Los Angeles

Prior to the trip we did quite a bit of research on places of interest and the streets around our hotel. Certainly the latter limited our exploration of donwtown LA because there's a 'skid row' just a couple of blocks south of our hotel.


Day One

Perfect weather, but we were still a lil' tired so we decided to keep it simple. First we were off to the Union Station where we got our Metra 7-day passes for $17 each..... Seemed totally unncecessary though as we soon found out that none of the stations have turnstiles and very few people even bother to buy fare cards. It runs on an honor system! Certainly amazed me how much the city trusts its residents, but does it really work in today's world? At least from what we saw, not really.

We then took our first Metro ride to Chinatown for lunch. We found a place where the food was average, and pretty darn cheap. Then we walked to Olvera Street, the birthplace of Los Angeles. It reminded me of Petaling Street (much cleaner though) and is rich in Mexican culture. We also found one of LA's oldest restaurants.. the El Paseo Inn where we decided to dine for dinner. It was an excellent meal.. the best Mexican cuisine I've had and one of the best of our trip. Just as we exited the restaurant, we were greeted by Olvera Street's Las Posadas procession. We then walked a little around downtown for some photography before heading home for a good night's sleep.

Day Two - Universal City

Christmas Eve. We were off to the famed Universal Studios! We purchased the annual pass (strangely priced a dollar more than the general admission fee) and began snapping those shutters furiously. In short, the exhibits were pleasantly entertaining, but we couldn't finish everything so we decided to come back another day (after all, we did have annual passes.. :p). I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking..

We had looked up a famous Italian pizzeria located within the premises of Universal City - Miceli's. After a half-an-hour walk trying to find the place (NY Indian Town dejavu?), we found the restaurant at about 7.15pm (We were pretty starved as we had some light fast food in Universal Studios for lunch). If the previous night's Mexican dinner was heavenly, this was the antithesis. We were finally seated after another 30 minutes (it seemed like people who came after us were seated earlier..) and ordered a large pizza, a lasagna and a pasta. We were serenaded all night long with classic Christmas songs by.... our waiters and waitresses! And YES, I do literally mean all-night long as our food was only served a dozen songs later at 9.30pm! That wasn't before a sing-along rendition of The 12 Days of Christmas. I really don't remember having to wait that long for a meal ever in my life and what more, it was such a simple order!!! *deep breath* Alright, so now that we were starved to the point where even dust looks like food, we were definitely going to savour this meal like no other.. Or were we? The food was COLD to begin with, and the pasta was terrible. The pizza had beef so I can't judge it, although the others told me it was rather average.. AVERAGE?? It is supposed to be their ultimate specialty (that's the only plausible reason why they would order something I can't eat when I was at a PIZZERIA!) and it was just.. average? Unbelievable. Even the chicken lasagna was just above average. Definitely one of my WORST dining experiences ever. How do you even explain the cold and LATE food? Oh that's right.. the waiters and waitresses were too busy yodeling away! It's been about 2 weeks since that experience and I'm still as disappointed.


That was the end of a long and tiring day that wasn't helped by dining with a bunch of American idol-wannabes. Lol. Make no mistake though.. Universal Studios was tons of fun.


Day Three - Christmas!

We were tired and most of the attractions were closed; it was time to explore Little Tokyo a little more. Had some good ramen for lunch (one of just 2 restaurants we found open in an area that hosts a plethora of diners) before heading back. The weather was rather damp as well. Christmas dinner was to be within our hotel at 1000 Cranes, an authentic Japanese diner with pretty amazing ratings. As expected, the food was great but it burnt an equally great hole in our pockets. :p

Day Four - Hollywood

An early start got us back to Universal Studios.. this time we made the world-famous (at least according to them) Studio Tour and the highly entertaining Waterworld show. Again, I'll let the photos do the talking.

With that done, we had some Indian buffet for lunch (below average.. doesn't even come close to the amazing NY one) before heading to the much-famed Hollywood. Before we knew it, we were walking on the incredibly long 'Hollywood Walk of Fame.' In all seriousness, I never expected it to be THAT long that despite an hour of walking later on in the day, we never got to the end of it. Either way, we caught the 'stars' of quite a few.. err.. stars. The Kodak Theatre is a beautiful building with somewhat of a mall attached to it. We weren't keen on catching a movie in the lavish cinema though. On another note, this is where we got our first sighting of the huge Hollywood sign. Yippeee!

