Los Angeles!

During the past two days, I truly and finally got to experience Los Angeles for what the glamorous city is famous for. Early in the morning, we caught a long bus ride to Oceanside, where the Metrolink train took us up the coast into downtown LA. I was surprised by the ease of public transport use around the city. Train systems contained many loopholes for free trips from A to B, and there were many, many bus routes that intertwined the district (although these buses were jam packed, especially with the lower class).

Associated with Hollywood is the Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard, where we walked along first. Its name is ridden with glamour, justified by its footpath of a seemingly endless stretch of stars. We passed by Mann's Chinese Theatre (star's autographs are set in concrete here), El Capitan (where many world premieres of animated movies are shown), The Guinness World of Records Museum, and the Kodak Theatre (the home of the Oscars). Hooters was the chosen place for lunch. Basically, Hooters is famous for female waitresses wearing tight spandex. They are employed according to their looks. Although I predicted that food would not be their forte, I found my sandwich delicious.

We then headed out to UCLA for a roundabout walk, where the architecture of some buildings were magnificent! Their sculpture garden was impressive too. The campus overall was beautiful. We then walked along Wilshire Street in the heart of LA's Koreatown to look for a nice restaurant to eat (Korean of course!). I miss mum's home cooking so much (that's a shout out)!

After dinner, we had a taste of what Chinatown had to offer, had a good long stare at how the Walt Disney Concert Hall would have been built (crazy architecture), and entered downtown. There were many high-rise buildings as you would imagine, but I found San Francisco's were more impressive. After a minor glitch in navigating towards the nearest bus stop, we found ourselves caught in a very awkward situation. Three big homeless guys approached us, and they were looking for the same bus stop. I was not 100% sure about the way that I was going, but I was leading the pack, with the homeless guys following me. These big African-American guys were exhausted and hungry, yelling various profanities along the way. I was hoping (like never before) that I was right! Counting my lucky stars, we all ended up on the same bus unscathed. The bus took us to Santa Monica, where we stayed the night at Hostelling International.

Early the next morning, we ventured out into Santa Monica beach, where countless people were either running, walking, rollerblading or cycling. This beach is famous for "Baywatch", the hit lifeguard TV series. Santa Monica Pier was a centre for fishing areas, shops, buskers and a mini-amusement park. Further down the coastline, Muscle Beach was at work. Arnold and many famous bodybuilders and athletes are known to have trained there.

Later that morning, I arrived at Staples Center in downtown LA. This was the home of the LA Lakers. I was here to see the fourth NBA playoff game between the LA Lakers and the Phoenix Suns. On the way in, I saw many "Bryant" basketball shirts flashing yellow, purple and white. From the distance, you would hear booing, which would sound closer and closer until an orange Phoenix Suns shirt passed through the crowd. Much like a Mexican wave. The atmosphere was great. Although my ticket was ridiculously expensive, I got a seat that was at the very top of the arena. Min and my Chilean roommate Andres came too, and we all enjoyed the live basketball (although we were too far away to see the trash talk, or the Laker girls). Celebrities tend to attend Lakers games, and I saw Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jack Nicholson, Jack Black and even Chris Tucker way down below (on the primo seats). It was a great game despite the loss to the Lakers.

Earlier tonight, there was a Russell Peters show right here at UCSD! Gutted after the early sell-out of the tickets, Esther and I decided to try and crash the show. By the time we got there, the show had finished and the seats were empty. Heading back towards I-House however, we saw him outside talking to a group of people! Then came my brief exchange of words. With Russell Peters!