Santa Monica beach and Basketball

Today, I got lost. Like, for freaking hours. It was ridiculous. After about 2 hours however I eventually made it to my initial intended destination of Santa Monica beach (turns out I was just meant to sit on the bus till the end...).

Oh yeah, on one of my many detours of supreme lost-ness, I seen this old dude walking around with a really beautiful dog. I was going to compliment the owner but as I approached I noticed this guy seemed a bit off... his jacket was pretty dirty and his hair was all wild. It was then that he started to do a small zigzag as he walked also. Now the dog was off a leash but this guy was clearly the owner because it almost seemed like this dog was a guide dog of sorts... but still this owner continued to zigzag around... until I realized that he was trying to run away from his own dog ha! He then made me laugh because he started to weave in and out of street signs and trees in his attempt to escape the dog, then completely randomly he shouts really loud:

"We are humans! We are not animals anymore god dammit!"

Yeah, this was not out of the ordinary in my few days in L.A thus far. 

Anyway I eventually got to see the Santa Monica pier which you always seem to see on TV shows, so that was pretty cool. It was a nice area, but... nothing amazing I guess. A good place to spend the day at least.

The Pier that you often see in TV shows and movies

Standing on the pier looking back at the beach

A pretty nice place, but I wouldn't say it was any nicer or more impressive than Port Melbourne, Melbourne, or even Darling Harbour, Sydney.

There was a particularly awkward moment at a cafe, because Americans seem to enjoy annoying the rest of the world, such as in service jobs (like cafe's) where I think you are meant to tip your waiter.  How does one go about this exactly? Do I just pay extra when I am paying the bill? Do I give it to the waiter directly? Do I put it in the tip jar? No idea! So I opted for the "I'm a foreigner therefore am unaware of your tipping ways" and gave $7.25 to the waitress for my $7.16 meal.

She looks at the money in her hand, looks back at me... then asks "You've given me $7.25 yes?".

"Yep", I reply blankly. She pauses a second more, sighs, then proceeds to give me my 9 cents change... ha!

That night, as luck at a hostel would have it, I got invited to a basketball game with a bunch of people from the hostel. Sweet! Seeing a basketball game is definitely on my America to-do list (despite my lack of interest in the sport itself). Julia tagged along with me also.

Julia (Germany)

A.Z (America), Sam (In blue behind A.Z, Whales) Julia, Ardo (Uruguay), Rodrigues (Uruguay)

Basketball is a little boring, but was still good to see live at least once

And that was my... Monday? My days are a bit of a blur already.

Lost in Hollywood

Today was one of my favourite of days ever. Lewis, Manuel, Vanessa, Ludo (French) and I decided we wanted to see the 'Hollywood' sign up close, sweet.

It turned into a much bigger adventure than originally planned, and a much more memorable one also =D But I will let pictures do most of the talking.

Trekking through Hollywood to get to the location of our shuttle bus.

A very classy area.

After catching two trains, then standing at the wrong bus stop for an hour, Vanessa using her Spanish speaking skills to ask for directions, and a 20 minute bus ride later, we finally made it to the starting point of the Hollywood sign walk. Little did I know that there was a Astronomy Observatory up here! Space is one of my favourite topics, so this was a great surprise, and this observatory doubled as a museum. The exhibits were amazing!

The Griffith Observatory, cool!

After spending an hour exploring, it was time to head outside. The views were absolutely breathtaking, there were times when helicopters were flying over the city and we were level with them!

Travel Buddy posing with L.A city in the distance

Travel Buddy just enjoying the sights. He is pretty brave, one strong gust of wind and no more Travel Buddy ha!

Lewis

L.A spread out below

It was now time to hike up the mountain to get closer to the Hollywood sign, although Ludo decided to head home.

And we're off!

Vanessa looking apprehensive as we debate whether to take one of the risky short cuts

L.A city down far below

You can very faintly make out the Hollywood sign on the distant hill

Finally we made it to the top! Although it turns out the actual Hollywood sign was on a different hill than the one we were on... ha. The views were just so cool, I can't remember the last time I have been up this high.

The amazing gang

Travel Buddy enjoying the sights

The sun just about to clear the horizon, cool!

And before long it started to get dark as we waited for the sun to go down.

Oh, it got really cold, so I've burrowed Lewis's beenie and just put my hat on top as well

Lewis enjoying the sprawling L.A lights below

Now as you can see, it got real dark... and we are still at the top of the mountain obviously. Getting back down in the dark was tough ha! But great fun. Manuel told a story that apparently this mountain got closed to the public a few years ago because a lady got killed by a mountain lion. A plausible story, although I am not sure if it is true, but regardless it scared the hell of out Vanessa so a good laugh was had by all.

Hanging out with these guys was a hell of a lot of fun, it was strange to think that only 2 days ago I was still in Australia!

My first day in LA

Travel Buddy excited for the coming day, but tired because of the stupid old guy below his bed who takes 45-minutes to get ready in the morning!!!

Hostels are interesting locations, and it seems even the more experienced 'hostel goers' can never quite get the hang of them truly. "Have you stayed in a hostel before?" was a common question I received in my first day or so. I was never sure if they were asking me to warn me, or they were just making conversation, either way you need to adapt quickly to survive. Thankfully however the hostel I am in seems to be one of the best on the planet, as voted by everyone staying here (seasoned travelers and amateurs alike), and yeah, I couldn't of asked for a better one.

