Just landed in Hong Kong after flying for 16 hours from New York. Here was my checklist for good sleeping:

Great seat on theaisle with no-one needing to pass me? - tick

Bulkhead in front of me and plenty of leg room? - tick

The first travel pillow I have ever found that works? - tick

Noise cancelling headphones? - tick

Eye mask? - tick

2 x diazepam? - tick

So did I sleep? Nup, apart from half dozing off 2 hours before landing. Glad I have a hotel room for the night before the final leg home. 

One cool thing about the flight (literally) was that we more or less flew over the North Pole to get to Hong Kong.  

I guess from childhood I was expecting New York to be a city of endless skyscrapers where the only sunlight has been reflected or refracted off buildings down to the street. And yes, NYC is a bit like that, but only in a couple of places. Generally it's much more open, expansive and light than I had expected.

I also expected a cold, unfriendly, smelly, fast, impersonal metropolis. Again, only partly correct. There was an unexpected warmth and a surprising politeness.

So in a way, NYC was everything I expected and nothing like I expected all wrapped into one.

Choosing to stay for a decent length of time was a really good call. I feel I've had sufficient time to do what I wanted without getting frantic and now I'm ready to come home. I've loved this trip and my time in this city. It's been enough to satisfy both my appetite and curiosity. And yet I know I've still only scratched the surface; sampling the parts of New York life that I have felt willing and able to explore.

I doubt I would come back here again solo, but with someone else it would always be a possibility. 

In no particular order ...

It's odd using paper money, especially when each denomination is pretty much the same size and colour. It's even odder using $1 bills.

Toilet bowls fill very high. It's the same in Canada.  Much higher than in Australia. I assume there is less need to conserve water?

Prescription medications are advertised on TV all the time. That in itself seems odd, but what I found most amusing was that, invariably, most of the ads' running times are taken up listing all the side effects or "don't take if you..." disclaimers.

There was a constant buzz of black helicopters taking off and circling Washington DC. Felt a little unsettling.

The realisation that I have an accent and that I have to sometimes make an extra effort to speak more clearly for Americans. The other day I had trouble just asking for postcards. 

I knew there would be lots of yellow taxis in NYC, but I didn't realise how many. Each time I stopped to take note I would say at least half of the traffic would be taxis.

The street and avenue numbers in Manhattan make it so easy to work out where you are and how to get somewhere. For a city this large it would be painful to have conventional street names.

There was a preview for DocNYC, a documentary festival, prior to the French film I saw. So many documentaries! I think the program said over 100. Looked really great too. 

Generally, I felt quite safe walking around Manhattan. No more unsafe than any other city I've visited. Mind you, I was always careful to be conscious of my surroundings. There were a couple of times I stumbled into areas where I felt a little uncomfortable but quickly regained my bearings and was fine.

My regard for American people in general has greatly increased. The trip has blown a few stereotypes and I've found people to be generally very courteous and polite. The rude ones have generally been the tourists!

If you're a walker like me you can get a long way around Manhattan on foot plus a few subway trips. 

I came across a chocolate store that had "potato chips covered in cheese flavoured white chocolate". I kid you not. 

In the day or two following the New York Marathon I've seen many people wandering around with their participation medals on proud display.

And these last two aren't anything to do with the US but I just remembered them ...

I met a chap on The Canadian train who is a business analyst for an energy company who are also implementing SAP, just like Origin. It was interesting comparing notes. 

There was an interesting line in the French film that basically said it's wrong to describe animals (other than humans) as naked, because the word "naked" suggests or implies you are without something. I'd never thought of the word like that.

It's Monday and mylast full day in NYC and the USA. I'd decided there were still parts of Manhattan I hadn't explored so picked a direction and started walking. The direction was South-East.

I walked a long way down Broadway, south of Houston Street. Suddenly I got a tiny glimmer of London. I think it was probably the mid height buildings, the street width, shop fronts and maybe the light.

Of course, pause and look closely for a moment and there were many things to remind me I was in New York. Most noticeably the fire escapes on the fronts on the buildings.

There were some beautiful and ornate buildings. I noticed the feature around this window.

