As you know, we have a list of things we want to cross off in NYC. Every weekend we have been talking about going ice skating, but when we wake up and realize it’s too cold we decide not to go. So on Saturday we sat down and thought of what we should do. I looked in one of my NY guide books and asked Jim if he wanted to go visit a Buddhist temple.
We took the subway up to Chinatown by lunchtime. We were hungry and decided that we should eat first. We walked around a bit and then just walked in to a random Chinese place, XO Restaurant on Hester St. Very cheap food there and everything was great! Seemed to be a popular place too. I felt like I was on vacation, haha, part because I was the only blonde in there.
Right after our awesome food, we walked over to the Mahayana Buddhist Temple. I’ve walked by many times before but never been inside. The temple has the largest Buddha statue in the city, about 5 meter tall. It’s a tourist place for sure (I found it in my guide book), but other people do come there to pray too. It was peaceful in there, but it was also strange to know that the crazy NYC is right outside the door.
Chinatown was blocked off on several streets with police everywhere since they celebrate the new year. They were playing music and danced in front of stores while tourists ran after them to take pictures. I think it’s fun that they celebrate the new year for days. Everyone was happy and they had these big poppers with confetti. Saturday was apparently just a pre-party for the bigger celebration on Sunday. And they had a big celebration the weekend before as well. I wonder how crazy it was then.
