On a weekend on October, 2016, I visited Urumqi to take the TOEFL exam. For the outbound flight I chose Air China Flight CA1275.

Second day at New York.

Since we arrived at our Airbnb host very late last night this morning, we also got up very late. We left our host at 1045, for which, my friend comforted me as “standard college student time”.

As expected, CS department of Cornell University basically left all the weekends in the summer program to our own discretion (expect for the first weekend's field trip to Niagara Falls, which was nice since normally one don't easily get from Ithaca to Niagara Falls without a car). Since Ithaca's so rurally located, the only city that attracted us was the Big Apple.

For the whole month at Ithaca, I have been looking for local attractions that’s worth a visit. Since Ithaca (and upper New York in general) is famous for its waterfalls, and Buttermilk Falls State Park was conveniently located just south of Ithaca town, with public transport access, I decided to give it a try.

Also, since we had an early session end on August 5th, so that’s the day.

Being adapted from a comic franchise, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows could easily be OK, because the comic already sets an exciting storyline that the movie just needs to follow.

Also being adapted from a comic franchise, it’s hard for the movie to be excellent, because any deviation from the comic easily degrades into betrayal, and childish comics are rarely excellent in professional eyes.

So far, as for comic adaption, the only excellent works in my opinion are the Batman’s Dark Knight by Christopher Nolan, and it took such genius director and writer for the adaption to be excellent.

So to me, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows is at its best, average.

Detective Conan: The Darkest Nightmare Poster

Speaking of the Japanese animation series Detection Conan, a franchise that’s basically the age of myself, a series that I’ve watched from the age of Conan to the age of Shinichi Kudo and beyond, it’s hard to deny senses of nostalgia.

This post follows the previous one on Qatar Airways flight 246.

Midnight seemed to be a higher peak for transits at Doha Airport than early morning, as we waited longer at transit screening this time.

Also, compared to the invigorating bustle of the airport morning we witnessed on our outbound flight, this time the whole airport seemed quieter, even somewhat gloomy to me. Thank God there were people for overnight flights to keep the whole building from degrading into a ghost town.

Time to head back home.
It seemed that everything was expedited for the last day, I finished my tour of Eyup and Golden Horn ahead of schedule, my parents finished their visit of Grand Bazaar ahead of schedule, then all the gift shopping and currency exchange was done without a hitch.
So the result was that, we arrived at the airport four hours before our scheduled departure.

Last day in Istanbul and in Turkey.
As a result of yesterday's missing ferry, the plan of the day was to first visit Eyüp, then take the ferry back to Eminönü as a tour of the Golden Horn. After that, it's Sultan Ahmet Mosque that we failed to visit during the previous days due to its prayer time, and finally make our way to the airport.

Third day in Istanbul.
The plan of the day was to visit Dolmabahçe Palace on Bosphorus Strait, then wander around the old city of Istanbul for the attractions that were left behind in the first day.