We flew into Tokyo at around 16h30 local time, which was around 23h30 LA time. We’d set our clocks forward and tried getting some sleep on the plane, but that was difficult, so by the time we landed we were pretty tired. We’d read that taxis in Tokyo are ridiculously expensive, so we headed down to the train station to get some train tickets and thankfully the man behind the ticket desk spoke some English. It took around 75 minutes to get to Ueno, where we had to change for Asukusa. Then we had a supposedly 5 min walk up the hotel, where we were presented with our first problem. All the street signs were in Japanese and there were no numbers on the buildings, so we wandered down the street for a couple of blocks, looking for the sign of our hotel, and couldn’t see it. We had to stop and ask a shop assistant if they knew where our hotel was, and it turned out we had walked right past it as the sign was in Japanese characters. We checked in to our tiny hotel room (just big enough to fit a double bed with a cupboard sized bathroom) and managed to stay awake for a couple more hours, before passing out around 9pm. Not bad considering the time in LA.
Day 1:
The following morning we woke up around 5am (jet lag will do that to you), tried to force a bit more sleep and then went looking for breakfast. Fortunately we found a Starbucks down the road where we could have a sandwich. Then we went to see the temple nearby and we each got our fortunes. You have to shake a metal box that has a bunch of wooden sticks in it and a small hole, until one wooden stick comes out. The wooden stick has a couple of characters on it, that you match with a key to find your fortune. I got Best Fortune and Steve got Worst Fortune, so he tried again and got Good Fortune which was only slightly better. However he got to tie his Worst Fortune to a little stand for the wind to blow it away. We also got to wave the incense smoke on ourselves which is meant to be good luck and sure to have swept away any residual worst fortunes! The temple itself and the attached garden were beautiful with the autumn colours on the trees. What I did find odd was that the temple itself seemed to revolve around money. Before anyone makes a prayer they throw a coin into a massive metal coin catching thing. I mean I know there are collection boxes in Christian churches, but they feel a lot more optional than the coin box at the Chinese temple.
After that we took the subway to Sibuya to see the famous crossing in Lost in Translation. However it wasn’t as busy as we’d anticipated, at least initially. What does make it feel busier is that all four crossings take place at the same time, unlike most Western crossings where one side crosses at a time. We also went to see a shopping outlet (Tokyu) while we were there but it sold just the same things as any UK department store. Well with a bit more Hello Kitty thrown in. Then we went to the Sony building to see if they had any cool new toys. There we got to put on some 3D glasses and watch 3D telly which was cool. Extra note: Buying a subway ticket in Tokyo was very interesting, as it had an English button on screen, but all the destinations were written in Japanese. You have to read off a key that tells you how much it costs to your destination (e.g. 190 Yen), push the Y190 button, and then push another button with a picture of 2 people on it. Actually I should mention that the people in Tokyo were very helpful. At one point we were standing in Ueno station trying to decide where to go next, and an elderly Japanese man actually came over to us and asked us where we were trying to get to, so that he could help with directions. Unsolicited help - eh?!
Day 2:
We walked to the park at Ueno, which is where the Tokyo National Museum is. There were some street performers juggling and such, and we stumbled across a temple in the park which had a great entrance down some steps. Then we went to see the Tokyo Museum which I was really impressed with, so I kept stopping to take photos of everything, which meant we were there for ages and only did one of the buildings. The lacquer ware was amazing and the big Buddha sculptures are awesome too. Steve was more impressed with the samurai swords and the scroll paintings. By the time we came out it was getting dark, and we walked back to the train station looking for some dinner. We ended up having seafood pasta near the station which was very good. The Japanese Love their seafood and it really is everywhere. The restaurant had all these bowls of fake food in their window to show you the dishes they offer, which is actually pretty helpful for foreigners and very lifelike. Afterwards we got the train to Roppongi as it is meant to be the night life area. We had a walk around trying to find a specific bar, but with the numbers and names of buildings being none existent (in English) it proved impossible to find anything in our guide book. So we ended up in Starbucks again having some tea (tired legs after the museum). What is cool is that one high rise building in Roppongi will have a number of different clubs / bars in it, each on a different floor, and there is a key at the bottom of the building telling you whats on each floor. We did consider going up the tower to see the views of Tokyo by night, but they wanted 1500 yen each, so we gave that a miss. I should also mention here that Tokyo is ridiculously expensive. We headed back to our little hotel room, in search of an English tv channel, but alas every single one was in Japanese - humph! On another note I am finding the food a bit difficult in Tokyo. As we don’t speak any Japanese we have to rely on the menus containing pictures of the food, so that we can literally point out our choice. However there seems to be a lot of tasteless broth and very fatty pork on offer, which was just not my thing. I havent seen anyone offering any chicken on their menu as yet. It seems to be all fatty pork and fish. Although I suppose that probably provides a good dietary balance, well sans the veg.
Day 3:
Back to our local Starbucks for breakfast (seriously rice that early in the morning, I think not!) before catching the subway to Haranjuku to see the kids in their weird outfits. The place reminded me a lot of Camden in London and is basically small cheap independant shop after small cheap independent shop with a Lot of people walking about. There weren’t that many people dressed weird, but we did see one girl in a bonnet and hoop skirt a bit like Bo Beep. We sat and had lunch at a place that made roast chicken (a relief after yesterdays beef noodle without any beef) and then tried to get in to the nearby temple, however there was an alarm going off and they were filing everyone out. Instead we decided to try and walk to the Metropolitan Tower to see the view from the 45th floor. We walked for about 2 hours and got lost (easy to do when there are hardly any road signs or numbers), until eventually we found another Metro station and then got the train there. Turns out we had walked way too far and in the wrong way. But we found it easily from the Metro station and went up to the 45th floor (for free) where the views were great. I was looking for a Tokyo souvenir in the gift shop, but it was full of a lot of tat instead. The Japanese seem to like their small plastic toys, which Everyone attaches to the end of their mobile phone. Even the men. They also have a lot of small soft toys that the women tie to the handbags (how mature is that?). It was well, rather odd. But unfortunately no real souvenirs saying Tokyo on them.
Day 4:
We managed to find a local bakery across the road from our hotel, where we went to buy a couple of dohnuts which involved picking them up with some plastic tongs and putting them on a tray before heading for the checkout. Then we got the trains through to the famous Fish Market. Unfortunately it was around 2pm by the time we arrived so the market was all but closed, but we had a walk around, saw someone cutting up a fish and then found a sushi bar for lunch. We had to queue up outside for a while until it was our turn to go inside. It was my first taste of sushi and it was really very tasty indeed. We each had a long dish that was filled with various different kinds of sushi. Although we cant tell you exactly what we were eating. We did have a couple of California rolls and there was definitely a piece of tuna in there and some slightly sweet tofu. I also tried some fish roe (salmon I reckon) and we each got a free tasty Miso soup. Yum. Japanese food was definitely looking up that day and I have to say this was probably the highlight of our time in Tokyo. We also got talking to a local couple who bought Steve some sake and were shocked to hear that we had taken 8 months off to go on holiday. They clearly thought we were loco.
