Queens, Flushing

We had the best time in Flushing. It took 30 minutes on the train from Greenpoint at 9:30am to get to Flushing for their infamous Dim Sum. All the yelp reviews were true, it was simply amazing. They had so much more variety on their carts and all of it tasted slighter fresher than the Chinatown in Manhattan.

We rolled out of the restaurant with full bellies and decided to digest by taking the recommend 'touristy' walk through Flushing. Apparently Flushing boasts the most languages spoken out of any other place in the US. It's incredibly multicultural and doesn't feel like America one little bit.

After the tour we yelped a nail salon and a massage parlour that both came highly recommended. 

Peter and I said our goodbyes for an hour while I got a beautiful $20 Mani and Pedi and he got a $30 massage. Any pangs of missing Asia were cured that day.

A little flash back to Korea...

From the Korean part of Flushing, back onto main street where you feel like you've landed in the heart of a busy Chinese city...or downtown Toronto.

Vans Party

Van's recently opened their very own venue to host private parties at. It just so happens it's in a random warehouse in Greenpoint, a 10 mins walk from my apt. 

After waiting over an hour and a half for the ferry from Governors Island to Greenpoint, we decided to change out of our fancy swing dancing outfits and put on casual Brooklyn gear before heading to the Van's party. We purposely didn't eat dinner because the invite said free tacos served by awesome food trucks and of course, free drinks. Well, the free drinks were there but to our disappointment, the trucks had ran out of food. I wasn't really surprised considering the party had started at 4pm and we arrived around 7pm. We stayed for two very quick drinks and then left for the closest Mexican restaurant. 

 

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 This reminded me of Lady Gaga's first video when she's humping one of these inflatable whales in a paddling pool.

 The "tie dye your own shirt" area...there were no shirts left when we arrived at 7pm

The food trucks with no food.

Kiss on your face

Forgot about my coral lipstick...

The Jane Hotel

Cafe Gitane

Overlooking the Hudson River on the West side of the city is the very reasonably priced, delicious, moroccan style, Cafe Gitane. The original location is in Soho and always packed to the brim with the trendiest New Yorkers.

I got the cous cous tower with hummus on top.

Pride and a Pink Sunset

Don't be a Drag, Just be a Queen

We headed into the Village to meet Akiko and Jackie for some dinner. We had completely forgotten about the Gay Pride Parade and couldn't get across the street to meet at the restaurant. We quickly changed plans and decided to meet up at The Jane Hotel instead.

I'm so happy we ended up experiencing the Parade, the energy was amazing, especially because two days before, Gay marriage was declared legal in NYC :)

Why not have a Pink sunset to conclude Gay pride :)

Brooklyn Bridge

I went to meet Miss Ina for a tour of her hood and a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge together.

I thought since it was a lovely day I would walk from Greenpoint over to her place. On google maps it said it would take an hour and a half. At my walking speed, that mean't an hour tops. 

I got past all my familiarities after I went under the Williamsburg bridge. The first unknown area I entered was a distinctly Hassidic Jewish neighbourhood. Due to my intense fascination with this group, I enjoyed every step. I so desperately wanted to pull out my camera and blatantly take pictures of everyone, but I resisted. 

The next neighbourhood was not so fun, I found myself walking through the Projects down Flushing Ave. Just as I was starting to realize this wasn't such a great idea, three guys sped by on the back tires of their dirt bikes in a race to the finish line. Lucky for me, everything was just fine and dandy.

I finally ended up in Brooklyn Heights, met Ina and walked along the promenade.  We went across the Brooklyn bridge and in Manhattan for some much needed dinner in China Town.

NY Times style & fashion

Little bit of an unlikely and vain dream come true...

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/fashion/index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/06/30/fashion/20110630_browsing.html