The Diary of Anne Ku

21 July 2000 Friday rained late night

FROM BROOKLYN FACING MANHATTAN

I've never been to Brooklyn before. From the 46th floor, I could see the Brooklyn Bridge, which was only a short walk away.

I called my friend JK at 8 pm, forgetting that it was a Friday. He was just on his way to his gym. So I invited myself to swim in the pool and relax in the sauna. He told me to take the A train south. By the time I got there, the sun had almost completely gone down. JK showed me the neighbourhood, which somehow had a different feel to Manhattan. It was older.

After the gym, we walked along the embankment and had a good view of Wall Street's skyscrapers. This was the East River - the other side was the Hudson. I could see the Statue of Liberty in the distance. My friend told me that the apartments along the river were worth millions. They had high ceilings and balconies, just my type of dwelling.

It hadn't occurred to me until just now what it would be like to live here: to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge each morning to go to work. New York was never a place I had considered home even though I must have visited it a dozen times at least. Ten years ago I had formed my first impressions as my college friend took me to Harlem. However, in the past year my views have changed. It is cleaner than London, but just as interesting. It seems more affordable with more varieties of ethnic cuisines. Ten years later, it feels safe.

yesterday

tomorrow

20 August 2000

I had jotted down my thoughts of the day during my travels. Now that I've FINALLY unpacked and cleaned up my room, I found these notes. So I will now "back-fill" my on-line diary.