So here we are again, at Pearson going on another mad lad trip again, well, this one not so mad lad in the sense this would be the third time I go to NYC, three years in a row at that but anyways I am here for AnimeNYC and most importantly, all the hololive concerts that I manged to get tickets for, so without further ado, let’s see how my day of adventure went.

First and back from a 3 day strike flight attendant strike, this is the second full day that Air Canada is operating again. They are giving people the snacks that they normally give on planes for free at baggage check-in, noice.

US customs and bag check in goes smoothly and now it’s just the waiting game. My flight is at like 9am, and I was here pretty early. Early enough to see sunrise, yikes.

The hours go by while I play uma musume and before I know it I am just waiting at the gate to board. I was overhearing/watching this family/day and son go through some digital drama involving the son’s lost apple music songs on his phone or something. They called apple support and the son was saying, why can’t I find my songs anymore or some shit. While the dad is like, damn son, hurry up, you know that we are boarding in 15 minutes now, why do you gotta bring this up now. Anyways, son did some shit and he fixed it. These broccoli head kids these days, what’s a computer?

No water bottle casualties this time. This was probably the fastest plane ride that I’ve been to, I think we were only in the air like an hour and a 10 minutes or so, I was in NYC before I knew it, yay. Set that e-sim card, shit works, let’s gooo.

I prompted get my luggage without issue. I normally take a cab but I decided to try and be more economical for one, since my last time here the taxi ride was shit and expensive. I decided to try and use the Q70 bus, a shuttle service that brings people in the airport right to the nearest subway station with connecting lines.

Riding the A70 bus, bus is express, no stops, just to the nearby station, best part is that it’s free.

The station that they drop you off at is I believe Jackson heights ave or something, it’s technically in brooklyn but yea. The station is ghetto and you have to bring your luggage down/up the stairs manually, the elevator is being installed and there is no escalator. Bad but what can you know.

Just a quick google pay using the OMNI terminal at the gate and before I know it i’m riding the subway to downtown manhattan, all for like less than $3 or so, damn pretty good. This is way cheaper than taxi or uber, less comfort as you have to work for it but I think I’ll use this method from now now, pending luggage size and level of lazy. Last year’s taxi ride I think was over $90 dollars, not including tip, no wonder most people use this method instead to get to manhattan.

I get off at 32 Penn station and it’s a short walk to my hotel, which is the same as I booked last year, Courtyard Marriott, Times Square West I think, it’s main feature being right beside this White Castle which is jokes. Oh hay it’s a giant figma ad, a tool I use for design.

Even tho check in time is at 4pm my room was ready and they allowed me in. The staff said that on the system there was 2 bookings for me under my name, so I ought to check that with expedia in case I get charged twice, I did cancel this hotel once and re-booked it again but yea, i’ll look into it. Once again a standard room but this time it’s inverted/reversed, o nice.

Bring out my support plushies/main stars for this trip, Hololive plushies of my favorite vtubers, Irys and Bijou, noice. Only for concert time probably, but we’ll see. AnimeNYC technically starts today but it’s their first time doing a ghetto day where it’s like yea, we open but not really, so I am going to skip it, as they don’t have stuff open yet really. I have other things I want to do in the city.

It’s about lunchtime now so so as per tradition I get the nearby 2bros pizza. This place always has ghetto black people and tourists come here for some reason, I have no idea why but it’s always an experience for sure.

Pepperoni and sausage, pretty solid good shit, NYC slices are top tier. The best deal however is $3.99 two cheese slices and and coke/soda, wow. This one slice is already $4, only for snob people like me who want more toppings I guess.

After my first lunch my first order of business, picking up my AnimeNYC badge from kinokunyia, just like last year. I wish they mailed to people outside US but yea, this is fine too.

Got the badge, for the first time since coming to this convention, the first time I got a single all day badge, not ghetto dumb shit where I had to buy separate days individually because this was all out, noice.

