Day 9 – It is your destiny!

So I've been a bit slack lately in writing in this blog. So going to try catch up soon. Anyway here's the next arc of our adventures.

One would think that leaving the hotel, checking out and going to the airport is relatively simple. Especially when you have the number of a taxi company and a great plan to get there. WRONG! Soooo wrong. Life likes to throw curveballs at you and this was one hell of a curve ball. We checked out alright and even booked a taxi alright. The problem came when the taxi did not come in the few minutes that were promised us. Nor did ringing again help, as the operator was one grumpy soul and shut me off as I was asking a question. After about 30 minutes we had booked a taxi with another company I get an automated call saying that the original company had no taxis available. Yeah thanks for letting me know!

So getting to the airport now about 45minutes late, the taxi driver drops us off. Little did we know the plane we were catching was code sharing with another company and we had to walk ALLLLLLL the way around to the otherside of the terminal. Time of walking – 10 minutes. But hurray though! We finally made it! Just in time to get our boarding pass and be told we missed baggage check in. oh yay so much fun. But but there is still hope, as the lady there says to go to additional information line and see if they can help us. Another hour of waiting and finally we make it to the head of the line. Where one person has been there with a line of about 30 people. We head to the counter and we go to her... I think we've missed our flight. As the plane was boarding and we still havent cleared customs. Apparently it's all our fault so we cant get refund we cant even go on the next flight as theyre all booked out. Hurray! With this in mind after some debating we decided to cancel our flights and see if we could go to some of the other companies. Walking around we found that they had hiked up the prices by a 100%. Everything was now at least doubled. The only good offer we had was from Virgin America – same price but it was first class, unlike all the other ones which were economy.

I think we sort of gave up after a while and decided to just stuff it and go road tripping. It's all fate I guess. We ended up booking on the go, booked hotels while we went from the airport to the car rental to stop at some midway town. Bakersfield in California and off we went to Hertz again to find a car. I think it was for the best in hind sight. We definitely got to see more of America this way, and not from just the sky but down there seeing how life actually was. Hertz originally wanted to charge us $700 for a Dodge challenger but thats a bit expensive so we ended up with a camry. Bigger then the Cruze, a lot more power but it was heavy and not as nimble or fun to drive.

I guess as I said, it's all destiny... this whole road trip thing. Driving along though you realise how beautiful the land actually is. Nice rolling hills and plains to all side. Punctuated by farms and other signs of humanity. One straight road that cut through the scene... It was strangely beautiful. One thing that really confused me though was the lack of speed limit that was adhered by the people on anyone. At first we stuck to it – travelling at around 100km... but soon enough we were following others to travel in excess of 140km... and people were still passing us! So ridiculous.

So reaching Bakersfield we found that we were in the middle of nowhere. A town that seemed to have been plopped in the middle of the state for no reason at all. I mean ok there probably was a big agricultural industry or something but all the places we passed seemed like hick towns full of red necks. But as funny as it sounds, we found a great resort hotel in Bakersfield, and there were also a few others around that were just as spectacular. The main road was lined with a giant shopping strip full of restaurants and shops. In fact it was more a shopping town I guess. We didnt find an In and it is a family restaurant which has a waiting staff of all young pretty girls in tight tshirts and short shorts. It seems very odd to I guess objectify the girls and bring kids to a place like this... but hey this is America, and if it works for them who am I to complain. One thing though, the girls were really really nice. They gave us a lot of tips for Vegas and even came and took pictures with us to remember Bakersfield. I really liked it here. Maybe it's the fabled Australian accent working wonders hey...

