4th June - Shopping

We rise late - we wander out into Chinatown for breakfast - an old fashioned American diner! - old fashioned service - a menu that was longer than anyone with a hunger would have the patience to read! - coffee that simply never ends!

A Uber to Century21 - the traffic horrendous - 1 mile as the crow flies - an hour of elapsed time! - the Uber driver could not afford to eat at this rate of return - he receives the tip with an understandable degree of enthusiasm! 

Century 21 is subjected to the detailed scrutiny that only an overseas shopper could apply to any department store - I trail Bernie for a substantial time before I seek refuge on one of the few seats in the store - I seek and I seek for every seat I find is already occupied by a tired husband! 

We leave the store - Bernie is satisfied and the credit card is surprised at how little weight it has lost!

We pause - we photograph the world trade center site - put out hand up and immediately have a taxi.

 "ah Australian - I want to go to Australia - is immigration hard? - I play cricket!" -says the taxi driver - "you will fit in" says I. 

We dine in Chinatown at Ming Wong in  Mott Street - the waitstaff all much more comfortable in Mandarin than in English - we end up ordering much too much - we enjoy - we smile - different menu prices for card payers compared to cash payers - we smile again - the restaurant has an ATM -  requiring cash gets them the ability to tell the taxman that their income is less than it actually is - the bonus is  that you also get a cut when the customer takes cash from the ATM in order to pay a reduced menu price.

As we sit in the restaurant we hear Chinese with an American accent - Chinese with a Chinese accent - white Americans with New York accents - African Americans with African American New York accents - Chinese with no accent at all since they are speaking their native tongue.

Outside in the street the tourists add all sorts of accents to the mix.

We wander to the start of Mott Street and crossover to Bar Oliver - while they do not appear to be Norwegians they have certainly learnt the pricing of wine from a Norwegian and then stepped it up a notch! - $US20 a glass - $AU40!

Home past Columbus Park - basketball hoops getting challenged - friends being challenged - balls being hit - balls being bounced - everyone having a great time!