Afterwards we went to Tokyo station to have a look around the CBD, which had some very tall buildings and we found a shopping centre, so I had a look around there. After which we walked to Ginza to find the Kabuki -za theatre, but unfortunately it had been knocked down. We asked for directions in a shop and they gave us a bag of free rice crackers each lol. Then we walked up and down Ginza looking at the lights and shops which included the likes of Gucci, Louise Vuitton and Tiffanys (Tokyos answer to Fifth Avn in NY). Then we took the subway home and stopped at the local market to have noodle soup for dinner, but the pork they put on top was pretty much all fat - yuck.
Random notes about Tokyo (positive):
The streets are very clean
Everyone is very helpful. 2 People have now offered us unsolicited directions. Then again I guess they have to help tourists, as they haven’t bothered to put up any road names or numbers.
Japanese art is amazingly detailed which appeals to me on a deep level.
All the woman in Tokyo are perfectly made up and beautifully / stylishly dressed. Also they are all stick thin which is enough to make anyone feel like a heffalump by comparison. It must be all the fish. Although you’d think the fatty pork would put some meat on their bones.
As it was autumn when we were there the colours on the trees were a gorgeous burnt orange colour.
Their sushi is to die for.
Random notes (weird):
Electrically warmed toilet seats - its very unsettling as it just makes me think that someone else has just pre-warmed the seat - yuck. Their electric toilets also have other odd functions like playing music, or the flush sound. Now why would you need to make a flush sound without actually flushing the toilet I ask you? We were loving the all in one sinks though - you can get soap automatically, get water to wash your hands automatically and then dry your hands on the air dryer all inside the same hand basin - very efficient! Wonder why these super sinks haven’t caught on in the rest of the world! You can wash your hands and get out of there without having to touch a single soap dispenser, tap or paper towel dispenser. This really appeals to the OCD in me.
Women going out in schoolgirl knee high socks, with mini soft toys tied to their handbags
As mentioned before no real street names or numbers ie proper addresses! This turned out to be the bain of our existence in Tokyo. We are used to choosing a restaurant / place in our guidebook and then going to find that place on a map. But that’s very unrealistic in Tokyo. How does any mail get delivered here?
Day 5:
We got up early and got the overland train out to Kamakura. Then another local train to Hase and a short walk up the road to the 37m outdoor bronze Buddha which was pretty impressive. We got to go inside the Buddha and see that its made of loads of different pieces all welded together. Steve got another fortune, and it was better than the last time so he was pleased. Then we walked back towards the station to find the temple, which had a beautiful garden featuring trees in their autumn reds, and a koi pond. We also saw all the little statues for the departed children which was a bit sad as there are so many of them, and people have left sweets and toys as offerings at the temple. We did stumble across a small cave there which had statues carved into the rock walls inside. Very cool. Then we got the train back in to Tokyo and had pasta for dinner (getting tired of tasteless noodle soup) which was very tasty. Afterwards we headed back to the hotel to try to book our hostel in Beijing. Unfortunately we figured out that we wouldn’t be able to see the tuna auction at the Fish Market the following day, as you have to be there at 4h30 and the first subway train starts at 5h01. Oh well I wasn’t that keen on getting up at 3am anyway.
Last day
We just packed and headed for the airport to catch our flight out to Beijing. I was a little apprehensive about how easy it would be to get around given the language barrier, so we shall see.
Think thats about it for now. Hope everyone had a very Merry Xmas and all the best for the New Year.
Kirst x
Wednesday 29 December 2010
Monday 13 December 2010
U.S. - California, Nevada and Arizona
California - Los Angeles
We flew to LA via Dallas where we had 1 an hour to change planes, and we had to go through customs and security again. It was another close call but we made it. We landed in LA in the afternoon, picked up the rental car (and a GPS at 12 extortionate dollars per day) and drove to the hostel. Its probably a good thing I wasn’t driving as I found it very difficult to get used to driving on the right handside of the road. It took Steve a while to get used to it as well, but fortunately he managed to avoid turning in to any oncoming traffic. The weather in LA was great, but then I hear the weather in LA is usually great. It was nice to see a bit of blue sky again.
The staff at the hostel were very friendly and being LA, a couple of them were waiting for their big break in ‘the Industry’ acting, or singing and dancing. The hostel did have a strange set up with anyone using any bathroom, which meant that you could have strangers coming through your room to get to the bathroom. We were staying in a mixed dorm room. For the un-initiated this means sharing with strangers, possibly of the opposite sex, all in bunk beds in one room.
So we dropped our bags off and then drove to Ralphs to buy some groceries, and onwards to the nearest state beach, just in time for sunset, which was beautiful. Actually all the sunsets we saw in LA were pretty spectacular. We went to bed relatively early that night as we were knackered, and were getting to grips with the time change. However around 05h00 in the morning a funny thing happened. I was sleeping in my bottom bunk with my feet near a door, and I was woken with someone standing at the end of my bed, slowly dragging the duvey off my legs! It took me a couple of minutes to wake up and realise what had happened, before I went out of the room to see if I could find the freak, however they were already long gone. I did remember that there was a security camera just outside it in the passage, so I gave it a little wave and then went back to bed, this time with my head facing the door.
The next morning we got up and went to ask the hostel if we could see the recording from last nights security camera, to find out who the perpetrator was! They said they would get the manager to watch the recording and get back to us later on. Even though they would have seen little more than a calf before I woke up, I still felt pretty shaken by the incident and I wasn’t befriending anyone in the hostel, until I found out who was responsible and what exactly they were playing at.
In the meantime we took the 210 bus in to Hollywood Boulevard and got a hop on hop off tour bus that took us around the Hollywood area and Beverly Hills. We practically had a private tour with this American lady as there were only 2 other customers that day and they got off the bus halfway around the loop. She pointed out lots of interesting places like the hotdog place where Bruce Willis proposed to Demi Moore, the tar pit, and the recording studios that are still in the area. She also had a kind of obsession with expensive cars and would point out whenever a Bentley or a Rolls passed us by which was highly amusing. After the complete loop we got off and did a load of walking to see the Walk of Fame (with the stars on it) and the famous handprints at the Chinese theatre. Interestingly we found out that an artist just pays a certain amount of money to get a star on the Walk of Fame, whereas they have to be personally invited to have their handprints done, so the latter is clearly more of an honour. I did manage to find the star for Elizabeth Taylor to give my Mom a laugh, and I got a pic with Marilyn’s star for Jules as well. I can see what they mean about Hollywood Boulevard being a bit seedy, however you can see that a lot of money has been spent trying to breathe new life in to the area, especially towards the top of the boulevard. I was thoroughly excited to see the stars’ stars and what is funny is that we recognised most of the road names there, from watching the American sitcoms e.g. Melrose, Wiltshire or Rodeo Drive.