Day 8 – One week in USA

So today is day 8 of being in the USA. It's now been over a week that we have arrived. But if the truth be known, it feels like I've been here months. It fels so much longer then the one week we have been here. The whole LA and San Fran adventure seems like we have been on the go for so long. Ever since we first stepped down off the plane everything has been go go go. But I guess this is a good thing, I don't want it to slow down. If it slows too much then it'd just get boring, and we do not want that. Definitely want to keep this trip as much fun as possible. I think I'm falling into the pace of things... definitely enjoying this more then working :P

Alright so, todays lunch was In And Out again. The first time we went we didn't do enough research. I knew that you could customise your orders to all these special ways of the burgers being prepared and such. But I had forgotten what it all was since I read the article about four months ago. Since then though we've had a look on the internet and researched into the secret menu. With that in mind we proceeded to get both the burger and the chips cooked Animal style. Let's just say that this was good, but oh so baaaaaad. It tasked great but the chips was drowning in melted cheese and cream sauce. Finishing it all was a struggle. Finishing it and just walking around afterwards was a struggle. It sat there in my stomach like a bar of lead.

We went to get our dose of culture today. San Fran is know for its art and stuff I think. It's supposed to have a lot of stuff on the art scene. So in focusing on that, today we dedicated to getting our dose of culture. We headed into the civic centre as we thought that that would be the area where the most museums and such would be. Unfortunately for us we forgot about all the bums and weirdos that actually hang out there. The park in front of the city hall is filled with homeless people and people with nothing to do. For example while we were walking past on the outside of the park some weird woman inside decides to take off her top baring her... chest and starts singing at the top of her lungs. The people around her yells either encouragement or to tell her to shut up.. I'm not too sure... it was just too strange for us. By that time we were high tailing out of there to the closest museum. Which was the Asian culture Museum. The main display was about the maharajahs of India... unfortunately for us I think these weren't as good a display as we hoped.. our dose of culture took us over 2 hours but left us yawning...

Getting out of there we wanted to get some snacks. Heading back to faux Hong Kong (Chinatown) we aimed for the bakery we first went to when we got to San Francisco. They still serve the best pineapple buns... definitely a lot better then the ones in Australia, and on par with that in Hong Kong. Luckily for us though, getting to the bakery the people there remembered us as we told them how great the buns were last time. They treated us really well, we got freshly baked buns PLUS a discount. 90Cents for two... how brilliant is that?! I mean fresh pineapple buns!!!

We've walked a lot of places this day, mainly because we've been eating a lot of crap and to help try stave off all the badness we've been trying to exert more. Not that it seems to be helping since meals seem to come after a lot of walking. Which means that after the snack, we walked to Fisherman's wharf to get food... oh and walk around a bit more :P We had dinner at a restaurant called Neptune's or something. Fancy, it had a waterfront view and a high class décor. Specialising in seafood, I ended up getting the days special and some seafood bisque. That bisque was great! So tasty.. if I have to say anything bad about it, i'll just have to say that it was probably a bit too strong. The rest of dinner was pretty nice too.. but nothing really that outstanding. Was tasty but yeah.. :P

As I was saying before, we were doing a walk around day today. This meant that we went to walk from the fishermans wharf to the Marina area where we were staying. I don't know how long that took but on the way there we found this amazing thing. Spray paint artists. This was the first time I've actually ever seen it. It is most definitely something to see these people working on their art. I loved the show they put up and how amazing it looks. I ended up buying two of the paintings... so amazing we finished our walk home by stopping at the safeway near the hotel. We found out that there is a local pre-packaged dessert called Its-it. Its an ice cream sandwich that we've been looking for the last few days. Luckily for us we found out where it was sold. Cappuccino flavour is the original flavour and I must say its actually pretty good. Definitely worth a try.

Day 7 - San Francisco

Schools in America... I do not get them. From the time we saw the first one in LA to the many more we have seen since, the schools look more like jails then anything. They're usually surrounded by a 3 metre high metal fence. The few I've seen have been metal bars or grated metal. To think that a school needs this tupe of security to either keep the kids inn or people out is just... scary. In the end I guess I just don't get it...

