Day 1 (Saturday, March 20)
We touched down in LAX just before noon and got picked up by Mr. En, our driver for most of the week. He only spoke Mandarin; I still don't know how much English he speaks. B and J swear he doesn't speak a word and tended to talk in English about him in the car (nothing that mean, but still). He didn't seem to mind. It was kind of bad that he didn't speak English, because although most of us can understand Mandarin (although J is Burmese and JC is Korean), S is fully un-Asian and does not speak it at all.
Anyways. The five of us were dropped off at Hollywood Blvd for the afternoon, and we visited the Kodak Theatre (which I did not know was home to the Oscars every year until after we left!) and the Chinese Theater (which I am still not sure what it's famous for). At the Hollywood & Highland Center, where the Kodak Theatre is located, we had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen (great pizza, by the way. and good pasta.). Wile we were waiting for our table, we took pictures of the Hollywood sign in the distance:
Then we checked into our slightly ghetto hotel in Monterey Park. We had five people staying in a room meant for four people, so we had to enter in two groups so that the hotel management wouldn't see that we were breaking the rules. I also had to sleep with J and S in one bed because we didn't have enough space. That night we slept lengthwise, but after that we slept horizontally across the bed to have more elbow room. Anyways, we went to buy snacks/breakfast goods at CVS and a nearby Asian supermarket - Monterey Park is predominately Asian, so it wasn't hard to find one. B, J, and JC got a little overexcited with Asian snacks:
At the CVS I also found the Chile Limón Lays I was hunting for, and they were quite awesome.
Day 2 (Sunday, March 21)
Sunday was our Universal Studios day. We went to all the rides and exhibitions/shows (or at least, the group did. I skipped the two scariest rides. Typical me.) We went on the studio tour, which I found ten times more interesting and less scary than the last time I went on it (ten years ago). I think they may have made it more interesting, but mostly I understand more movie references now and I pay more attention to the tour guide. I also don't think I understood that those building facades were where actual films were shot. Now I wish I got pictures of the streets of Europe, New York, London, and places around the world. So pretty. Here's a pic of Magic Village, although I'm not sure what movie it's from.
Here's a picture of the other thing I remember well about Universal Studios: the glass escalators.
Another fun fact: last time I was here, I got this silver dolphin bracelet with purple, blue, and green inlays, and I really liked it for some time. I had forgotten all about it until I walked to the area where the shop used to be, in the lower end of the park, near the special effects and pyrotechnics show. When I walked there I immediately recognized the area, but the shop's location now houses one of those places where you can buy pictures of yourself taken on a ride - I think it was the Mummy ride. However, I went to another souvenir shop nearby and found the exact same style of bracelet, but with slightly different dolphins. I knew it was made by the same company because it had the same clasp as my bracelet. True story. After ten years, I guess Universal Studios still has the same kinds of souvenirs (although others are different, of course).
That night, we went to a hot pot place near our hotel. It was a place with individual pots, because we were tired of figuring out how to split a bill. This place is so awesome. You pay for small plates of raw materials like chopped pork or scallops or mushrooms, and then you either boil the food in broth using the pot side of the hot pot, or you can stir-fry it on the front pan-like side. Check it out:
Before
After
Mmmm... so good :9 I used some of the stir-fry techniques I learned from Daddy last summer. The only thing is that I always wore long gloves when cooking because I'm terrified of hot oil spattering on my arms. Here, I just held the chopsticks far away from the pot and hoped for the best. I did get a few oil spatters, but it wasn't too bad. It was quite delicious.
Day 3 (Monday, March 22)
We were originally supposed to go to the Farmer's Market and The Grove in West Hollywood, along with numerous other lesser-known tourist spots. However, our tour guide would have been our driver, who only spoke Chinese. We decided to save money and get dropped off at a shopping mall in Glendale. (The Grove is also a shopping district, so we did in fact save money.) We went to the Americana at Brand in Glendale (I don't understand that name) and the Glendale Galleria. The Americana is an outdoor shopping place with a Forever 21, H&M, Anthro, Urban Outfitters, Martin & Osa, and some other places. Glendale Galleria is just across the street, and it's your typical run-of-the-mill mall. It's similar to Valley Fair. It also has a Forever 21, interestingly. Those folks must rake in a helluva lot of money to open up two stores in the same quarter-mile vicinity.
This is what the Americana looks like:
The fountain is cool and it has spouty shows sometimes.
I got two v-neck tees from Forever 21, in bright pink and light yellow, the two colors of tees I wanted to perk up my wardrobe ^_^ I also got this peachy pink cardigan, and it's super super thin so I don't think it's too durable, but I really like. I also tried on some other stuff at H&M, Anthro, Aero, and American Eagle. Observe this shirt from AE:
I like it from this angle but I'm not feeling it from the front view. Plus it's normal price, not extraordinarily cheap.
That night, after a day of shopping, we went to the KT Cafe because it was recommended by the driver. It's this Asian food cafe, not unlike Ban Mu Yuan. I got Za Cai Rou Si Mian, since I haven't had it in ages.
It was excellent. A nice foray into the past.
Day 4 (Tuesday, March 23)
DISNEYLAND!!
