NY : Jalan-jalan handicapped style...

We were very tired due to the full day travelling semlm and plus dgn wifey yg sakit, agak slow pergerakan first day kitaorg kat NY. As said in previous entry, our pre-ordered wheel chair tak sampai ke hotel semlm, tp pg tu kitaorg dpt the wheel chair. cost us $110 for 3 days. mmg harga dia utk 3 hari even kalau kita pakai sehari je. aku ambik wheelchair yg mcm scooter, senang nak jalan instead of tolak tu, cepat penat. even dpt scooter ni, kita org keluar bilik pun dah tgh hari, siap brunch kat bilik, balance makanan kedai india semlm (aku beli byk giler makanan sbb sgt lapar n halal food hehehe).

due to kecederaan n ketidakselesaan jalan pakai scooter ni, we have to scrapped our earlier plan utk travel extensively so our target for that day pergi ke times square and naik atas rockefeller center. Dah 2 kali aku naik rockefeller center, although empire state building probably lagi famous, and lagi glamer utk naik and our hotel mmg dkt dgn empire state building. aku stick jugak dgn idea yg kalau kat atas tu, better ambik gambar empire state building yg cantik. jalan2 dgn handicapped ada byk advantage gak e.g. nak naik rockeffeller center tu kena queue panjang, tp sbb ada org berwheelchair, kitaorg potong line dpt terus ke concierge :-)....

oh... sebelum sampai ke rockerfeller center, kitaorg lalu across the times square... as expected mmg ramai org bersesak.. and as per my previous experience mmg terasa mcm kat dlm movie. tp sian wifey, dia pakai wheelchair, she didn't enjoy the view especially masa jalan2 kat tepi tu, dia kena berhati2 takut terlanggar kaki org, therefore, her view was bontot2 org yg kat depan je, sebab semua org yg kat situ sibuk pandang2 view atas, ramai yg terlanggar dia. sian... but we've decided to go the center area tempat panas yg tak ramai org, br lah sempat tgk view bangunan2 kat times square tu... :-) and sessi bergambar bermula...

on the way dr times square ke rockerfeller center, kitaorg pass by the radio city hall and saw promo Circue du soleil show br and pg tu dpt promo beli 2 tiket for $99. due to susah nak jalan sgt, we opt utk beli tiket tu. show for sure best... so we bought 2 tickets for the show at 2pm i.e. timing baik je lepas turun rockefeller center. and as expected mmg best.. one of the best experience we had while kat NY ni... tak rugi masuk... ni gambar2 nya... sebenarnya sarkis show je, cuma music best, equipment best, ada nyanyi, stunt best... cuma takde binatang je...

as walking around wasn't enjoyable sgt bila berwheel chair ni, so after the show we decided to queue for tickets for broadway. mmg antara plan asal aku utk tgk broadway kat NY. i remember my first experience dulu mmg best... and since jalan pun tak leh, broadway show waktu mlm mmg best lah. tp bila beratur kat tkts (tmpt jual tiket broadway yg murah skit) - ni pun beratur potong barisan sbb pakai wheel chair. kitaorg dpt tahu takde broadway show yg murah n available with good seats for handicapped. mostly semua broadway are not handicapped friendly :-( too bad... and at that time pun dah pkl 5-6pm mcm tu and show pkl 7pm takut tak sempat nak solat and we were too tired therefore we decided utk balik hotel, refresh solat n mlm br keluar.

mlm tu kitaorg keluar utk g times square, ingat nak cari makan n jln2 waktu malam... tetiba wheelchair mcm tak jalan... rupanya bateri habis n terlupa nak recharge masa rehat kat hotel. tried to recharge kat satu kedai ni, tp dia tak fully loaded and wifey mcm takde mood dah (konon kesian sbb aku kena tolak dia). so we ended the day early, and try nak tahan teksi. agak susah nak dptkan teksi yg wheelchair friendly, 20 minit jugak lah.. walau beribu teksi susah dpt yg blh bawak wheel chair. once dpt, we went back to hotel (2 block je dr tempat tu), then aku g cari dinner... a bit frustrated, tp apa nak buat... but still we had spent the night sembang2 and count our blessing... walaupun kecewa tak dpt jalan n explore NY ni, mcm tak sangka semua experience ni... and nasib baik dapat jugak merasa jalan :-)

DC : a week there...

