Seoul, S. Korea Day 1: Finding my Soul in Seoul

Greetings from Namdaemun-ro area of Seoul, South Korea! I know it's been a few days since my last update (feels like a while to me anyway), so let me catch you up on the flight from NYC to here, my first night and pretty much my first full day here...

I woke up in New York around 7am or so, wanting to give myself plenty of time to make sure everything has been prepared for my departure that afternoon. I had been debating on whether to take a taxi / airport shuttle or "rough it" with all my luggage and do the trains to JFK. Being that my hotel was only 2 blocks from Penn Station, I could take the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) from there to Jamaica Station, transfer to the AirTrain and be at the terminal check-in within an hours transit time and for about $40 less than a taxi (maybe more), and NO traffic. Traffic was insane coming into the city when I arrived last week, as it took me nearly an hour - so either way, the same transit time, but less money...

Lucky for me, my 1 piece of luggage turns into a backpack that I can swing around my shoulders. Actually it was more complicated than that - mostly because the backpack was so heavy. But I was up for a challenge! I had the heavy backpack on my back, my carry-on backpack (with laptop, etc.) on my front, and the yoga mat carrying bag wrapped around my shoulders. If anyone were to touch my shoulder and throw off my balance, down I would fall! LOL...

So I walked over to Penn Station, got my ticket for LIRR, and lucky for me the train was just about to depart when I raced on. Then it took about 20 minutes transit time to Jamaica Station, where I got off and bought the Airtrain ticket to JFK terminals. I got off Terminal 1 stop and headed for Korean Air check-in...

After checking in, going through security, I am excited to see the Korean Air Airbus A380, the largets passenger jet in the world, that will be my home for the next 12-13 hours. Other airlines have their own configuration of this plane (Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, Emirates, Air France to name a few), but Korean's posts the least amount of seats in their configuration. Here are some pics of the plane outside (what I could get of it, it's so freggin BIG), my seat, and a view of the economy cabin:







They really gear it to higher paying fares of course - business class in particular, as the entire upper deck is all business. They have bars and lounges on board for the business class / first class, they even have a store in the back of the plane for their duty free items (i.e. perfumes, cosmetics, etc.) I didn't partake but did see it setup in all its glory - was pretty interesting...

The flight overall was good - shorter than what I did from Atlanta-Seoul a few years back (when I ultimately went to Malaysia). The AVOD (Audio Video On Demand, for those not in travel lingo) was awesome, as always. The Korean Air service was immpecable, as always - always gracious, courteous and smiling. Everything was clean, organized, efficient. I think they are my new favorite airline - I am their spokesperson for the Orlando market :-) hehehe...

We landed in Incheon airport around 4;15pm (give or take), but by the time I got through security it was already 6:30! Security was moving really slow for some reason - strange because everything in Korea seems to move like clockwork - lots of LCD monitors, fancy upscale and high tech environment. The immigration & customs process scans your fingerprints and takes your picture, just like in the U.S., but it just seems more efficient here. LOL...

So I get my bags, go outside to baggage claim and look for the KAL Limosine service (not really a limo but a coach bus with reclining seats). This service will take you directly from the airport and stop at a number of hotels, including the one I was staying, and only costs 15,000 Korean Won (KRW). So you know, I estimate $1 USD == approximately 1.18 KRW, at the time of this writing. So for all intents and purposes, consider it close to $15 for the one way journey that lasts an hour (so much traffic!). Here's a pic of the baggage claim area waiting for the bus:



So it doesn't take me long to realize something, once I actually get outside the airport controlled environment - holy MOLY CRAPOLY it is down right C-O-L-D!!!! I mean New York was pretty cold, but it is FREEZING here!! Snow that probably feel weeks ago is still on the ground and probably will be for some time. I hurry to get on the bus, and off we go for the hours transit. I can't really see anything because it's dark, and it's just a highway so there's not much to see. But you do see the LED roadsigns written in Korean, so that tells you you're not in Kansas anymore for sure...

We pull up to the hotel, and I get out and check-in. This is a full service hotel (22 floors, many rooms), so the bellhop comes and takes my luggage while I go check-in. Turns out they upgraded me to an Executive room because of my status - that means a very high floor, a good view, and lots of amenities like free Wifi (yes, I know some find that strange (as do I) but many upscale hotels charge you for wifi and it's not cheap, on the order of $20/day). Not only that, I get access to the executive lounge for free breakfast and cocktails in the evening, should I chose to partake (I didn't). Here are some pictures of downtown Seoul as seen from my hotel window the night I arrived:




And I decided to order room service :-) They had vegetarian Bi-Bimbap! SCORE!



Yeah I was dead tired last night - in fact I'm STILL jet lagged, as I slept until about 3:30am and woke up with trouble going back to sleep. So I just texted some friends back home, messed around on the computer, took a shower, basically was very lazy for most of the morning. I did manage to go eat my free breakfast which, I have to say, was just alright - not amazing, but alright. The typical American fare, eggs, toast, cereal, fruit, etc. I was hoping for more, but oh well what can you do. The lounge (well there are 2) was on the 22nd floor, so I did get an amazing view of the city once more...




