Back to my life.

So we flew from New York to Anchorage that night. But before that, the flight was postponed till 4-freaking-am, 4 hours after the supposed departure time... WDF.

So we were sleeping in the JFK airport, on the floor and all that..

And in Anchorage, we had a quick stopover (no pictures there... boring...). Funny how our trip to the States ended with us in Alaska again.

Same gloomy weather that we were acclimatised to for 3 months... same mountainous scenery... and same cool fresh air.

And after we bid farewell to Alaska, we flew in to Taipei for a stopover in the airport. We were supposed to have rooms in the airport's hotel but seeing how short our stay there was (cause of the 4 hours delay) we bargained to stay in the Business Class lounge...

How luxurious... Free food, luxurious bathrooms and WIFI.

And then we flew back. Back home.

How wonderful it feels to step into Changi airport. And see people of my kind (Seriously, seeing other fellow Singaporeans really had an impact on me).
Seeing the familiarity of the airport...
Being welcomed back (literally) at the passport check-in terminal...

And finally seeing my family again. I could not stop smiling the nano-second I caught a glimpse of my Dad behind the glass wall beside the baggage-collection belt.

I was smiling so wide, you could say it was almost involuntary.

The relief to see my Mum again. The joy of carrying my niece again.
And the anticipation to feel the humidity on the skin...

I cannot put all those emotions into words...
Or maybe I just did.

I am so glad to be home.

Really... :)

Note: This blogger will be back to blogging at his regular blog: Hebitch.

New York, New York.

I was unhappy about the previous day's rainy visit to Liberty Island so I made another visit to Liberty Island alone (the guys followed Ching Hei's uncle to his New Jersey's office and then shopped again at Century 21).

The queue was so long, it was snaking around the park! Twice!:
Entertainment to lighten up the mood and intense heat!:
Old jetty (under some renovation):
I finally got on the ferry.

Manhattan:
New Jersey:
Ellis Island:

There she is... in all the sun's glory:
Though initially cloudy, it soon became scorching hot. HOT.

Why is the Statue Green? Ans: Oxidation.
The three liberty's symbols include the 7-pointed crown (symbolising the 7 seas and continents), the broken chains on her feet (freedom) and the roman numerals on the book she carries (fourth of July):

THE Lady Liberty.

I wasn't posing or anything. I was squinting...:
The people there (other tourists) were really nice. They offered to take pictures for me after seeing me take snapshots of myself with my twistable-viewfinder-camera (a.k.a. cam-whore). Some even went to the extent of lying down on the ground to take the shots of me from below!

Pictures of the statue from almost every angle:

Tickets to get into the monument (just entry to the pedestal permitted... the crown and torch have been closed since 911) were completely sold out by the time I got there (and I thought I was early...)
Then it was time to go to Ellis Island, but I chose to bypass it and instead head back to meet up with the boys.

Bye Lady Liberty:
Wait... what in the world?:
Downtown Manhattan:

Brooklyn Bridge:
Met up with the boys and then we went high-end shopping at the boutiques in SoHo!!!:
And when I say shopping... We really went shopping...

And when I say high-end, I really mean high-end:
After boutique-hopping in SoHo we went to more boutiques up in Fifth Avenue! Like seriously! Anymore pampering from the sales-people and we wouldn't need to wipe our own asses...Now I know how Carrie Bradshaw feels when she shops...

So luxurious...

Money does make you happier... at least makes people want to please you more and that makes you extremely pampered which in turns makes you more happy and... and... (you get the picture...)

Never have I indulged so much in one day (we all kinda maxed out our daily spending limits on our VISA credit cards and I had to use my Mastercard to pay for everything else in the end...).