Raaka Chocolate – depth of feels

New York is an overwhelmingly fast-paced city. Its bright-lights-and-loud-taxi-cab-honks-and-naked-people-on-times square type of energy is stopping for no one. I barely caught up with it, but I was intrigued the whole time I was there. This city is so full of life that I wanted to take photos everywhere I went. I always imagined how I wanted New York to look like in my dreams, but now that I’ve actually been there, I feel that it is even better than what my mind could ever come up with.

Photoset: In Times Square Colors

I went off on my own to explore how Times Square lights colored the freshly rained on streets of Times Square.

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Day 1: Bryant Park, NYC Public Library, Grand Central Station & Broadway

Day 1 was full of walking around and doing touristy things (which I didn’t mind at all). The massiveness of everything, most especially the majestic New York Public Library, left me in awe. I felt like a teeny tiny small human being amongst giants that were made with steel, concrete, and glass.

Day 2: Central Park & Intrepid Museum

Again with massive things- Central Park was humungous. We didn’t even get to explore the whole of it. I really enjoyed walking around nature and people chilling out or playing in the sun (even if it was really cold for us humans from the other side of the world). We then went to the Intrepid Museum for my brother who wanted to see a real-life Concorde.

Day 3: Strand Bookstore, Flat Iron, The High Line, Chelsea Market

Our mom needed to rest on our 3rd day, so it was just me and two of my siblings going around. So naturally, we went to a bookstore first. Strand Books had the most amazing collection I have ever seen. Their photography books section was so extensive and so specific. They even had a rare books section where I found a copy of Annie Lebovitz’s book “A Photographer’s Life 1990-2005” that was signed! Amazing! Didn’t buy it though because it was expensive haha. We then did a quick visit to the Flat Iron and then went to walk the High Line. We then went to Chelsea Market and ate at our go-to brunch place Friedmans. On our way home, we passed by Milk Bar! A dream come true! I loved their cereal milk soft serve and cookies ❤ We then went back to where we were staying to rest for a while and then visited Top of the Rock to see a gorgeous view of New York.

The Rare books collection section! :

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Photoset: ILY, NYC

Upon exploring, I took photos of people in the moment. I love how open and affectionate the people I saw were. In the midst of busy streets and moving cars, they still found these moments to be still and just hold each other.

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Day 4: Brooklyn

I had a Bean-to-bar workshop in Brooklyn in the afternoon, so we spent the morning walking around DUMBO and eating (We had THE BEST OLIVE OIL ICE CREAM at Oddfellows.) I proceeded to my workshop after and then we watched the sunset at Brooklyn Park.

Special Mention: Our favorite Diner

We stayed in Times Square for our trip, and our hotel was right in front of a Junior’s. We had the best comfort food there and we spent most of our (huge) breakfasts there.