Per tradition, a quick browse in the anime/manga floor, as 90% of the people here are also going to go to animeNYC.

Gotta put those uma musume prize figures front in center you know. Most popular shit as of recently, which is so funny since uma musume has been around for 4 years in japan already, jokes.

Nice figures on display as per usual. Nice Aqua too even tho she is graduated. As per usual, overpriced as hell.

Nice size comparison between scales 1/4 and like 1/7. I might buy that big bunny Lycoris Recoil figure one day when it goes on sale.

Nice but once again overpriced. Some of these are on ami ami bargain bin already. Only for those who don’t know and those who want stuff now.

Pretty nice Noel figure from hololive, maybe one day if goes on sale but I doubt it. I think it’s more on the rare side for sure now.

In the basement which they normally had more stationary and craft stuff, has slowly more and more anime and weeb stuff get put in there now like artbooks and magazines, not just normie real japanese books.

They even decided to put their hololive merch here instead of the the upstairs, nice suisei cds and albums. The biggest shit really.

Right beside they have a shelf full of Friends with You hololive plushies; the same line that I brought with me of Irys and Bijou, which for some reason are all ID members and a few Noels. Why? Where is the JP and EN members? Sold out maybe? Kind of sadge for the ID members but yea. Part of me thinks they are missing cause they brought them to AnimeNYC for stock but who knows.

Unlike last year I ultimately didn’t buy anything from Kinokinuya this yea, which is probably for the best as I’ll be traveling alot for the rest of the afternoon. The subway is pretty empty past noon, wow.

You know this is a vibe with this uncle in the chair zooming by.

As you can guess, I headed to the chinatown in manhatten for this place, #1 Wah fung No1 Fast food, the famous NYC chinese hk bbq place that has been hyped by pretty much everyone and social media people for years now, has been around for years as all.

First proof of existence photo, waiting for bbq hype line edition.

The main draw of this place is it’s quality relative to it’s price, which as eveyone says, it’s the best value for money deal in the city. For only  $5.75 you can get a pretty decent meal of bbq pork or roast pork, for some reason here, they call char siu roast pork, and roast pork roast pig. I have no idea why, it’s just how it ended up here.

After roughly a 25min wait, quite long in fast I got inside. I put in my order and waited for the masters to cut and do their shit. This guy on the left, some mexican guy was talking to some random behind him hyping the shit out of this place, saying shit like, been here for like 50-60 years best shit best quality best value, you can’t get this anywhere else for this value and taste, it’s a long line to get it but it’s worth it, the best, he was like a true hype man, kind of jokes man. He ordered alot ot, like 3 large order of roast pork and 3 roast pig to, I guess for his co-workers or something.

I promptly got my order, 1 small roast pork and 1 small roast pig. I believe $5.75 each but I am not sure, the roast pig might be a little bit more but who knows, I gave them 20 and got back some bills and such. Cash only for real for real you know.

I begin my second late lunch with their roast pork, or rather char siu on rice with some cabbage. Overall pretty good shit man, I can say that it’s probably up there with the best char siu that I’ve had in Toronto and for the price? Unbeatable really considering that the slice I got today was already $4 just for that. They give a lot of rice and meat for sure.

Second round of second late lunch is their roast pig, they cut it like, really good. I think this is the best cut roast pig that I’ve ever had, no shit. All the shit I had in Toronto they cut it into like large squares and cubes, here they actually cut into like thick slices and it makes a huge difference. They also keep the meat more fatty so you can actually eat it mostly and it’s not that firm, quite tender. Overall I would say this is almost as good as the roast pork, it’s just a bit too salty for my taste honestly but still very good unique cutting style in NYC here. So, is Wah fung worth the hype and wait? Yea, it’s worth it, just to try it and compare, it’s pretty good shit, but I question waiting for so long. Part of the experience I guess.

For both smalls I had I couldn’t finish the rice, even tho it was seasoned with juice/soy mixture. Sitting in the park across the street is what you do when you have wah fung and this couple were throwing their left over rice to the birds, big crowd man, I didn’t do that shit, to the trash you go extra rice.