After breakfast, I headed back to my room for my coat / scarf / cap, and went outside to see if I could withdraw some more money from the ATM. As soon as I stepped outside, the cold air hit me like a ton of bricks - it is so DAMNED COLD here I can't get over it! Maybe other Northeners are used to winters and cold weather like this, but this Florida boy - he is having an adjustment, I will tell you that. I am wearing my scarf to cover my face, so combine that with my ski cap, the only exposed part of my body are my eyes while I walk outside!

I make my way to the nearest subway station (Seoul Station) and then realize that Seoul terrain is very steep - it isn't flat like the majority of New York (and Florida for that matter) - the hills are really a hike sometimes, makes you think you're in San Francisco! So combine the uphill walks with the extreme cold - walking outside is NOT fun! Anyway, I get to Seoul Station and I'm looking for a way to get the Tourist City pass so I can easy hop on/off the subway instead of having to pay each time for the fare based on distance traveled. However, as big as Seoul station is for a Metro station, no information attendants were to be found to answer that question. The automated kiosks didn't sell them either. So I went back to the hotel concierge to ask him what I should do. He eventually found that I should go to the nearby market, where there is a free standing tourist office that will have them for sale...

I come back to my room, chill out for a minute or 2 to catch my breath and warm my hands, then I head outside looking for that market. I eventually find it, and sure enough they have the pass that I'm looking for. Cool, I'll definitely use this later on. While I'm at the market, I walk around and I'm reminded of India - a bunch of little shops all huddled together, people yelling at you to come look at their shop (well it was in Korean but I still know what they were saying by context!). I do find some stuff for friends and family though, but I won't write about it here - they'll have to wait until I return :-)

Another thing I asked the concierge about was the nearest Post Office or FedEx / UPS / DHL drop-off point. Being that I'm going to Bali the end of this week, I'll have little need for the extensive winter clothing and I want to ship it back home so I don't have to carry so much around. The concierge gave me a map and showed me where it was, but I still wasn't 100% sure I knew where I was going. Oh well, I'll keep walking and see what I find...

Oh look, this is an indoor shopping mall - a great place to warm up. What's the name? ShinSegae ( http://english.shinsegae.com/english/dept/dept_main.asp ), which is apparently Korea's first department store. It is huge - like 14 floors, reminds me of Macy's in New York, only a LOT more upscale. Very posh and swank, so maybe closer to Harrod's in London, because they also have an entire Food emporium on the lower level. This includes a full fleged supermarket, bakeries, restaurants, food court, etc. And all the big name brands of course. I didn't do much of that kind of shopping because I can just go to the Millenia Mall in Orlando and get the same thing (probably cheaper compared to this place)...

I do decide to head up to the 11th floor where there is again more food, but more like a cafeteria here - you order a specific kind of dish, they give you a pager, you go sit down until they page you to come get it. That is, if you can find a seat, because it's REALLY, REALLY busy here today! Thankfully I caught someone at a smaller table just as they were leaving, so I claimed it. The food I had wasn't great but it was alright - just fried rice type of thing, along with a salad and what appeared to be miso soup...

Then, I walk to "customer service" the next floor up to ask the exact direction of the post office from the mall, since it was supposed to be right across the street (but my orientation is a little messed up today so I wanted to make sure I had it right). When I asked the girl, she looked at me blankly - just like all the other people have been doing when I try to ask a question. They weren't really able to help me, so I decided to say thank you and just leave and figure it out myself...

Edit -- a quick note about Korean's (at least in Seoul) and their ability to speak English. I had read that Seoul is very metropolitain (it is) and most Korean children are required to learn English in their school. However, almost no one speaks it - I would have assumed that to be the case for the older folks, but NONE of the younger folks I interacted with know anything - maybe they know 2 phrases, but that's about it. The exception is the hotels of course, they all are required to speak it, but I think for most of the younger generation (man I'm old, I just said "younger generation"), it was similar to my experience in Malaysia - they might learn academically but they never practice or use it. Darroll was the saving grace in translation for me...

Don't get me wrong, I don't expect anything from them - I am, after all, in THEIR country, where Korean is the language of choice. I don't get frustrated with it either, I just laugh it off and move on, but I guess I just expected more, especially since Seoul is so international...

Anyway, I figure out the correct entrance I'm to walk out of the mall based on my photographic memory of the map I studied earlier, and sure enough, the Korean Post was right there in front of me. I really should trust my instincts more often - I'm learning that more and more each day, and I guess that's part of what traveling has taught me. It was re-iterated and deepened during my experiences in India, but occurs here as well...

So I get inside, figure out where the area is to buy boxes, try to point to the example box that I want (since they didn't speak English), and eventually we figure things out, and I pay. I walk outside and to the metro for my first ride - I LOVE The Seoul Metro! So amazing, so huge, so modern.... It just ROCKS...

And here I am back at the hotel, I'm going to take it easy tonight, I want to get some rest, so I don't think I'll be venturing out anywhere. Maybe yoga tomorrow if I can wake up early enough, or perhaps the afternoon Mysore class. Will be good to get back in a studio again - maybe that's why I've been feeling off lately...

