New York, New York

It has been quite a while since travelling down to the New York area. Actually, I haven't been there since before 9/11. There is a decidedly different mood from what I remember of the various periods I have visited. Times Square has lost its seediness in exchange for a Disney Theme Park family friendly safeness. Crime is down and the panhandlers are almost non-exsistent, yet New York doesn't seem to display the same confidence I remember. I wonder if it is just my perception has changed since I have visted so many more Asian cities and now New York seems rather tame.