My journey took me a little way back to the financial district because I'd read of an elevated garden I wanted to see. A bit like the high line, it's up above the street and planted with grasses and shrubs. An oasis amongst the concrete and glass.

I could see the Staten Island Ferry arriving.

From there I discovered I could walk along the East River again and I got my closest views of the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges in good light.

Eventually the neighbourhoods began looking the same as those I'd visited Sunday morning, so I made my way inland again, through Chinatown and back to Houston.

The front of this building really stood out because it had a horizontal concrete finish unlike any of those around it and some beautiful ivy growing up. Unfortunately my snap doesn't do it justice.

I browsed some shops on my way back. Bought a couple more pictures and looked for maybe one more special book to cram into my suitcase. Sadly, I didn't find a book that wowed me enough. But I have a few books already, so can't complain.

Tonight I'll pack and work out how to bring everything home. I've already checked-in for my flight so that's all sorted. My flight is at 1:55 pm but I'm planning to check out of the hotel around 9:00 in order to get to the airport and through security in plenty of time.

I was about to write that I can't believe it's the end of the trip already. But actually, I can. It feels like forever since I left Australia. I reckon that's a sign of a good holiday.

I learnt the other day that all buildings in NYC over 6 stories high have a water tank. Many are exposed and often look out of character with the building. 

But I've noticed a couple that have been used as a canvas for art.  

My Sunday started slow. I mean really slow. I went to bed quite early and woke around 1:00 to the usual dull doof doof. I decided to read a little to get back to sleep but got sidetracked watching Kate Bush interviews. Eventually went back to sleep around 3:00 which meant I didn't wake up until it was light. That's a first for my stay in NYC. Not only that but after checking FB and other sites for a little while I turned over and partly dozed off again until 10:30. Unheard of! I guess it may be an indicator that I'm feeling relaxed?

I have a couple of vague things I'd like to achieve in my last couple of days here. I've been updating a map of Manhattan with places I've walked and it occurred to me that I hadn't yet walked all the way to the East River, so that was my first task today. It was mainly clear but blowing a strong icy wind that cut right through. I had to get rugged up.

On the way I passed more Halloween decorated houses. This was one of the more elaborate ones.

I noticed this facade of an old church that has been retained in front of a more modern building.

The neighbourhoods I walked through were almost more suburban than city like.

This was the gate and fence to a community garden.

I made it to the East River before long.

Being Sunday morning there was a steady stream of joggers along the river.

After winding my way back to the hotel I decided to go back to some of the streets I had walked the other day without my camera. There were a few things I wanted to photograph. I got a little mixed up at one stage, thinking that the buildings were on a street that they weren't. But eventually I got it worked out.

This building is The Maritime Hotel. Who would have guessed? Unfortunately the light was on the wrong side so it's not clear from this pic how shiny and silver it is. 

The most impressive was this incredible detail high on the top of a building in Lexington Street.

I'm having a quiet night and getting to bed early. Tomorrow I want to walk some of the last remaining areas I've not ventured to; the East Village, Lower East Side and Chinatown. On the way there or back I hope to check out the streets I found last week that had some cool looking shops.

I've had a lovely day so far. Haven't left the hotel room. First time I've had a "day in/off" for over 3 weeks and it feels good; restorative. Ordered a delicious breakfast, played around with photoshop and Instagram, read, thought ... all the time with this amazing city as my wallpaper. 

And it's been a day of reflection. With two days left to go, what are the most important "must do" things left for me to pursue? 

Finally, a rainy morning. Perfect for staying in bed and maybe ordering room service breakfast. I've been waiting for one of these; an opportunity to be truly lazy without the guilt of what I could/should be out there doing.

So I thought itwould be a good idea to go and watch the village halloween parade. It WAS a good idea and I'm glad I went, but I was also so glad to get back to my hotel room afterwards!

As I set out, the Empire State Building was lit with special colours.  

My big mistake occurred when streets were unexpectedly closed on my approach. The parade was to go down 6th Avenue and in a moment of stupidity I crossed 6th Avenue to find a vantage point. I found my vantage point, but it meant I would be captive on the wrong side of the avenue for the next 2+ hours! One hour of parade was OK. By the start of the second hour it was just more of the same and I'd had enough. There are only so many ensembles of zombies dancing to Thriller I can take.