Here are some more pictures of the view from my hotel. I can't really take pictures outside while I walk because my hands will fall off (seriously), so I'm going to have to figure out how to work around that tomorrow, as it's supposed to be even COLDER!!!! Really? Like Absolute Zero??? LOL :-)





Anyway, Namaste & Love from a Cold, COLD Seoul! :-)

New York City Day 4: More exploring & Ready for Part 2!

Good evening from another cold, chilly New York evening! I really don't want to spend a lot of time writing tonight, as it's late again and I need to get up relatively early to travel to the airport for my flight to Korea. Here's a brief summary of the day...

I woke up later than normal, since I decided to skip yoga all together today! I was going to do a Jivamukti class at the original Jivamukti center, but it never really materialized. Oh well, I will save that for next time! Instead, I layed in bed for a little while, texted / chatted on the phone with some friends back in Orlando, and eventually made my way into the shower and got ready to go out exploring once more. I really didn't have an agenda today, but there were errands I had to do for my last day in New York...

I needed to do some laundry for starters - but the hotel here only has valet laundry that is UNSIGHTLY EXPENSIVE!! $3.75 for a single pair of socks! $4 for a single undershirt! By the time I would have finished I would have spent like $75 - $90 for LAUNDRY! No way, I decided to find a local laundromat and have them do it for me. Thankfully, those are plentiful in the city, so I chose a small little place near 30th street / 5th ave. I dropped off my 2 bags, weighed them, and everything included - fold, wash, dry, etc. - $7. Yeah totally better!

After that, I wanted another bagel experience. Since I was closer to Murray Hill area of town, I googled and found this cool place called Vic's Bagel Bar ( http://vicsbagelbar.com/ ). They had a variety of options to choose from, and initially I was drawn to the PB&J which was like Peanut Butter, Jelly, strawberries (I think) and whatever else you wanted to add on your choice of bagel. But the girl in front of me ordered a regular egg and cheese on a sesame bagel, and for some reason when I saw the guy behind the counter crack the egg and prepare it fresh for her, I decided I wanted that instead. With Mozzarella Cheese... on a sesame bagel, toasted... with a hot choclate made with almond milk (everywhere I ask, most don't have almond milk, only soy milk as the alternative to regular milk). YAY! Sooooooooooooo good! Here's a picture of the bagel sandwhich:



Then I went to Radio Shack, since it was right next door, and asked if they had a USB cable that could serve as my transfer mechanism to get the pictures off my camera to my computer. They said no, that it was proprietary, and I could check 2 other places for it that were more extensive - B&H on 9th and 34 or J&R music world downtown near city hall. I had never heard of the former, but I've heard of the latter for many years (and have never been there, always wanted to see it though). But I was on the east side of town - which meant I could either take a bus to the west side for B&H or walk. I decided to walk, like I've been doing the entire trip so far, and I enjoyed the sights / sounds of Manhattan along the way...

Turns out B&H is closed on Saturdays - they have strange store hours, I don't understand it. But anyway, I figured I would make my way downtown instead to go to J&R Music world and see if they could help me. As I was walking back east, I realized I was right next to Penn Station, so I decided to go inside and see what that's like (since I've never been to Penn Station any time I've come to New York). Here's a picture of the outside with the Empire State building in the background:



Super busy place! And I realized that the Long Island RailRoad (LIRR) terminates at that location, but also takes you directly to Jamaica station in Queens, for easy transfer to the JFK airtrain. I'm considering doing that route tomorrow for my trek to the airport, but I might not only because of the luggage I have for this trip (my bag is REALLY heavy and I don't want to navigate it through the throng of people there, even if it might be cheaper than a taxi). But I did catch the subway downtown instead, but realized that only the express trains were running and not the local (and the local would have put me directly in front of J&R). Maybe the local was running, I don't know, but I waited 2-3 trains for it and they never showed up. I think the 1 is local, 2&3 are express...

Anyway, I took the express to 14th street and got off there, as I decided to pay a visit to Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. For those not in the know, Greenwhich Village is considered one of the primary gay spots of the city, with a lot of history to it with respect to the gay civil rights movement over the years. Many years ago, I went to a bookstore there, and I was trying to find the same one. But when I arrived, I couldn't locate it (nor did I remember the name, the nearest cross-street, or anything - basically only a faded memory). But there was a nice cafe where I could warm up with some more hot chocolate, so I decided to do that instead...

As I walked out and kept wandering around, I noticed that I was right next to the Stonewall Inn, which is the site of the famous Stonewall Riots ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots ). I even found the Stonewall Inn, and decided to take a picture:




I like historic sites like that, and being a gay man it is cool to connect with history and culture in this way. I would not have the freedom and acceptance that I have today to be who I Truly Am if it weren't for those who stood up for themselves back then, so I have tremendous respect for them and their push for solidarity...

