After two and a half months in America it is sad to leave such a beautiful country. Some great people and a lot of fantastic sights.
I am a bit angry at people just trying to be nice at face value. We had a lot of invitations to stay, “Mandeep and Sangeet when you are in…..you must come and stay with us,” we get to their town and call them, they respond “so which hotel are you staying in”!?!?!?
Also we got told on the teacher training that we are part of the big KRI family where ever in the world you go, the ashram will have accomadation, this has been so untrue, we have contacted ashrams only to be told NO or been told “call this person they can help”…when you call them…”you need to call….” It goes round in circles!
Or even the small things “lets stay in touch……..” Afterwards you will never hear from them again.
We would like to thank Gurrinder Singh, Sonpreet Bhatia, Hari Nam Singh, Supreet Singh Manchanda, Sartaj Alag, Harkirat Singh who either accommodated us or were genuinly willing to accommodate us.
People are trying too hard to be nice or positive when in fact they do not mean it….why can you not just be honest? I remember on one of the trips I was honest about something but people did not like it…hey that is just me!
During the teacher training course I have made some great friends……remember guys you are never too busy just to send a quick email even just to say:
“Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh/Sat Naam/Hi – delete as appropriate!
How are you?”
I would also like to thank Iris Yan for keeping alive during the course, Alex Seaman for being the only one to laugh at my jokes, and Yiota Kotokis for helping me especially before my practicums.
Deva Singh, he helped me so much, especially at a time when I wanted to leave the teacher training…..he is truly an honest guy and says things as they are….I remember going to him and saying I want to leave….he did not give me the speech of why, what has happened, try and stay, he just said “you leave I will never talk to you again!” Just the kick I needed.
Finally I would like to thank Shanti Kaur Khalsa. She is truly a fantastic sister and a great inspiration….look her up on YouTube, her lectures are amazing. This lady truly lives the Sikh way of life, a trip to Espanola is never complete without seeing her.
We are genuine when we say come and stay with us, we truly mean it…there are no charges, you will get fed and any other way we can help we will do…..in fact we would be offended if you stayed at a hotel in our town!
Saying this, America is the only country I am trying to move to the last thing I want to do is die in England, just with the current economic climate it is difficult. If anyone knows any way please do let me know!
Basically the prices are all the same, regardless of what the people on the street say!
Points to remember it is worth going to the office and paying for the tickets, there is no tax to pay when buying from the office and they can be trusted.
We opted to go for City Sight NY as they also offered a cruise around Manhattan, the price is $54.00 per person. This is for a hop on/off uptown and downtown. A two hour night tour (you may not hop on/off on the night tour and a boat cruise.
With City Sight NY
Downtown Tour
Uptown treasures and Harlem tour
Brooklyn tour
Night tour
Museum of City of New York (Free)
City sightseeing midtown cruise (90 minutes)
Not a bad price but to be honest if you are willing to spend some time to arrange it you can just take the public buses.
The Staten Island Ferry.
The Staten Island Ferry provides 20 million people a year (60,000 passengers a day not including weekend days) with ferry service between St. George on Staten Island and Whitehall Street in lower Manhattan. The ferry is the only non-vehicular mode of transportation between Staten Island and Manhattan. NYC DOT operates and maintains the nine vessel fleet as well as the St. George Ferry Terminal on Staten Island, Whitehall Ferry Terminal in Manhattan, the City Island and Hart Island Facilities, The Battery Maritime Building and all floating dock building equipment. The Staten Island Ferry is run by the City of New York for one pragmatic reason: To transport Staten Islanders to and from Manhattan. Yet, the 5 mile, 25 minute ride also provides a majestic view of New York Harbor and a no-hassle, even romantic, boat ride, for free! One guide book calls it “One of the world’s greatest (and shortest) water voyages.” From the deck of the ferry you will have a perfect view of The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. You’ll see the skyscrapers and bridges of Lower Manhattan receding as you pull away and coming into focus again as you return. A typical weekday schedule involves the use of five boats to transport approximately 60,000 passengers daily (109 daily trips). During the day, between rush hours, boats are regularly fueled and maintenance work is performed. Terminals are cleaned around the clock and routine terminal maintenance is performed on the day shift. On weekends, three boats are used (75 trips each Saturday and 68 trips each Sunday). Over 35,000 trips are made annually.
We just had to hop off the bus at Greenwich village so we could pop back to G R O M, Sangeet had stracciatella and Caramel. I had pistachio and caramel. Both were eggless and fantastic. We definitely recommend this place.
Afterwards, we hopped back onto the bus and made our way to Times Square, might be worth knowing that if the guide is not to knowledgable get off the bus and catch the next one!
We are having a fantastic cup of coffee at Caffe Reggio, a small Italian family run business. Harinam Singh showed us this place and the conversation is fantastic. The wifi is a great high speed connection.
Caffe Reggio.
119 MacDougal Street
New York NY 10012
United States
From their website:
“Welcome to Caffe Reggio, the home of the “Original Cappuccino.”
Caffe Reggio is proud to be the first caffe in the United States to serve Cappuccino.
Since 1927, we have been the most popular caffe in Greenwich Village, and once you have visited us, you will understand why. ”
The above statement us very true and we recommend visiting this caffe.
Sat Kirin was very kind to invite us to join them in celebration of the 20th wedding anniversary. It was a fantastic evening with great company. We started with a 31 minute meditation on Dhan Dhan Ram Das Gur. Followed by lungar which consisted of lentils, rice and salad. For dessert there was a delicious cake (gluten free)
Thank you Siri Vishnu Singh and Sat Kirin Kaur for the invite, great Kirtan, fantastic food and awesome sangat. (did I just say awesome!?!?!?)
Hi, thanks for visiting my blog, feel free and have a look around.Here is a bit about me, as you may or may not have guessed my name is Mandeep,I work to travel as opposed to work to pay bills and die!Every trip for me is an adventure, I have been very fortunate to stumble across amazing places and meet awesome people along the way.
Why gaygoat? When I first started this blog I was a vegetarian, so gaygoat – happy goat! Also you have to admit it is catchy and a URL you will not forget!
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