I arrived hot, tired, dishevelled and rather disorientated at LAX airport. For some reason, the airline neglected to provide any indication of what time it was - no announcements, no clocks in immigration/customs. I only managed to work out the time after asking the information desk. "Must be because the US think they are the center of the world that they don't need to tell us the time, we should just know it, like English" i thought cynically to myself, not paying attention to how half the people in the airport were speaking languages other than English. Of course, LA, like most US countries, are cultural melting pots of various civilisations, creeds and nations, so clearly my cynicism is misguided.
I did notice how authoritive and downright mean the immigration officers sounded; in fact any LAPD officer i encounted in my trip here. I don't know if that is their intention - they could be very nice for all i know - but their aggressive loud commanding voice and manners make sure you don't even try to joke around with them. Imagine dealing with a police force where they all seem to have had a really bad day and you'll get how I felt.
At least the weather was warm and welcoming, a nice reprieve from the cold winter i escaped from. I took off my layers of clothing worn to insulate me from the ice cold blast of the airplanes air conditioning (what's with that anyway, they have Harry Potter's "dementers" running the thing?), and sat down on the floor (lack of seating) hugging my baggage, looking warily around at the shifty seemingly shifty looking characters around me. For some reason, maybe due to too much television, maybe due to the fact that any of them cold be carrying legal guns, i felt a little unsafe.
Of course I had no right to feel that way, seemed like strangers were quite comfortable chatting to the people next to them. One old asian man even offered me his seat while his wife asked me if i was waiting for someone. The cheerful friendliness of the locals was an experience that would replicate itself over and over again throughout the rest of my trip. Americans are really friendly people.
Anyway, I was waiting for my American friend, Billunta, who coincidentally was arriving an hour later from a trip to Peru. Being good friends since we met teaching English in Korea a few years ago, it was decided that we, along with his Korean girlfriend Yujin, another American, Colin, and his british girlfriend Alexis (all friends met in Korea), would try to do a roadtrip around the southwest of America. Being here was the result of nearly a years worth of planning, of making sure we could all make it to the same city at the same time.
I have to say that LAX is not one of the best airports in the world - it's rather confusing and badly designed. It took me half an hour beforehand to find out exactly which gate Billunta would be arriving from, and from that gate it seemed like 3 different places they could come from, 1 from the first floor, 1 around the corner, and 1 from the main door. I was worried I would miss him.
After a tense 20 minute wait, Billunta arrived, appearing in good health after a long trek up Macchu Picchu. Only his knee seemed to struggle, which he dismissed as a little pain that hopefully will go away, since we planned to do alot of hiking on our trip.
Later on, we would find out that his knee was sprained that that he would not be able to do much hiking, let alone walking, for the next 6 weeks! Bit of bad luck and bad timing.
THATS NOT A LARGE, THIS IS A LARGE!
We caught a taxi to Billunta's apartment in Santa Monica, where we unloaded our baggage, set up my floor space to sleep in, woke up Yujin, then went to get some food.
First impressions of LA is that the roads are big, traffic moves fast, and traffic jams like to appear for no reason at random. Forget rush hour; Billunta tells me that even at 3 in the morning, you'll might see traffic backed up on the highway in one direction, for no reason at all. Where are these people going?!!
Anyway, we stop for lunch at some famous pizza joint nearby. As food is always a major attraction for me in foreign places, I order a large Peperoni pizza, because it's a typical american stereotypical food. I'm glad i shared it with Billunta, because a large in the US means something different to everywhere else in the world i've been. I mean it was huge!! I can't even imagine what XXlarge size would look like.
Turns out that American food is usually of large portion sizes, and all soft drinks, water, tea and coffee is refillable and plenty. This explains why in two weeks i still gained 3kg, despite the hiking and exercise i got.
As for the taste, well, pizza is pizza. It was so big though that the best way to eat a slice is to fold it first.
HOLLYWOOD IS A SEEDY PLACE AT NIGHT
We had a few days in LA before Colin and Alexis arrived, so we went to check out Hollywood at night. The main Hollywood strip is just that - a strip spanning a few blocks, with the pavement lined with stars and actors names. As this was just after the death of Michael Jackson, it was an interesting time to be there. A huge line of people were there, aiming to walk past Michael Jackson's star, to throw flowers and pay tribute to him. Security guards were there, continually shouting at people to "keep moving", "take your photos and leave", which was practical but rather insensitive also. Unsurprisingly,in the area were lots of MJ imitators, some good, some bad; and people selling MJ tshirts in all poses and styles.
We also saw some familiar sights but didn't go in any, such as Madame Tussads, Ripley's Believe it or not, and things we didn't expect, such as an open shopping mall with massive elephants on giant pillars and an arch with hieoglyphs on it. Cool. We had a late dinner in a strange burger place which had computer screens on the table, allowing you to order food and play games with other tables.
Hollywood at night is a scary place. Lots of crazy people come out at night on the streets; the smell of marijuna everywhere. Overheard near a club was a man telling the security guard how he just got out of jail for murder. We just kept walking and avoided eye contact with everyone else.
Not the Hollywood experience i was expecting, that's for sure.
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