Indelible Adventures: The city that never sleeps...

Welcome to Indelible Adventures! If you enjoy what you read here please subscribe to my weekly distribution list via the Indelible Adventures website or browse my latest photos and upcoming adventures and travel tips. In addition, if you'd like to follow me on all my social media - see the links below.
Facebook - Google+ - Twitter - Instagram - LinkedIn - ImageBrief - National Geographic

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Whenever you tell someone that you’re going to visit New York, nine times out of ten they’ll say “ah, the Big Apple” in wistful tones and a with a romanticized look in their eyes. Not surprisingly almost every person I spoke to leading up to my trip to New York was envious of my birthday present to myself. I’ve become a big believer in doing nice things for yourself, just like buying fresh cut flowers every week – what can I say I love the aesthetics. :-)

You hear the phrase “the city that never sleeps” all the time, and to a large degree it’s one of the most cliqued and commonly used terms to describe New York City. This visit I’ve been staying in midtown at 48^th and Lexington which is just a stones throw from Madison Avenue and relatively close to some of the best, and arguably most expensive shopping in North America…New York’s Fifth Avenue.

Like with many things about New York the more you visit the more you fall in love with the eclectic collection of neighbourhoods, and even the frenetic pace of the city. Clearly its lifeblood is the melting pot of humanity that call New York home, but I think its more than that.

As I’ve explored NYC over the years my observations always keep coming back to the fact that New Yorkers take great satisfaction and pride in the fact that they are from New York and this coupled with its enormous number of tourists visiting the city provide an amazing palette of energy which I believe sets it apart from every other city on the planet.

There is no question we have other cities just as big, but none, have the diversity or soul of New York. And considering the number of people both living (around 8.4 million) plus it 55 million visitors (2015 estimate) makes for an amazing experience.

Indelible Tip #1: Walk Whenever I visit New York I love to walk the neighbourhoods, often catching the subway early in the day down to Battery Park (take either the red line 1,2,3 to South Ferry, or the green line 4,5) or Bowling Green down at the tip of the island. Then begin my exploration by walking along Broadway, then from there into the respective neighbourhoods as I slowly make my way north to Central Park and the Upper West side. As I've mentioned in some of my other blogs when I've visited New York I definitely have some favourite places that I make sure I hit (Dean & Deluca at Prince and Broadway is an absolute must!)

Not only are you getting some great exercise you're likely also uncovering some wonderful little gems that capture your personal imagination, which only adds to the mystery, intrigue and collective longing for the day when you can come back to visit again.

Indelible Tip #2: Slow down and observe New York has always been renowned for its great people watching, especially along some of the main thoroughfares like Time Square (a little too crazy, even for me), Union Square (fantastic farmers market on Saturday mornings, Rockefeller Center/Fifth Avenue (watching the skaters in winter and the throngs of tourist all year round) and of course the granddaddy of them all - Central Park (especially in the non winter months).

One of the things I love about Central Park is that on the first sunny day where the temperatures get above 60F or 15C you'll see people suntanning in the park... I know a little crazy right, but it seems as though any excuse to get outside after an often long, and grey winter brings out the sun worshippers. Good on em' I say!

There are just so many great places to perch yourself to take a break from your exploring that you'll be soon caught up in watching the drama of life unfold right in front of you just by sitting still and taking it all in - a nice time to catch up on your mediation if you're in Central Park as well.

There is no question New York truly is a "slice of life"!

Indelible Tip #3: Culinary delights The other wonderful thing about having 8.4 million people all living together in New York is that there are so many places to eat, its difficult to get a true number but the best guess is somewhere between 30,000 and 35,000 restaurants and eatery's that dot this beautiful and clearly hungry city. It truly is the perfect place to try something different every meal, whether it be a different ethnicity or style of food New York has something for you.

There are tons of great food apps to choose from, my personal favourite is OpenTable, but friends of mine who live in NYC swear by Yelp! So whatever method you choose, its always best to either book online or call ahead to reserve a table as things get a little nutty, especially over the traditional dinner time (6:30 - 9:30 pm)....actually all the time! :-)

This Saturday, my plan is walk the High Line, after a leisurely breakfast and then check out a little more of the 'Village' (Greenwich village) and Hell's Kitchen (west side) to round out my day.

I can't wait, oh, and neither can my camera btw! So if you haven't already, its time to consider a trip, you'll be so happy you did...

One last piece of advice or should I say warning is that - New York is addictive! :-)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Hanoi Posting”

A series of fictional micro-stories by Terence Wallis

Episode 41: Duality

After Bill's incident Phuong had instinctively activated his underground network, but already knew deep down that Anh was behind the attack. Even without corroboration it was plainly obvious that Anh's jealousy had been unleashed with Mai and would not accept someone coming between them.

Phuong often reminisced about the pleasure of his first assignment - tailing Anh and Mai in the Chợ Đồng Xuân, but that was before he was sent south to Saigon to infiltrate the bourgeois and corrupt Diem regime and fight the imperialists during the American war.

He had fought bravely and as a decorated hero was recognized by the revolutionary council for his leadership and courage in the last days of the war. In late 1975 he was repatriated back to the North, but instead of taking a place of honour on the council he had elected to continue his clandestine activities as an agent of the people and evaporate back into the shadows.

With the opening up of the country to the western powers in 1979 he had been reactivated and assigned to become a translator for the Hanoi desk at the Times newspaper with a dual role of ensuring that important and significant news coming out of the country was portrayed in the best possible light while "assisting" the foreign journalists with translation and opening the right doors at the right time. Often, especially in the early years his role of feeding good news stories to the west was near on impossible, particularly after the first of the many land reforms had failed so miserably.

Over the years Phuong had worked with many foreign journalists, but none quite like Bill and to his surprise he had bonded with him almost immediately. He felt drawn to Bill and had soon become rather protective of this happy-go-lucky and warm hearted Australian. Bill was both sincere and diligent in his journalism but also set out to be become proficient in Vietnamese and thus become a trusted part of the community. He showed great respect for the history and culture while observing the social mores, which was a first given that most of his predecessors quickly fell into the boredom of living an ex-pat life, showing little interest in either work or the people that surrounded them.

Generally he felt nothing but disgust and some level of malevolence toward the westerners he encountered but not Bill...no he was different.