This was the day I was looking forward to the most.I hadn't been to Disneyland for about ten years. It was really cool to go back and see how the actual park differed from what I remembered. The rides were definitely less scary than I had remembered, although I realize now that I don't remember seeing any of the roller coasters when I was younger. I never went on them, so I never ventured there.
Disneyland was a lot smaller than I remembered, which is unsurprising because everything looks bigger when you're a kid. We hit all the major rides (the big kid rides!): Indiana Jones, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Space Mountain, and Splash Mountain. We also went on Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Star Tours, It's a Small World, Mad Tea Party (the spinning teacups), and Haunted Mansion at night. Pretty productive, I'd say :)
We ate lunch at the bread-bowl clam chowder place in New Orleans Square:
"Hey, let's all get bread bowls!"
I ate the whole thing, unlike the others, who lost interest after they ran out of soup. Remember kids: always deconstruct (eat) the bowl as you're eating the soup! That way you won't run out of soup too early, and you won't be unmotivated to finish your $9 bread bowl.
Mid-afternoon snack: Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor in Main Street, U.S.A. (because everyone was hungry from not finishing lunch).
This is the first time I consciously chose mint chocolate chip ice cream out of a variety of well-qualified contenders. It was quite delicious. I should do it more often.
And...and...oh baby! Random pictures of each of the eight themed lands!
Main Street, U.S.A.
Adventureland:
Frontierland:
Fantasyland:
Tomorrowland:
New Orleans Square:
Critter Country:
Toontown:
We ended this glorious day with what could only be described as the best fireworks display I've ever seen. Here's the Fantasyland entrance castle right before it started:
The fireworks lasted about 20 minutes, and it was simply awesome. AWESOME. There were sections based on different rides (Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, something in Tomorrowland), and it ended with "When You Wish Upon a Star" (I think). Even though towards the end we were weaving through the crowd, running to catch the tram before the flood of people, we kept looking over our shoulders at the fireworks.
EPIC.
Day 5 (Wednesday, March 24)
Wednesday was the schism day. J and JC wanted to go to Six Flags Magic Mountain, where the REAL roller coasters were. However, that was beyond the range of our driver, so they had to take public transportation, transferring from buses to trains to buses for over an hour. B, S, and I decided not to go, partly because we didn't want to do that whole public transportation biznatch. But mainly it was because B and I are terrified of roller coasters. Even Space Mountain is juuuust a little above my comfort level (but that was due to the constant lateral jerking, and plus it was, you know, in the dark). So, we went to the Farmer's Market/the Grove, which we were supposed to go to on Monday, and Melrose Avenue, famous for lesser-known vintage/thrift shops. It's sort of like the Haight in San Francisco.
Before we went shopping, we saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D at the Pacific Theaters at the Grove. I did rather like it, but I did *hate* Avril Lavigne's song "Alice." It sounds like she's somewhere between whining, complaining, and in pain. I do love her other songs, just not this one.
I got this white Nike tennis skirt I've been lusting after for two years at Out of the Closet, for $3.75! And it fit! The tag was cut off but I'm pretty sure it was a medium. I would have preferred a small, but I can wear a medium too. Here it is on me in May 2008:
It came kind of sweat-stained, but with some bleach at home it was fine. Such a good deal! Full price, it would be $55.
We also went to some other Melrose-specific places, whose names escape me. I didn't see anything I liked there, but B and S both each got a dress.
For dinner, we ate at Goodfellas, an Italian restaurant, where I ate fettuccine Alfredo. And oldie but goodie, I tell you. We ordered a bit late, and we wolfed down our dinner as the driver came.
Day 6 (Thursday, March 25)
On Thursday we all went to Rodeo Drive. It was pretty cool to see that we were on this famous shopping district, with all the high-end shops concentrated in this small area. Pretty much every store was strategically lighted and only had like 10 items inside, and several shops had a suit-wearing guard in front. It was pretty hardcore. We went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch (seriously, there are Cheesecake Factories everywhere in LA), and I had a lunch-portion Shepherd's Pie. It is basically everything I love in one dish: ground beef with carrots and peas in a brown sauce, covered with a mashed-potato layer and topped with some melted cheese. What's not to like?
Later on that day, we changed hotels. We moved to a Marriott in Marina Del Rey, near Venice Beach. We paid the driver for the week in cash, except I didn't bring enough cash. I had to borrow the money from one of the others :(
When we got to the hotel, B (and I, secretly) was super excited to find out that there was a mini-mall across the stree, as well as some patches of restaurants. We chillaxed and ate dinner around the hotel, and B and S caught the midnight premier screening of How to Train Your Dragon, which they said was Awesome.
Day 7 (Friday, March 26)
Beach day!
We went to Venice Beach for our last day in the LA area, and it was kind of freezing. We stayed all the way to 7pm or so, so that we could see a sunset on the beach :) It was quite beautiful. I took many, many pics; check FB. There was a boardwalk, where we went to eat lunch. Outside the sidewalk cafe, there was this black upright piano and a rotund blond(e) ponytailed person playing it. We debated whether it was a male or female. The ending consensus was male, although we couldn't be sure. When he was playing, I was even skeptical that it was a real person, as opposed to a wax replica and speakers. The guy pretty much only moved his fingers, and he stayed hunched over for quite a while.
After our day at the beach, we went to eat at a Singapore cafe. According to J, the best/most traditional Singaporean food was "chicken rice."
And that pretty much sums up the trip! :)
