HS103 blog entry 9 (Response to 'Urbanization')

I visited Manhattan in the city of New York during the month of April, as winter gave way to spring. My mother, my sister, and I took up a residence at the Hyatt hotel for the duration of our two week stay, a decision that cost us something close to S$500 a night. The location was near the center of Manhattan, and this gave us easy access to the boutiques and high fashion stores that my mother was keen to explore.

Walking on the streets gave us sharp sensations as we absorbed the flood of new experiences. The air had a cold bite to it, and everyone on the streets had either coats or suits on. The more affluent dressed in fine, navy blue trench coats, while those with more modest backgrounds wore jackets. Every couple of streets we passed, there would be a homeless person swathed in worn, dull coats and scarves, with beanie hats on their head. Often they would have a trolley or shopping cart with them containing their possessions.

The pattern of the roads is a grid of numbered avenues and streets, a system that made navigating the city a simple task. Parking, apparently, is allowed on the streets but not the avenues, and often street roads are lined with cars unable to find spaces in the few (extremely few compared to Singapore) car park lots available. Since the pattern is a grid with very few variations, there are traffic lights in every junction, and this slows traffic down considerably, with taxis having an average speed of about 40km/h (as compared to Singaporean drivers who often drive at speeds of at least 50km/h or above within the CBD.).

On the streets of Time Square, we paid to take pictures with people dressed as famous American icons, such as the Statue of Liberty, Elmo from Sesame Street, and Batman. Theatres and concert halls could be found along every street in the area; neon lights and signs protruded from buildings overhead. As we traveled further north of the city towards Central Park, we entered a district of high fashion retail, with high-end stores such as Saks and Macy’s. Within these glitzy stores, we saw articles of clothing ranging from US$150 to as much as US$10,000. There was a myriad of Japanese and Parisian designer clothing. Levi’s Jeans were nowhere to be seen in this district. We contemplated drinking US$10 tea but decided against it in the end. Down the road there were more shops selling memorabilia, such as the Walt Disney store, the M&M store, and the Fox Network store.

We would often leave the avenues and duck into the streets to find affordable food (Cafes or eateries situated at junctions sold US$6 cups of orange juice.) Mexican burritos were in plentiful supply on these streets. Furthermore, tiny ethnic enclaves could be found along these narrow paths, such as Little Koreas or Little Chinatowns. These streets had shops selling cultural objects or sub-par manifestations of ethnic cuisine, although some shops did manage to provide delightful eating experiences.

I think it’s worth pointing out that the ‘kiasu’ label that Singaporeans have is not exclusive to us. One salient moment was when we discovered that our ‘US$500-a-night hotel’ did not provide complimentary water; a dispenser outside sold 800ml bottles of water for US$2 each. Furthermore, baggage carts at the airport were not free for use, but cost US$2 each to rent.

Manhattan is a place where the most highly regarded representations of culture meet, be it in the form of designer clothing or of world-class performers from all around the globe performing in its concert halls and theatres, and this is what draws people year after year.