Good friends, great food - this is my New York

Let me see…where to begin the telling of my glorious trip to NYC this past weekend? I went to NYC in great spirits, not unlike Borat as he heads off to America in a donkey-drawn car. As we approached the city, I looked around at the dazzling nightlights, tall buildings and bustling activity and took it all in with relish. My blood pressure may have rose a few notches as my anticipation increased.

As soon as I got there, I made my way down to Chinatown to meet up with Yoming and her small group holiday party. I walked into a Chinese restaurant with the cringe-inducing name of Dragon Palace into a roomful of boisterous Korean Christians. The next half hour or so was a whirlwind of meet and greets as I met a bunch of people whose names I shall soon forget. Thereafter, Yoming, Dave and I left with some of their more party animal friends to crash another party in Chinatown at a bar/lounge called People. A fitting name, because it was quite jammed with people, as we tried to make our way to the drinking pool and get our first swigs of alcohol for the evening. I was in the mood for partying but I was definitely not dressed for it. Like the dork I’ll never admit to being, I danced around in my sweater top and brown slacks and walking sneakers, knowing full well that I’m making every girl next to me look 10X hotter. Regardless, I had fun and partied it up with Yoming. She was really getting into the dance too, it was funny to watch how exuberant she was.

After that, we went to K-town to grab a bite to eat and stayed and chatted til 3 AM in the morning. We were kicked out of the store that we were at and went our separate ways after. Yoming and I proceeded to gab until 5 AM before reluctantly heading off to bed. That, my friends, kicked off my weekend in NYC with a running start.

Saturday, I went to the reception for my old youth pastor’s ordination. At the reception, I stayed a short while but got to meet and chat with lots of old familiar faces. It was cool to see my old pastor too, in his stately religious garb looking like he was at a graduation ceremony. We chatted briefly and took a picture together. I saw lots of people who came up from MD too.

Then after that, Yoming and I met up with one of her friends who also brought a friend. It was like a double date, with all girls. We ended up at a café, munching happily on fried snacks and sipping tea. Though it was my first time meeting with them, we had a fair number of things in common and the afternoon passed by pleasantly. Soon, we meandered our way through the crowds and the people, walked down Soho briefly, went through East Village and ended up at yet another Bubble tea café. We joked that it was the journey not the destination, since we essentially walked a thousand steps to end up at the same exact type of place we were at earlier. There Viola and Dave joined us and we talked yet some more until it was time for dinner. Yang/Huafie and George/Russell joined us there and we gorged ourselves on Malaysian at this place called Jaya.

The evening was spent at K-town, see a recurring theme here? Chinatown, then K-town, Chinatown, then K-town. We had some nice wine at a trendy 3rd floor café, again in a roomful of boisterous Koreans. Scanning the room, I’d say I saw more than a few of the hotter specimens of the male race, but I wasn’t there to pick up a man, I was just there to hang with my buddies.

Anyway, I did a little more of this and that before reluctantly saying goodbye to my beloved college hometown. Goodbye for now New York, but I will be back!