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New York, it is may not be a city on the bucket-list of every traveller yet more than 60 million people visit New York every year. New York always has a special place in my mind, growing up as a movie addict I guess I see more of New York on screen than any other city. When I talked to people about my plans to visit the United States, everyone recommended me different cities with the same tone as “if you don’t visit this city, your USA trip will be incomplete” and I always ask what about New York. The answer is also almost the same every time “New York is very nice, I been there too”. So everyone went there, everyone likes it yet no one thinks of it at first instant, I wonder why? Landing experience in JFK (Joan F. Kennedy International Airport) was simply lower than par. So far all the airport I been to, JFK perhaps the most nonglamorous yet intense port of entry. Right outside of the terminal, I was gritted by the freezing January wind of New York. From JFK to Manhattan was a long ride, though I needed that to calm my excitements. Even after 19 hours of sleepless flight, I could feel the adrenaline is pumping through my vanes as I am getting closer to the familiar landscapes of New York. I had a hotel room at the heart of Manhattan, right next to the New York Times building, from my 28th-floor window, I could see half of the skyline, which looks more like stock market bar-chart, ups and downs of congested skyscrapers, unsurprisingly I could easily recognise the empire state building even I could just see the top of it. Sleep was the last thing in my mind, I took a hot shower, lunch at the hotel lobby restaurant and by 2:30 pm I was on the streets of New York. Walking down to the 5th avenue, my earliest reaction was this is a city of paradox, everything is so bright yet not very colourful, people are loud yet very self-concern, everyone is in hurry yet traffics are very slow, I can see world’s most prominent brand shops right across cheap souvenir shops. Here a fine-dining restaurant and single dollar pizza slice shop have a similar length of the queue. It’s a city of everything, it’s a city for everyone. Standing in times squire, my first reaction was, is this city real or I am in a film studio? It was nothing less than walking around theme parks like a Universal Studio. From those large LED billboards, bright and shiny shop windows, subway stations to food carts, and street signs, every big and small details of this city feel like have seen before. The inclusive nature of New York suppresses everything else. Whether it is food or people, you can find a representation of every culture and nation of the world on the streets of New York. The fun thing I have noticed, it is so easy to recognise on the street of New York that who is a New Yorker and who is a tourist like me. Tourists are constantly looking around and up but New Yorkers are looking only down or at their phone screen. It is hard to get over the magical shock of streets and avenues. In my experience, this is the easiest to navigate city; therefore, getting lost was the least of my concern and my full attention was enjoying the brightest night streets of Times Square around Theatre District. Coming back to my hotel room later that night and looking out of the window, I felt I am looking at a completely different place compared to the daylight view. Now it becomes more magical with fifty shade of warm lights from every building I can see. Standing there I was thinking about that question, why no one recommended New York. No matter where you are from, it is so easy to feel belonged and mixed with the crowd in this city that it hardly feels special. This is I guess the biggest paradox of New York, everything is so impressive yet it feels like home.