I continued my walk through the Village and into SoHo, making my way downtown. I started to get frustrated with the layout of the city in the downtown area, as it is very old and not nearly as intuitive as the numbered streets and avenues. So basically I got lost! LOL there I said it! I knew approximately where I was going, and my iPhone navigation was of some help, but I still couldn't figure it out to a T (and those who know me know that I am usually very good with orientation and directions, and NYC is supposed to be easy!)...

As I kept walking, I realized I was in front of city hall! It's an enormous complex that is really cool with a huge front-facing facade that reads something like "New Amsterdam Manhattan New York" I thought it was really cool so I took a few pictures:




I walked through that complex and alongside the NYPD headquarters, which is mostly cordoned off. It's nothing special anyway, just a big reddish brown building. I ended up making a circle though, coming all the way around the Park until I realized that J&R Music World was right where I originally was, had I turned the other direction. Not only that, it was getting close to 3pm, the time I had to pick up my laundry. Score! The 4/5/6 trains are right there at city hall, so I could go to J&R, get a pretzel (haven't had one yet) and then hop on the train back uptown...

J&R takes up a whole city block, and is interesting because it's like 9 separate stores, each with their own entrance (ahh that's what "1", "2", "3" mean at the front of each respective entrance!). I eventually found the one that deals with cameras, and asked the guy the same question - how can I get a USB cable that will fit my camera for transferring data off it? He recommended I spend $3 and get a USB / SDHC adapter instead, where I take the memory card out of the camera and put it into the adapter for access that way. No need to fuss with cabels, and a lot cheaper. Yes, that will work nicely - and only $3! Finally something inexpensive in New York!

I buy it, I go outside, eat a pretzel and hop on the local 6 up to 28 street / Park Ave. Very close to the laundromat on 30th. I get to the laundromat, the lady hadn't even STARTED my laundry yet! And here it is 3pm, my designated pickup time! Oh well I guess you get what you pay for sometimes ($7). She assured me it would be ready by 4:30. Fine, I'll go back to the hotel room and relax. Then I got back around 4:35, and she hadn't taken it out of the dryer and folded it yet.... UGH!! "10 minutes please" she says. Ok, I wait there, she folds it, I am now good to go...

For dinner, I decided to get some Asian fare - but wanted soup. Noodle soup would be good for a cold night, surely that can be found here in New York! I settled on a Japanese Noodle shop called Terakawa ramen ( http://www.menupages.com/restaurants/terakawa-ramen/ ). OMG it was fantastic! I had the vegetarian noodle soup, vegan I think, as the broth was soy based and not milk-based like the other broths. Big pieces of broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, peppers, and the ramen of course. TOTALLY hit the spot! Here's a picture:



Later I met up with a friend of a friend for coffee, spurred by our common interest in yoga. He told me 8pm originally, which turned into 9pm later on. We were to meet at the Ace Hotel on 29th / Broadway ( https://www.acehotel.com/newyork ), a super trendy, hip and BUSY place on a Saturday evening! Packed with young 20/30 somethings. I eventually found a place to sit, waited no less than an HOUR for him to finally show up (he got stuck in traffic, was at work, etc. so it's not entirely his fault, but still I got tired of waiting). The rest of the night went ok, we talked about yoga (he's a Bikram yoga teacher), I had some more hot chocolate, and left around 11:30 back for the hotel...

So that's about it - tomorrow I leave for Korea, so I gotta get to bed. My flight is 15 hours long to Seoul, will be on a brand new Airbus A380 (I'm super excited about that!), and I love Korean Air in general, they are such an awesome airline (I've flown before to Malaysia)...

Namaste and Love from my last night in the Big Apple. Oh yes - I will DEFINITELY return and play somre more in the future... :-D

New York City Day 3: Old friends and Broadway!

Good evening from a cold, chilly New York evening! It was pretty cold all day today (especially in the morning). Today was all about connection! I'm super tired right now and I really need to get some sleep, but I'll give a brief rundown...

First I woke up earlier than I expected (7:30 ish) and decided to head back one more time to the Ashtanga Yoga New York Shala. I knew it would take me about a half hours time of traveling, so I was able to prepare accordingly. I arrived abbout 8:30am, Chant was done prompy at 8:45am, and I got another full Primary Series practice in. This time Guy gave me a few more adjustments, and they were really good like yesterday. He noticed the subtlety about my breath too, and how it was not coming from the throat on the inhale like it should in an Ujjayi breath. I made the subtle adjustment and immediately felt a deeper connection! He seems to be systematic in how he works the room too - giving almost everyone assistance in utthita hasta padangusthasana pose and supta kurmasana. I finished with plenty of time to spare, and afterwards he had a short pranayama & yoga sutra study class. I couldn't attend though because I was on a schedule today to meet a friend for lunch!

