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we woke up at 10am, ready to get our sunday started. john made coffee and we watched some sexy spanish variety show. i received a call from mandy saying that she wouldn't be able to make it to dim sum this morning, still stuck in brooklyn. we walked to chinatown, where i was trying to find the famous golden unicorn dim sum restaurant. i didn't remember the address, but having been there a few times, i was sure that if i got close, i'd be able to recognize the street and find the place. just as i was starting to lose hope, we finally found the restaurant. we got our number and proceeded to wait for our call.

when we got our seats, we had to share a table with a party of four. i took it as a personal challenge to upstage them, they looked like obvious dim sum newbies. right of the bat i was ordering dishes in my fluent mandarin, getting cozy with the waitresses, making sure that the other party knew that i was a seasoned dim sum veteran here to rock and roll, not here to play chopsticks. i was rearranging the dishes to facilitate better coverage, pouring the tea when cups started to run low, translating what the waitresses were saying, giving out tips as to whether a particular food was good or not and whether we should be waiting for the good stuff. i ordered tripe and chicken feet, neither of which john nor dan wanted to have a taste test.

after dim sum we wandered chinatown a little bit. leaving the restaurant, i felt this sharp pain in one of my foot, like a muscle cramp. a weekend's worth of walking plus the 10 miles i ran earlier in the week finally caught up to me. a few minutes later though, the pain mysteriously disappeared and i was able to walk again. i wandered chinatown trying to find souvenirs for people back home, and we were also on the lookout for bootleg copies of current movies, particularly star wars 2. there must've been an intellectual property crackdown that day, because we didn't see one vendor selling bootleg videos/dvd's/cd's.

mei dick
barber shop

$5/turtle

69 chinese
restaurant

elephant ride

we walked from chinatown all the way up to union square, soaking up all the sights. we went to the strand book store (i try to go there everytime i'm in new york city), where i got some books (chinese art by mary tregear, architectural guides for travelers - imperial china by charis chan, and the way nature works, a book of detailed nature diagrams). it was very crowded in there and once again i did not bump into michelle williams (word on the street is that she's a frequent patron). we also went into the forbidden planet comic book store, where john and i inadvertedly walked into a gathering of fantasy role playing gamers upstairs. there was an awkward moment of silence when they paused to stare at the intruders, and then went back to their role playing. i book an issue of tongue lash. i saw an issue many years ago at the burlington newbury comics and have always regretted not buying it. i really like the art by dave taylor, reminisescent of moebius and geof darrow.

after a quick stop at a local starbucks so john could get a coffee fix, we took the subway back to john's apartment. along the way i passed a group of nyc kids sitting in front of a converted church/art gallery, and i just had to take their photo. dan and i waited our remaining new york city time in the apartment before we gathered up our stuff and walked back to chinatown to catch the bus returning to boston.

when we got to the designated bus stop there was already a large line of people waiting. i crossed the street to buy my mother some buns before the bus arrived, a large touring bus. everyone climbed onboard and we headed back to boston. even though the bus was capable of playing movies, none were played and the ride home was relatively quiet, dan and i chatting until we fell asleep, only to reawake at the midway point, where we got some macdonalds food. back at the boston chinatown, dan and i parted ways, he taking the green line while i walked to dtx to catch the red.

thus concluded our new york city trip.