Later when the manager replayed the security recording, they could see this French guy leaving our room in the wee hours of the morning, so they had a quiet word with him. He claimed that he was sleepwalking the night before and so they let him off with it. I had my doubts (he certainly scuttled away fast enough when I woke up) so I steered well clear of the Frenchie after that. I also changed bunks with Steve so that I would be on the top bunk, as I felt less vulnerable up there. I’ve never had a problem in a mixed bed dorm before, but I would be a bit more weary in one in future.
The next night just happened to be Halloween, which is a big deal in the U.S, so we were pleased that we’d happened to land in LA just in time for it. During the day we decided to buy a new GPS and return the rental back to the airport (mission), as it turned out to be cheaper to buy one than continue renting theirs (not to mention that we’d get to keep the GPS at the end of the period). Then we went shopping for some Halloween costumes before heading back to the hostel for their free braai (very tasty). Afterwards we got into our costumes which was fun. I had found a cheap Morticia dress and Steve had a full length cammo overall and a matching green Mohawk wig - class! Ironically we couldn’t find any face paint in the shops around LA, so we had to make do with a bit of smudged brown eyeliner. Earlier at the braai we’d got chatting to 2 other guys in the hostel (French and Dutch) that were keen to come along to the West Hollywood Street Parade, so we rounded them up and went to wait at the bus stop. Earlier in the day a load of people had wanted to go, but when push came to shove it was just the four of us that were willing to make the effort to venture out. After about 30 minutes of waiting one bus went straight past us as it was full, so we hailed a taxi and the guy totally ripped us off, but dropped us near the action. We walked up the hill to see people wandering around the pedestrianised street in loads of cool costumes and 2 stages that had been set up playing music. There were a load of gay couples there with matching outfits and they tried to set a record for the large number of timewarpers at any one time, but I’m not sure there was an official Guinness rep there to make the count. The strangest thing to me was that it was a completely alcohol free street party. There were no street vendors selling alcohol, and the 1 or 2 bars in the area were charging an extortionate cover to get in, so we bought a couple of cokes and had a good boogie anyway while watching the passers by. It was clear that some people go to town with their costume, just so that they can stand around posing for photos and possibly make themselves famous that way. We did see a couple of helicopters flying overhead - who knows we could have made the news! Then at 11pm they simply turned the music off and the crowd starting to make their way home. I must say that the lack of alcohol does make for a calm, collected crowd at home time, but it also takes the edge off the party a bit. Besides we were a bit annoyed with 1 of the guys from the hostel who turned out to be a total wet blanket complaining about everything from where we chose to stand (too busy), to how much it cost to get in to a bar (free beer at home) etc etc. So we weren’t too sorry when the party ended early. We did manage to get a taxi home surprisingly easily, and it was half the price of the one on the way out. Overall it was great to see peoples costumes and get a better idea of what Halloween in LA is all about. We saw a load of peoples houses that were dressed up for Halloween as well, with gravestones and ghosts hung up in their front gardens which we’d never seen before.
The next morning we drove to the Chinese embassy to apply for our Chinese tourist visas, which was a bit of an experience in itself. You had to take a number when you walked in the door, and they were paging the numbers so fast you literally had to run to the window or you’d miss your turn. The woman behind the counter didn’t seem to understand why I didn’t have a green card in my UK passport (to work in America) despite my explaining that we were there on holiday, and had a visa waiver form. However she photocopied everything and said we could collect our passports in 2 weeks when we’d be coming back to LA again.
Then we drove back to Hollywood Boulevard and had lunch at an Arbys (their roast beef sandwich was pretty good). What I will say about America is that they have an amazing (or alarming depending on your point of view) number of different fast food chains. Arby’s, Wendy’s, McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Pinks, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, the list goes on. And after the relative dry spell in South America this came as a welcome change.
We managed to find some free parking (not easy in Hollywood) and walked up to Hollywood Boulevard where we got a great low season deal on a Stars Homes open top tour bus, so we were driven around for 2 hours and got to see the LA homes of Tom Cruise, J Lo, the one where MJ died, Drew Barrymore, Nicholas Cage, Larry King and Seinfeld, amongst others. Its quite surreal driving past a house and thinking that Tom Cruise actually lives there (well at least some of the time). For me it kind of takes something away from their star status as it makes them more human. They do walk the earth and live in normal homes just like everyone else (well granted bigger, nicer homes) but they still have to shop for real estate just like everyone else, and it is limited in BH. We enjoyed the tour (the chance to see a real life celebrity at their gate at every bend) and the tour guide was pretty funny claiming that he just saw Russell Crowe drive past in that car, not that anyone else managed to see him (would you believe him?). That night we went for a pretty good cut price steak dinner along the Hollywood Boulevard before walking back to try and find the car in the dark. Good thing it beeped when we pressed the button or we might never have found it! Then we drove on to the Silent Movie Theatre (how cool is that?), to ask what movies were on. But unfortunately the silent ones were only played on a Wednesday, so we didn’t get to see one.
On our last day in LA we drove out to see the Hollywood sign. We had seen it in the distance whilst driving around Hollywood, but we wanted to try and get right up close to get a good picture (preferably hugging a letter). So we found it on the GPS - THE Hollywood sign - and away we went climbing up and up the narrow winding roads until we could go no further. Unfortunately you cant actually get all the way up to touch the sign as I’d imagined (too many people have defaced it before so it is fenced off now), but we did manage to get some cool pictures near the top. Then we went on to the Farmers Market for some lunch (basically a whole bunch of food stalls, yummy Thai), before heading on to The Grove for a look around. The Grove is a shopping street and we happened upon Bad Charlotte that were doing a tv interview in the middle of the road, and stood in the back of their little audience while they played their new song (how cool is that!). After that we drove to LA Ink in Venice Beach. We parked up and went inside for a look (it’s a tattoo shop with a tv programme). The shop was very cool just like you see it on the telly, and even though we didn’t get to see Kat it was still surreal to actually be in the shop.
Nevada - Las Vegas
The next morning we got up early and drove out to Las Vegas. How cool that you can drive from Hollywood to Las Vegas in a couple of hours. It is interesting to see how the scenery changes from the city of LA to the desert of Las Vegas. Although I suppose technically LA was once a desert itself, you just wouldn’t believe it when you’re standing under all the Royal Palms they’ve planted. We arrived a bit too early for the hotel check in (a 3 star hotel for the price of a hostel - score), so we thought we’d try Wendy’s. It was our first time in there and we loved their do it yourself breakfast - yum! It had been a while since we had seen any bacon and eggs so we spent a bit of time in there while we were in Vegas.