Sorry about all that for my non-Yoga-crazed friends - thanks for bearing with me :-)

So I finished practice, said goodbye and thank you to Guy, then walked back to the Subway and back to the hotel. I showered and got ready for Sean to meet me at my hotel, and we then walked to this nice casual cafe / restaurant called Josie's East ( http://www.josiesnyc.com/josie_east/josie_east.html ) to meet with my friend Alexis! She lives in the city and I haven't seen her since high school - some 14-15 years ago, so I was really excited! When we hugged, it was like things never changed - we're both older now, more experienced in the world of course, a bit wiser, but she's still the same sweetheart that I remember :-) Sean indulged us while we reminisced about high school, college, boys, career, travel, animals, and everything in between. Sadly, I got so wrapped up in things I forgot to get a picture with her! Oh well, perhaps the next time I visit I can be sure to get one. Lunch itself was really good - they had a number of vegetarian options, which made this a good choice for all of us. Everyone had some sort of burger, mine was a soy/veggie burger with vegan cheese and fries - it was good stuff! Very filling though - I didn't eat anything until dinner again...

Then Sean and I walked over to Times Square where we stood in line for TKTS ( http://tkts.com/ ) to see what Broadway shows were available for us to see this evening. Without going into a lot of detail about TKTS (and I didn't even know about it until recently), it's basically a service that lets you get tickets for a select number of shows for 50% off (give or take)! And you get really good seats too, well you CAN get good seats - I think you do most of the time. The tickets are usually for the day of the show though, and you can't get tickets for the really hot items (i.e. right now that would be The Book of Mormon, for example). That means you may have to wait a little bit.

Here are some pictures of Times Square and the wait in line for TKTS:






While you wait in line, you are hit with a throng of hecklers trying to get you to buy tickets to their show they represent. They disguise themselves as general helpers willing to answer any questions about any show, but I wasn't buying it. The real TKTS people were wearing Red Jackets, so I would have asked them a question first before some random person trying to hand me a flyer telling me their show is the one I should see. So we finally decided on seeing Mary Poppins The Musical! We got the tickets for half off and got Orchestra Seats - 8 rows from the front! I know a number of people who have seen the show, all rave about it and say it is wonderful, so I was looking forward to it!

Next, Sean wanted to go Downtown to the World Trade center area where he could pickup some eyeglasses that he ordered from his eye doctor. It would also give me a chance to see the progress that has been made at the World Trade Center complex since the 9/11 attacks. They certainly did make a lot of progress in the 5 years that have passed since my last visit! There are at least 2 skyscrapers being constructed (maybe 3), but nothing was open to the public as of yet. At night though you can see the new towers and they are really brilliant - it should be a magnificent complex when they are done with it (supposedly later this year, maybe close to the 9/11 anniversary). Here's a pic of the tallest tower under construction:



Also cool for me to experience - all the wall street brokers, stock traders, finance guys had just gotten off work and were rushing home (it was around 5pm at the time, and it's Friday). Cool to see all the business men and women in their suits, yappin on their cell phones, powerwalking across the street and sidewalks - many going to the PATH train to New Jersey where they live, since Manhattan is so expensive. I fantasized about what life must be like for them and if I could ever live such a life - the grass is always greener though, and I'm quite happy with my life now...

By the way - I did bring my actual camera (not just iPhone which has been used for the pictures in my previous posts), and Sean took some pictures of me in front of the Wall Street complex. However, as I write this now, I have no way to transfer them off the camera because I forgot the stinkin cable at home! I might need to run to Radio Shack tomorrow to see if I can find some kind of replacement cable - I hope I can, otherwise I might not be able to post any pictures other than what I take with my phone!!!!

So by now, Sean and I are getting hungry, so we head back to the hotel and chill for a few minutes. We then decide, 2 hours before the show, to ask the hotel concierge about his recommendation for a good Indian restaurant that's within walking distance to Times Square. He recommends a place called Jewel of India ( http://jewelofindianyc.com/food-delivery-TW/jewel-of-india-new-york-city.2490.r?QueryStringValue=buBLlr0lmgT3Qgb93XhUzw== ) - that web link is the best one I could find for the restaurant. We say perfect, have the concierge make the reservation, and head over there. Only a few blocks - we can walk it! I'm starting to feel like a New Yorker, being able to discern what can be walked, how long it will take, and I even cross the street with less hesitation now (is that a good thing or a bad thing? LOL)...

We have dinner at the restaurant, and it's pretty damn good! Expensive, but good. I had Dum Aloo Kashmiri with Peshwari naan bread & Rice, while Sean had Chicken Tikka Masala with Garlic Naan and rice. We were STUFFED afterwards - but it was sooo good!

We then walked over to Times Square and to the Amsterdam Theatre where Mary Poppins was playing. Here's a few pics of the Theater and the initial stage:





The show was REALLY good - you know most of the story, but I'm told it follows the book closer than the original Disney movie with Julie Andrews. So some of the story line is different, but a lot you will recognize. The choreography for Step in Time was amazing, the renditions of Feed the Birds moving, and the Characters very well played. I highly enjoyed it!

Afterwards, Sean and I walked back towards my hotel, but he got on the subway to go back home to New Jersey. Tonight was the last time I would see him for my New York trip (as he has to work tomorrow), but I'm grateful for the time I got to spend with him. Here's our parting shot:



Now to rest! Tomorrow should be an easy day - need to do some laundry, would like to have brunch with my friend Dana if I can connect with her, want to stop by Radio Shack too for the camera cable...

