18 October 2006
Long flight over but gained a day which was good...I had Tues the 3rd twice :-) Quite strict boarding in Fiji having our bags searched numerous times, and we had coppers on the plane too!!
Los Angeles is humungoid but I picked a good hostel right in Hollywood with 'the Hollywood sign' visible from the windows. I spent a few days in La-La-land walking around Hollywood Blvd along the stars in the pavement, Sunset Blvd, and visited the Kodak Theatre where the Oscars are held. So much going on in this part of Hollywood with people dressed up as film characters and movie premiers going on etc. I hung out around a couple of movie premiers hoping that Leonardo DiCaprio or Matt Damon (premier of their new movie 'Departed') would want to marry me, but no. Many many places that have film or celebrity associations like scenes from 'Pretty Woman', or clubs that the rich and famous go to, far too many to mention. Very strange to see places that house celebrities with the homeless next door...its so mixed up. There are loads of crazy people here and the locals talk to themselves. A car really is the only way to travel. Its not that the public system is unreliable or infrequent, there's just no information or timetables so you get completely lost and have no idea how long you'll be waiting (speaking from experience!).
I didn't have particularly high expectations for USA and LA from word of mouth, but I have been pleasantly surprised. They are friendly here...always chatting to each other in ques and helping people out. Would have been great to be here for Halloween...these people are bonkers about it!!
Heading out of LA and the hilly landscape becomes more and more arid. Crossed the Nevada border, then with huge billboards seemingly in the middle of nowhere is Las Vegas! Its exactly how you would imagine it. I jumped in with both feet and went along to a club night on the strip...as expected, dancers on the bar and expensive drinks. We walked the strip the following day and the casino/hotels are so incredible...there's water fountain displays the height of a skyscraper, rollercoaster's, a New York city skyline complete with Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, a pyramid with a xenon light beam that burns brighter than any other in the world and is even visible from space!! The places are massive and have all the gambling requirements you could possible need...one casino had acrobats performing over the gamblers and another had lions in an enclosure (yes, slightly cruel but totally cool at the same time)!! I tried my hand at a couple of games, realising actually how addictive I found it and made sure I kept an eye on my total spending budget of $10!! We were amazed and didn't notice 7 hours slip by walking the strip (sore legs). Usual dudes driving the strip at night, windows and roof top down, that appear to all shop at the same overly huge t-shirt shop...only cool if it hangs below your knees!!? Quite funny when an American guy stopped and asked me for directions, then said I couldn't speak proper English and couldn't understand me...err, I AM English!!
With 2 lasses I met in LA, we hired a car for 3 days and head over into Arizona. Our first day was spent driving and we cruised around an old volcano lava flow and spent far too long trying to photograph the lightning. Very strange driving on the wrong side of the road, having not driven for ages, and in an automatic too, but you soon get used to it. Second day I drove up to the Grand Canyon. I knew it was going to be spectacular, but I was totally blown away. The views were incredible and the weather perfect. Unbelievable. Also saw some cool wildlife including Elks and a Cliff Chipmunk. Our third day, we head up to Zion and Bryce National Parks in Utah. Again, totally incredible. Zion NP was filled with windy roads and pinnacles of amazing rock strata and Bryce NP was as close to a rock city as you could imagine...intricate sandstone sculptures extending into the distance. Back to Vegas and we stayed overnight in a hotel on the strip (sounds expensive but mid-week the prices were cheaper than a dorm bed when sharing between the 3 of us).
I then took a 13 hour bus, train and bus journey up to San Francisco and spent a couple of days walking the city. Its beautiful with really interesting little residential streets with flowers and balconies and the city isn't very big so I walked and bussed most of the streets. I went to the usual sites including the 'crookedest street in the world', the Golden Gate Bridge and although I wanted to go over to Alcatraz, half of China's population were waiting in que and the tickets were sold out. Desperately wanting to see the enormous Redwood Sequoias, I went on a day trip up to Yosemite NP, which was amazing with seriously tall pine trees and a huge granite valley formed by plate subduction. The Redwoods were worth the trip; 2,500 to 3,000 years old, measuring up to 11 m in diameter, and tower to heights of 76 m to 91 m above the ground!
Back to LA and spent another day getting lost and ended up in some really interestingly awful places, but also made it over to Rodeo Drive to see some enormous houses and around the Beverley Hills area. I went down to Venice beach which wasn't quite what I had imagined; so many hippy places and the homeless doing drawings and arty things for a few quarters. Finding anything other than fast food is such a mission, you actually have to go to a 'health food' shop top get any decent sandwiches or fruit!!
Well, tonight I fly down into Cancun, Mexico, so I’ll email again from there with stories of sombreros and tequila!! Love Fi xxxx
