USA South West Trip - Sat 4 July

ZION NATIONAL PARK - UTAH

The next day, we amazingly got up before 11am in time to check out and head out eastwards towards Utah. We had a quick lunch at another diner and spent most of the day on the road. We arrived at Zion National Park around 4pm in stinking hot weather (around 40 degrees). I was warned it was going to be hot in these parts but I wasn't prepared for its intensity that I was even questioning whether i'd be able to hike these areas.



The park itself was truly spectacular though. I was impressed by the sheer size and number of the vertical cliff faces in various textures and shades of red, orange, brown and white towering above and around us (to think i'd be hiking up on one of them a few days from now). We drove through the park, taking photos as appropriate; we drove through a very long man made tunnel right through the heart of one of the mountains, and emerged in very different looking terrain, a series of smooth pointed white peaks called Mesas. Amazing how they can exist all in one particular area of the country.



Figuring we had time, we drove on away from the park (and area where we were planning to stay), towards another famous park - Bryce Canyon.


BRYCE CANYON

This place is definitely one of the most stunning natural landscapes i've seen on my travels. A place very hard to describe or appreciate through pictures and film, especially around sunset. From up high on the rim of the canyon, one can look down to the multitude of jaggered pink, orange, white spikes and shards as far as the eye can see - it's like looking at a pink rock pine needle forest. Not the wisest place to land if you're parachuting down. Anyway, I could have spent hours admiring the scenery, but we had to quickly head back to the place we were staying at so we could get dinner there.




LIVING IT ROUGH IN UTAH

We got to the "Cowboy" Cabin at Ponderosa Ranch, a remote collection of wood cabins in the middle of nowhere. They have an awesome pool/spa and a decent buffet (though a bit pricey).

Anyway, we arrived just before midnight, hoping to place a pizza delivery before they close. Unfortunetly, we were too late! So we had a dinner of beef jerky, chips, fig bars and beer - based on all the snacks we had bought on our road trip. Not very exciting but at least we didn't starve.



Again, there were not enough beds, but at least I could sleep on a sofa instead of the floor. It was here that I was determined to not sleep in a single bed throughout my whole time here - i mean, if i'm on holidays I want to do things I normally don't do in normal life - like sleep in a normal bed. It makes it feel more like an adventure that way. :)

USA South West Trip - Fri 3 July

HOOVER DAM

We went for another state today - Arizona - to see the famous Hoover Dam, which is one of the greatest industrial wonders of the world. The amount of manpower, lives lost, resources and innovation that went into building this massive dam, in temperatures exceeding 40 degrees, is hard to fathom. It's hard to complain about the hard work we do when we compare it to what the people building it went through. It's a truly impressive sight to walk on and admire. There's also a monument built with a map on the floor of the position of the stars when the dam was completed - this way, anyone in the future from earth or outerspace can know when it was built instead of looking at the date (since dates are an arbitary relative way humans know time/date, whereas stars/planets are not). Anyway, we didn't stay too long due to the oppressive heat - i don't know how people could live there.




BELLAGIO BUFFET

We got back to Vegas in time for lunch at The Bellagio. Lunch Buffet in the Bellagio is famous, maybe because it is inexpensive ($20) for high quality food. Standing in line to enter and waiting for people already there to leave, it's clear from the way they people leaving are stroking their bellies with a glazed expression in their eyes that the food is good, and plentiful. We made a note to leave ourselves later with a more cheerful happy expression for the benefit of those still waiting in line. Anyway, the food did not disappoint, only my stomach did for not being able to eat as much as I wanted. I have fond memories of the roast turkey meat, the freshly prepared shrimp rice paper rolls, the mini burgers (Colin told me there's a proper name for them but i've forgotten - is it sliders?). I'm only surprised that a place like this only has one toilet cubicle for the male toilets, not even a urinal.
How are people supposed to make room to eat more?


BACHELOR PARTY



Those who come to Las Vegas expecting the same crazy partying they see from the movies will be bitterly disappointed. Las Vegas is a playground for the rich - if you ain't got money and willing to spend it, you not gonna see anything but nice pretty buildings. For starters, you only get free drinks and food if you gamble alot of money in the more expensive tables - not the $5 dollar blackjack table or 2 cent pokies. Secondly, you have to look the part - dressed to impress.