With my belly full of rice and meat I walk a bit around the park, nice homeless and handball games going on in the back, pretty real shit I guess.

Unlike some other chinatowns, this one is more alive and actually has active stores and people around the area.

This uncle on the street providing music to the tourists too in the area with some nice traditional Chinese tunes, wow.

Big Wong, some guy online say they had the best ‘roast pig’ in town not wah fung, but it’s more pricy. Hmm. Nice name.

I remember in Toronto we used to have more shit like this around, now we hardly see it, probably because it’s so ghetto. It has charm tho.

Oh boy, Chinatown Fair Arcade, the arcade where Justin Wong, famous former pro marvel vs capcom/fighting game influence spent a lot of time as a youth learning to git good at fighting games.

Like most arcade these day’s it’s become a glorifed chuck e cheese with prizes and shit. No fighting games here anymore, sad.

The place is very small but they still manage to keep a few DDR machines/similar dance games/bootlegs in the mix. They also have a few initial d cabinets too. Arcades ain’t what they used to be I guess.

I have no idea where I am now but they have some shit like this in the area for memorial for war.

Pioneer on the war on drugs huh? Must be some old school opium shit I guess.

As I begin to walk to my next location I see some nice old buildings. I believe they are like courts and shit, boards of trade stuff. Wow.

Kinda of a strange name to name a street but sure I guess.

I need a sugar drink so I pop into a CVS, see some new dr pepper, blackberry. Not bad but it’s almost a bit like grape? berries? I am not sure, it’s not bad but original is best.

We see this crazy ass building again, I can’t remember what it’s called but I saw it at night last year. Cool.

Once again, inside, very cool, even better now that I got a new camera. Noice.

And here we are, the next place in my travels today. A return to the 9/11 memorial fountains, a place that I failed to really go to last year because I came to late, the return indeed.

Quite nice and peaceful. I think the fountains they made are a pretty good monument to the twin towers and all the people who died out of the terror attacks, also firefighters and etc. Their names all around the fountains written.

The second fountain, I can’t remember if this is the north or south building but yea, very nice.

Proof of existence, ground zero edition, no smile allowed, ez version default. You can tell I am wearing a light hoodie here, for some reason it’s alot cooler in NYC now compared to Toronto, it rained last night apparently and it kind of feels like late/mid September, weird. Good thing I brought it with me.

I originally wasn’t going to do it but since I came all the way here again and it’s open, I decided to pay to go in and see the museum. It’s like $36 I think, I guess it’s to help maintain and fund the memorial too.

After going through airport like security, you take a long elevator down, the museum is underground where the inners of the twin towers used to be, below the fountains.

A large area that shows the original building foundations of the twin towers and other relics recovered.

They have a lot of memorial art and stuff like this wall to pay tribute to 9/11 and it’s victims. Pretty gangster phrase, by Virgil too.

Firetruck after the fall of the towers I guess, wow.

They had a small hallway showing art and stuff from kids of that time when 9/11 happened on the day and the days following, pretty interesting timeless shit, period piece classic.

Excellent ruin, no better way to show devastation than with kids are, so pure.

So pure, kid had no idea that it was not monsters and godzilla who destroyed the towers, it was muslim terrorists. “Doomsday”, excellent, A+

So pure, this is gud shit man, gud shit. Put this shit in a museum, oh wait, they are.

There are a few areas/exhibits where you are not allowed to take photos out of respect of the victims. Like here they have photos of all the dead and like digital tablets you can click on to read who they were and their life, how they died in relation to 9/11 pretty detailed and comprehensive.

In the gift shop they have the usual trinkets, which of course I indulged it but one of the more unique ones are flags that have been flown outside the memorial, wow. Pretty interesting, I wonder how often they change the flag then? Maybe once a week? Once every month? I didn’t check the price on these. Overall I would say that this museum worth it if you have some interesting in history and world changing events, which I do so yea, for me it was worth but honestly, it’s not for everyone and it’s seep price is also a detractor, if it was $20 I think more people would go but yea, it’s alright.

