It's pretty late and we just got back from New Jersey by train. The thing is, time seems to have no effect on New Yorkers whatsoever- it's still crowded and bustling in the Penn Station and everyone is still bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I wonder if the city sleeps at all?

We got up pretty early, and squeezed through the morning rush crowds that were racing each other on the streets, newspapers tucked under arms, coffee cup with cardboard holder in hand, cellphone glued under chin. I really don't like the permanent smokey smell that New York has. We had a breakfast of doughnuts, cream cheese bagels and overly sweet hot chocolate, and a very tall, very skinny black dude with a long cloth tied around his head jTr style sat next to me gloomily sipping his orange juice. Not much of a morning person, I guess. Sometimes I feel that New Yorkers never talk normally- they just yell.

We went to a stocking shop in the station run by a woman from China and her daughter. The woman has been here for twenty odd years. She knew immediately that we were from Singapore, even when she saw us walk past her shop the day before!

We hurriedly found the right track to New Jersey and climbed onto the train. It's comfortable enough and we take sporadic naps after the punky ticket collector checks our passes, three hoops in each of his ear lobes.




After about an hour's ride, we reach Princeton Junction. The Garden State is indeed beautiful. It's really green everywhere (especially after the initial aftershock of New York). Nice FRESH air. The local newspaper is called the Princeton Packet.





Auntie Chiu-Tze arrives some time later to pick us up in her car. She's very chatty and especially likes telling us about American history.

The first place we head to is Princeton University, and the campus is really glorious. Countless trees, a lake- and we get to see the fantastic football stadium. It's closed for the day, so we climb over the gate to marvel at its size and sit on the bleachers. It makes the Indoor Stadium look somewhat like a peanut. Princeton's mascot is the tiger, and there are two massive silver tiger statues outside the stadium. Though Auntie CT says the football team kind of sucks. Haha.






We park at the staff carpark since Auntie CT's Jap husband Bob teaches Physics there, and we meet- Greek houses! Sorority and fraternity houses. The houses are old fashioned with elaborate architecture, almost gothic. We walk into one "social club" house which is empty- it's exam time and it seems that no one has time to socialize. It's called the Tower Club and there are photos on the walls of past and present members. It's a mixed gender house, and it holds big leather couches, stuff donated by members from decades ago like stained glass windows and a fireplace. There are outdoor study areas and a pool table as well.








It's fun to observe the students walking around. One student walking behind us asks his friend what class he's been in/what he's going to focus on in his term report. "Early Japanese history." his friend says promptly. Eh. The things they get to study here!

We next visit the Political Science building. It's grand with high ceilings, and students are sitting around tapping furiously on their laptops and mugging intensively. We tiptoe past. There's a huge fountain in the yard, where we see more mugging students. We visit the Dodds auditorium, that someone kindly unlocks for us, where many U.S. presidents once lectured.







There's a cafeteria in the building which I find much too fancy for students, with chandeliers on the ceiling and long glass windows. Something tells me the school has got too much money...




We suddenly remember that John Nash studied and taught here! (famous mathematician and the subject of A Beautiful Mind) He still comes back, and Auntie CT says he's pretty strange and likes to walk backwards. Anyway Princeton's huge courtyards are remniscent of the movie. We walk past a little room to see a professor probably trying to come up with a new thesis or something, 'cos there are weird equations and diagrams on his blackboard.






We go to the admin building where snooty faculty members are walking around. They look very much down their noses at us as we shamble in, grubbily dressed. There's a fancy dining room with huge windows for the staff and a lovely garden. Students are heatedly discussing a project at a table in the level below. They take a break halfway and walk to the cafeteria, which is nicely furnished with booths and all.







We go to a war memorial room with lists of graduates from the the university who died in various wars. The WWII list covers several walls. Further in there's a conference room/court [parliament meeting room?], where a young couple also strolling 'round campus (the girl was tall, thin, bespectacled with ultra-long hair, the guy cute but significantly shorter) told us the tale of how a cannonball flying through King George's head in that very room violently foreshadowed the things to come.





We visit the faculty of Comparative Literature, and ask directions from a student wearing a fac shirt [yes, they have fac shirts] bearing the slogan "Comparative Literature: we never get lost in translation". Then stumble upon a chapel which is massive and Harry Potter-ish, with elaborate stained glass windows. [I especially liked the commemorative plaques on the walls next to the pews, like how they list deceased relatives next to the respective 'family pews' in church tradition? I've been reading too much of Anne again. But of course imagine the consternation of the folks within with my camera-flash, especially since there was an organ concert in progress.] We have to tiptoe around as a result. The doors are fantasic and very Old English/King's Quest.





There is even a kids' library in the university, which has beautiful antique copies of classic children's books. It's so elaborate it's ridiculous - how often will kids go to a university library? Although it was set up on the pretext of entertaining the offspring of professors who reside at Princeton. [I guess we'll never get used to the fact that in America, universities serve vast purposes. They can be museums! Concert halls! Historical landmarks!] Anyway, there is a cosy hollow tree to sit in and flower stools to sit on, a Peter Rabbit well, stuffed animals. There's a rare books section in a glass case, with a page from an ancient script/playbill of Our Town.







