Manhattan Thai
A good Thai curry is pretty hard to come by in South America (although on occasion, it can be found), so I've been suffering some serious Thai withdrawal. That's why tonight, for dinner in the city where any and every cuisine is available 24/7, I couldn't help but go for Thai. Went to a little joint up near the bottom of Central Park, on 9th Ave, and got some great chicken and stir-fried vegies, in a spicy coconut-milk soup. I'll save the Indian for when I get to London. And I'll save more Thai for... well, for Thailand!
I was thinking of going out and doing the backpacker thing tonight, as I've done so many times on this trip: you know — bars, drinks, random friends, all that stuff. But I couldn't be bothered, and I'm really up for a break from that kind of life (for a bit); and anyway, doing that in New York is a bit pricey for my liking. So I just went for a walk this evening, up to Central Park and back. New York has ridiculously warm weather at the moment — seriously, it's October, and it's hotter here than it was in Rio, what the hell is going on! — so an evening stroll in Manhattan seemed quite attractive.
New York has a plethora of options for eating out. The most common cuisine of all seems to be Mexican: while I can't say I wasn't tempted by a round of tacos, I didn't find it as alluring as Thai — after all, I had a whole month of tacos down in Mexico; and I seriously doubt that anything up here in the US would be nearly as good as the real thing. Mexican in New York would have inevitably led to disappointment. There's also a lot of other Asian cuisine available — with plain 'ol Chinese being the most abundant, and with sushi joints, Korean places, and Malay-style noodle bars following not-too-far behind — but once again, none of it could compete with the Thai; and really, Asian in general isn't what you go to New York for. There are plenty of better cities in the world for that — with Sydney being a prime example.
On another note, it's good to see that — despite now having a big hole in the ground at its downtown end — New York is still the same loud, rude, anything-goes, international melting-pot that I remember it being, when I visited seven years ago. They might have blown up a building or two since I was here last, but New York's crazy heart and soul lives on with barely a scratch. Even just by visiting for a day or two, and walking around on the streets, you can really appreciate what a beautiful and unrivalled hodge-podge of culture and personality this city is. I'd hate for that beauty to ever die — and indeed, I hope it never does.