I spent eight days exploring New York City this September.

After spending college, before it was disrupted by COVID, then coming back to New York for work, I’ve come to realize that despite my love-hate relationship with this city, it’s become a second home for me.

I know my way around without my phone if you tell me where the cross section of where I need to be is, and I don’t really do touristy things when I go to the city. It’s also a place where all of my friends and network are, so whenever I come back to town, I know there are people I love to spend time with.

Anyways, I came up for eight days this trip because I was covering the New York Film Festival. Press and industry screenings begin about a week before the actual festival, so when I was planning to come up, I knew I was going to only see certain movies.

I was really sad to miss the screenings of Priscilla and see Sofia Coppola, but it is what it is. I was really happy with what I saw outside of that! Minus waiting in the rain for the latest Studio Ghibli for an hour, but I expected that.

Here’s what I did during this week.

The New York Film Festival

Obviously, as I mentioned before, I was in town for the New York Film Festival. I was really fortunate this year to get a schedule where all of my movies were at the same time, although I missed my last screening because of the flooding in Brooklyn.

In September 2023 there was a freakish amount of rain that came down in one hour, and I was trapped at Barclays Center with no way home or a method to get to NYFF. I missed the press conference and screening of May December because of it, which sucked because I was really looking forward to that one.

Anyways, I started off with a bang with Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron. That was my favorite watch of the festival if we’re going to be honest, the critics were all clapping by the end. I watched Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist directly after it, and a week later I interview him (I was completely fan girling, I love his work so much).

The next few films I watched were all also incredible: About Dry Grasses, which was Turkey’s entry, the newest Hong Sang-soo movie In Our Day, the Italian movie Kidnapped, and the Finnish movie Fallen Leaves.

Despite this week being a grind and cranking out these reviews in-between movies, I really love going to the NYFF. I didn’t get to buy merch this year because of the fact it flooded the only time I was around when they were selling it, and they’re not shipping online. But I had a good time with the movies I did watch!

Flushing and Exploring Queens

I went to Queens a grand total of three times during this trip. I have dear friends living in Queens, and although it is quite trek from Brooklyn, I love Queens so much that I manage to make time to go out there, even if it’s just for dinner.

The first time I took the F train from Park Slope all the way to Jamaica, where I met a friend at the movie theater to go see the Indian movie Jawan. It was pretty decent, although we were both so confused after the movie at what the heck we just watched.

We then took the F a little further in and went to a Bangladeshi restaurant, where I had khalo bhuna for the first time. It was so delicious! We then migrated to Jackson Heights and Woodside, where we stopped at a Nepali restaurant, got chai and momos, then moved to a Pakistani restaurant for faloodah.

The next time I went I ended up coming out to meet the same friend at Tangra in Sunnyside, as she wanted to introduce me to Kolkata Chinese food. Fingers crossed, but I might be living in Kolkata next year on a Fulbright, and a big part of my application was discussing how interested I was in the local Chinese community and how they were disappearing. So, basically, we had to go to Tangra. I loved that place!

My final trip to Queens was my annual hike to Flushing, which takes an hour and a half. I met a friend I hadn’t seen in four years at a Uyghur restaurant, then wandered Main Street for a bit.

I sought refuge in the Flushing Library to try and get some work done for two hours, then I headed out into TESO-X because I had become obsessed with the Nanci dolls on Chinese mythology. I bought one, then headed to J Mart in the New World Mall. There, I watched people fight over yue bing, or mooncakes, then purchased some groceries I couldn’t get at home for myself.

After J Mart, I met two of my friends at Spring Shabu Shabu, which is our favorite hotpot place. We chatted over hotpot until they pressured us to leave (it was getting busy), then we migrated to the Korean cafe Gong Gan. We loved the aesthetics of that cafe, and we chatted until they, too, were lowkey pressuring us to leave after two hours. But man I love Flushing, and I remembered that as I prepared to go home. I miss that place often.

Three Theatre Shows + Film Forum

I always go to some kind of show when I’m in New York, and I booked three tickets this time. I saw first Jaja’s African Hair Braiding the night I arrived, as I snagged some tickets from TDF when I had the chance a couple weeks earlier.

That set the tone for the rest of the shows I saw, as I didn’t feel like I enjoyed the rest as I did Jaja’s. Anyways, I saw Six another night, as I snagged a deal through TodayTix, and then I purchased $30 tickets through Roundabout’s HipTix program to get a seat at The Refuge Plays. My personal preference was Jaja’s > The Refuge Plays > Six.

I also booked a ticket to see Farewell My Concubine restored at the Film Forum. This was the night of the flooding, and I caught the very first F train that was running back into Manhattan.

I made it to the movie without a hitch, and then grabbed some of their laminated poster cards they had of the movie for my own purposes. This is one of my favorite movies, so I just had to do it. This was a 4k restoration of the uncut version of the movie, and I was so happy I got to see it in the end!

MoMA, Guggenheim, the MET

I stopped in the MoMA the first night I was in town to get out of the rain, as I have a membership there and can show up whenever I want. I already have come the amount of times I would need to to make my membership worth it, so I just kind of come here when I want to burn time.

I remembered immediately why I hate coming to MoMA on a weekend, though, as it was packed. I’d see all of the exhibits except for the Ed Ruscha / NOW THEN gallery, so I wandered for a bit, saw nothing knew was out, then headed to the top floor. My real objective for coming was also to buy a MoMA sweater, and despite that steep $67 price tag, it was so worth it. I sprinted to McNally Jackson after for some Korean literature books before heading to my Broadway show.

Another day I ventured to the Guggenheim because my credit card gave me a Cultivist membership, which means I get into there for free. The real reason I came though was that the Guggenheim was having the first major exhibition on South Korean avant garde art in the sixties, and you bet I had to get myself to that exhibit before it closed.

The ramp wasn’t open when I went, and that also killed the vibes because all you could hear through the galleries was the banging and hammering. I did really like that exhibition though, as it was interesting to read about artistic youth resistance and counterculture with the rise of the Park Chung-hee administration.

I had time before my next NYFF screening and the Guggenheim trip, so I shrugged, realized the MET was a five minute walk and it was free with my Cultivist Membership.

I only had thirty minutes to spend in there, so I sprinted up to the second floor and visited the Asian art. They had Korean traditional ritual items on display, which I loved, and then I headed into the Japanese artifacts room to see some kimonos. I pretty much had to walk all the way across Central Park immediately after this to get to Lincoln Center, so I certainly got my exercise in.

And, of course, lots of eating.

I’ve written an entire blog post on this, but I ate a ton this trip. I won’t spoil it completely, but some of my favorites were Tangra and Sofreh in Park Slope, as well as Premium Dal & Chal in Jamaica. I certainly ate well this trip!

It’s so nice having some spending money for once, and my work paid for some meals when I was at the festival. This was such a good trip overall outside of the moments when I was at work, and I can’t wait to come back and experience more in Queens and the city.

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