Monday, August 29, 2011

Journey North America (Part 2)-New York City-Day 1 & 2

Continued from my last post and my travel story on Doha-Qatar here Journey-north-america-part-1-dohaqatar.

After a long flight of 13 hours on air, we finally landed at the John F.Kennedy Airport, New York.



we took the famous New York city yellow cab to Manhattan, being the place where we put up, and the taxi ride cost us $40. This is a flat rate imposed on all taxi originating from the airport to Manhattan, similar to that of the coupon system in KL Airport.

Our hotel, the Gerhswin is located right smack in the centre of 5th Avenue, Manhattan. The Empire State Building was like 2 blocks away and it was surrounded by so many shops and retail outlets. Highly recommended if you want to stay near to the shopping district.

I really love the room which was prepared to us. We were informed that we've been upgraded to Deluxe room to our delight. For me the room was nicely decorated to reflect the art-deco of New York lifestyle.






awesome view of Manhattan skylines.........how i wish i have this view everyday.......



as we were tired, we didnt explore much of the city except the surrounding...and especially admiring the world's famous Empire State Building before our own eyes.........


We got up early the next morning and headed 2 blocks away to have our breakfast at a small Pakistani restaurant. It's actually easy to maneuver your way around Manhattan as the buildings were systematically built in blocks or squares so you just need to know in which block is your origin and your destination. We had a simple breakfast of Indian spiced tea and flat bread with omelette. How i missed all those spicy and oily Malaysian breakfast at that point of time! Need to note that there's a small mosque located next to the restaurant.





As we have booked ourselves in advanced for the hop-on-hop of bus tour, we made our way to Times Square, being the departing point for the bus. There are few distinct routes or loops for this bus being uptown or downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn. You also have option to take the night tour of Manhattan. As we held an open ticket for all of the loops, we decided to start with downtown Manhattan loop.

the ever vibrant and crowded Times Square........



the downtown loop will take you around the city centre among others 5th Avenue, Rockefeller Centre, Broadway, Central Park etc

Flatiron Building 5th Avenue.......



Manhattan Bridge


Waldorf Astoria Hotel



other famous places........







multi-million dollars apartment near Central Park.......


historical buildings/churches...............





to tell you the truth..we didnt even hop-off the bus but rather enjoyed the scenery from inside. There are so many places of attractions and we didnt have the energy nor time to personally explore each one of them. It was a pity but due to our limited days here, we decided the best option is to have overall views and pictures of the attractions.

There are so many museums, parks and zoos to be visited and not to mention all the interesting building around downtown Manhattan. The hop-on-hop off bus is the perfect choice for you to explore all these places as they are all covered in its routes.You may choose to hop-off the bus at its dedicated stops to visit all these places within  your convenient. I dont think 1 day is sufficient for that though, but it's surely enough if you, like me, prefer to do the sightseeing on-board. Even that will let you cover the downtown loop and to explore the uptown loop, you'll need another day, as i will feature in my next installation of my Journey North America Part 3-Kay2011

Selamat Hari Raya........Happy Eid-Al Fitri




Just to wish my dear readers, especially my fellow Muslims a happy and joyful Eid al-Fitri. Hope that our life will be blessed with fortune, happiness and peace. Wherever that you are celebrating this festive season either with your families/friends or loved ones...im wishing you all the best! Kay2011

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Journey North America (Part 1)-Doha,Qatar

This is the first part of my trip report enroute to New York & Washington DC, USA. I was so excited as it was the first time that i'm going to set foot on North American soil, having travelled across Asia, Australasia and Europe.

Adding to the above, it was a bonus as well as our flight to NYC would be transiting in Doha, Qatar. Thus, ive got the chance to venture the Middle East as well. Here's the story of my 31 hours venture in Doha.............

We arrived in Doha from our 7 hours flight from KL in the afternoon heat of 41 celcius. Being a first timer in a middle -east country, the heat and the humid dessert wind brought stinging sensation to my body from head to toe.The landing pattern of our aircraft gave me the general view of Doha, whereby endless dessert field conquering the majority part of the city and here and there, scattered rectangle-shaped houses of the locals. The only fresh and "cool" view" was that of it sea.




Doha airport was a relatively simple and small affairs and the traffics are mainly for transit flights to Europe, North America and Africa due to its central location. Take note that passengers terminating in Doha and those having onwards transit flights will arrive at different terminals.For those staying in Doha, you need to have a visa which can be procured on arrival during your immigration check. Payment for visa is 90 Qatar Riyal or almost RM 90. Preferably payment is to be made with credit card.

Doha airport interior........


enroute to our hotel La Villa.........



view from our hotel............


and our room....



La Villa hotel is a budget hotel suitable for transit travellers like us.It's located near to a nearby souq and the main road and also just a mere 15 minutes taxi ride to the airport.

knowing that it's not easy that we have the chance to come to the Middle east, we braved the scorching hot sun and the dessert wind and ventured around the city. Mind you, we felt like we were the only ones walking around and taking pictures of the cities at that particular time as most people would prefer to stay indoors.

by wandering around the city, i noticed that Doha is having a massive development of its infrastructure in comparable with its neighbour  the UAE.You would see that tall skyscrapers are being build in abundance and in different shapes and characteristics shaping the sky of Doha.





to tell you the truth, we surrendered half-way as we could not endure the afternoon heat any longer and found refuge in the city main shopping mall...thank God they have one nearby....i bought some cheap pre-packed baklava from Carrefour here.



as the dusk set in, we made our way to the famous bazaar, Souq al Waqif. It was like a giant maze in here as the rows of shops seemed to be never ending and offering arrays of goods ranging from cloth to foods, perfume, shoes, kitchenware...you name it and you might find it here. For us, we got ourselves some memoribilias and souveniers.







even at night the air was humid and hot.As we need to wake up early for our flight to NYC the next day, we called it a day early in Doha and head back to our hotel. Another note is that not only the air was warm, the water which comes from the piping was also like boiling hot...what a let down as we were hoping to have some nice cold shower after a day out in the desert sun.....

Doha at night...........


It was an experience on its own being in Doha, though short it may be. The atmosphere in the middle-east was totally different from that of my experience in other parts of the world. I was captivated by its modern skyscrapers and how the city is rapidly modernizing itself. Doha is an example of the new middle east and if you have never been to one, maybe now is the time to be there.

Wait for my next installment of my journey enroute to New York-Kay 2011