Good night and Namaste and Love from NYC :-)

New York City Day 2: Man, my feet are tired!

Whew - what a day! I did so much in a short amount of time, including walking (cumulatively) almost 160 blocks throughout Manhattan! Some more detail about my day...

I woke up around 7 am but had a hard time getting out of bed. I slept really well though - the room is extremely comfortable, modern, and clean - really like this hotel! Anyway, I eventually got my yoga stuff ready and headed out. I took a picture of myself just before I left and sent it to my friend:



So I take the B train to 14th street, then hop on the L train going towards Brooklyn, and get off at 1st ave, head to Avenue B, turn right and walk down to 8th street to the Ashtanga Yoga Shala New York ( http://aysnyc.org/ ). It was further away from my hotel than I initially thought, but didn.t have too much trouble finding it. Here's a picture to the entrance:



When I got there, the instructor (Guy Donahaye) was busy tending to the Mysore room, but came to the entry way when I entered. I asked if I had arrived too late (nearly 9am by this point) and he said I was late, but could either do a full primary series at a quicker pace or a slower half primary series, and he'd let me practice. Cool beans - I got changed into my yoga clothes, brought my mat into the shala. Guy told me to go to the empty space in the back of the room, where I proceeded to put down my mat and start my practice. The room was pretty busy, though I imagine it is normally a lot busier in the early morning. Practice felt R-E-A-L-L-Y good today! The room was warm (it's colder today in NYC), the energy was vibrant, I really enjoyed it!

However, Guy gave me little to no adjustments during the practice. Not sure why, maybe he was too busy and I was a brand new student and he didn't know my body or my issues. Eventually in kormasana and supta kormasana he did, and got me pretty deep into supta. When I got towards the end of practice, he told me I could just finish up on my own, and not worry about paying the drop in. Wow that's really cool! He let me use the space for practice for free! There was only 1 other guy in the room with me by now, and we both came out of Savasana at the same time. Guy and I talked a little afterwards, I told him where I was from, etc. Only after I left did I realize he (and Eddie Stern) are the authors of the recent memoir for Sri K. Pattabhi Jois called "Guruji". A picture of that book cover is on the website link above...

Anyway - I got out of practice, charged and refreshed and feeling good! I said "Hey I'm in New York - probably THE place to get some good bagels! Let's do it!" So I searched my trusty iPhone for the nearest bagel shop that looked interesting - not too corporate, but a small mom & pop that got good reviews. Eventually found a place called Heaven's Hot Bagel ( http://www.yelp.com/biz/heavens-hot-bagel-new-york ). I opted for a healthy # 2, which is egg whites, mushrooms, asparagus and spinach (I think), on a toasted sesame bagel along with a soy hot chocolate. YUM! Funny thing too - I asked to use their restroom but for some reason I still cannot understand, they would not let me use it - I couldn't catch why (she was Chinese and had a bit of an accent that made it hard to understand), but somehow they would get in trouble for letting customers use it. Insurance? I don't know. So I held it in and walked back to the Subway to go back to my hotel...

Once at the hotel, I showered, and then decided I would spend the next few hours roaming around Manhattan on my own. I was scheduled to meet Sean for dinner later that evening, so I had 4 - 5 hours to do whatever I wanted. Cool - I decided to walk uptown on 5th ave and just check out the sights. No particular destination - just let the wind take me where it was (and by this point the wind chill was pretty cold - probably 30's or 20's, so thankfully I had gloves and scarf today)...

I stopped in a few places along the way as my interest piqued - the first of which was Rockafeller Center ice skating rink:



Later, the Abercrombie & Fitch store to the famous Apple Store / Cube on 5th Ave (where the employees in blue shirts outnumber customers 3-to-1). It is a really cool design though - the elevator is a cylinder that runs right in the middle of the cube, and the store itself a floor below. It's open 24 hours, and provides a nice place to warm up from the chill outside, even if for a few minutes:



Later, I kept walking uptown (by now at 59th street, coming from 35th initially). I walked all the way to 72nd and cut across into Central Park. Ahhh I love Central Park - a quiet respite from the hectic energy of Manhattan. Yes, there are truly some tranquil spots there - you could still hear car horns in the background but they were distant and faded - otherwise the only thing I heard was birds chirping:




I kept heading west and eventually stopped by Strawberry Fields, cuz I really wanted to see the emblem tributing John Lennon:



I was getting hungry by this point so decided to Google for a French bakery where I could have some kind of pastry and another hot chocolate (I don't really drink coffee). Found a REALLY good place called The Magnolia Bakery over on Columbus Ave in the Upper West Side ( http://www.magnoliabakery.com/home.php ). I had a Peanut BUtter Toffee square with hot chocolate - delish!