Then we went for a drive down the strip and I have to say I was a little under whelmed by it all during the day. However we went back to the hotel and checked in, and then came back to the strip at night which was more impressive. There were a lot of lights, but we didn’t see the famous waving armed cowboy that we’d been expecting to see out there. We managed to stumble across a fountain show at the Bellagio which was absolutely amazing. I could have stood there for hours watching all the different songs play out. However I was starting to get a sore throat by that point, so we found a 24 hour pharmacy and got some strepsils (Me: 1 Nasty stomach bug and 2 colds so far; Steve: 0 Healthy as a horse as usual, and Yes I am counting) and headed back to the hotel.
The next day we parked up near the strip and went for a walk to take some pictures. We went to see the mountain at the Wynn Hostel (not that big) and the Shark Reef Acquarium at the Mandalay Bay (very cool), before ending up at the Bodies exhibition at Luxor (fantastic). I had forgotten all that gumption they taught us during high school biology and found it interesting all over again. They even let us hold a slice of brain at the end (we were sure to wash our hands before dinner). It was also cool to see the beam of light coming out of the top of the Pyramid on our way back to the car.
Day 3 - Steve wanted to go on the rollercoaster above the New York New York hotel, so I went to see the live Lions at the MGM Grand and then to the M&M store while Steve was queing up for the ride. They actually had a Welcome to Las Vegas sign made out of M&Ms in the store, and their own cinema showing movies featuring the M&Ms! Steve said the ride was great, but over pretty quickly so he went to play the slots and actually managed to win a bit which he was chuffed with.
By this point I was starting to feel my cold really coming on, so decided that as it was Vegas (lets party baby!) the symptoms would be best treated with a super sized pitcher of strawberry daquiri. Ticking somewhat, we decided to go back in to one of the casinos and try the slots. Steve seems to have a real knack with the one armed bandits, whilst the bandits on the other hand, seem to have a real knack with taking my money. The combination meant that we pretty much broke even, which isn’t bad when you consider that we had a couple of hours worth of fun for free. Afterwards we went downtown in search of Vegas Vic, that famous cowboy with the waving arm. We did eventually find him inside a sort of centre, but his arm wasn’t waving which was a bit disappointing. Still it felt more like Vegas once we’d seen him. That night, we headed out to see Vegas! The Show at the Planet Hollywood Hotel theatre, which was actually pretty good. A pleasant surprise and featured various type of Vegas entertainers over the years, which of course included a couple of showgirls in the full feathered outfits which I had wanted to see. Of course Steve had wanted to see them as well, but for somewhat different reasons.
Day 4 - We decided to stay an extra night in Vegas, so we would have some time to plan our onward journey in the U.S, and also go for a bit of retail therapy. Unfortunately we had to move on as the rates were jumping at our hotel, and the new hostel (the only hostel in Vegas) was really dire. We had reserved a private twin room and when we got there it was very basic. Think 2 metal beds and a small lamp table and you’ve got it. Further the mattresses were covered in a thick plastic that made a noise whenever you moved, and the mattress dipped in the middle like a hammock, which all in all made for the most uncomfortable nights sleep we’d had so far. However we did have the extra day to play with, so we drove out to the Blue Diamond Retail Outlet, just outside Vegas. The prices in the majority of the stores weren’t that ‘discounted‘ as far as we could see, however there was one exception. The Levi store was having a sale and it was $25 for any pair of jeans, so we couldn’t resist the bargain and bought some to send back home. I also managed to find one of those discount dress shops the U.S are great for (the whole store is just cheap dresses in all different styles - nice), and bought a semi smart dress, which I have been missing (for evening dinners) up until that point.
Arizona - Grand Canyon
The next morning we got up early and drove out to the Grand Canyon, which took around 7 hours. It was interesting to see the scenery change from dessert to mountains with trees. I was still full of a cold and was pretty high on the max strength flu caps from the pharmacy. We did stop to look at the Hoover Dam on the way there and had some lunch. That is one really big damn and what is cool is that you can lean over the top of the damn wall and look down, feeling the wind rush up against your face. You get a nice view of the bridge from there as well. Then it was back in the car and onwards to the Canyon. We got to the hotel just before sunset, so we timed it nicely. That night we went for dinner at a steak place called Ee I O! - I kid you not. The waiters were dressed as cowboys and they had hay bails and saddles in there. What we weren’t expecting after the scorching heat of the Nevada dessert, was that it would be pretty freezing in Arizona only 7 hours away. There were actually hailstones outside and it was pouring it down with rain.
The next morning we drove in to the Grand Canyon National Park itself and pulled over to get our first glance of the canyon. It was an amazing sight. The views are breathtaking - literally. We’d driven all the way down to the South rim (we decided to give the Skywalk a miss at a whopping $75 each) and it was worth the drive. Unfortunately the weather was a little cloudy on the day, but we still got out and walked along the little paved paths that run along the rim, and then stopped by the Geology centre in time to hear a ranger give a talk on the geology of the canyon, which was interesting. Apparently if you look closely (more closely than we did clearly) you would notice that the North side of the canyon is higher than the south side, and also that the North side is wider (from the river to the rim) than the South side. That night we watched the Grand Canyon movie at the Imax theatre (as it was next to our hotel), which was okay. We did make enquiries about doing a helicopter ride through the canyon, but they wanted a ridiculous amount of money, so we made do with the movie instead.
We had only booked 2 nights at the hotel, as it didn’t come cheap. FYI there are NO hostels anywhere near the south rim of the Grand Canyon. So if you live near there, you could make a bundle by opening one! In fact hostels are proving rather difficult to come by in the US period, although after the one we stayed at in Vegas perhaps that’s for the best. I must say that after the relative cheapness of South America, the expense of the American hotels and restaurants came as a bit of a shock. However the ease of being able to ask for whatever you want in English and the friendly service we’ve had in the shops and restaurants has been great.
I do have a few unanswered questions that perhaps an American friend can answer for me:
1. What is Adopt a Highway all about? We saw a lot of these signs as we were driving along and all the while I was thinking - why doesn’t the local municipality / council maintain the roads with tax dollars?
2. Why are all the houses made out of wood? And is that also why there are so many pest control companies around?
On another note I cant believe that Starbucks hasn’t heard of English Breakfast or Ceylon tea. Black tea is not the same thing, but I suppose at least they were trying.
Via Death Valley
Whilst planning our time again we realised that after spending a bit too long in LA and Vegas, we were going to have to high tail it back to LA in order to catch our next flight, but we wanted to try and fit some national parks in, and the Pacific Coast Highway along the way. We had to accept that we would not have time to drive all the way up to San Francisco (and unfortunately would have to give the American Football game there a miss) but we planned to get as far up the coast as Big Sur.
