New York Without Luggage, Reservations or Fresh Socks

Written by Laura Glendinning


Continued from page 1

We rolled torepparttar Grand with no bags to check in - I didn't even have a purse. I don't lug purses around as they are a drag to carry and a magnet for muggers. We stopped at a bodega and bought a toothbrush, toothpaste and contact lens solution for me - $9, not a bargain but who cared? We then hitrepparttar 134182 hotel and notedrepparttar 134183 hopping scene atrepparttar 134184 bar - and walked right past it. We fell into bed and slept blissfully - though by morning's light we discoveredrepparttar 134185 room was tiny. Didn't this used to be an old SRO hotel? They certainly didn't increaserepparttar 134186 room size when it was converted to a profit center. John pointed outrepparttar 134187 view from our window and what it was missing -repparttar 134188 World Trade Center. Solemn moment.

We got a late check out and debated what to do. Well, eating was going to happen, but first some great walking and a truly wonderful cup of coffee at a place we ducked into. Don't ask merepparttar 134189 name. New York is teeming with picturesque side streets with tiny cafes, shops, galleries and what not. We ended up at Veselka around 2 p.m. This is a classic Eastern European restaurant at 10th and 2nd Avenue. I got stuffed cabbage and borscht and even went for dessert. We readrepparttar 134190 NY Times at our window table and watchedrepparttar 134191 world go by. Butrepparttar 134192 break was over. One ofrepparttar 134193 people we were to meet at last returned a cell call. Okay, I admit it, we turnedrepparttar 134194 phone off for hours so as to be unreachable. I mean, ahem, conserverepparttar 134195 battery. We arranged to meet him in midtown and walked allrepparttar 134196 way (40 blocks or so, but Johnrepparttar 134197 native assured me they wererepparttar 134198 short blocks, notrepparttar 134199 crosstown blocks). The walk took us acrossrepparttar 134200 strange diagonal which Broadway becomes and I started to get a feel forrepparttar 134201 geography ofrepparttar 134202 city, something that's hard to do in a cab, bus or car. We met my friend for drinks at another "guys' bar" with an after work crowd culled from Wall Street. John had a White Russian that seemed to be made with maple syrup. More of a beer and scotch place I guess.

Then it was time for a hellish run torepparttar 134203 Port Authority, both needing to find a bathroom and desperate to catchrepparttar 134204 bus in time to make it back to Jersey and a long-arranged night withrepparttar 134205 family atrepparttar 134206 Scots-American social club. Back in Jersey, Manhattan was a vision acrossrepparttar 134207 water again. John's brother-in- law Joey keptrepparttar 134208 wine and beer going as it was his night to tend bar, but afterrepparttar 134209 night before we kept it light. I persuaded my native hosts to go back to Manhattanrepparttar 134210 next day, this time to hitrepparttar 134211 Natural History Museum. We drove over with John's Pop atrepparttar 134212 wheel of his car, nice enough to drive to a city he hates. He used to have a sidewalk stand inrepparttar 134213 Village, where John sold his original paintings as well. He reminisced about those days, andrepparttar 134214 really old days, when he met John's mom at a Catholic dance in 1949 and by age 18 was married.

We tried for close to 25 minutes to find parking nearrepparttar 134215 museum and actually succeeded. Pop and I were onrepparttar 134216 lookout for a spot while John napped, still catching up on sleep after another night back onrepparttar 134217 lumpy mattress. He woke up just in time to find a spot for us, claiming we needed his expertise. Okay, but who drove up and down ten square blocks until we found an undiscovered street? Now I was feelingrepparttar 134218 real New York. Scourrepparttar 134219 place for parking or payrepparttar 134220 astounding rate of $24 for 2 hours. Pleased with our find, we trudged torepparttar 134221 museum where a huge line meant we could not possibly get in. What to do?

How about a trip to Hoboken? But first I felt I had to see Ground Zero. It was a crisp December Saturday as we edged through typically hellish traffic down torepparttar 134222 tip of Manhattan. Everyone had warned me that it was just a big hole inrepparttar 134223 ground surrounded by a chain link fence. We couldn't park or get much closer but circled a little. I could seerepparttar 134224 fence was decorated - and perhaps still is - with tattered mementoes ofrepparttar 134225 dead. Pictures, ribbons, poems, posters. A faded picture of a young woman stays in my mind. She is smiling in a stiff pose; maybe it's some kind of studio shot. I glimpsed hawkers selling shirts, flags and buttons -repparttar 134226 post Christmas vacation crowd had a festive feel but I didn't get close enough to feelrepparttar 134227 other vibe I knew was there. The sad one. Andrepparttar 134228 angry one.