Our challenge today was to find the Mexican joint in Man vs Food, and do the burritto challenge. Situated in the Mexican district of Mission, you will notice that the area is a lot more.. grungier, more ghetto like then the rest of San Francisco. There are more people hanging out aroundon the streets, food carts selling snacks and ice cream, and a host of cafes and burrito stores. The one we were looking for serves a super burrito. Unfortunately for us we seemed to have arrived in the area about an hour or so early. So walking along the character filled streets we found a small hip cafe to hang out till our brunch time. Nice place, full of young people enjoying their coffee. Wasnt bad I guess... problem though for me was I had an iced coffee... with no sugar in it. The only sweetener is well sugar.. and tha stuff as we all know does not dissolve in cold liquid easy... ah well bitter coffee for me. Anyway back to the mexican place (La Cumbria?) I ended up skipping the challenge of the Burrito and left it to my cousin. I opted for a Quaesadilla and oh man it was delicious! Cheesy but gooooood. The guacamole was so spicy and I couldn’t taste anything else... hmmm... maybe its just that batch they made. As for the challenge... well I left that to my cousin. I swear that thing weighed at least a kilo, and this was just the normal burrito and not the super giant one. It was still huge. I am so glad I did not get that. I think I would have died...

Shopping time today, I've kinda realised that it's a bit sad and lonely to walk around a bustling shopping district by yourself. Maybe it's just me but I find that its really hard to decide what to get, what looks nice and even if the styles work or if it fits. Ah well, I perservered though. I ended up buying a giant thick coat for the colder regions of the US we will be travelling to. But oh man... that coat is so big!!! it's taking up way too much space. Also to round out my suit I got in LA, I bought a nice pair of Forsheim leather shoes. I guess I am now all set for suiting up in Vegas... One thing I noticed although while shopping for a coat, they take security really seriously here. Trying out the coat was... dangerous. There was the usual security clips with the ink – three of them, then there was an alarm system attached to the coat which clips to the coat and also runs through the sleeves and through to the other side. This coat you definitely do not want to mess with. It's all hooked up!!!

Dinner tonight we followed the LP guide once again. Heading onto Columbia Ave into the Italian districts of town (also where the strip clubs all seem to be... hmm a combination of Lygon and King st.) We went to this nice little italian restaurant called Cinneta. They served Roman style pizza with different styles of toppings. Thin crust, but oh boy this is great food they have here. Definitely recommend the pizzas here. The guy working this night was really friendly too. I can see why we (LP) would be recommending them.

Day 6 – One lucky day?

So today marks the last full day we have our car which means we need to make the best use of it that we can. To this end we planned to drive as far as we can to as many places we can. Getting in the car though we ended up driving just down the street as we had recently realised that the Crookedest street is just down there. It's ben one of the things ive always wanted to dodriving down it after I first heard of it. So thats tick off my checklist. Definitely was interesting. Helps that it has a really great view of the bay as well. Adding the day light pictures to the night one's I had took the night before has added a nice picture to my collection

So we got lucky today too. After rushing around near Fisherman's Wharf trying to find parking, we stumbled on this cheap parking lot. It's one of those places where they park your car for you.ques Considering it was only $10 compared to the $39 we were looking at, I think it was a great deal. Lucky for us as well, when we got to the ferry to Alcatraz, we just made it to the next one so we practically walked onto the ferry after grabbing some snacks and stuff.

Let's talk about Alcatraz now. Alcatraz started out as a Fort apparently. Used to protect the bay it started turning into a prison in early 1900's. Walking on it's grounds it compares in age with that of Port Arthur in Tasmania which we recently visited before coming to the USA. One thing that sstands out as a major difference is the well... call it I guess more interesting history that Alcatraz has. Maybe it's the way that it has more and better organised tours and such. Perhaps its also the types of inmates that the prison held that gave it the difference. I think the fact that it has an audio tour for the prison proper with stories and facts and everything gives it more of a hear and now feel that Port Arthur lacked with its self tours and reading of plaques and such. It's a lot more interactive...

Coming back from Alcatraz, we sought lunch in the piers. Walking around in the cold we found this take away section of a shop selling - clam chowder!!!! That being an american speciality we had to get it. So lunch for me consisted of Clam Chowder in a sourdough bread bowl, crab bannock and a small drink which is about 10% bigger then the large drinks back home. Definitely misjudging the size of servings here. I am definitely eating way too much thats for sure.