The following morning we drove to the Sequoia National Park, and stopped in Death Valley on the way there. Death Valley is another national park and has some pretty spectacular views, although a lot of what we saw was dry desert. We did stop to walk through a Canyon in the valley, which was made of granite rock (pretty cool) and we stopped at a small town in the middle, but there wasn’t much to see there so we quickly moved on again. It took about 6 hours for us to reach our hotel just outside Sequoia and we were both pretty tired of the driving by then. Our hotel was along the main road, but was comfortable enough. It was a very small town / settlement and we struggled to find decent places to have dinner. We did manage to find a Mexican restaurant where the lady warned us that black bears and big ‘porks’ sometimes walk in to town lol.
Sequoia National Park
The following morning we drove to the Sequoia Park, which was pretty closeby our hotel. Sequoia is the name of the largest trees in the world (by volume of wood, not necessarily the tallest), and we went to see General Sherman which is the biggest tree in the world. Our first impressions of the park were fantastic. The park basically encloses the huge trees and a mountainous area. Driving up the winding mountainous roads to get to the trees reminded me of driving in the mountains in SA. The leaves on the trees were beautiful golden brown colours and the views of the distant mountains were great.
On our drive up to see the trees in the Giant Forest, a man and his daughter waved us down, asking for water. We didn’t have any, so we ended up driving them down to the campsight and back to get some, so we lost a bit of time there. However it was just as well, as when we got a bit further up the road was closed for roadworks and we had to wait an hour for it to reopen again, so that we could carry on up to see the trees.
We were surprised to find that the trees were actually up above the snow line, and as we got higher the mountain turned in to a winter wonderland with snow and trees everywhere. Just when the roads were getting icy and we were starting to wonder if we’d missed the turnoff for General Sherman, we saw the parking. Those sequoias really are enormous trees, you can actually walk through a fallen tree on the way in. And while the sight of Gen Sherman is impressive, I would also add that he is surrounded by a number of other massive trees, and you probably wouldn’t be able to tell which one was the biggest, if there wasn’t a sign to tell you. It was great getting out in the outdoors and breathing a little fresh air again. We also managed to time it well, to get free entrance, as it happened to be Veterans Day. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to see any black bears (or fortunately), but we did see a great sunset over the mountains on our way down again.
Monterey and Carmel
The following morning we drove on to Monterey, which took another 4 hours. Monterey is a seaside town and is known for its whale watching. We did debate whether we should go on a whale watching boat tour, but it would have involved getting to the docks at 08h30 the following morning so we decided to give it a miss. Instead we went to the local shopping centre and saw Megamind, which wasn’t as funny as the advert had let on. The following day we drove to Carmel. Carmel is a beautiful little seaside town with quirky little boutique shops and I loved it. We found a Xmas shop that was open and there was a beautiful little Santa Elf ornament for the Xmas tree, but at 40 dollars it was a little too steep for my pocket so it had to stay in the store. If I’d been on a regular kind of holiday I probably would have bought it. Then we went to the beach and watched the sunset there, after which the GPS took us on a wild goose chase trying to find the local seafood restaurant. In the end we parked and walked up and down the road, and we did find it, but it was actually on a different street to the one listed in the GPS. Apparently shops / restaurants don’t have detailed street addresses in Carmel, so maybe that’s why the GPS got it wrong. It was great to have a seafood dinner (ie not pizza or burgers) for a change and we made the most of it. We also managed to do a load of washing at the hotel (had a laundry), so we’d be leaving with a bag full of clean clothes again -hooray!
Santa Barbara
The following morning we drove out to Santa Barbara, which turned in to another 7 hour driving excursion, as we drove 2 hours on the wrong road (Highway 101), until we realised that it wasn’t running along the coast. We had wanted to drive from Monterey down the Pacific Coast Highway to see the coastal views, so we changed our route to get onto Highway 1 and after that we certainly weren’t disappointed. The views were gorgeous along that road, with trees on the left and a cliff face down to the sea on the right. It reminded me of the Great Ocean Road in Melbourne. We drove through Big Sur and I can see why its Jens favourite place, with the tall forest on one side the sea on the other. However it was really expensive. We stopped to fill up with petrol and it was 1 dollar more expensive than in Monterey. The restaurant that we stopped at for lunch wasn’t cheap either. On the way down we kept pulling off the road every now and again to see the views and take some pics. We also stopped to see the sunset which was stunning (orange and pink colours), before seeing a bunch of sea lions at a bay. By the time we got to Santa Barbara we were pretty shattered, and the hotel had lost our reservation - groan. So we had to go through the check in process from scratch. We didn’t have very long in Santa Barbara, well just the one day really, but it was another lovely seaside town, with a very laid back sort of feel, a load of sailboats and a very clean / upmarket shopping road that ran up the middle. We managed to find some Tokyo and China guidebooks in the Borders, so we were pleased with that and we had a rather productive day making photo Cds and finally getting the underwater cameras from the Galapagos developed. We also managed to finally post that bloody Cuba parcel, (on attempt number 5), with the new levis, and despite being twice the weight it was only slightly more expensive than the Cuban PO had wanted to send it home.
The next morning we got up early and drove on back to LA, which ended up taking around 2 hours in traffic. We drove straight to the Chinese embassy to go and collect our passports (knick of time) with our new Chinese visas in them (result). Rather handily the collection window had a sign up in Chinese saying that they don’t take any cash or cheques, only cards, so thank God Steve had his credit card with him, otherwise we would have been none too pleased after standing in line for 30 mins! Then another productive day getting haircuts and posting the photo Cds home. We went for lunch at a Johnny Rockets, which is a retro (like 50’s) burger joint that makes Malts - yum. The strawberry malt I had was to die for and we loved the whole 50’s feel of the place, the waiters were wearing black dicky bows and there were mini juke boxes up on the counter. Then back to the same hostel in LA for one night, before our flight out to Japan the next morning.
We flew to LA via Dallas where we had 1 an hour to change planes, and we had to go through customs and security again. It was another close call but we made it. We landed in LA in the afternoon, picked up the rental car (and a GPS at 12 extortionate dollars per day) and drove to the hostel. Its probably a good thing I wasn’t driving as I found it very difficult to get used to driving on the right handside of the road. It took Steve a while to get used to it as well, but fortunately he managed to avoid turning in to any oncoming traffic. The weather in LA was great, but then I hear the weather in LA is usually great. It was nice to see a bit of blue sky again.
The staff at the hostel were very friendly and being LA, a couple of them were waiting for their big break in ‘the Industry’ acting, or singing and dancing. The hostel did have a strange set up with anyone using any bathroom, which meant that you could have strangers coming through your room to get to the bathroom. We were staying in a mixed dorm room. For the un-initiated this means sharing with strangers, possibly of the opposite sex, all in bunk beds in one room.