Considering we were all poor and packed for travelling and hiking, and also keeping in mind Billunta was injured and Yujin was too young to drink or go into any bars (even in Sin City), the only thing we could really do is drink and walk around admiring the different casinos and their novelties. No bars. No girls. No clubs. No crazy parties and getting into mischief. Zilch. Nada. The closest we got to anything regarding risque was collecting cards of call girls from the line of people handing them out on the street everywhere we went, then playing "guess how much she costs to call to your hotel room?" and revealing the answer which is written on the cards somewhere (the average was around $40 - apparently this is just the calling over cost; the cost of doing what you want with them is expensive and negotiated). Was it the best bachelor party ever? Probably not. But I can't complain, i mean, I'm in Vegas with a group of awesome friends in a middle of an awesome road trip - what more could one want! :)

USA South West Trip - Thur 2 July

PREPARING FOR THE ROAD TRIP

We got up early in the morning to pack our things and hire "the grandpa car" we were planning to drive around in for the next week. It was a sky blue Grand Marquis with a boot that even Billunta could sit in comfortably if he should feel so inclined. Even then, it only managed to fit the 5 of us and our luggage.



We left LA into the Mohave desert, noting the stark difference of LA to the flat sandy plains and towering rocky mountains in the countryside around us. We also passed the greatest concentration of spectacular looking windmills i've ever seen.

Anyway, our first stop was at In-n-Out burger fast food restaurant - which only exists in California. I was recommended to order the burger with "animal fries", which appears to be a secret codeword for getting something not on the menu, which is fries drenched (literally) in bacon bits, melted cheese and 1000 island dressing. After filling my arteries with the stuff (I swear i could feel my heart murmuring while eating it), we continued on.




JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK

We headed towards Joshua Tree National Park, famous for the strange hardy spiky trees that grow there, and only there in the whole world. It is a rather eerie landscape, being in the middle of the desert with random large boulders, mountains and trees scattered around the place - and nothing else. We spent a few hours climbing over things, taking photos, pretending to be trees, and other touristy things.






DRIVING DOWN ROUTE 66

We then headed out towards Las Vegas, where I had my first (and only) attempt at driving on the "wrong" side of the road. Boy it was scary! Even though i drove on just the highway with not many cars around, doing so on the wrong side of the road, in the biggest car i've ever driven, during nightfall, with headlights that were either too dim or too bright, in speeds of miles instead of kilometers, is a little overwhelming. The nice thing though was that I got to drive on the famous Route 66, which is an old road that originally connected across the whole country from left to right. Now it's only used for nostalgic reasons since new bigger faster highways have been built. It's nice to know that even though America is not as old as most countries, you can still get a feel of history by doing things like this. If only it was still light outside, i could enjoy the scenery more and imagine better what it was like 150 or so years ago..


FIRST IMPRESSION OF LAS VEGAS

We finally made it to Las Vegas at around midnight, tired, and hungry as we couldn't find anything open on the road, even fast food restaurants were closed. Many smaller casinos where open though, from the time we entered Nevada. It seems that Nevada is the only state that allows gambling, hence Las Vegas being built in such an area - the middle of the desert - but as close to LA as possible.

Approaching the Las Vegas strip however, all thoughts of tiredness and food were gone; I felt like a bug that's drawn towards a bug zapper. The neon lights of the strip reminded me of that too. The sense of size and amount of money you could see that has been spent on this place is overwhelming. Massive buildings and casinos advertising american consumerism and sin at it's best - giant coke bottles, harley davidson bikes, adult clubs, a hooters owned casino, a black pyramid that beams light up into space... huge casino complexes, some still being built, causing traffic chaos with it's construction, others providing some kitsch or unique element to draw in gamblers - paris with the full size eiffel tower; The Venetian with it's indoor and outdoor canals, towers and gondoliers; The Bellagio with the famous musical fountains in front (it's hard to imagine that Las Vegas has a water shortage crisis)..