Next up was Grauman's Chinese Theatre, arguably the greatest attraction in Hollywood. Here lies the hand and footprints of some of Hollywood's greatest stars, immortalized in cement. There was something that intrigued me at first though... most of the prints came together with a message for a certain Sid. Soon I figured that this was none other than the great Sid Grauman, the man who introduced the idea of movie premieres and the founder of some noteworthy theatres in California. As we were reaching home, I took a good look at one of my postcards which showed a beautiful fountain..

The description on the back said it was in Downtown LA.. I suggested to the other guys we look for the fountain for some spectacular photography, and they agreed (After all, we were rather disappointed with Hollywood). Judging by its size in the photo, we figured we'd find it rather easily, with all the colors and all. Soon, it turned into something of an episode of the Amazing Race, as we tried to use the visible landmarks on the postcard photos to pin-point the exact location of the fountain. We walked up and down, but never saw a single fountain.. until we finally came across one at the edge of a building..

Certainly looked nothing like the photo, and it was so much smaller to begin with. It quickly turned into the joke of the trip, and I was pretty much at the butt of it for coming up with the idea of looking for the fountain. We walked around the block still laughing out the whole incident, when we saw a small park and heard water. Lo and behold.. we finally found the actual fountain... except that it was TURNED OFF! After another batch of jokes and a few photos, we walked back. Some light dinner and a good dose of Mochi ice-creams at Little Tokyo ended the day.

Day Five - From Beverly Hills to Santa Monica

Dressed in our best outfits (with burning hopes of bumping into celebrities..wth), we set off to the posh neighbourhood and one of the most famous in the world - Beverly Hills. We reached the area just in time for lunch, and our plans had us looking for Boraan, a well-rated restaurant that serves up authentic Thai cuisine. Again, we were on a major goose chase as we walked all over the streets of Beverly Hills looking for this one restaurant. Our path was something like what I've outlined in the map below.

The food was pretty ok, yet not up to our huge expectations. Come on, this was Beverly Hills for crying out loud. See N Rodeo Drive on the bottom-left of the map? That's pretty much where we wanted to be after lunch so yea... even more walking. What can I say about Rodeo Drive... It's certainly a high-end shopper's paradise, and we weren't too keen on entering any of the stores (what with closed doors and a guard standing outside almost every store?). We walked up and down the short stretch, snapping photos of some of the stores, but mostly.. the CARS! My goodness.. almost every car on the street is a beauty. From Ferraris to BMWs to Bentleys, it was like walking in a luxury car parade.

Just as we were about to reach the end of our walk, I spotted one of the to-go places we saw from the hotel's TV - Bernard K. Passman's gallery of jewelry and sculptures. With some time to kill, we decided to enter the museum (yet again, behind lavish, closed doors..). Inside, we were given a tour of the works and legacy of the late Bernard K. Passman. As our guide mentioned more than once, Mr. Passman's forte was sculptures. He was the foremost sculptor during his prime, his works including a tree with each US president's name engraved on its leaves (up to Reagan) that currently resides in the White House. His specialty was however sculptures from black coral, with which he created some rather amazing one-piece sculptures. At the end of our little tour, we were offered a chance to purchase Mr. Passman's work to which none of us except Julian immediately obliged. The cheapest product was priced at $60, and that is exactly what Julian got - a black coral pendant. It's a pretty good investment I'd say, with lifetime guarantees on the product and the option of upgrading to a better product at any time. Here are some photos from the pricy gallery..

We then took a bus further west to Santa Monica, where I got my first look and feel of the Pacific Ocean. We reached the beachside just in time to watch the sun set on the western horizon.. truly spectacular.