So we dropped our bags off and then drove to Ralphs to buy some groceries, and onwards to the nearest state beach, just in time for sunset, which was beautiful. Actually all the sunsets we saw in LA were pretty spectacular. We went to bed relatively early that night as we were knackered, and were getting to grips with the time change. However around 05h00 in the morning a funny thing happened. I was sleeping in my bottom bunk with my feet near a door, and I was woken with someone standing at the end of my bed, slowly dragging the duvey off my legs! It took me a couple of minutes to wake up and realise what had happened, before I went out of the room to see if I could find the freak, however they were already long gone. I did remember that there was a security camera just outside it in the passage, so I gave it a little wave and then went back to bed, this time with my head facing the door.
The next morning we got up and went to ask the hostel if we could see the recording from last nights security camera, to find out who the perpetrator was! They said they would get the manager to watch the recording and get back to us later on. Even though they would have seen little more than a calf before I woke up, I still felt pretty shaken by the incident and I wasn’t befriending anyone in the hostel, until I found out who was responsible and what exactly they were playing at.
In the meantime we took the 210 bus in to Hollywood Boulevard and got a hop on hop off tour bus that took us around the Hollywood area and Beverly Hills. We practically had a private tour with this American lady as there were only 2 other customers that day and they got off the bus halfway around the loop. She pointed out lots of interesting places like the hotdog place where Bruce Willis proposed to Demi Moore, the tar pit, and the recording studios that are still in the area. She also had a kind of obsession with expensive cars and would point out whenever a Bentley or a Rolls passed us by which was highly amusing. After the complete loop we got off and did a load of walking to see the Walk of Fame (with the stars on it) and the famous handprints at the Chinese theatre. Interestingly we found out that an artist just pays a certain amount of money to get a star on the Walk of Fame, whereas they have to be personally invited to have their handprints done, so the latter is clearly more of an honour. I did manage to find the star for Elizabeth Taylor to give my Mom a laugh, and I got a pic with Marilyn’s star for Jules as well. I can see what they mean about Hollywood Boulevard being a bit seedy, however you can see that a lot of money has been spent trying to breathe new life in to the area, especially towards the top of the boulevard. I was thoroughly excited to see the stars’ stars and what is funny is that we recognised most of the road names there, from watching the American sitcoms e.g. Melrose, Wiltshire or Rodeo Drive.
Later when the manager replayed the security recording, they could see this French guy leaving our room in the wee hours of the morning, so they had a quiet word with him. He claimed that he was sleepwalking the night before and so they let him off with it. I had my doubts (he certainly scuttled away fast enough when I woke up) so I steered well clear of the Frenchie after that. I also changed bunks with Steve so that I would be on the top bunk, as I felt less vulnerable up there. I’ve never had a problem in a mixed bed dorm before, but I would be a bit more weary in one in future.
The next night just happened to be Halloween, which is a big deal in the U.S, so we were pleased that we’d happened to land in LA just in time for it. During the day we decided to buy a new GPS and return the rental back to the airport (mission), as it turned out to be cheaper to buy one than continue renting theirs (not to mention that we’d get to keep the GPS at the end of the period). Then we went shopping for some Halloween costumes before heading back to the hostel for their free braai (very tasty). Afterwards we got into our costumes which was fun. I had found a cheap Morticia dress and Steve had a full length cammo overall and a matching green Mohawk wig - class! Ironically we couldn’t find any face paint in the shops around LA, so we had to make do with a bit of smudged brown eyeliner. Earlier at the braai we’d got chatting to 2 other guys in the hostel (French and Dutch) that were keen to come along to the West Hollywood Street Parade, so we rounded them up and went to wait at the bus stop. Earlier in the day a load of people had wanted to go, but when push came to shove it was just the four of us that were willing to make the effort to venture out. After about 30 minutes of waiting one bus went straight past us as it was full, so we hailed a taxi and the guy totally ripped us off, but dropped us near the action. We walked up the hill to see people wandering around the pedestrianised street in loads of cool costumes and 2 stages that had been set up playing music. There were a load of gay couples there with matching outfits and they tried to set a record for the large number of timewarpers at any one time, but I’m not sure there was an official Guinness rep there to make the count. The strangest thing to me was that it was a completely alcohol free street party. There were no street vendors selling alcohol, and the 1 or 2 bars in the area were charging an extortionate cover to get in, so we bought a couple of cokes and had a good boogie anyway while watching the passers by. It was clear that some people go to town with their costume, just so that they can stand around posing for photos and possibly make themselves famous that way. We did see a couple of helicopters flying overhead - who knows we could have made the news! Then at 11pm they simply turned the music off and the crowd starting to make their way home. I must say that the lack of alcohol does make for a calm, collected crowd at home time, but it also takes the edge off the party a bit. Besides we were a bit annoyed with 1 of the guys from the hostel who turned out to be a total wet blanket complaining about everything from where we chose to stand (too busy), to how much it cost to get in to a bar (free beer at home) etc etc. So we weren’t too sorry when the party ended early. We did manage to get a taxi home surprisingly easily, and it was half the price of the one on the way out. Overall it was great to see peoples costumes and get a better idea of what Halloween in LA is all about. We saw a load of peoples houses that were dressed up for Halloween as well, with gravestones and ghosts hung up in their front gardens which we’d never seen before.
The next morning we drove to the Chinese embassy to apply for our Chinese tourist visas, which was a bit of an experience in itself. You had to take a number when you walked in the door, and they were paging the numbers so fast you literally had to run to the window or you’d miss your turn. The woman behind the counter didn’t seem to understand why I didn’t have a green card in my UK passport (to work in America) despite my explaining that we were there on holiday, and had a visa waiver form. However she photocopied everything and said we could collect our passports in 2 weeks when we’d be coming back to LA again.
Then we drove back to Hollywood Boulevard and had lunch at an Arbys (their roast beef sandwich was pretty good). What I will say about America is that they have an amazing (or alarming depending on your point of view) number of different fast food chains. Arby’s, Wendy’s, McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Pinks, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, the list goes on. And after the relative dry spell in South America this came as a welcome change.
We managed to find some free parking (not easy in Hollywood) and walked up to Hollywood Boulevard where we got a great low season deal on a Stars Homes open top tour bus, so we were driven around for 2 hours and got to see the LA homes of Tom Cruise, J Lo, the one where MJ died, Drew Barrymore, Nicholas Cage, Larry King and Seinfeld, amongst others. Its quite surreal driving past a house and thinking that Tom Cruise actually lives there (well at least some of the time). For me it kind of takes something away from their star status as it makes them more human. They do walk the earth and live in normal homes just like everyone else (well granted bigger, nicer homes) but they still have to shop for real estate just like everyone else, and it is limited in BH. We enjoyed the tour (the chance to see a real life celebrity at their gate at every bend) and the tour guide was pretty funny claiming that he just saw Russell Crowe drive past in that car, not that anyone else managed to see him (would you believe him?). That night we went for a pretty good cut price steak dinner along the Hollywood Boulevard before walking back to try and find the car in the dark. Good thing it beeped when we pressed the button or we might never have found it! Then we drove on to the Silent Movie Theatre (how cool is that?), to ask what movies were on. But unfortunately the silent ones were only played on a Wednesday, so we didn’t get to see one.