In the end though we went over to Oakland. The LP office there was one of my must see places. I found it funny though as we drove around that part of town and seeing how similaar it was to Footscray. There were the regulatory semi's, the warehousing areas and what seems like bums and dregs of society hanging around. The place looks like it's also a relatively unsafe area AND the office is situated in a converted warehouse. Makes me wonder if this site was picked out for this reason. Whatever the case though, I managed to find my way in (through the locked doors of the office) and stumbled into the reception and there greeted by really friendly people! To be honest I felt like a lost kid going up to the information counter at a shopping centre. I mean I basically went in said hi, im from the melbourne office, I'm lost please help me! Whats there to see and do?! And the receptionist Britney took it all in with enthusiasm and began listing everything! They even took us over to their warehouse and gave me free books to help me. Met the Warehouse manager whos been with LP for 22years! Great people here, i'm glad I came and met them. It's very rare to meet anyone from out of your own office. I enjoyed this chance meeting.

So armed with all these suggestions and a brand new San Francisco guide they were able to give me... we ended up just driving around downtown oakland. It was... interesting. We could definitely see the difference between it and San Francisco, especially in its outlook and its residents. Its a rather interesting place though. With more time we defintiely would have had more of a chance to see the city. I think we would have enjoyed the museums and such. Whatever the case we ended up driving away from Oakland and back to San Francisco. Not for anything in particular, just to drive around too. Really we were just randomly driving around and for some strange reason we ended up driving around the beach areas in the west, along the coast, through the scenic drive of the Goldengate Park and our ultimate highlight, up to the Twin Peaks when the sun was setting.

random driving along oakland then back to san fran. Ending up at twin peaks just as the sun sets. Brilliant view, but man it was so cold!!! I swear its cold at night normally (about 8 degrees Celsius) but it was worse up there!

Coming back down from the mountains, we ended up following the newly acquired San Francisco city guide for dinner. Heading over to Japantown we went to a restaurant that was recommended by the book called Tataki. It's like a new age japanese restaurant, with the chefs combining traditional styles of sushi etc into a new style and modern flair. If anyone ever goes to San Francisco then this is a MUST visit. It is THE best japanese food I've ever had, hands down. Ok sure the food in japan is great but this one has a flair that they don't have. The pieces of fish was so good it felt like it was melting in my mouth. The proportions of the fish on the sushi was rather generous too. All in all I rate this place a 10. You cant get better then this!

So following the book we went to get some dessert on the other side of Japantown. Silly us we opted to walk, taking us about 15 minutes walking in the freezing cold. Was a nice enough walk I guess, but unfortunately for us we opted to go bathroom to wash hands before going to the crepe shop, which ended up with us missing it by 5 seconds. The …. people.... in the shop wouldnt make one for us even knowing we were from overseas. Bah. Not happy with them.

Anyway we ended the night going to try find some bars and nightlife. I cant really remember where we ended up but we didn’t find many bars in that area. Just the one really... Ordered one of the local beers – IPA or something – Don’t ever get it as it is disgusting. Tastes like bitter melon. Thats really about it for this day...

Day 5 – Oh look it's the bridge!

Alright so we started out the day all keen with the thoguhts of riding across the Goldengate Bridge. It's one of those must do things you see while researching for a holiday. After much walking down to the Fishermens wharf (one section of it) we managed to track down this bike hire place we had a pamphlet for. It was slightly more costly then all the other places but fortunately for us we struck really lucky! The guy that was manning the store was a phd research student that stayed in Darwin for a bit and was really hoping for some aussies to stop by because he was tired of the standard americans who had no humour. For stopping by we had a major discount haha. ThouHght that was a great thing! :P However the problem though now was when we started riding, I realised that I havent been on a bike in well... years!!! They do say that you never forget how to ride a bike... which is true.. but I dont think riding 30km's after so long was a good idea. Especially up and down those crazy hills. My legs are STILL hurting... I think they will still hurt for the next few days. Great views though of the city. Really worth seeing the bridge up close.

