But sometimes it's too cold and our feet aches so we take the subway. It's cost $2.20 per trip regardless of where you go.

New Year's Eve

Nothing to do in particular on Christmas Eve cos Times Square is too crowded.

At a Ee Lin's friend's friend's party. Haha. Count down about to begin. Everyone huddling at the laptop watching the ball drop in Times Square. That's Ee Lin in the background waving.

The trip was fun. So many things to see and so little time.

Me & My Dog

2010-01-07T00:09:00.001+08:00

a receptacle for life

My White Christmas

New York City, New York

Me & My Dog