After my time at 9/11 memorial and musuem I somehow ended up at the Staten island ferry terminal from the subway, wut. That’s not where I was trying to go to lol.

The park nearby is called something but I forgot. It has some WWII shit but that’s not what I came here for. There was supposed to be a nice free lookout spot to see the statue of liberty from the dock but for some reason I couldn’t find it/get to it? They blocked all access to the waterfront and shit? I have no idea, I couldn’t get to the lookout spot no matter what. On google it said it was open 24h, but I guess not?

In the end, I could only see the statue of liberty from very far away, like this is with super zoom at like 300x too. You can see it but yea, too small. Shit photo but whatever. This location/goal was a pure loss fail. I wasted about half hour-45 minutes here, man ah well. That’s how it goes sometimes. I went back to the subway station and began travel back to my final destination for today.

By the time I get outside of the subway station it’s like night now and dark. oh boi.

And where we are, the famous Katz deli, famous for their pastrami sandwich and other Jewish deli fare.

When you go in they give you a ticket and just line up to a counter and put in your order, there are multiple cutters and such. Seem pretty busy but there was no line for me really. They say after normal dinner time or very early morning it’s the least busy but it’s still pretty bumping. I think the time is like 8:30:pm I think?

Cutters doing the magic of cutting your meat and order. You generally have to tip them, cause yea, they said so.

Here is my cutter doing my order. They give you some tasty bits on the plate to get you hyped I guess and reward for tipping too. Tasted pretty good, the bits he gave me.

Found a table at the very back just or me, noice. Pretty busy but not to bad.

I got a half and half sandwich, half pastrami and half corned beef. They give you pickles on the side cause they are like that, I hate pickles and cucumbers so I just licked them to try, yea, they are shit, I don’t like pickles at all.

I am not quite sure what the numbers are here for, maybe price for kind of weight/meat? the cost of my order was written on the back in pencil so yea, not sure. Maybe for standard orders but since mine is like combo custom, they don’t circle anything.

So then, is Kats worth it? Is it the best pastrami and corned beef in NYC? Probably yea, it’s worth it I think. The pastrami is very good, quite tender and very salty and flavorful, good shit and well seasoned with their spices. The corned beef is actually less salty which is surprising and has a more brined taste to it, I actually found it easier to eat because the pastrami was so salty, and I like salty things, but yea, I had to drink alot of water to finish the pastrami while the corned beef at least for me went down much easier.

Said free water was just beside me, which was much needed for my experience, alot of people were self serving water too. They have a small section for full service but it’s kinda whatever, you don’t need it really for this kind of place and food.

The price is quite expensive tho, at around $30-32 dollars, I think they are pushing it since they are famous and probably the best due to tourism but it’s worth it honestly, because there isn’t anywhere else like Kats, but for the vibe and the food, the cuts are wild. The place has tons of photos of famous people and shit all over it.

Make so mistake it’s good shit, but I think some people will have a hard time finishing such big sandwiches which is why alot of people got bags to take away leftovers and such. They also have merch when you are done and exit to pay with your ticket/order, noice. Overall I would say, yes, if you like this kind of meat, try Kats, it’s worth it, despite the price, the experience alone is worth it for sure. Good shit.

Riding back to my hotel after a long day. Interesting people later in the evening like 9-30ish now I think?

The subway back is like 20min-ish but yea, it’s still cheaper than uber in manhatten, nice night views too.

Dead tired after a long day of travel and exploration I check to see what’s happening on youtube search for this tv, hm interesting I guess. It’s gonna but a big day tomorrow so yea, I gotta finish this writing now, lots of good shit today, some fails but that’s OK, it happens.

Let’s see how AnimeNYC goes tomorrow and the first hololive concert, let’s go!