My vantage point was about 10 blocks up from the start. But for some reason it was nearly 1/2 hour before the first characters reached us, which was frustrating many in the crowd who were more than 10-12 deep by this time. There was a massive police presence too, both to contain the crowd and maintain vigilance. Saw some really good community PR from the NYPD. 

My good move was to leave my big camera behind. It would have been awkward to navigate crowds with and a constant concern. I managed a few rough snaps on my phone; enough to remind me. But after a while it got too hard and I gave up.

The parade is a community event. As a result it was odd mix of "well coordinated, high effort" and "could barely be arsed, just wanted to walk in a parade".

As the parade seemed like it was drawing to a close I decided that walking towards the start point would be my best way of being able to cross the avenue. It ended up being a long, slow walk, shoulder to shoulder, street after street, until finally I reached a point where the barriers were being removed. Yay! Then it was just a relatively familiar trek back to the hotel, with the addition of colourful halloween characters added into the mix. Having said that, it was a fun party atmosphere. There will be many sore heads tomorrow, I have no doubt! I had dressed warmly but by now it was freezing and starting to rain.

So what do I think of this Halloween? Well, firstly I just want to make it clear: if you're into Halloween, good on you, knock yourself out, glad you like it, have one for me. But it just doesn't resonate with me. It seems to me that half of Halloween revellers want to look as macabre as possible and the other half want to look like … well just about anything! The macabre has never appealed to me, and what Halloween has got to do with dressing like Mickey Mouse (for example) is beyond me. Just saying, that's how I feel about it.

I just came across this picture I snapped on my phone the other day. I didn't realise the avenues came in half sizes. For a brief moment I wondered if there was some kind of Harry Potteresque meaning.

Yesterday it was MOMA. Today it was the Guggenheim. I got myself ready by 10:00 and headed out. Once again I decided to leave my big camera at the hotel. It was grey, I was going to an art gallery, and I still had my iPhone in case of photographic emergency!

The Guggenheim is quite a way uptown so I knew I'd have to use the subway at least part of the way. But it occurred to me that I hadn't really walked uptown along 8th Avenue from my hotel yet. I resolved to walk a little way. I'm really glad I did. I popped into the Chelsea Markets just to suss them out. I found a great little book shop I will go back to. Further along I found a great silver building I'll come back to photograph when the light is better. 

I caught the E line followed by the 6 line to get me close to the museum and walked the rest of the way. 

I knew the building was distinctive, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, but I wasn't quite prepared for how it stood out from the surroundings.  

Inside was just as spectacular with floors slowly spiralling upwards. Brilliant for an art gallery because it meant you could essentially keep walking forward without the inconvenience of stairs or escalators to move up and down. 

The primary exhibition was Zero: Countdown to Tomorrow, 1950s-60s. Wow! It was fantastic. I think I enjoyed it even more than MoMA. And I discovered some new (for me) artists I really liked; Heinz Mack and Jesus Rafael Soto in particular. The museum had an app that I'd already downloaded which was great to use both as a guide and also a way of "bookmarking" the works I liked for later reference.

There was an experimental film piece to called The Morning Time Dissapeared by Wang Jianwei. Very trippy, but I liked it. Made a bit more sense once I'd read a little about it.

I spent probably 3 hours in the museum slowly winding my way up then unwinding my way down again. Then it was back onto the subway and back to the hotel.  One of the stations was the closest I've found in feel to the London Underground so far in that there was a long escalator down. Most of the other stations I've used have been barely below street level.

It's Halloween today. I saw a smattering of people wearing costume or references. I assume there will be more later on. The Chelsea Markets were decked out with displays that I'll try to photo later, but I snapped this store with an abundant array of pumpkins out front. I've seem so many like this. 

This evening there is a Halloween parade along 6th Avenue. Weather permitting, I'm planning on going to check it out.

This building directly next to my hotel has intrigued me during my stay.

It's clearly an office but I've been trying to figure out what type. I think it might be something to do with a magazine, or fashion? Anyway, I've noticed that one office has a very nice white spiral staircase.