We spot council campaign posters on notice boards around campus, then visit the extensive art gallery, where a group of presumably art students are being led around [and lectured at] by their professor. He gabs about a particularly uninteresting painting and the students try to look intelligent. One of them is wearing a dress shirt and tie, no idea why. Another painting has a yellow background with two black stripes across it. That's all. It's called 'Manhattan'.





What amazes me is that all of these are originals. There's a Marilyn Monroe Andy Warhol original. I was especially interested in the Asian Gallery which had Maya statuettes from 500 B.C. or so, plus an actual mummy. Also, artifacts dug up in Rome, China and Egypt in ancient times.

When we leave the old lady at the info counter says she really likes my hat. :)

The uni store sells a lot of orange and blue things [why is it that ALL uni colours are Orange and Blue? And when they go, "Support the ole Orange and Blue", how are we to know what they are talking about?] and tiger-tails (recall the "put the tiger in your tank" Esso campaign) just because - OF COURSE! The tiger is their school mascot! Then we leave for lunch at a buffet style Chinese restaurant. A goth pair sits at a table nearby. The guy would have been comely if not for his long locks and apparent makeup. He wears Invader Zim on his shirt. The girl has her entire face pierced and wears a prickly belt + Emily the Strange T-shirt. They bitch about how bad an acquaintance of theirs looked in her ribbed pants. The guy also looks like a vampire and scares me.

The buffet is great if most definitely fusion - mac and cheese and curly fries alongside fried rice, egg drop soup, dim-sum, prawns etc. They had a gigantic dessert spread with free-flow soft ice-cream *gobble gobble pop*.

Auntie CT actually wanted to take us to Atlantic City but we decided that there was no point as we find casinos uninteresting. So we go to a factory outlet area which rules as under New Jersey law, there is no tax on 'basic necessities' - this includes clothes (vague term, meaning anything). You can just see many making use of this loophole.

I have never understood why angmohs like to greet customers with "How're you doing?" and then walk away without actually waiting for an answer. How many ways can you answer that, anyway? "Good!/Great!!" robot-like. Ning's sample reply: "Terrible, and you just made it worse, dude." This is Jackson, NJ. We clean them out of 7 pieces of clothing - 2 slogan T-shirts, 2 skirts, 3 blouses. I have never shopped so thoroughly in my life.

I search for LP shirts for Weiwei at 'Music for a song', but only find a plus-sized one that would swim on her petite frame. There are 500 horrible boyband shirts. They cost about $2.50 each. No one buys them. We wonder why. I find an *NSYNC karoke [I suddenly recall Simon Cowell's crappy pronunciation - "ka-ra-oh-ki"] VCD and five guys pretending to be them on the cover. Also, the Donnie Brasco [GOF director! GOF director!] DVD and an electric art piece depicting Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Elvis engaged in a game of pool.






Then we drive on to the small town of Freehold and try to visit Monmouth Battlefield State Park but it's already closed. [Parks should NEVER close.] At the entrance, the trees are plentiful, and the border is marked by low wooden fences. It's an American Girls set all over.



New Jersey is like Big Fish's Spectre in that it is seems to be stuck in a happy, haven-like time warp. The houses are massive and candy-coloured, many with American flags erected proudly on their lawns, horses, and open fields. On the spur of the moment we decide to go and see the sea [it's just nice to be able to say that. "Let's go and see the sea!"]. The sun is setting and it's freezing. There are several gorgeous gorgeous beach houses with porches and wicker swings for rent along the shore where fat seagulls are frequently fed by excited tourists. The boardwalk looks very... familiar. You've seen in a movie, but you just don't know which one. Of course there are signs warning swimmers that they dive at their own risk as the beach is lifeguard-less, although I think anyone who tried right now would instantly be transformed into an ice-cube.









Nearby, there are tents. People stay in them, as in permanently. Auntie CT says they are occupied by v extreme Christians who take "do not covet" really, really seriously as landed property = material possessions you are tied down by. We get back into the car and see minature golf courses, another Days Inn. Some houses have little party lights strung on them. More Spectre. This would be the perfect place to retire.





We had dinner at fast-food joint Jersey Freeze [where the counter people were SO RUDE. They obviously wanted to get out of there and go home. For e.g., if you asked them what the specials were, they'd say, "I don't know."] They are famous for their soft ice-cream, so we sat at a little stone table outside in the semi-darkness to enjoy it. It was 9 something or so but the ice-cream counter was still packed. The weather is very still and warm and strange for night-time.






We drop by Auntie CT's house briefly on the way to the station. It is literally in the middle of the woods - you drive through the trees down a winding path to see it. They have a huge basement, lots of musical instruments and awards [as the entire family is very musically inclined], and their own well. Courtney and Constance are cute and chatty. Courtney wants to go to Singapore to "get a tan". Well, melt first.

We take the NJ transit back to Penn Station, and for some reason I love watching people waiting for the train on the dark platform, us clutching our purchases, them going home, earphones on, balancing briefcases, leaning and thinking. The hotel lobby is still full of people. It is 11.30pm.