WTC

Visited Vivocity today.

Its so-so lah. Big, but I don't think its really THAT impresive. The aisles are quite narrow and considering the crowd(people mountain, people sea), there was alot of frustration wading through the skinny walking space on the 2nd and 3rd levels. And there doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary that you can't get in Orchard Road.

Watched World Trade Centre at the GV cinema there too. The cinema seats are comfy but there's smaller butt space and more leg room, so some are gonna like it and some won't. I didn't.

WTC was quite an emotional show for me. Apart from the touching tale based on the true experience of two survivors, it also reminded me of my time there in 2004 with Joe at Ground Zero(not sure if you still remember, Joe). It felt kinda sad to be standing on the grounds where the buildings came down, and I don't really remember blogging much about my experience while I was there. After watching the show I wished I had logged down more in my blog during my USA trip though. Like the construction still going on around the various buildings even 3years on, or that little Chapel that miraculously withstood the crumbling towers and still stands to this day(Joe, you remember the name or got any pix to share?). I remember while Joe and I were inside that chapel, it was quite emotional with people crying by pictures of the missing and these pictures as well as notes and letters of condolences adorned the walls of the whole interior. We both even left our mark on a poster which they let visitors write words of condolence for the victims of 9/11. I can't quite remember what I wrote though.

So here I am penning down my limited thoughts and below I share some of the pictures of Ground Zero back in 2004.


Portrait of what used to be. 

Ground Zero in 2004 is a fenced up construction area. Even 3 years on debris was still being removed and the surrounding buildings were being reconstructed. You can see this from the other pictures as well.


Ground Zero when we came out of the subway. 

The morning Joe and I visited Ground Zero i think was on the 28th of September, more than 2 weeks after we first entered Manhattan and saw the 9/11 celebrations at night. The above shot shows the whole of Ground Zero with the surviving buildings in the background.


Another angle from out of the subway station. 


Closer look of the construction. 


More construction. 

As you can see at that time we were there construction of the new Freedom Tower(is that what its called?) couldn't have even begun. I don't think the design was chosen yet even.

The force of the collapses shattered most of the windows of the neighbouring buildings and some of the buildings till this day still have to be supported with additional supports.

I remember when I joined Stanchart, one of the trainers told us that the Stanchart office in New York was in one of the towers that collapsed, thus wiping out almost the entire New York office.

Haiz.

And thats why the movie is a sad one for me. Having been there and thinking and enacting in my head the events that happened a few years ago, of course I feel sad for the victims of this tragedy.

But these days we do wonder, was it all a conspiracy?

For more information, read about it here