So at the Fisherman's wharf, I found my favourtest store. It's called ISS or spelt out International Spy Store. It has an amazing range of security devices, tools and other items that could help you with spying activities. We came in early before the bike ride but we didnt have enough time to stay and do much. However one thing did catch my eye - lock picking class! So after talking to the people in the store I really wanted to learn – which is just what I did. I came back at 5pm and stayed till closing time at 7pm learning and well picking all the locks they had. 5 door locks and 3 pad locks... also something I will deny ever having been taught... if you want to know what then ask me privately elsewhere. But it was great fun... I never realised how locks worked and its really all quite complex – logical but complex. I ended up picking their number 4 door lock with 4 tumblers and a pattern to them in a rather quick time. Spent the most time figuring out lock number 5 which had 5 tumblers and some really tough and complex pattern to which one to get first. Most people give up after the third lock apparently. Lock number 4 and 5 are just too complex for people with their tumbler patterns. Apparently though after much fiddling and getting all 5 tumblers up we found that it was broken and would not turn which was a shame since im one of only a few who's managed to pick it. It's rather surprisingly fun. Going to try practice this more I think.

So finishing up at 7pm had some side effects – it was freezing outside (like 9 degrees Celcius) and not to mention that it was all dark outside. So getting home involved... well walking – which was not something I was looking forward to after that long bike ride. But there was no way to avoid it. Out with the map and checking locations then off I went freezing myself to death. By chance I found myself walking up Hyde st, where the cable cars go. Good that it had an excellent view, not so good that it's probably one of the steepest streets in San Francisco. And it was telling. My legs ached so bad, was NOT a smart idea at all. I persevered though, and as I reached the top I was rewarded with a brilliant night view as well as finding the crookedest street. Took some nice photos there.

Tonight we kept it easy to recover from our escapades. Had cheese steaks for dinner – which we thought was actual steaks with cheese sauce. In actual fact it's more like ground meat in cheese sauce all in a bun. Great food but damn its cheesy. Night activity involved going home to watch tv. And well if you have never watched WWF and wrestlemania and all that stuff... please do... it is the most hilarious thing ever!

Day 4 – More on the road and San Francisco

So we stayed the night at a little town called Morro Bay. We rolled up at like 8pm so it was really dark when we got there. So this morning when the sun came out I explored a bit and was quite pleasantly surprised at how beautiful this little town is. Right on the coast, theres a pleasant sea breeze that comes in at all times. By the docks theres a little platform out in the sea with some seals yelling all the morning. No idea what type of seals they are though. Just outside of Morro Bay though there are a few attractions. One of them is Hearst Castle. From the bartender dude at the restaurant the night before, he said that some guy had started building this castle but never finished it. There are tours there now. No idea what the place is really. We rocked up saw it from afar and went away. Neither of us had any interest in it :P However about 4.5miles further down the road there are the Elephant seals. Fat lazy seals that lie there doing nothing. I must admit im rather surprised at seeing how many of them there are there. Must be almost a hundred of them squeezed onto this tiny beach. Definitely worth a stop. Which also applies to the coastal pacific highway as a whole. There are some spectacular scenery along the way. We stopped off at this little cafe around Big Spur? Which had some spectacular food as well Cafe Khava is the places name. GREAT FOOD! One thing I really dont like about the coastal road however is that it has no phone reception at all. Was rather hard to keep in touch. I guess the problem is that if there was an emergency... ah well.

So everything is bigger then I you'd expect here. The cars are huge, food portions huge, same as drinks sizes... even the bloody seagulls here are huge! They must be 50% larger then the ones at home. It's ridiculous!

Alright so lets talk about San Francisco. Coming up from Los Angeles I have to say that the city is so much better. LA is like a ghetto – a hole compared to San Francisco. It's a lot cleaner and newer. What we saw when we first entered was a lot more maintained and just had a better overall appearance. It just makes me like this city more and more. However the clincher seems to have been when we got to Chinatown. Getting off that bus and coming face to face with it – it was like going back to Hong Kong! The whole atmosphere, all the people speaking cantonese, the shops even the buildings itself lent it an air that just shouted Hong Kong. Stopping by for a snack of egg tarts and pineapple bun reinforced it. The Milk Tea was delicious and tastedlike it would in HK too.

The finniest thing was when we walked into this restaurant for dinner, we both had this nostalgic feeling. The décor and the atmosphere of the restaurant was like that of this place we used to go to with our grand parents... it was weird... We had to order the same dishes just to make it more nostalgic...