I must admit that after driving through the strip I was slightly disappointed with where we were staying - Circus Circus - because it didn't really have any of that. We were also further away from the action that I thought, despite it being on the strip. I realised then that Circus Circus is one of the original casinos that is now lost it's appeal since the new grander ones were built, and now generally caters for families and people who can't afford the prices of it's neighbours. Circus Circus isn't cheap, but comparatively not expensive either, and in all i'm glad we stayed there instead of a hostel further out, just for the experience of staying on the strip itself.

Anyway, we managed to find parking and our way through a maze of corridors and pokies to the reception area, then through another maze of lifts and pokie areas to our room. Finally, we could relax. After freshening up, we went back down to the main casino area of Circus Circus to see what fun we could have. We went to a smaller casino next to and owned by Circus Circus called "Slots of Fun", quite a sad dingy casino compared to it's neigbours, but cheap and good enough for us. We got cheap beers and we sat out the front of the casino, enjoying the scene and drinking on the street - which is the only place you could do it in the US. I also ate my first foot long hotdog. It didn't last very long since i was famished.

We didn't do much more that night, being exhausted and all, so we called it a night. Unfortunetly, because there were two double beds and I was the only single person there, I had to sleep under the desk.

USA South West Trip - Wed 1 July

SANTA MONICA BEACH

I figured it was time to actually see the beach properly, so me and Yujin went to Santa Monica while Billunta did other things. Because Billunta wasn't around, we had to catch the bus. One downside with LA is that public transport is slow, inconvenient, and confusing. It's a car city, and I'm glad I had friends who lived here who could drive me around - I don't think it would be much fun being a tourist backpacker with no car here.

Anyway, we first checked out the malls and did some shopping (cause that's the American thing to do). Then we walked down the beach coast and onto Santa Monica pier, full of buskers were busy performing, street vendors, artists, and all kinds of souvenir shops. There was even a small amusement park with rollercoasters and rides - on a pier! I was rather amused the the restaurant Bubba Gump" which served - well, you know what movie it's from, right?

That night, Colin and Alexis finally arrived, so we could begin our road trip the next day. We had a reunion dinner at Hooters - mainly because I wanted to see it, since my Hooters experience in Korea was more Goosebumps, and I wanted to see what it was supposed to be like. I wasn't disappointed. :)

Hey, I am trying to get the real American cultural experience here, right?

USA South West Trip - Tue 30 June

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

I was a little hungover when I went here. Billunta and Yujin needed to get some stuff done, so I went here by myself. I must say that this place rocks, and I imagine much better than Disneyland, unless you're a kid of course.



I went on the studio tour, which involved being driven around in a long cart, with the tour guide making jokes and showing movie clips on the screens in front of us, relating what we saw outside such as some set, to what was used in the movies flashing before us. We saw some cool special effects such as the flooding of a small town, an earthquake in an underground train station, a trail of destruction left by a boeing 747 from War of the Worlds, and so on. I was excited to see the Back to the Future car, the Psycho motel, and other things. If you're a movie buff it's definitely worth checking out.







The rest of the day there was spent going on the rides which were pretty cool - the Mummy rollercoaster which goes forwards and backwards in pitch darkness; the Terminator 2 3D ride which combines live action with visual special effects - lots of fun; the Waterworld stunt show combining stunts with water and fire effects... I could tell the effects technologies used in the studio tour were taken from all the other rides around the studio, which kinda dampened (slightly) the excitment and novelty of it all. But it would be silly to expect more than that.


DOWNTOWN DISNEY

That night, we went to downtown Disney, which is a shopping/entertainment/food area just outside of Disneyland. We decided not to go in Disneyland because it was more for kids and i'm not really a big fan of people dressed up in animal suits taking photos with you. Anyway, it was fun going through the Disney and Lego stores. Because Billunta had trouble walking, we found a nice fancy hotel generous enough to let us borrow a wheelchair for a few hours.





There was heaps of restaurants around, and we were looking forward to trying some traditional gumbo from the Lousiana restaurant - Billunta's childhood food - after walking around, but it closed for the night by the time we got there. We were a little disappointed, as Billunta told me it's not easy to find food like that unless you are in Lousiana itself. We consoled ourselves with the biggest burrito I've ever seen,.

