Cowing Around: Grand American Tour (Part II: New York City)

Again, New York City. What a surprise… everyone goes to New York City, or rather, everyone wants to go to NYC. There are very few cities in the world where its name becomes a logo. NYC is one. Back in school, pretty much the whole bunch of artsy fartsy friends and classmates dreamed to be in NYC to pursue their dream career. Many of them went, and therefore I was there to visit them. How many are happy? Well, all I know is I won’t be if I live there.

I visited NYC back in 2005 when I was doing an internship in Boston suburb. A friend of mine lived in Brooklyn so I got to get a taste what it is like to be a poor but aspiring student living in NYC. Everyone wants to be here. NYC, the big apple, makes it look like everyone gets a bite, but is it? In a place where there is over saturation of everything, what do you want to be? I realized that while it’s hip to live in NYC, it’s hard to be happy. Low pay, crappy and expensive standard of housing, rough commute, bad air and noise and the incredible sense of breathlessness, the feeling that you are in a city so big that it is almost impossible to get out of it. To me, NYC is literally a prison.

NYPD

Of course there are people who think otherwise. It’s THE place to be! Great shopping, on the top of the world. But I want to make an observation, which is, in any major city, there is a strong tendency for its residents to not look beyond what’s in front of them, simply because there’s more than enough around them to keep them occupied then to see further than that invisible boundary. Often, this leads to some level of arrogance caused by ignorance. My school teacher who spent quite a number of adventurous years in NYC said,” If you go to the US, but only been in NYC, you’ve not been to the US.” I think this is true for any place or city. The United States is a huge country. Yes, there’s a standardized language, currency, road signs, car rules etc, lifestyles are completely different, so are the people’s cultural views. Ever wonder why the southerners are so conservative? Ever wonder why California is so unique that people think they should just become independent? This is why I am traveling, and this is why everyone should travel.

This time, I was staying with a friend in Queens. So where he stayed is right next to the smaller of the many Chinatowns in NYC. It was extremely convenient for people with Chinese background. You can get pretty much any kind of authentic Chinese cuisine within a few blocks away. It was just like Asia! Well, that’s the problem, it’s just like Asia, but we are in America! It really makes me wonder why people immigrate when all them end up doing is to recreate an environment and lifestyle that is exactly like the one that they used to live? The food, sound, sight, language, media… everything they expose themselves to was not American, so why move? Why not just stay back home?

Washing my laundry at a local Laundromat.

In Queens. Remember the last scene in MIB?

Oh, because there’s political oppression back home. Oh, there’s a natural disaster that force people to be displaced…. But this really isn’t the case. We had dim sum for lunch, bubble tea for dessert and fish egg (HK style curry fish balls) on the way to the park. Where’s the corn dog? Where’s the freedom fries? Where’s uncle Sam?

One thing that is very unique about NYC is that this is pretty much the only American city, of which its operation depends on its public transportation. The subway culture. There are many cities all over the world that depends on public transport, most of which are in Europe and Asia. In Asia, it’s all about the speed, and speed means while you are on the public transportation system, you are just as connected to the world as when you are not. In Taiwan, you can get cellphone signal pretty much everywhere. In the underground train station, or when the train is moving in the tunnels. In the deep mountains 7000ft above the sea level, or in the deepest part of the 21km long tunnel that runs under a mountain chain. It’s a “Full Bar” culture. So having this in mind, there is a huge contrast between Taipei and NYC. Very quickly I realized that cellphone signals can’t reach subway stations or tunnels. How interesting is that, that a city so advanced, so on the leading edge, actually forcefully disconnects its people from the world!

So I was walking towards the subway station going to Manhattan and just before I stepped into the underground subway station, my phone rang. “Oh man you are lucky, I was just about to step into the subway station… you wouldn’t have been able to reach me for 45min if you called a few seconds late.”
Then, I realized that I wasn’t along. There was a lady, on her cellphone, half way down the steps to the subway station talking away… but what was also interesting was she was taking very slow steps down while she was talking, as if she was really in a hurry and tries to get that last bit of time vs distance while keeping the signal connected… Then she put the phone down and hurried into the station. So what does subway time mean to New Yorkers? Is it a moment of panic because you can’t receive the latest stock info from Wall Street? Or is it a moment of relief because you have a legit excuse to be unreachable? What about the moment as they step into the subway station, the moment when they know they are about to get disconnected. Will they be looking forward to it, or will them think about that “extra” call they could possible receive if they made one step slower? I wonder how much time a New Yorker spends on the train each day, and what does this mean to their life.

A pianist playing in the Union Square subway station platform... I have no idea how he got the piano down there, but it was the most beautiful piano performance, I've experienced, and sad.

The New Yorker lifestyle is a unique rhythm. While it is full of challenges and competition, it also means you can always find a place for yourself in NYC, irregardless how small or insignificant it may be. In this massive world of variety, only the very few get to be something. For those who aren’t, you still have the option to be nothing.

I found the most molested cow in the world!!!! And the most perverted folks on the planet.

Horny perverted people waiting for their turns to molest the cow.

I made it a point to visit the Wall Street since I didn’t get to do so the last time. It felt special walking on the shadowed Wall Street on a cloudy day. It was a holiday so there were just tourists walking around. If this was a year or two before, this will be an inspiring place to visit. All the wealth of the world is pretty much dealt here. However, it’s less than inspiring in this difficult economic time. Every big sign of famous financial companies became an irony, even the huge flag that covers the facade of the New York Stock Exchange building somehow seems to embed a message. I find this a very appropriate representation of the Americans Dream. Something that seems so reachable but illusive. Something so approachable yet intimidating. As I walk through the street, I wonder if the tourists around me had the same feeling, the feeling of distance when looking at the very giants that have so much influence of the average people’s lives.