So we rounded out the night with some photo taking at night. Was quite fun actually trying to take some nice night photos. Hopefully will be able to find time to load them up soon. On our way back to our hotel though we passed through this combination Lygon St and King St of San Fran. There were a lot of these italian restaurants and cafe's along this stretch of the road. Really nice place, had some great gelato there too. However as I said it was also like King St back home... and when we were walking past this... let us say... gentleman's club, the security guard asked us “You gentlemen want to see the real side of San Francisco?” Was quite funny actually. Anyway... that rounds out the night I guess

Day 3 - On the road again

Lesson learned today, always try to book ahead by at least a few days. When we originally planned our holidays we thought that we could go to the towns and book when we get there or maybe the day ahead. Silly us. We learnt our lesson today though. Driving towards Pismo Beach our intened stop, I struck the bright idea that we might try and get a hotel first as we were running a bit late. Unfortunately for us – Pismo Beach seemed like its a really popular destination and all the rooms were booked out or reaaaaally expensive. Yeah... not good right. I thought so too. In the end though we managed to find a place in Morro Bay which I knew was only slightly further away. In the end though we found this to be an even better place to stay. Sure there were no factory outlets here but the view was amazing, plus it was closer to San Fran by a but . All good in the end :D

Another thing we forgot to book was car hire. Something else we spent a long time trying to sort out. The first place we went to was Budget and the only car they had for us to hire was a Dodge Charger. Awesome car – but man its a huge car. And crazy powerful and fuel guzzling as well. We definitely did not need it driving along the coast. Eventually after trying for 10 minutes to get into the Aviz compound and finding it walled off and guarded like fort knox, we ended up going to Hertz (mainly because we found they had a front carpark and a bus to drive people in. So we ended up getting a Chevolet Cruze (Holden Cruze?) and its a really nice little car. Smooth engine, well equiped and very comfortable. Definitely a great little car. Also really recommend Hertz – The guy that helped us was fantastic.

So another thing I have realised is that the food and drink here is so unhealthy! Well Ok, I already realised that before I came over but the reality of it is kind of astounding. The one thing that really hits you is the drinks they have here. For one thing it's massively sugary... like drinking cordial syrup straight. It's really rather scary...

Day 2 ~ Car adventure, LAX Gun Range and Hollywood

I wanted to start off with something I forgot to mention yesterday. I said somewhere how we were living in the ghetto, but I missed out something last night. The dodgiest sight I saw as we walked to the train station. A giant strip club with Neon signs and everything everywhere. Really tacky. That's the ghetto for you I guess.

so our adventures today hinged on the very fact that we needed a car to visit all the places we wanted to go to. Santa Monica to visit Venice Beach, visit a few different Malls to buy some clothing, maybe catch a movie, shoot some guns at a range and Hollywood. To help us we borrowed from the super handy rental car place that the hotel runs. Rates are relatively cheap person running it was funny AND he gave us a dodgy broken half dead car. And we came to grief after 4miles of driving and stopping at the closest shopping centre. (By the way I bought a nice pare of Nike runners for less then $50 – SO CHEAP!!!) After stopping for the first time, we came back to the car where it would not start up. Took him hours to finally pick up his phone and eventually get to us. Wasted our time so much we had to change our plans. Apparently the starter motor seizes up and if you get the wheel nut thing and whack it a few times it fixes it... so... off we go again after that. What a crap car...

So next thing on our list (after deciding to skip Santa Monica and Venice Beach) was the gun range at LAX. First thing we noticed after they let us in was the vast amounts of guns, knifes and all other weapons everywhere! Ammo just out on shelves, opened up and spread all around for people to touch, examine and just plain play with. It's so... disorienting and confronting! But to get to the point... and OH MY GOD!!! it's so much fun!!! It's so unexpected how heavy the weapon is, or how hard the spring in a cartridge is to compress after putting in 5 bullets! Then there’s the recoil and the aiming and well everything. We ended up shooting the crappiest gun they had there which was a 9mm. And my aim? Well lets just say that there is room for vast improvement. Although it could be worse I guess... the important thing is that it was so much fun... and I am so going again!!!