I started to text my friend back home who used to live in the UWS to see which part was his residence. After some back and forth, I decided to walk all the way towards Colombia University and check it out (walk north on Broadway). Mind you, I was at 69th street and needed to go towards 112th. Did I take the subway or a cab? Hell no! I walked it out! Yes, 37 blocks, added to the 38 blocks I previously walked on the east side, then all the way through Central Park. This picture is representative of the scenery:



Now, 112th and Broadway has a particularly interesting landmark called Tom's Restaurant ( http://www.tomsrestaurant.net/ ). You might remember this from Seinfeld, as it was used to portray Monk's Diner, and is also the subject of the song "Tom's Restaurant" written by Suzanne vega. Remember that song??? Yeah I didn't realize this was the same place - I was charmed because I used to sing that song in my youth! Now I have reference to it! I took my own picture here (but did not eat there):



By this point my feet were KILLING me! I headed 2 blocks south to the subway, got on the 1 line and headed all the way back to my hotel, grateful for the rest. When I got back, Sean called me and we made dinner plans. I arrived in my hotel, took a quick nap, and actually overslept a little because he was waiting for me in the hotel lobby and had to call my room to wake me up (I guess my phone was on vibrate and I didn't hear it). I quickly got dressed, went down to meet him and brought him back to my room where we discussed dinner options. I told him I wanted to go to a cool Vegan or Vegetarian restaurant, since I'm in New York and they should be plentiful here!

We ended up going to the Upper East Side at a REALLY cool place called Candle 79 ( http://www.candle79.com/ ) at Lexington and 79th. Super cool place that is all Vegan - but without a reservation we had a choice of waiting 2 hours or eating at the bar. We chose the latter, which wasn't a big deal at all. We shared a Spinach Ravioli Appetizer which was really good. Then, as an entree, I had Mustard-Ginger Grilled Tempeh with a really nice sweet potatoe puree at the bottm, along with brussel sprouts, lentils, rice, and even appls and cranberries on the top. Of course I took a picture!



Sean opted for the Wild Mushroom Squash Risotto in a cashew cream:



We even opted for dessert - Chocolate Peanut Butter Bliss, which was Chocolate Mousse, Peanut Butter Mousse, a chocolate shell, peanuts on top and berry coulis:



Needless to say we were stuffed! If you click on the restaurant link and find the dinner menu, you'll see it's not cheap! But totally worth it...

Then, we decided to just walk some more! All the way back to 5th Ave, then back down to 35th, stopping at a Starbucks along the way to warm up once more (by now it's 8:30pm or so, temps are dropping quickly). We walked through the very posh Upper East Side apartments - most have doormen that dutifully guard the entrance. Lots of mercedes, towncars, limos, etc. I can only imagine how much those places go for, especially the ones that front Central Park. We figured anywhere from $5 million to $15-$20 million easily. A world that's difficult for me to imagine - honestly though, I wouldn't want it. I'd be happy with a small little place on a side street within easy walking distance of the subway - just enough to live my daily life. Don't need the flash and glamour...

So that's about it! I'm back in my hotel room now, getting ready to retire for the evening. A REALLY great day today! I'm super happy right now :-)

Oh - another thing! My good friend from my youth lives here, and she, Sean and myself are all going to have lunch tomorrow! Will be great to reconnect with her once more...

For now, Namaste and Love from the City That Never Sleeps :-)

New York City: Day 1: Re-Acquaintance

Soooo - as you can tell from the title, I made it here to New York City! The trip up here was uneventful - I was actually able to sleep a little on the plane, thankfully. Once we landed in JFK, I got my bags and headed to stand in line at the Taxi stand outside. When my turn came, the director pointed me to a small Ford Escape SUV as my taxi - I thought they had all the same cars, like giant Crown Victorias, but there were a number of Nissan Altimas, SUVs, Camry's, etc...

Anyway an Indian man came out to help me with my luggage. Ahh cool - I will have something to talk to him about, being that I spent a whole month in India last year. So I get in the cab, tell him my destination, and we're off. They have these TV monitors in the back of the cab now showing advertisements, as well as an area to swipe your credit card. It has been a while since I've been in New York, but I don't remember any of that in the previous cab rides. I guess MTA is trying to spruce things up and modernize their fleet...

Anyway, The nice Indian man started chit chatting, and eventually I asked where he was from (duh I knew already, he had a turbin on his head, he's obviuosly Punjabi). He told me, and that introduced our conversation about India. As I suspected, he was most intrigued about my journey and asked all the usual things - where did I go, how long did I stay, did I like India, etc. He's been in the U.S. for 20 years now (along with his immediate family), though the rest of his family still lives an hour outside of Amritsar (the last city I visited on my India sojourn last year, where The Golden Temple is). So, because he's already westernized, he did not think it unusual that I wasn't married at 32 years of age (where all the other Indians within India kept asking me about it! Why are you not married????? Umm well... a) It's illegal for me to get married in my state and b) I haven't found the right person yet...

Anyway, my hotel is kick ass - it't right near a subway stop within Midtown Manhattan. It was expensive (don't ask how much :-x ) but totally worth it. It's practically brand new, all the furnishings inside are new, modernized, and clean. No mildew or mold to be found in the bathroom (a really nice thing in NYC)...