On our last day in LA we drove out to see the Hollywood sign. We had seen it in the distance whilst driving around Hollywood, but we wanted to try and get right up close to get a good picture (preferably hugging a letter). So we found it on the GPS - THE Hollywood sign - and away we went climbing up and up the narrow winding roads until we could go no further. Unfortunately you cant actually get all the way up to touch the sign as I’d imagined (too many people have defaced it before so it is fenced off now), but we did manage to get some cool pictures near the top. Then we went on to the Farmers Market for some lunch (basically a whole bunch of food stalls, yummy Thai), before heading on to The Grove for a look around. The Grove is a shopping street and we happened upon Bad Charlotte that were doing a tv interview in the middle of the road, and stood in the back of their little audience while they played their new song (how cool is that!). After that we drove to LA Ink in Venice Beach. We parked up and went inside for a look (it’s a tattoo shop with a tv programme). The shop was very cool just like you see it on the telly, and even though we didn’t get to see Kat it was still surreal to actually be in the shop.
Nevada - Las Vegas
The next morning we got up early and drove out to Las Vegas. How cool that you can drive from Hollywood to Las Vegas in a couple of hours. It is interesting to see how the scenery changes from the city of LA to the desert of Las Vegas. Although I suppose technically LA was once a desert itself, you just wouldn’t believe it when you’re standing under all the Royal Palms they’ve planted. We arrived a bit too early for the hotel check in (a 3 star hotel for the price of a hostel - score), so we thought we’d try Wendy’s. It was our first time in there and we loved their do it yourself breakfast - yum! It had been a while since we had seen any bacon and eggs so we spent a bit of time in there while we were in Vegas.
Then we went for a drive down the strip and I have to say I was a little under whelmed by it all during the day. However we went back to the hotel and checked in, and then came back to the strip at night which was more impressive. There were a lot of lights, but we didn’t see the famous waving armed cowboy that we’d been expecting to see out there. We managed to stumble across a fountain show at the Bellagio which was absolutely amazing. I could have stood there for hours watching all the different songs play out. However I was starting to get a sore throat by that point, so we found a 24 hour pharmacy and got some strepsils (Me: 1 Nasty stomach bug and 2 colds so far; Steve: 0 Healthy as a horse as usual, and Yes I am counting) and headed back to the hotel.
The next day we parked up near the strip and went for a walk to take some pictures. We went to see the mountain at the Wynn Hostel (not that big) and the Shark Reef Acquarium at the Mandalay Bay (very cool), before ending up at the Bodies exhibition at Luxor (fantastic). I had forgotten all that gumption they taught us during high school biology and found it interesting all over again. They even let us hold a slice of brain at the end (we were sure to wash our hands before dinner). It was also cool to see the beam of light coming out of the top of the Pyramid on our way back to the car.
Day 3 - Steve wanted to go on the rollercoaster above the New York New York hotel, so I went to see the live Lions at the MGM Grand and then to the M&M store while Steve was queing up for the ride. They actually had a Welcome to Las Vegas sign made out of M&Ms in the store, and their own cinema showing movies featuring the M&Ms! Steve said the ride was great, but over pretty quickly so he went to play the slots and actually managed to win a bit which he was chuffed with.
By this point I was starting to feel my cold really coming on, so decided that as it was Vegas (lets party baby!) the symptoms would be best treated with a super sized pitcher of strawberry daquiri. Ticking somewhat, we decided to go back in to one of the casinos and try the slots. Steve seems to have a real knack with the one armed bandits, whilst the bandits on the other hand, seem to have a real knack with taking my money. The combination meant that we pretty much broke even, which isn’t bad when you consider that we had a couple of hours worth of fun for free. Afterwards we went downtown in search of Vegas Vic, that famous cowboy with the waving arm. We did eventually find him inside a sort of centre, but his arm wasn’t waving which was a bit disappointing. Still it felt more like Vegas once we’d seen him. That night, we headed out to see Vegas! The Show at the Planet Hollywood Hotel theatre, which was actually pretty good. A pleasant surprise and featured various type of Vegas entertainers over the years, which of course included a couple of showgirls in the full feathered outfits which I had wanted to see. Of course Steve had wanted to see them as well, but for somewhat different reasons.
Day 4 - We decided to stay an extra night in Vegas, so we would have some time to plan our onward journey in the U.S, and also go for a bit of retail therapy. Unfortunately we had to move on as the rates were jumping at our hotel, and the new hostel (the only hostel in Vegas) was really dire. We had reserved a private twin room and when we got there it was very basic. Think 2 metal beds and a small lamp table and you’ve got it. Further the mattresses were covered in a thick plastic that made a noise whenever you moved, and the mattress dipped in the middle like a hammock, which all in all made for the most uncomfortable nights sleep we’d had so far. However we did have the extra day to play with, so we drove out to the Blue Diamond Retail Outlet, just outside Vegas. The prices in the majority of the stores weren’t that ‘discounted‘ as far as we could see, however there was one exception. The Levi store was having a sale and it was $25 for any pair of jeans, so we couldn’t resist the bargain and bought some to send back home. I also managed to find one of those discount dress shops the U.S are great for (the whole store is just cheap dresses in all different styles - nice), and bought a semi smart dress, which I have been missing (for evening dinners) up until that point.
Arizona - Grand Canyon
The next morning we got up early and drove out to the Grand Canyon, which took around 7 hours. It was interesting to see the scenery change from dessert to mountains with trees. I was still full of a cold and was pretty high on the max strength flu caps from the pharmacy. We did stop to look at the Hoover Dam on the way there and had some lunch. That is one really big damn and what is cool is that you can lean over the top of the damn wall and look down, feeling the wind rush up against your face. You get a nice view of the bridge from there as well. Then it was back in the car and onwards to the Canyon. We got to the hotel just before sunset, so we timed it nicely. That night we went for dinner at a steak place called Ee I O! - I kid you not. The waiters were dressed as cowboys and they had hay bails and saddles in there. What we weren’t expecting after the scorching heat of the Nevada dessert, was that it would be pretty freezing in Arizona only 7 hours away. There were actually hailstones outside and it was pouring it down with rain.