So I met the first unfriendly person today. In a way I knew it wasn’t going to last, but it did make me wonder about the whole friendliness of the people here. Before I came to the US, I was warned by a friend that I shouldn’t expect to meet that many nice people. There are just a lot of jerks... anyway back to the story. So we were in a souvenir shop in Hollywood. I'd picked up a keyring to buy and had taken a photo of the rack of it. Next thing I know the shop keeper yells at me and threatens to kick us out of the shop. I was really disgusted by the behaviour. There are certain ways to do things. Being polite for one thing works really well. That and also putting up signs. Not threatening to kick them out of the shop. Never going back to that shop again.. what a ^&%*^(()&%$#$%^. Which also leads me to mention the parking attendant at the hotel tonight. All the parking spaces were taken so we were directed to double park in the hotel spaces and register at reception about it. So when I queried him or tried to query him about our car being a rental from their own places if this makes a difference and such... I was cut off before I was finished and told to “listen to what I am saying” by the guy. Once we were all done and parked I said thank you to be polite and he was all back to being bright and polite as well. Just makes me wonder at how skin deep courtesy really is. Is it all just an act? Makes me think that they’re two faced and in their heart of hearts they loath everyone else...

Onto the second thing about Hollywood I noticed. Walking down the main tourist strip area I noticed 1) a lot of beggars, 2) a lot of people with missing legs in wheelchairs 3) a lot of local gang type people hanging out and just... chilling... coupled that with a lot of shops around the place and not just in Hollywood, about loans, cash advances, pawn shops and all these other monetary services. Its really scary how everything looks so poor and in such a big state of disrepair. America is really struggling here. The lifestyle here is almost desperate and hungry, and it makes me realise how much of a better lifestyle there is back home.

Back to Hollywood though, we met this really strange man at a hat shop. He was quite interesting and rather nice giving us tips and ideas and helping us finding a hat that fits. After getting some hats he offered to help us get a deal with this tour operator he knew and apparently worked for. Not willing to sound ungrateful we followed behind and planned to claim we'd think about it and all but when we got there the place was closed. The conversation that ensured next makes me want to call him... the Facilitator. He was like one of those people who could get you whatever you wanted in Hollywood. If we want to go clubbing ~ no worries he could get you in... food not a problem he had great deals... something a bit more wild? That's a go ahead too... weed, cocaine... he had the connections. Girls? That's fine too. There’s the ones that are at the clubs and party ~ who I have been informed is really easy to get but they apparently talk to much and are “bitches”. Then there were the other kind... $20 for a nice one apparently and $5 for ones that look like girls but are actually guys. WHAT THE?! Talk about strange conversations... suffice to say we made some excuses and kinda just left.

Not much more to tell really. It's like 3:30am my head hurts from all the junk food so I’ll just wrap it up now. I've noticed that there are a whole load of junk food around... and they’re open 24 hours. I've also noticed a whole lot of people hanging around on the streets for no reason at 1am. Connection? Maybe... gangs? Possibly... too dangerous to go outside to know though...

Welcome to the United States of Big Brother

So it finally came and passed, my holiday to the USA started with little to no fuss. The only thing that struck me on the long flight over was that getting the extra room for exit row seats are a dud. I paid an extra $150 for the right for people to use my extra leg room as a walkway and the kids to use my legs as an obstacle course. Really... really annoying.

Anyway I should get to the core of my day. I left on the 1^st of March and arrived the 1^st of march due to the mechanics of time zones. Some would think that this is a brilliant thing as I didn’t lose a day, but its a blessing in disguise. Having survived a 15 hour plane trip, I now had to face a whole day of LA with little to no sleep after arriving at LA in 8am.

So my first observation? The hideously large amount of security cameras everywhere. Every single doorway, every second pillar hid a security camera! It's scary in a way. Makes you a bit paranoid about who's watching you yawn and stretch. Maybe its an outgrowth of the whole Sept 11 thing... but it just seems paranoia to the max to me. It's hard to comprehend I guess. I didn’t dare take a photo though. Just in case they arrested me for something.