As the skies darkened,we then walked a couple of blocks and headed over to Santa Monica's lively 3rd Street Promenade. Lotsa clothing stores, and a wide array of street performers liven up the pedestrian-only street (A closer resemblance to Petaling Street, yet once again much cleaner). We stopped at a Greek restaurant along the promenade for dinner, albeit a literally sour experience for some of us (referring to the amazingly sour Greek salad dressing)... lol. There was nothing sour about our waitress though.. by far the most beautiful waitress we had in all our dining experiences throughout the entire trip. :p On a side note, I was challenged by the others to a sour olive, dipped in the aforementioned salad dressing.. I barely got through it, and earned myself 5 Mochis from the guys. Heh!

Day Six - Koreatown

We wake up pretty late, and head over to Koreatown, our only real plan on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Frankly, there really isn't much to see there, despite its size (Although, it could be our bad for going there on a Sunday when almost everything was closed). All we were looking for was a place for lunch (so we can add Korean food to the numerous different cuisines we'd tried during our short trip), and as was the case on Christmas day, we really weren't left with too many options. As for me, it was interesting having only ONE option from the entire extensive menu: Ginseng Chicken Soup because everything else had either pork or beef in it. Certainly a first for me, and I'll have to think twice about travelling to Korea now.. We headed over to Pershing Square under the impression that it would be a good place for shopping, but there was nothing more than an ice rink. Nothing else blogworthy from the rest of the day. Pretty drab..

Day Seven - Disneyland

29th of December 2009... the day I finally visited the place I'd been longing to go since I was a kid - Disneyland!! All set for a magical experience, we took the Amtrak train to Anaheim. Upon reaching the magical grounds we saw the California Adventure theme park on the left and the classic Disneyland on the right, with the free-admission Downtown Disney right down the middle. Predicting we could find better rides in Six Flags and not expecting anything from a free-admission area, the obvious decision was to turn right, into the birthplace of Mickey Mouse (we had to choose between them mainly due to time and budget constraints.. although Julian and Kwong Hann had already made plans to return the next day for the California Adventure park by purchasing the 2-day park-hopper). The park was packed with visitors, with some rides and shows having waiting lines of over an hour. Knowing we were never gonna catch every single in-park attraction, we had to plan our day proper, and I have to say we ended up kinda satisfied. We started off catching the Star Wars Jedi training, before riding on a small boat through the tunnels of 'It's A Small World' which I'd describe as pleasant and meaningful. We then took our only roller-coaster ride of the day (thrilling, but doesn't come close to any of the rides in Six Flags) before lunch. Next up we walked up to Toontown, where our favorite Disney characters reside. We didn't really get to see a lot of them though, plus we were snubbed by Max (he's evil! He practically ran away from us!). However, we did make sure we met and took a photo with Disney's biggest star... Mickey Mouse! The down side - we had to wait in line for almost and hour to meet that darn rat.. just kidding guys! I'd never say such a thing about Mickey..

There were a number of other shows/rides that we went for, but they were either too kiddo or incredibly insignificant to earn a mention. So yea, with all that done and after an expensive meal for dinner within the park, we were ready for the climax of our visit - Disney's famed fireworks titled Believe... In Holiday Magic. We were risking missing the last Amtrak train back to LA by catching the 13-minute spectacular, but it didn't matter... we were not leaving Disneyland without watching it. In typical Malaysian fashion (alright.. sorry for the stereotyping.. I cant help but notice! :p), we "camped" on an excellent spot to catch the fireworks about 45 minutes before the show. Kwong Hann set up his tripod as we began taking countless shots of the beautifully-lit Sleeping Beauty's castle that stood before us. The crowd began to grow by the minute, yet we never budged from our spots. It was a beautiful night: not a single cloud to be seen - what better weather to watch one of the world's most spectacular firework displays.. or so we thought... With 15 minutes to go, we noticed a few fireworks going off on our left - from the 'Fantasmic!' show (which we had to forego for our 'first-class seats' to the main event).