USA South West Trip - Mon 29 June

CHINATOWN

I decided that I should probably check out Chinatown, as i think it's used in alot of movies. Anyway, arriving there, it was a lot smaller than I thought it would be, and more kitsch and not authentic at all. The yum cha there was good though.

We also tried to seek out Tokyotown, which turned out to be a few japanese shops in a small block that was hard to get to. Not sure why they bothered calling it that.



HOLLYWOOD HILLS

We went to seek out the famous Hollywood sign. Billunta said we could see it from many places, but wasn't sure how to get up close to it. So we drove up and down windy hilly roads trying to get as close to it as possible, but always losing sight of it just when we thought we were on the right track. It seemed hopeless, until we saw a tourist bus drive past us. We thought, maybe if we just follow the tourist bus, it might lead us to the closest point we can look at it. Sure enough, we were rewarded - we noticed the bus stopping at some point, tourists getting out and taking photos, getting back on and turning around. So we did the same. :)



KOREATOWN

That evening we went out to Koreatown, which is huge compared to the touristy chinatown and non-existant Tokyotown. I suppose LA has a massive korean population, driving down the big streets and boulevards, you can see pretty much all the signs are in Korean. If it weren't for the big clean roads you would think you were actually in Korea! Anyway, we ate dinner at an awesome korean bbq place, but it's a little different from when we were in Korea. For example, asking for a small side dish of mushrooms resulted in a huge platter of mushrooms and less money in the wallet. Also, a bottle of soju, which costs around $2 in Korea, was $12. A small fact we forgot while drinking about 5 bottles of the stuff. That was an expensive meal..

USA South West Trip - Sun 28 June

SCHOONER OR LATER @ LONG BEACH

Schooner or Later's is a relaxed, lovely brunch area in Long Beach, a nice area in the southern part of LA. The rich and famous sometimes dine here, as well as own the hundreds of boats and yachts floating in the piers in front of the restaurant.



We met up with Billunta's sister, Dana, and another of Billunta's friends, Connor. Because the restaurant is so popular, there was a waiting area overlooking the boats where one can order drinks and chill out before being seated, which is quite nice. 45 minutes later, we were seated and slightly inebriated on Mimosas - a delicious champagne/orange juice concoction.

As aways, I like to order whatever is considered popular or famous or stereotypically American. The result was a beer served in a Schooner - which isn't the little tiny things we get in Australia, but a massive (around 1.5L) goblet. With that i had something called "The Mess" - a famous omelette with "a tasty blend of chopped ham, onion, and bell pepper grilled with hash browns and eggs. Topped with melted Cheddar cheese. Served with sourdough toast". Yummy! Did I mention I gained a lot of weight here?



VENICE BEACH

That evening we went down to the infamous Venice Beach, where the spectacle of human life can be enjoyed in all it's myriad forms - tourist walking down the street taking photographs; buskers getting people to pay before doing their performances; people from the ghettos taking all kinds of drugs; crazy people and exhibitionists, such as the famed bodybuilder walking around in speedos posing in front of people and carrying a crystal ball. Shops advertising doctors selling Medical Marijuana abound, as it's legal in California to possess it if it's for medical purposes. Muscle Beach is full of bodybuilders and fitness fanatics who spend all day working out on the outdoor work out circuits. At around sunset everyday, large groups of people from everywhere would go to the beach and play drums and dance in a massive free-for-all drum circle, playing until the police come to break it up after sunset. Definitely a place to check out.







PROHIBITION STILL HAS IT'S EFFECT

It's interesting to note how strict America is over alcohol consumption, probably stemming back from the days where alcohol prohibition was in effect by the puritans. These days, at the age of 18, it's ok to have sex, get married, vote, drive, and take medical marijuana, but not drink until you are 21. At any establishment that serves alcohol, you must present proof of age before they will serve you. I had to bring my passport everywhere I went.

This law was a problem to us, as Yujin was 20, turning 21 in the following month. Even though she could drink and go to bars in pretty much every other country in the world, in the US she couldn't, which meant we were also restricted in where we could go at times.