So initally, I got in touch with my friend Sean and his boyfriend to see if they wanted to meet up for dinner. While they were getting ready and finishing their stuff, I decided to get something quick to eat. I wandered down 6th Ave to find a place called "Pret A Manger" ( http://www.pret.com ), which is an establishment I frequented during my last trip to London. Lots of fresh sandwhiches and stuff - I got a quick Veggie sandwhich and popcorn! The place was really small though, too small for me to even find an open seat, so I took it to go back to my hotel room...

Once I finished eating, I realized that I forgot some toiletries and also gloves! The weather in NYC is really nice though, you don't even need gloves, but I suspect it will be VERY cold in Seoul, so I wanted to swing by Macy's and see what they had on sale. So first, I went to Duane Reade (a pharmacy chain here in NYC) to get QTips, lip balm and the like, then to Macy's. Many of you have probably been in the original Macy's on 34th Street - it's an entire city block of shopping and about 8 floors (maybe more I don't remember). I couldn't for the life of me find where the Men's section was - turns out Macy's spans 2 different buildings, and Men occupy a few floors in the back of where I was. Finally I found it, and they were having this amazing sale. I got 50% off my gloves normally $50, so I was happy!

Then I hopped on the Subway for the ride downtown to meet Sean and Joshua for dinner. They recommended I get some good pizza at this establishment called John's Pizza ( http://www.johnsbrickovenpizza.com/ ). It is supposedly a staple and has been around since 1929, with lots of photos of famous people. It was REALLY good pizza - the typical New York style, big and thick, greasy pieces. I had mushroom, onion and cheese, while the other guys just had cheese and also a salad...

Afterwards they decided to take me out to a bar called Splash ( http://www.splashbar.com/ ) for a drink. It turned out to be 2 drinks (was still 2 for 1 before they started charging a cover). It was relatively quiet, but it was really early (like 8:30 when we got there), so that's to be expected. The bartenders were friendly and the typical beefy, muscular kind. In fact, I could SWEAR to you that one of them looked like a character who played the U.S./Canada version of the Queer as Folk series that Showtime used to run. I think his name was Robert Gant - Sean and Joshua kept telling me that it wasn't him, and I'm too shy to just go up and ask him, but for real, I am 99.9999% sure it was him!! speaking of drinks, I had 1 1/2 drinks and that was enough for me - I'm still feeling it as I write this blog entry! Those who know me know I do not hold my liquor well at all, it's just not in the cards for me. I guess that's a good thing, right?

So then we left and they walked me back to my hotel. All in all it was a fun evening for my first night in NYC. There weren't too many pictures, but I can share a few here:







Tomorrow I would love to practice some yoga - hopefully I feel ok...

Ok good night - Namaste and Love from The Big Apple :-)

Leaving on a Jet Plane - to New York! :-)

Good morning! I am sitting here in the Orlando International Airport waiting for my departing flight to New York, the first leg of the trip that goes all the way to Bali, Indonesia! It's weird - I feel a sense of excitement yet at the same time it hasn't really hit me, that I'll be traveling to the other side of the world again! I've done this a number of times now - twice to Malaysia, once to Thailand and once to India. So the idea of international travel is still exciting but I have somewhat of an idea on what to expect...

Yesterday I took the day off from work to organize / pack, and I'm so glad I did! The entire day was really busy - cleaning, packing, taking care of last minute things. My poor puppy was following me left and right, trying to figure out what daddy had all the big bags and clothes scattered on the bed and couch. I will miss her a lot...

I slept pretty well, woke up, did a short yoga practice in my home, showered, and got ready to go. My friend Michael swung by to pick me up and take me to the airport. I like traveling at this time - there is almost no one here at the airport, security was a breeze, and it's overall quiet around here. Compare that to a Monday morning (like I had to do a lot last year when I traveled back and forth to L.A.) - a much different experience :-)

The past few times that I've been waiting at the airport in the morning, I end up getting breakfast from.... gasp.... so unhealthy I know.... Burger King! I like their French Toast sticks - it's really the only time that I ever get them, I don't know why. Oh wait I do - they're bad for you and I don't need the extra calories! I know I know, I'm too skinny as it is, but I like being this way, so I don't want to change :-)

Anyway, I just finished eating them and I'm sitting here writing the blog. The flight departs around 12pm for New York, then I imagine I'll get a cab, head to the hotel, and regroup from there. For now, I've got some phone calls to make to my family...

Chat with you soon! Namaste & Love from the Orlando International Airport :-)

Why Hello Again!! :-)

Whoa! Has it been almost a year since my last update??? I guess it has! A LOT has happened in my life since then - too much to really detail on this blog, so I'll keep it simple...

- I came back from India
- My relationship ended (finally)
- I traveled a LOT between Florida and California (for business at the time)
- I moved to a new apartment
- I started a new job
- I made a good set of new friends
- I re-connected with my yoga practice on a deeper level...

Basically, I re-invented myself into a new life... and lemme tell you, I'm so totally FREGGIN happy with things right now :-)

I'm planning on making more blog entries soon - starting next week when I go on another adventure! This time, it's Bali, Indonesia -- with stopovers in Seoul, S. Korea and New York! I am super excited to go - I need a vacation!

So stay tuned... More to come...

Namaste & Love :-)