New York trip

I took a 3 day weekend to go to New York October 1-4. Mainly I was playing in a bridge tournament on Long Island with my friend Mila but I had to spend 1 day in the city. I have only been to NYC once previously. About a year ago I was on long island for work and I got to spend a couple of evenings in the city, but I didn't do much but walk around. This time, I did about the same and met up with a couple of friends, one in the Greenwich village area and one in Queens.

New York really feels like a foreign city. Kind of European but there are too many skyscrapers for Europe. And it seemed to me like there were more asians than I expected. But maybe its just the area I was in. I guess NYC is about how I would imagine Singapore. Yeah, that's it. Very dense population, mostly English speakers but there's a little of every language, lots of Asians. Does anyone else feel this way about NYC? I've been to all the major cities in the US - Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Atlanta, Washington, Boston - and NYC is the only one that doesn't feel American.

The cab system is kind of a mess once you get outside Manhattan. In Manhattan and parts of the othe burroughs, the trusty yellow cabs are all over. But in Jamaica and the more remote parts of Queens, yellow cabs are hard to find. Most cabs are gypsy cabs or cabs that aren't clearly marked. I don't know how legal they are but they are very common and by far the most efficient way to get to Laguardia airport from the Long Island Railroad. Further out in Suffolk County, cabs are run by dozens and dozens of different companies. These are marked and legal but there is no organization, no regulation for what cab fares should be. Most cars don't have meters and they charge whatever they feel like. I took a cab 3 times between the LIRR and the bridge tournament and was charged $6, $7, and $8. these cab drivers, mostly hispanics, wait at the train station and you tell them where you're going and they'll shuffle you around and take 2 or 3 different passengers at a time to their destination.