So it was back throughrepparttar 134229 Lincoln Tunnel to Jersey. We toured Hoboken, where both John's parents were born. We drove past Sinatra's birthplace, very well marked and easy to find withinrepparttar 134230 two square miles which is Hoboken. We then prepared to double or maybe even triple park, per tradition, outside Biggie's Clams. It was a 1940's social club/illegal gambling joint that served food so good it had become mostly a restaurant byrepparttar 134231 '50's. I had raw clams onrepparttar 134232 half shell and was very content. East coast seafood is cold water seafood, somehow brinier and crisper thanrepparttar 134233 Gulf seafood where I grew up. Maybe there is an argument for cold climates after all.

We were soon back at Pop's, greeted by his cat Duke, standoffish as ever. The guys had managed to find a New York Times for me after three tries at local Kearny newsstands. They watched football and I readrepparttar 134234 paper. We drank hot tea and ate cake and it was hard to imagine thatrepparttar 134235 high rises of New York were so close to this cozy middle class street. There was more eating that night. Italian food, of course. Huge portions for your average "gavone" - Italian for what I had become onrepparttar 134236 trip -someone who eats everything in sight. But, New York inrepparttar 134237 winter is made for eating…when in Rome.

Laura Glendinning is a travel writer and Content Director for www.threedayweekends.com


KANCHANABURI :The Perfect Getaway From Bangkok

Written by Joel


Continued from page 1

Most people visit Kanchanaburi for one main reason; The Bridge and its associated trivia, and on first impressions, I'm not. Impressed that is. It's too small. I'd seenrepparttar film and was expecting something of epic proportions. And while nice enough it didn't really fulfill my expectations. Incidentally I soon learntrepparttar 134181 bridge is not actually overrepparttar 134182 river Kwai as most westerners pronounce it. Inrepparttar 134183 Thai tonal language this translates as buffalo,repparttar 134184 stupidest animal around and a common mammal for insults. As all good learners of a foreign language do I soon picked up a few common insults and learnt thatrepparttar 134185 most insulting thing to call someone is a giant water monitor lizard or mayberepparttar 134186 son of....Any way back to my disappointing first gaze atrepparttar 134187 bridge. My disillusionment was compounded when I found out duringrepparttar 134188 show inrepparttar 134189 evening that it wasn't actuallyrepparttar 134190 real thing but a replica,repparttar 134191 real one having been blown up byrepparttar 134192 allies of course. We strolled across, and back again, got very hot and sought refuge inrepparttar 134193 nearest restaurant. The good thing about Thailand is no matter how smallrepparttar 134194 bridges are you are never far away from good food. A dish I always have when I'm byrepparttar 134195 river is yam plas muk and believe me there's nothing likerepparttar 134196 taste of a spicy squid salad washed down with a cool Singa beer. Actually Singa beer is disgusting, but it sounds more romantic than Heineken. (A new beer has just come onrepparttar 134197 market black tiger. Now that's a quality beer. Dark tasty and with none ofrepparttar 134198 formaldehyde aftertaste and resulting hangovers that Singa tends to bring. Sorry boomrang brewery.)

Almost right next torepparttar 134199 bridge and clearly signposted isrepparttar 134200 Jeath war museum. No not a misprint. Now I know being in a forced labour camp must have been pretty bad death, disease, etc. but inrepparttar 134201 photos, it looks like a holiday camp. Young bronzed men walking round in sarongs, doing their laundry, shaving, hardly any really gave me a sense ofrepparttar 134202 horror it must have been.

That evening we hit one ofrepparttar 134203 many stalls liningrepparttar 134204 river inrepparttar 134205 town and ate cheap delicious Issan food. With this fiery sustenance lining our bellies we headed into a bar oppositerepparttar 134206 boats and enjoyed a couple of jugs of draft beer torepparttar 134207 accompaniment of live Thai music. I don't know whether it was for our benefit or not but I really didn't enjoyrepparttar 134208 version of Country Road.

Joel has lived and worked in Asia for the last decade and has written for numerous travel magazines. He is the chief editor of Asia Travel Ezine (http://asiatravelezine.netfirms.com?kan_a5) and is also responsible for editing and managing the website, http://asiahotelbookings.netfirms.com?kan_a5.He currently resides in Hanoi.


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