Easily Amused » New York

We’re All Broke Now

David Xia — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 05:02:37 +0000

Many European countries and American states are just plain out of money these days. Last week's This American Life podcast will tell you just how broke and dysfunctional the New York state government really is. Countless headlines about austerity measures and their consequent social discontent in Greece have now spread to other European countries like Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Ireland.

Massive, Harmonious Madness

David Xia — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:53:52 +0000

A day spent experiencing HK's Mass Transit Railway (MTR) is enough to put any urban-dwelling American to shame.

Megamalls and Clumsy Change

David Xia — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:33:56 +0000

When I left NYC there was no evidence that the Sun exists. When I landed in HK, there was still none. The first ten days of my stay were filled with cumulonimbus clouds and grape-sized rain droplets. Stepping outside is like entering a sauna or breathing with a hot wet rag smothering your face. The CEOs here are taking three to four showers a day to gain short-lived relief from all the humidity-induced stickiness. Some brief musings about HK:

HK (and China for that matter) is not ethnically diverse compared to NYC. The city’s 95% Chinese.
There are so many mega-malls that look exactly alike. Armies of cleaning staff ensure they are all freakishly clean.

Homecoming

David Xia — Sun, 17 May 2009 05:47:20 +0000

The air in my hometown of Wellesley, Massachusetts has never smelled so fresh. Having been in the concrete jungle of New York City for so long, my nose has grown accustomed to the smell of frat party aftermaths, fumes from beleaguered taxi cabs, and decaying detritus spilled and neglected by trash collectors. Therefore, the air here 202 miles away from the Big Apple is an amenity I never realized I sorely missed.