Today I spent attempting to do some required VISA paperwork I am meant to fax off. Another classic 'me' moment. I filled out the form (which took ages)... then once completed I realized I was meant to fill it out in block letters only, which I hadn't. Sigh. Luckily I had a spare copy of the form, so I filled it out all over again, tore up the wrongly filled copy, then asked around for places on where I can fax it. Thought I should double check the form before heading off... only to realize that in my haste I had torn and thrown away the correct form, leaving me with the wrong form intact... arghhh...

Didn't have another blank copy of the form, so now I had to find a place where I can fax and print. Anyways, I had to go close to Hollywood to do it, so here are a few snaps while out and about.

I'll be honest and say that those photos above are pretty crap, but the reason for being so is because L.A is a scary place, seriously. I don't want to be broadcasting to everyone around me that I am a tourist, therefore despite how much I would like to take decent shots I only feel safe just snapping a few here and there when not many others are around. It is hard to explain, but I guarantee if you ever come to L.A you will know what I am talking about.

As luck would have it I just happened to get on the same bus Manuel was on as he was returning back to the hostel also, so that was great to have a chance to chat. On return to the hostel I made friends with Jon-Paul (America), Vanessa (Venezuela), Nathan (America) and Moe (America). Jon-Paul is super friendly, and invited everyone out to one of his favourite Korean BBQ restaurants.

So an Australian, three Americans, a Venezuelan, a German and a Dutch went out to a Korean restaurant. Ha! It was absolutely epic, Vanessa was really amazing to talk to (she works at PETA and is a vegan), Moe was hilarious (he is studying improv-acting), and Manuel and I shared some great beer.

I didn't get any pictures sadly (because of the reason before), but I promise that the following posts will be less text and more pictures =)

Touch down in LA!

Travel Buddy tucked in, ready for the flight to LA.

Plane flights suck balls.

It is 13 hours from Sydney, Australia to Los Angeles, America... erghhhh. And that's actually lucky because it was meant to be a 14 hour flight, but I guess even the pilot knows how stupidly boring the flight is so he must of put his foot down.

But on that note I can announce that I have actually landed in America!

About 9km from Los Angeles city

Although I am too tired for it to really register at this point...

The flight wasn't too bad I guess, I was on one of those Airbus A380's which was pretty smooth. The only downside of the flight was that I just happened to be in what I bet was the only plane seat where the button to lean your seat back wouldn't work... so that made sleeping tough.

Oh, and then there was that time the guy in front of me put his seat back... so the TV was about 10cm from my face.

Not to mention that for some reason I was sitting in between a husband and wife... whom for some reason opted to sit away from each other... which later became clear when they were completely ignoring one another (awkward...).

Then of course when I finally managed to fall asleep in my perfectly upright position, said wife got really sick and started throwing up everywhere... that smelt nice. And despite my strong suggestions to the husband of "I don't think your wife is going too well", he still wouldn't swap seats with me.

But I'd have to say that my favourite part of the flight was when I asked the air host for some help filling out my Arrival/Departure form. It was going fine until he read the address of the hostel I was to be staying at, looks at me with a questioning glance, and goes:

"Oh, you're staying on Crenshaw Blvd, LA... hmm."

"Yeah... why's that? Is it not a nice place or something?" My voice a little higher pitched than usual due to my already frayed nerves tearing a little further.

"Ha, well...", obviously he then notices the distress in my eyes because he suddenly changes his tone "Nah it's an alright place, I've been down there once."

There was a little too much emphasis on the word 'once'.

"What do you mean 'once'!?"

"Haha, nah don't worry it's fine. Just don't go out at night time".

What does that mean!? I call after him to ask more questions but he doesn't reply. He either didn't hear me, or knew a lost cause when he saw one. 

Good times!

Like always, I seem to get on the wrong side of the authorities every single time. Airport customs officers at Los Angeles International Airport was no exception. He was not happy at my answers... Ha! But I somehow got though, and miraculously managed to get from the airplane, through customs, baggage, quarantine and then into a cab in under 45 minutes! That has to be a record.

Taxi guy was boring, wouldn't really talk much. He only got chatty when I asked him what he thought of Crenshaw Blvd in which he replies with "depends which part of it you are staying on" (apparently it is like 20km long and there are different 'neighobourhoods' along it). I said I didn't know which neighbourhood I am in. We eventually pull off the highway onto the off ramp... to my right while we wait at the traffic lights is a mattress, three homeless people, high (yet completely broken) chain-link fences, tonnes of graffiti, and I swear I saw the taxi drivers' eyes dart to see if the doors were locked.

I want to go home!

'Please turn left, please turn left' I thought to myself as we wait for the lights to change. Thankfully we did, with a sudden dramatic improvement in the state of the area! Palm trees, nice looking apartments, shops, clean(ish) streets... it was now that the taxi driver explained to me that LA is split into 'boroughs'. We were now entering a mid-to-upper class dominated part of Crenshaw Blvd, where as the part before was a lower class district (the place I am told to avoid).

HOW RELIEVED WAS I!

I checked into my hostel to be greeted by a super-friendly staff member, got shown my room, got settled in, then went to check the place out. It turns out I make friends scarily easily at times, as before nightfall I'm already friends with Manuel (Holland), Lewis (England), Julia (Germany) and Roger (American).

Spent the night chilling with them, with Lewis on guitar and Julia singing along. I already know we are going to have some great times over the next few days.

Lewis playing guitar, Lewis watching, and Julia singing

And that was my first day in LA.