Los Angeles

I was certainly in a trance when I landed, after having sat through a 15-hour flight with only about 2 hours of sleep. I badly wanted to have a shower and crash when I got to the hotel but the room was not ready yet. I had almost 2 hours to kill. It was about 11am here in LA then but it was like 4am back in Melbourne, so my body and mind were just not functioning very well. The only thing to do was to find a place to get a coffee. My hotel is here on Melrose Avenue, and looking at the map tells me that the famous Walk of Fame in Hollywood is just three blocks north and two blocks east from here. So I decided to take a walk there, which turned out to be quite a mistake as the blocks were huge and the Californian heat was quite unbearable. So I got my caffeine fix in the end, and wasted no time in shopping at GAP and Banana Republic, at least that kept me awake. After checking in, I decided not to sleep at all so that I could get into the time zone here. I ventured into downtown LA (against the advice of several locals) and as a retribution, I got lost and somehow ended up in the Hispanic quarters. It was not a pretty sight at all, with many junkies and hobos and dangerous-looking people around. In desperstion, I hopped onto a random bus (only to find more junkies and deros) and and then onto another bus and somehow found my way back to West Hollywood, where my hotel is. I had to stay awake (which was really hard) as I didn’t want to miss my stop. Thinking back, I am really lucky not to have run into some sorts of trouble. I realised that here in LA, everyone drives and there is hardly anyone walking on the streets at all.
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I am so glad I managed to function normally after a good night’s rest that lasted 13 hours. I so needed that. I even took a touristy day trip that brought me to Venice Beach (dubbed to be a place with character and rustic charms but it reminds me of nothing but Collingwood) and to see all the houses of celebrities on the Hollywood Hills. I even saw Pete Sampras on Rodeo Drive. I signed up for this trip only because I get to visit Mulholland Drive. Rounded my afternoon up at a Mexican Festival and gorged myself silly with a huge-ass sausage and lotsa corn chips. Nice. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I can't really say I am liking LA much, despite the great shopping and food at The Grove here in Fairfax. I don’t know, somehow everything seems to be a bit much. Other than the gated neighbourhoods like Beverly Hills and Bel-Air, the whole city seems to be very washed-out and slumpy, even the ubiqutious palm trees are not helping much. Everything and everyone seems to be a bit OTT; the dressing, the bling blings, the gigantic SUVs, the hookers, the overly coulourful or greasy food, the fake tan, fake boobs, and the fake blonds. Truth be told, I reckon I have had enough of this city and I can’t wait to fly out tomorrow. I normally enjoy a big city but somehow not this one. Maybe now I finally understand why some Americans hate southern California and also why some celebs claimed they can never live in Hollywood. Things are certainly very different from in the movies.