Los Angeles - Day 2

Wednesday, Nov 23 (Local)

I woke up several times today before properly getting out of bed at 7:00am. I woke up at 2am, 4am, 5:30am and 6:30am. Obviously not the most comfortable of places but it wasn't too bad. I probably would have slept better if I brought a pillow along. I prefer thick pillows, but unfortunately the ones that we are all given at the hostel are paper thin.

I'm actually quite proud of getting up so early. I didn't even got to bed that late either. Looks like i'm getting into a work regime... but whilst on holiday. Hmmm... strange. Anyway, nobody else was up at around 7 so I went for a walk outside. It's quite nice in the early morning. Cool, not too bright and it's great to breathe the morning air.

Now's a good time to write about a couple of things that I didn't bring. First of all I didn't bring soap or a towel. Hmm.. fantastic. Showering is a little tough without these things. I've now since bought these items and have had a proper shower (including washing my hair, lol). Good to get back on track. I also didn't brig toothpaste, but that was due to the fact that I couldn't find any at home prior to leaving. So my advice for travellers is to not only remember your toothbrush, but to also remember to bring soap and a towel (or two).

So what happened today? Well oday was a day for sightseeing - duh! Today took me to a variety of places and I used both the Metro rail and the Metro bus systems. Public transport is quite decent in this city, Sydney should take note.

Today's journey started off at Hollywood Blvd. Maccas for a healthy breakfast. The menus are different here, quite different. Please note: I only saw the breakfast menu. I ordered an Egg McMuffin Value meal. It looked like a Bacon and Egg McMuffin from the picture on the sales board - but in actual fact it was somewhat different. It was an Egg McMuffin with a slice of ham. Bah! Next time (if there is a next time) i'll go for the Bacon and Egg Biscuit - sure doesn't look like a bikkie but oh well, try something new-ish.

First stop post Maccas was 7th Street/Metro Centre. It looked as though there would be several interesting (well... somewhat) things to see in Downtown LA. Hopped onto the Metro Red Line staight there. No hassles whatsoever. Leading on from the Metro system, maps. What is good about this city is that there are maps everywhere. Surrounding-area maps at each Metro train station and also area maps scattered about the Downtown LA area. Very convenient for the tourists.

Throughout the morning I went and saw the Pasco de Los Pobladores, Court of Flags, Los Angeles City Hall, U.S Courthouse, Little Tokyo and Chinatown. The Pasco de Los Pobladores is a small park/reserve athough there isn't a great deal of greenery around. However, there is a lovely fountain there - much more impressive than the one in Hyde Park. I'm sure they get better elsewhere.

The Court of Flags sucks. Haha. Well maybe i'm a bit too harsh. There was hardly any wind, so none of the flags were fully visible (nor partially visible for that matter). The flags are supposed to be historic American flags over the years. Perhaps it'll be better another day.

Little Tokyo was interesting. Quite smallish, yet interesting. What I found interesting about the place was that 65% of the shops were food shops (i.e. Sushi shops or Japanese restaurants). I'm not sure why the majority of shops are food shops, whatever floats their boat, really. One feature of Little Tokyo is a Challenger monument (the space shuttle that exploded mid-flight). A monument rests there because one of the Astronaughts was Japanese-American, Col. Ellison Onizuka.

Chinatown. A whole district of Downtown LA is Chinatown. No joke. This is one true Chinatown. There are market stalls everywhere, the streets need more cleaning work, and the toilets need some unclogging. Yep. Unlike Little Tokyo, Chinatown was full of shops and it was actually quite difficult to find a Chinese restaurant - although there seemed to be a fair amount of Viet and Thai food around. Eventually found a Chinese restaurant and ate there for lunch - US$4.15/dish. Not bad. Quite a nice place actually. The restaurant's name is Hop Woo's BBQ and Seafood Restaurant.

Life seems to throw up a whole bunch of unique scenarios. Whilst eating lunch a camera crew walzed into the store. Hop Woo (or whoever the owner is) was doing a tv-interview for the Thanskgiving season. Or that's what it appered to be. My guess came about as there were three entire tables laden with Tanksgiving turkeys. Nuts! It's a possiblity that my back will be on American TV.

After wandering around predominantly in foot it was time to head back and rest the feet. My feet were quite sore from all the walking so I think it's time to either bus it around more or buy some decent shoes.

Back into the town after a short rest. The Metro Rail system has three stations with the first part containing the word "Hollywood": Hollywood/Highland, Hollywood/Vine, and Hollywood/Western. I though that perhaps there would be something interesting at these other locations - not quite.

Hollywood/Vine was rubbish. Nothing to see and nothing to do. The area seemed completely dead. No people and not many cars. Had a quick look and took photos of Capitol Records and the Apollo 11 star on the Walk of Fame. Maybe if I saw a show at the nearby hall it would have been different - but I passed. Seeing shows in New York and London would probably be better. Next stop Hollywood/Western.

Hollywood/Western would have been just as bad if it wasn't for Little Thai. Not so many shops were open - yet the ones that were served food. Good stuff, considering it was dinner time. Went to this Thai restaurant called Real Asian Cuisine. Mad name, eh? Clean, moderately decorated... it seemed like a nice place to eat. I ordered a Pad Kee Mao, and it was spicy-as!

Once again dinner cost me approximately US$10, and once again I wasn't able to finish all of the food. American food serving sizes are massive. No wonder they have obesity problems over here.

Not much else to mention here. A big day. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving - so hopefully something will be open. Hopefully. (Note: It's acutally thanksgiving now, i'm just behind on the posts... stay tuned for Day 3 - more shenanigans in LA when the beauty pagent hits the town!).

Los Angeles Metro Train

Haiku, Little Tokyo, Downtown LA