Bryant Park Petanque

Every week Bryant Park attracts New Yorkers to play the traditional French game Petanque.

Graffiti cleanup

In New York City, graffiti have been a problem for a long time. In 1995, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani of New York set up the Anti-Graffiti Task Force, a multi-agency initiative to combat the perceived problem of graffiti vandals in New York City.

The City currently offers free graffiti removal services to communities across the five boroughs. Property owners or authorized representatives may submit a waiver to the City to allow authorized personnel to clean graffiti.

The question, however, remains how fast does the cleanup happen? We looked at this question by examining Chinatown, a neighborhood in Manhattan with a relatively high number of graffiti cleanup requests.


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Life as a nomad in Mongolia (Memorable moment)

When I first landed in Mongolia, I was not prepared for Ulan Bator. The sprawling capital has one million inhabitants. "I did not come for city life, I came to live like a nomad," I thought to myself.

Less than an hour away from this metropolis, I encountered what "off the beaten path" truly means. I saw a spectacular world of rare species and untouched landscapes. Camels, yaks and marmots roamed the land freely. With over 200 days of sunshine, many refer to Mongolia as the "land of blue skies." Traveling in July, the weather was on my side. 

Most Mongolians still live a nomadic lifestyle today. To maintain the ability to pack up and leave, Mongolians live in traditional circular houses named "gers." A ger can be built in 20 minutes start to finish. 

Everything was different in Mongolia. Unlike in western countries, wealth is often determined by the amount of livestock a family owns, rather than how big their house is or what model car they drive. A third of Mongolia's population lives below the world poverty line. The average income in Mongolia is $100 per month. A far cry from life in New York City.