The last time Somchai visited New York, he was terrified of its criminal reputation. As far as I can tell, he took a Circle Line boat tour of the city, then a bus tour of the city, then left, so I don’t think his feet ever touched the ground. He was particularly scared of Central Park, which I dragged him to on the last day to show him that it’s a lively, beautiful place that NY couldn’t live without. As you can see, I was right and he agreed, and in future trips Central Park was his favorite place to hang out.

We also walked around the East and West sides, nice residential areas on either side of the park. Again, very few pictures, except for the ugly Lincoln Center and what I actually do find scary, the nature dioramas of the Natural History Museum, both on the west side. I don’t really get the diorama thing, it looks so old fashioned and dreary. When you can see the live thing on safari or a zoo, or pictures, movies etc anywhere, I’m not sure who would want to see stuffed, dead hundred year old animals with marble eyes.

I don’t want to end my New York trip on such a happy Central Park moment, and I just remembered an “incident”. It is beautiful, and safe, but also very, very unpredictable. When we first entered, I remember we saw this guy in tight white spandex shorts with an enormous fake penis shoved down them. He was walking around the park and everyone was laughing, except him, as he was seriously trying to impress the ladies. Somchai gave me such an “I told you so” look and I thought he was going to flee the park after that, but he persevered, and if something like that happens to you, you should too, and just stash the memory for future use in your own blog.