What came next stunned us all. 10 minutes to the show, an announcement is made, and it went something like: "Due to unfavorable weather conditions, there might be a slight delay to our Believe... In Holiday Magic firework display." At that point, the biggest question that came up was... WHAT UNFAVORABLE WEATHER CONDITIONS?? IT WAS A PERFECT NIGHT! Alright.. a slight delay; meaning a much greater risk of missing the final train, in the case of which we might be stranded in Anaheim. Nope... not even that thought affected our persistence. 5 minutes later, a similar announcement is made. The crowd began to display signs of restlessness. Another 5 minutes on, and they announce that the show might be cancelled altogether..... WTH! If it was raining, I'd be the first to walk away. If it was even a little windy.. I'd understand and reluctantly walk away (not before cursing the weather!).. But it was a clear night! Almost perfect! Did they suddenly run short of fireworks and couldn't think of a better excuse?? People began to leave, yet we just stood there, at this point praying for a miracle.. (Hey, we were in Disneyland after all.. haha). Another 5 minutes on, and they finally confirmed that the firework display was cancelled for good, much to our dismay (more of astonishment, to be frank). They did 'compensate' us with music, and filling the skies with fake snow (which were merely soap bubbles.. sigh).. One look at our watches told us we had 15 minutes to get to the Amtrak station... RUN! We practically darted out of the park to the shuttle buses, slipping and sliding our way through the crowd. We got on the bus, and off we were to the station.. well, not really. The bus stops at a hotel, and then goes PAST the station to drop off a couple of people at ANOTHER hotel.. Then the bus stops, and when we consult the driver he tells us his schedule requires him to wait at the hotel for another 10 minutes.. O.M.G! 3 minutes to the train, and all of us get pretty restless. We confront the driver (in an agitated and animated manner..lol), and he agrees to get us to the station a.s.a.p.. He speeds through the peaceful streets of Anaheim, as the clock ticked away. As we reach the station, we see the train arriving.. "Thank goodness!" I exclaimed. As we were about to get out of the bus and make another sprint, the driver refuses to open the doors, and coolly says "Give me my tips and go quickly." We were stunned, and stood rooted in that manner for another 5 seconds at the very least. Then Kwong Hann quickly passed him 2 bucks and we ran out.. and just as Kwong Hann and I were about to reach the platforms, the train leaves.. I'd say we missed it by about 5 seconds. DARN IT! Our worst fears had come true.. we were stranded in Anaheim. The guy at the station tells us the next train would be at 4 in the morning. Just when we began contemplating spending the night at the station, the same bus driver walks into the station, then brings us to a cab-driver who told us he'd charge 70 bucks flat for our trip back to the hotel......... Deal! We reached home safely, and that was the end of our adventurous day.. Unforgettable.

Day Eight - Downtown LA

Julian and Kwong Hann were off to Disneyland again, and Cheng Khang and I were left at home to plan out our last day. We figured we'd seen almost everything there is to see, so we decided to keep it simple and just walk around downtown. First we headed to Chinatown for lunch (which was unexpectedly pretty good, and kinda cheap too), but not before seeing the Avila Adobe, LA's oldest preserved home. Only on this day did we realize that Downtown LA had so much more to offer than what we'd seen up to that point. We found the Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral (incredibly peaceful, and just massive) and Fort Mason before we came across the same fountain from the other day, just that this time it was working!

We then walked to the Walt Disney Concert Hall, which has a beautiful mini-botanical garden on its roof. Next, we headed down the Angels Flight, LA's oldest funicular railway system and the shortest in the world. Of course, it wasn't in operation so we just walked down the stairway parallel to it. At the bottom we saw the Grand Central Market, a place reminiscent of the morning markets back in Malaysia. From fresh fruits and meat to spices and preserved foods, it had plenty of foodstuff to offer, at an exceptionally cheap price too! We walked through the market and on the other side, it really seemed like we were in a totally different city. Unknowingly, we had walked into the slums of Los Angeles.. Homeless people crowded the walkways.. Trash scattered along the streets.. we were in the infamous Skid Row. Personally, it didn't look as bad as what we had imagined, and Cheng Khang and I decided to walk down a couple of blocks to explore the area before heading back to the prettier side of the city. We walked to the city's Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), but unfortunately it was closed on Tuesdays (what an odd day to be closed.. they're even open on Sundays). Soon we met up with Julian and Kwong Hann for dinner at an Italian restaurant we found close to the hotel - Capperi's. Slightly pricy, but they definitely serve up much better Italian cuisine than *coughs* Miceli's.

And that was it.. the following morning we were off to San Francisco.. once again I travelled alone. Lol.