Except that above it is a standard office with desks and no visible exit point! Maybe it's just for looks? Maybe it's for photo shoots? I wonder.

Today's plan was to visit the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Because it was such a clear day I figured it would also be good for some building photography so I headed to the financial district first. There is a lot of architecture there I hadn't seen yet. Also, there is a Museum of Skyscrapers I wanted to visit.

I made my way on the subway and headed straight for the Museum of Skyscrapers. Wrong! I discovered it doesn't open until noon. I was going to skip it and head straight for MOMA but before I knew it there were interesting subjects to be photographed all around me and I stayed in the area instead. I had loose plans to find something to eat too but kept on getting distracted.

I took many shots that I might play with but won't bother posting here. But I did catch this one at a rare moment of being surrounded by glass buildings.

And of course, I walked past the stock exchange in Wall Street. 

What surprised me about the area is that a lot of the skyscrapers are older. In one particular area the streets were very narrow and the brick and concrete buildings around me tall and dark. Not shiny at all. It felt particularly cold and souless. Maybe appropriate for a financial district?

And the white brickwork on the side of this building intrigued me. It appeared to be a prominent building, yet the white bricks appear to be random and unintentional. Odd.

Around noon I made my way back to the Museum of Skyscrapers. It was very interesting, though not much I hadn't already learned. I'd hoped there'd be something in the bookshop. And there was, just nothing that wowed me. I need to think about my luggage weight coming home and purchase sparingly. 

After that museum I found the right subway station to take me back to the hotel. At one stage I noticed a gantry on the side of One World Trade Centre. Window cleaning? You can keep that job thanks. 

I decided not to take my camera to MoMA; to travel I little more lightly. And I'm not all that interested in photographing artworks. Others have done that for me, and better. It felt funny walking sans camera though. It's one of the few times I've done it this trip. But kind of liberating too. 

MoMA was amazing! So much to see and so well organised. You could wander most floors without having to backtrack at all. Floors 2-4 were my favourites; photography, design, drawings, painting and sculpture 1940-1980. Too many individual items to mention. If I have time I'm thinking of going back again. I'm sure I'll get something different from it. Besides, by this time I was feeling a little light headed because I still hadn't gotten around to finding some food. Too much to do. Consequently, my concentration wasn't what it usually is.

After all that it was nearly 5:00. I finally grabbed a snack. It was my intention to take the subway back to the hotel but peak hour pedestrian traffic made everything more difficult. By the time I found the station I was nearly half way back and I figured the subway would be manic. I walked instead. My feet are hating me right now! 

Thursday in New York and it's another beautiful morning! Clear and crisp - just the way I like it. Can't believe how many great days of weather I've had. Feeling very fortunate. 

Well, the weather did hold out and I made it to the cinema to see the French film. That was the easy part. Having any idea what the film was about, meant to mean or even what actually happened? That's an entirely different matter. Not a clue! It was without doubt the most abstract piece of cinema I've ever witnessed. 

But it was fascinating to see 3D used as a film effect rather than as just a trick to expand the visual narrative. It wasn't 3D throughout and at some stages it kind of morphed between 3D and out of focus at the same time to amazing (and very unsettling) effect. 

Was the film worth the effort? For me, no. But the trip certainly was. Firstly it was good to get out and do another evening activity. And secondly, I got a teeny bit lost finding the cinema and stumbled across some streets with fantastic small shops. I know where it is and will definitely go back to check out a different side of NYC.

It's Wednesday and my 6th full day in New York. That means midday will be the half way mark. For the first time in a while I woke up feeling refreshed so I didn't waste too much time getting up and organised.

Yesterday I bought a ticket online for the guided tour of the UN building, so that was today's primary activity. I used the High Line to get part of the way and managed to see and snap some buildings and fascades I had missed until now. Then it was time for coffee and food before my UN rendezvous. 

The tour was organised very well and our guide was from Brazil. Unfortunately there has been major renovation going on and although the General Assembly Hall has been reopened, it's not accessible to the public quite yet; about another month to go. That was disappointing.  But still we got to enter one of the conference rooms while a session was in progress and visit the Security Council chamber. That was cool. Imagine the dramatic scenes that have taken place here.

Naturally, I located the Australian seat. 

