New york Day 02

Early in the morning, we went to Woodbury Factory Outlet, we paid $32 each for the bus ride there which is about an hour ride away from New York. The bus boarding area looks like what you would expert of in a mini airport. You might think the $32 was expensive and i agree it is but i was convince there was good bargains because of the President Day sale and i would miss the next big sale because its on 30th May and i am flying back on the 29th...

Ok, the place was huge. Each brand name got its own big store. This is a Premium outlet so all the big brands like Coach, Gucci, Kate Spade and many others are all found here.

Take a look at how big the place is, we were there at 9 and we still could not cover all the places. Two of the Singaporeans, Yan Min and Kyle studying hard at the map and marking their route of advancement... Amazing actually i think they don't even study as hard in school (bentley) as they study for the shopping trip and you can see everyone was really ready and excited for the trip. One thing about America, please register online at the premium factory outlet website and get a vip pass because it has vouchers that are good and its free. Yan Min got her Kate at 20% off in additional to whatever discount was there in the store. Bearing in mind, visit an outlet mall armed with coupons (collect from the information counter or print it) as well as look out for holidays with sale. There are three i heard, president's day memorial day and another at the end of the year.

Just to let you know how sick it can get, P.K got some of her stuff at 50% off and in additional another 75% off... great singapore sale ain't anything compared to this.

The aftermath of a day's shopping...

One thing to bear in mind, try to bring some foldable duffle bag so that you don't attract unwanted attention from too much branded paper bags. Consider your weight limit as well. Oh as well don't waste time on lower end brands just go for the mid or higher ends, you won't have time for all. One more thing which i am glad, bring a UMPC and get your family ready. I found wifi at the Sony store and i used it to skype my mum and sis. Another thing the sony store had very bad customer service but sony redeem itself by having free wifi.

Tired... after a full day of shopping.

Everyone back at the hostel trying to get connected

My UMPC is one of my greatest asset here. just connect and you are on your way to a cheap call. Recommendation get the skype credits as well so that you can just call back and ask anyone to be on skype at much cheaper rates like 0.021 cents a min or so. For the hostel, i must say the internet connection was not very stable and hence a lot of my calls were dropped but its ok i still got my message through.

New York Day 1

Our first trip down to New York. We took Megabus which was good, there are some spacious seats but you got to be fast to grab those seats. So if you use the bus don't be late and end up at the back of the que. The cool thing about the bus is also this is $15 and it has wifi and it takes about 4 hours from Boston to reach New York.
Front view after we arrive in New York
The subway in New York. The unlimited pass including subway and bus rides cost about $7.50 a day and $25 for a week. The normal rides cost $2 per trip so it does need much thought what to get. One more thing, if you are looking for cheap places to go don't buy the New York Pass unless you really got the time and you want to enter every place of interest

Our Hostel call the Broadway Hostel and Hotel. Its aboutt $25 dollars a night. We used a 8 person dorm so the whole room was ours.

Don't expect luxury but the place is clean so its good for students. Its also near the subway.

Times Square New York

Toys 'Rs' Its quite a nice experience there are many things you can take photos with like the Superman figure and many other characters so do drop by. Its cheap and good fun.

Some very "sophiscateded' toys

M&M in New YorkAgain lots of figuring and things to see inside. We got a heart shape box of chocolates not to give anyone but cause it has a nice box and its on sale after Valentine's day hahahah.

Another photo of time square in the day.

Plenty of this large screen all around i think one of the better places to take photo is definitely at times square.

Big Billboards and skyrise.

Ok, for those cheapo tourist like us, visit MoMa, those modern art museum on friday between 4 to 8 entry is free.

Ok i don't really understand or appreciate the art pieces but these were some of the better pieces we found. So, if you group is not artistically inncline, avoid art museums.

At night, the city just dazzles.

We are back in more tourist shops but not buying anything as usual just taking photos cause its .... Freee haahaha. Sorry, but budget trip apart from the real shopping.

5 pound Hersheys chocalate bar that cost $39.90

More shots in the shop.

For those who want a taste of broadway show be prepared to spend but well as mention i am not artistically incline so i will rather take free shots outside haha.

Its strange but they leave a huge space right in the middle of Times Square for tourist and people and thats where you see their countdown takes place.

Limo after Limo. We were actually offered $5 per person one way ride back to the hotel in the Limo.

Yah and they even provide tables and chairs in the middle of Times Square which was great except that it was probably too cold for anyone to stay there for long. You can cam whore all the way there.

Central park at night, we only manage to take some photos of statues because the park is supposed to be dangerous at night so we only stayed at the outskirts.

Last stop of the day the glass made Apple Store, or at least its the top part. This is a store to visit for Apple fanatics and its opens 24/7 i heard.

Fire alarms

Ok, i am trying to write a bit more than usual as requested but bearing in mind i have a ton of work to do, please don't expect to be that much more haha. There is something really irritating about the dorms here they have super hyper sensitive fire alarms that get trigger for every damn thing.
Well, as you can see the photos, this is like the second fire alarm and its at 3a.m...

3a.m out in the cold...

This picture was the first time the fire alarm was trigger and its at 8a.m... and its like the first few days when we arrive on campus.

As you can see more closely, i am the only one in shorts out in -16 or -19 degrees i think. Its a Singaporean thingy to dun give a damn about fire alarms but not here in Bentley, they fine you a thousand for staying inside the building during the fire alarm. So there i was in my shorts after it took me several mins to realise it was not a fire drill and i got to get out of the building. Now, i have an emergency pack with money and important documents just in case.