It's almost 4.30 am here in New York City, & jet lagged woke me up from a deep sleep after an exhausting day of outlet shopping at Woodbury Commons. I badly need a massage now & I miss my blind masseure in Beijing! I could use a good ol' Chinese style kneading!
One thing that I have noticed since arriving here is the inflation of prices compared to one year ago. Toiletries, clothes, movie tickets (USD12.50 person!!! On a weekday matinee!), food....the cost of all these seems exorbitant, especially after one is used to the cheap cost of living in China!
I feel like the crowds that usually throng NYC, especially in the Times Square area, have thinned. I notice much fewer people in the stores and those who are there are mostly window shopping. The number of patrons in restaurants are also noticeably less. I guess the pinch of the economic crunch is felt more acutely here in the USA compared to in Asia where the malls & restaurants of Hong Kong & Singapore are still packed with people.
It is quite sobering to see a usually vibrant city like New York hurt like this. Let's hope that President Obama's efforts to stimulate the economy start to bear fruit soon....
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