This artwork is a simplification of the 30 articles of the universal declaration of human rights. I was hoping to get them in a book form but one wasn't available in the store. 

After the tour I decided to wander some of the streets I haven't yet visited. I took in Madison Avenue and Park Avenue to the North of where I was the other day. There were certainly more up market stores that end.

On the way I got the closest I've been to the Chrysler Building so I had to take some shots. 

When I got to W 53 and 6th I bumped into this guy. He looked blue. He didn't say much. I walked on.

I have no idea how someone got those flowers up there. 

Next I walked back downtown with the intention of visiting the famous Macy's. It was big, a bit old, very loud and I'm sure there would have been some great bargains; but it really didn't thrill me. I left quite soon and took the subway back to W 14 Street. 

As I was walking towards the hotel I noticed massive trailers parked along each side of the street.

Names on the doors suggested filming. 

A short time later I passed a wardrobe van and racks of clothing labelled by character.

But there were no film crews or stars in sight ... until I reached my hotel. Then I noticed lighting rigs at an intersection and mingling crowds. There was clearly some filming going on but I couldn't make anything or anyone out.

Later, when I looked out my hotel room window, I noticed more film crews, but I'm not sure if they were related. 

It's coming in a bit wet this evening. As long as the rain doesn't get too heavy I plan to go and see a French film (in 3D!) called "Goodbye to Language" directed by Jean-Luc Godard. The Village Voice says "Exhilarating ... features the most innovative 3D effect I've ever seen". It's on for a week, so if it doesn't work out for tonight I still have time to see it later.

So far this visit, the Empire State Building has been lit mainly white. Tonight it's a bright orange. At first I thought it might be related to Halloween (orange and black appear to be the standard colours). But I just checked online and they have a regular calendar of lighting and tonight it's in honour of a mentoring program called iMentor. The program's signature colour is orange.

By the way, there will be special Halloween lighting on the 31st.

Another early wake up, another decent looking day, but one very tired traveller. I figure I've been on the go for nearly 3 weeks and I think it's wearing me down a little. And even though the train journey across Canada was relaxing, I didn't get the sleep needed to refresh me each day. Anyway, boo-hoo, I'm on holiday in NYC, mustn't complain. I decided to lay around in bed for a while this morning. And even though I might not be able to get more sleep I could at least do some research and stuff.

One thing I definitely did need to do was reorganise my iPad. I'm using it as a back up device so that all my photos are on something other than the individual SD cards - just to be safe. It would be heart breaking to lose any of them. As the photo count nears 8,000 I am starting to have trouble importing more. So it was time to ditch more of the apps I don't need right now and start thinning the pictures I have imported. There are a good many that are rubbish. And while I don't want to be making decisions on what to keep or trash right now, I figure it was safe to choose those I could live with losing if a disaster were to occur. 

So for the time being I have more room. Later in the trip I might upgrade the wi-fi at the hotel to get a faster line that I might be able to use to upload some to the cloud. 

It was nearly midday before I finally dragged myself off the bed and out to see what the day would hold. I didn't have big plans other than coffee and food. Those two taken care of I decided to head to Grand Central Terminal. That would allow me to check out Park Avenue also. When I got there it was grand, but somehow not quite as grand as I had expected. Sometimes things get hyped out of all proportion. 

To the east of the station was the United Nations building so I headed that way. I see they have guided tours so I might check them out and see if they're likely to be interesting. 

While walking down Park Avenue I saw this building under construction. I liked how the floor plan appears to have only a tentative regard for conventional angles.

I walked back a little way down Madison Avenue. But I must say that neither Park Avenue nor Madison Avenue seemed all that special. Busy streets in a big busy city. Maybe I'm missing something? 

Also along the way today there have been some other interesting sights that might have been worthy of a picture, but I think I've got a bit of "photography fatigue". I'll have a go later in the week. Some of the Halloween decorations in particular are amusing.

A friend from Adelaide who is also in New York was coming to the high line to meet friends for drinks and I was going to join them at the end of the day. By the time I got back to the hotel though I desperately needed a nap. I would have been socially challenged without one - even more so than usual.  Unfortunately, time frames didn't align and I ended up missing them. Still plenty of time to catch up though. Technically, tonight is still only the halfway point of my stay in NYC!