And now... my first observation and thoughts about the US. For this I have to say I am pleasantly surprised. The average American seems a lot kinder then what I was led to believe. Everywhere we went today we were met with really nice and polite people when we talked to them. I have to wonder if this is to do with the whole Australian accent thing. But it shouldn’t be that effective right? For example at the airport we were waiting for our pick-up bus and every bus driver we asked was really nice! We even got into a taxi and the driver didn’t stooge us and told us to go wait for a bus! It's just way too perplexing... I guess we just have to put it down to good luck. Talking about bus drivers... one of the ladies we asked I swear was Opera! And the lady that drove our bus was for sure Woopie Goldberg!!! I'm not kidding these people looked so much like them! Even sounded like them.

Which leads me to the topic of stereotypes. I know that tv and movies have set us to view a particular segment of people in a certain way. But having arrived at LA and living for all effects in the ghetto, the way the people here dress is so... telling. I cant believe how well those tv shows depicted what the latinos dressed like, or for that matter the African Americans! Its uncanny how well popular culture depicts them. For that matter there’s a lot of things like eating habit and such that is really stereotypical. Today we had a look around at fast food restaurants. The size of the cup lid for the large cup of soft drink is HUGE! It's like 3 inch diameter. Then there was the latino gang member ordering his triple whopper. He wanted a triple whopper without onions, without tomatoes, without lettuce.. or also skip the pickles... I mean wtf?! Thats just a ridiculous diet!!! I felt kinda sick after he said that. Of course it could have been the jet lag

Going back to the people though... I reckon I was fleeced today at the fashion district – Alley when I bought a suit. I swear the price they quoted and what I actually paid was 20 bucks different. Not to mention they neglected to give me a receipt, the pants zip is dodgy and I did not get to try the vest OR the shirt. I mean really... is it that hard to just try some stuff out first?! Apparently yes I guess.

On the other hand, the trip into downtown LA turned out surprisingly well. We met this highschool choir going to a competition tomorrow. The boys and girls were from a school in New Mexico but they could SING! They filled the whole carriage with song the whole way in and I was very impressed. That and it turned the ride surprisingly pleasant. It was almost a shame and sad when we had to part ways. No I’ll say it. I was sad. Was such a lovely ride in. Although meeting one of the parents and talking to them for the train ride was... funny. He was one of those Americans that "knew" everything. So apparently me and my cousin... we're aborigines. ROFL it must be the colour of our skin that gave us away lol. that and our hair. Maybe the rainbow serpent brought us here and he saw it in the sky!!! lol Was so funny when i corrected him and I said "No... We're chinese..." My head was just thinking... you know those squinty eyed asian people that youre afraid of taking over the world? LOL

anyway I’m going to end this now. I’ve been rambling on too much and I’m suffering from severe jet lag. Tomorrows another big day...

The art of Laziness

Sometimes I feel that there are only a few things I am good at. And one of them is being lazy. To the uninitiated it seems simple... but the fact of the matter is ~ it's an art, and takes great skills and cultivation to close to perfection. But... I'm too lazy to write it out right now so i'm finishing the post...



Just kidding!!! I've just found that my recent behaviour to be very... blasé and I don't quite know the reason that this is happening. Take for example my upcoming trip overseas. I've had the tickets for over 6 months. We leave in two days and yet, we have not got anything done. No booking of hotels and tours, no car hire arranged. For that matter there has been no packing at all. Quite a wonder really. In years gone by, I would have had everything packed and planned at least a month early... but not now. Maybe I've just fallen into the trap of taking things easy and letting everything come and go as it will...

Welcome on board...

So this is my first ever blog and well first post ever. I've always wondered about what i would write for this, or if i would even start one for that matter. I dont think there was all together that much stuff I would want to write and say to the world.. but here I am none the less. So i'll just say.. if' you're planing on starting a blog plan ahead with your board name and domains. It's taken me all day to get one that hasn't been taken!

Anyway to keep it short... I'm just going to be randomly musing and putting up my thoughts here... might actually put up a proper post soon and not just some random rant...