Shopping In NYC 2

Someone forgot to pay the phone bill on time and Tm Net was off for one week for the Harvest Festival. It's good to be without Internet for a change. I turned to reading novels, something I've neglected since I started blogging. I'm enjoying Sophie's World immensely; it's a story about a girl in Norway who gets mysterious letters telling her to think about topics from Socrates to the creation of the world. I've never studied philosophy so this book is really thought-provoking.

It's uncanny how accurate the weather is. May was such a hot month, so hot it was like living in an oven. Never visit Sabah in the month of May. Then on the dot, on 1st June, the wind and rain came, and the whole place is a lot cooler. Perfect for planting padi.

This is my final post on New York, the city that is far above my expectations. So many friends have spoken negatively about New York (especially those who haven't been there before and those who were last there decades ago) but I'm not surprised because that was my impression too. But what a different city New York city is now. Believe me (and my friend Y who flies there frequently), New York now is one of the best cities to visit. 

I left my last two days in NY for shopping and it turned out to be a wrong move because I never really got to shop on 34th Street, where all the shops are, and I didn't do most of the departmental stores too. There just wasn't enough time in two days. The first day, we went to Woodbury Outlet. What can I say? I bought Hugo Boss shirts for less than USD70 each, DKNY shirts for USD40 each, DKNY dress for USD38, Elie Tahari dress at half price, Calvin Klein, Ann Taylor, Kenneth Cole and Banana Republic at 70% off, Le Crueset enamel and iron frying pan--in bright yellow--(yes, I did lug one home) for 40% off and Coach bags for my sister, MIL and a friend at about USD119 to USD 139 each.  The Woodbury Outlets are set in the beautiful countryside and each store is a nice little grey wooden house, something like the Napa Valley Outlets. If you don't have time, forget the outlet because there are always lots of sales in the city. I'm told that New Jersey is the place to shop if you want to avoid the sales tax. New Jersey is just a couple of subway stops from Manhattan. How come I wasn't informed...And if you don't mind the crowd, the best time to shop is during Black Friday which will fall on  November 23 this year. 

The final day, I wasted time checking out Saks Fifth (too expensive), Bergdorf Goodman (too expensive), Bloomingdales (not so bad) and finally, by evening, I walked into Macy's. Yi got excited over colored Calvin Klein jeans, only USD17 each. At the shoes department, shoes were strewn all over the floor, thousands of  pairs of shoes, all reduced between 30 to 70%! We found out later that we should've been at Macy's between 9 am and 1 pm on on Wednesdays (it was a Wed when we were there, but wrong time) because the sales can go up to 90% off! What a crazy store. I love it!

Love the display in Saks Fifth.




Rag and Bone, a clothing line that I've never heard of until they contacted my daughter.






Classy little pooch, shopping for shoes at Saks Fifth.


I prefer their bags...


The Louboutins were many classes above the other shoes in terms of style.




USD765 + tax x 3.10 = a new laptop. Or 6 pairs of discounted Cole Haans. Or 3 pairs of discounted Stuart Weitzmans. Or 10 good meals for two persons at a fancy restaurant. (Excuse the foldable umbrella; it was raining.) Wait. I think the shoes are worth 10 good meals.


Well, I thought, if I couldn't buy anything in Saks Fifth, I could always eat there. The corn and crab chowder (their signature soup) was very good, especially on a rainy afternoon, best I've eaten on the trip, and the sandwich (can't remember what) was yummy too. Whole set for USD13 including tax. Affordable. And the view of Fifth Ave (I think it was) from the restaurant of people walking in the rain was very nice. It felt very New York, I thought as I sat back and read my magazine.

That's it, New York New York.