I'm going to have a quiet night in. I need to remind myself that I am on holiday which means I don't have to feel guilty about resting or taking time out.

... all lit up you look so pretty!

Before leaving Australia I purchased two tickets for the Empire State Building with the express purpose of experiencing it in the day and at night. As the skies were still clear I decided tonight was an opportunity not to be missed.

Armed with some wise photography tips from my friend Steve, I headed off at dusk. Unfortunately I miscalculated how quickly the sun would set and consequently got there a little later than I think would have been optimal. But it was still just as breathtaking.

Once again my express ticket ushered me past snaking line after snaking line. I cannot emphasise this enough; if you ever go, spend the little extra for an express ticket. I must have passed many hundreds of people. I can't imagine how long they'd been waiting for. 

So this was my first attempt at serious night time photography with this camera and as you can imagine there are a number of parameters to play with. Unfortunately, the small the screen on the camera makes it hard to really tell which are working the best. I should have checked the histograms but I didn't think of it at the time. Now I've seen them on my iPad I feel I could fine tune and do better. But they're still the best night time shots I've ever been able to achieve. Thanks Steve! 

On the way back to the hotel I passed the pop-up food stalls in Greeley Square that I encountered on Saturday. I was feeling peckish so got myself some goats cheese and rosemary "mac & cheese". Very tasty.

As it was still 20 blocks to the hotel I decided to take the subway. Unfortunately I caught the wrong line, but luckily figured out my mistake before getting too far off track. Before long I'd made my way back to the right line and the 14th street station safe and sound. 

I woke up this morning feeling exhausted. And that was after getting to bed at a very reasonable hour. You see, this is a funky hotel; cool rooms, restaurant, rooftop bar, cocktail bar/disco up top too. The downside of that is that it's popular and I've discovered the cocktail bar/disco upstairs 3-4 floors above me is a place to be Thu-Sun. Which is great ... if you're there. Not so great if you want to sleep through the dull duff-duff sounds cascading down. This isn't a complaint though; I knew what this hotel was like and you take it all as a package. But last night it just wasn't that easy getting to sleep. Earplugs didn't help. I had to put some calming music on the iPod player just loud enought to muffle the duff-duff but not so loud as to also keep me awake. So I didn't really sleep until the disco shut down. Luckily on Sunday that was around midnight.

Anyway, each morning I wake up I expect my good run of great weather to have come to an end so I can switch to indoor activities. But no. It was another superbly clear blue sky morning. Hmm. Dilemma. What to do? 

The Statue of Liberty was on my to do list so I investigated tickets. If I wanted to get to the pedestal viewing area I couldn't get a ticket until Thursday. Oh well, I thought. I really only want to see it and the ferry ride over would be just as good. So I bought a ticket just to visit the Island. Then it dawned on me. If I was happy with that, why not investigate cruises around Manhattan as some friends had suggested? So I did and there was one that would take you all the way around the Island. I know I could have done both but the weather today was so perfect I didn't want to squander it. So I ditched my Statue of Liberty ticket in favour of the cruise. Only a small $ loss but a big sightseeing gain.

I made my way to Pier 83 through a combination of subway and power walking, stopping for a bite to eat and a coffee on the way. I was worried that I might be out walked by the New Yorkers. But no. I think many of them would struggle to keep up with me. 

The ship was packed; over 600 people. And it was gently rocking even while docked. I did wonder for a moment wether it was going to get rough and how I might react. In the end, it was only the cold that was a problem. I sat down inside until they opened up the front, then spent the rest of the trip on the bow snapping frames from each side as we passed views. 

It was a great idea and a perfect way to really see the bigger picture of Manhattan and its incredible diversity. And the tour guide/announcer Chris was fantastic.

At the start of the journey they did warn us that it was a very high tide. That meant we might not make it under some of the smaller bridges (and there are many). Luckily we did; but with only a little room to spare.  

Afterwards, I made my way back to the hotel along the High Line. By now it was about 3:00. I wanted to regroup for a while. Tonight I plan to go back to the Empire State Building to try and take some evening photos.