ni cite lama ni... cite dah dekat nak setahun. lepas balik dr Delhi tahun lepas (mid May) kitaorg balik ke M'sia kejap... lepas settle balik Msia tu tetiba kena plak g DC, i.e. dlm bln 6. Alhamdulillah, berpeluang bawak wife g sana sekali lah... kena keje seminggu kat sana, fly ke sana during the weekends, so sempat jalan2 skit sebelum keje. tp on weekends kitaorg byk concentrate g mall yg jauh2 je... yg aku pernah g dulu n yg aku blm pergi. tp tak g ke Outlet Mall, sbb plan nak ke sana masa g NY. and aku ada lah tunjuk mana tempat aku jatuh masa nak beli hantaran kawin dulu sampai masuk hospital. kiranya mengenang kisah lama lah... hehehe

*tips: if you come to DC and nak g malls yg besar i.e. yg jauh - potomac mills or even outlet mall, g sewa kereta n drive sendiri for the weekend, sbb tempat2 tu jauh dr town n public transport, naik bas pun kena tukar byk kali. n beli brg lagi. so korang akan kena ambik teksi which will cost you sama or kalau mahal pun, mahal skit je dr teksi. driving kat out of DC mudah, traffic senang je. we took the taxi, mcm rugi, dah lah tak leh beli brg byk sbb lps tu nak naik bas etc pastu tak leh balik lewat sbb tempat2 tu takde byk teksi dtg.

tp nak jadi citer, trip ke DC ni berlaku setelah my wife br je sembuh sakit lutut sbb jatuh kat umah which lutut yg mmg tak fully recover dr jatuh masa main netball bulan 2 tahun lepas... so mmg lutut tu kurang stabil lah. so, during the weekdays kat DC tu takde lah jalan mana2 sangat except for the period lepas office hour. Compared to Delhi, wifey pun jarang keluar sendiri2 sbb nak jaga lutut. and plus, we put a plan nak g NY lepas keje siap. so nak jaga kaki for NY!!! (I took 3 days off (tak blh panjang) utk ke NY. If only lah blh cuti panjang, surely aku dok seminggu sana.) - we found this guy berkempen kat dpn white house.

Since, aku dah 3 kali dtg ke DC ni, most of the places yg patut pergi i.e. the good museums and stuff aku dah pergi. anyway, kat DC ni, mmg center of museums, mmg banyak museums yg best2 and besar2... but wifey tak lah excited sgt nak g masuk museum so dia g lah mana yg dia interested. Cumanya ada satu museum yg aku tak pernah g before so we went there, it's Newseum. museum yg citer pasal recent news - tp mostly american oriented news lah. big section on 9/11 dan Katrina. we went to the museum on the last day of our days kat DC. and supposedly mlm tu ambik bas ke NY. so mmg keje dah siap, beg dah siap, kitaorg pun g museum ni. pergi lepas keje, sempat lah g 2 jam. interesting for those minat journalistic issue, tp agak kureng sbb scope cover US je. and Newseum ni ada balcony yg blh nampak Capitol, so its good for taking pictures gak (see pic above yg atas skali tu). and bawah ni gambar antena of the WTC yg kena langgar tu. one of the exhibit kat Newseum.

but tragedy happened, sbb kan kitaorg dah lewat, we decided to skip few levels and took the lift utk ke ground floor sbb nak tgk photos of pullitzer prize winner - kiranya gambar2 terbaik 2010 lah and aku rasa that exhibit lagi best. while we were browsing through the pictures tetiba erk! kaki my wife twisted and cannot turn and she almost terjatuh, nasib baik aku terdengar dia beraduh n sempat catched her sebelum jatuh. and we stood for a while kat tepi and ada lah satu couple ni tolong carikan wheel chair. we stayed there for few minutes tried to plan what to do and assessed whether larat ke tak jalan lagi ni. so we straight ke George Washington Hospital, instead of call for ambulance which will cost us a bomb, we took a taxi.

sesampai je kat Emergency ward, kaki tu diperiksa n tgk if needed xray ke tak. tp takde cucuk painkiller pun, sbb aku tak nak jadi mcm kes aku dulu lah pasal aku kena doped dulu (u can read here) so berjaga2 lah... kesian wifey, dpt pill painkiller n ready to go. kena lah dia pakai crutches and doctor suspect cuma twisted and perlu rest. and terpaksalah kitaorg assessed balik samada nak teruskan g NY ke tak. and for sure takkan mampu nak naik bas tgh malam. sbb tak mampu nak jaga wife, tgk beg lagi, n nak kena naik public transport etc... and due to that the adventure begins... :-) roadtrip to NY!!!

Sudah Berlesen...

Alhamdulillah...

My wife dah dpt lesen... ni approval n signature yg dia dah passed test... kind of assisted test jugak lah, no preparation and tak sempat nak nervous pun. so now she already licensed to drive around lah...