The next morning we drove in to the Grand Canyon National Park itself and pulled over to get our first glance of the canyon. It was an amazing sight. The views are breathtaking - literally. We’d driven all the way down to the South rim (we decided to give the Skywalk a miss at a whopping $75 each) and it was worth the drive. Unfortunately the weather was a little cloudy on the day, but we still got out and walked along the little paved paths that run along the rim, and then stopped by the Geology centre in time to hear a ranger give a talk on the geology of the canyon, which was interesting. Apparently if you look closely (more closely than we did clearly) you would notice that the North side of the canyon is higher than the south side, and also that the North side is wider (from the river to the rim) than the South side. That night we watched the Grand Canyon movie at the Imax theatre (as it was next to our hotel), which was okay. We did make enquiries about doing a helicopter ride through the canyon, but they wanted a ridiculous amount of money, so we made do with the movie instead.
We had only booked 2 nights at the hotel, as it didn’t come cheap. FYI there are NO hostels anywhere near the south rim of the Grand Canyon. So if you live near there, you could make a bundle by opening one! In fact hostels are proving rather difficult to come by in the US period, although after the one we stayed at in Vegas perhaps that’s for the best. I must say that after the relative cheapness of South America, the expense of the American hotels and restaurants came as a bit of a shock. However the ease of being able to ask for whatever you want in English and the friendly service we’ve had in the shops and restaurants has been great.
I do have a few unanswered questions that perhaps an American friend can answer for me:
1. What is Adopt a Highway all about? We saw a lot of these signs as we were driving along and all the while I was thinking - why doesn’t the local municipality / council maintain the roads with tax dollars?
2. Why are all the houses made out of wood? And is that also why there are so many pest control companies around?
On another note I cant believe that Starbucks hasn’t heard of English Breakfast or Ceylon tea. Black tea is not the same thing, but I suppose at least they were trying.
Via Death Valley
Whilst planning our time again we realised that after spending a bit too long in LA and Vegas, we were going to have to high tail it back to LA in order to catch our next flight, but we wanted to try and fit some national parks in, and the Pacific Coast Highway along the way. We had to accept that we would not have time to drive all the way up to San Francisco (and unfortunately would have to give the American Football game there a miss) but we planned to get as far up the coast as Big Sur.
The following morning we drove to the Sequoia National Park, and stopped in Death Valley on the way there. Death Valley is another national park and has some pretty spectacular views, although a lot of what we saw was dry desert. We did stop to walk through a Canyon in the valley, which was made of granite rock (pretty cool) and we stopped at a small town in the middle, but there wasn’t much to see there so we quickly moved on again. It took about 6 hours for us to reach our hotel just outside Sequoia and we were both pretty tired of the driving by then. Our hotel was along the main road, but was comfortable enough. It was a very small town / settlement and we struggled to find decent places to have dinner. We did manage to find a Mexican restaurant where the lady warned us that black bears and big ‘porks’ sometimes walk in to town lol.
Sequoia National Park
The following morning we drove to the Sequoia Park, which was pretty closeby our hotel. Sequoia is the name of the largest trees in the world (by volume of wood, not necessarily the tallest), and we went to see General Sherman which is the biggest tree in the world. Our first impressions of the park were fantastic. The park basically encloses the huge trees and a mountainous area. Driving up the winding mountainous roads to get to the trees reminded me of driving in the mountains in SA. The leaves on the trees were beautiful golden brown colours and the views of the distant mountains were great.
On our drive up to see the trees in the Giant Forest, a man and his daughter waved us down, asking for water. We didn’t have any, so we ended up driving them down to the campsight and back to get some, so we lost a bit of time there. However it was just as well, as when we got a bit further up the road was closed for roadworks and we had to wait an hour for it to reopen again, so that we could carry on up to see the trees.
We were surprised to find that the trees were actually up above the snow line, and as we got higher the mountain turned in to a winter wonderland with snow and trees everywhere. Just when the roads were getting icy and we were starting to wonder if we’d missed the turnoff for General Sherman, we saw the parking. Those sequoias really are enormous trees, you can actually walk through a fallen tree on the way in. And while the sight of Gen Sherman is impressive, I would also add that he is surrounded by a number of other massive trees, and you probably wouldn’t be able to tell which one was the biggest, if there wasn’t a sign to tell you. It was great getting out in the outdoors and breathing a little fresh air again. We also managed to time it well, to get free entrance, as it happened to be Veterans Day. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to see any black bears (or fortunately), but we did see a great sunset over the mountains on our way down again.
Monterey and Carmel
The following morning we drove on to Monterey, which took another 4 hours. Monterey is a seaside town and is known for its whale watching. We did debate whether we should go on a whale watching boat tour, but it would have involved getting to the docks at 08h30 the following morning so we decided to give it a miss. Instead we went to the local shopping centre and saw Megamind, which wasn’t as funny as the advert had let on. The following day we drove to Carmel. Carmel is a beautiful little seaside town with quirky little boutique shops and I loved it. We found a Xmas shop that was open and there was a beautiful little Santa Elf ornament for the Xmas tree, but at 40 dollars it was a little too steep for my pocket so it had to stay in the store. If I’d been on a regular kind of holiday I probably would have bought it. Then we went to the beach and watched the sunset there, after which the GPS took us on a wild goose chase trying to find the local seafood restaurant. In the end we parked and walked up and down the road, and we did find it, but it was actually on a different street to the one listed in the GPS. Apparently shops / restaurants don’t have detailed street addresses in Carmel, so maybe that’s why the GPS got it wrong. It was great to have a seafood dinner (ie not pizza or burgers) for a change and we made the most of it. We also managed to do a load of washing at the hotel (had a laundry), so we’d be leaving with a bag full of clean clothes again -hooray!
Santa Barbara
The following morning we drove out to Santa Barbara, which turned in to another 7 hour driving excursion, as we drove 2 hours on the wrong road (Highway 101), until we realised that it wasn’t running along the coast. We had wanted to drive from Monterey down the Pacific Coast Highway to see the coastal views, so we changed our route to get onto Highway 1 and after that we certainly weren’t disappointed. The views were gorgeous along that road, with trees on the left and a cliff face down to the sea on the right. It reminded me of the Great Ocean Road in Melbourne. We drove through Big Sur and I can see why its Jens favourite place, with the tall forest on one side the sea on the other. However it was really expensive. We stopped to fill up with petrol and it was 1 dollar more expensive than in Monterey. The restaurant that we stopped at for lunch wasn’t cheap either. On the way down we kept pulling off the road every now and again to see the views and take some pics. We also stopped to see the sunset which was stunning (orange and pink colours), before seeing a bunch of sea lions at a bay. By the time we got to Santa Barbara we were pretty shattered, and the hotel had lost our reservation - groan. So we had to go through the check in process from scratch. We didn’t have very long in Santa Barbara, well just the one day really, but it was another lovely seaside town, with a very laid back sort of feel, a load of sailboats and a very clean / upmarket shopping road that ran up the middle. We managed to find some Tokyo and China guidebooks in the Borders, so we were pleased with that and we had a rather productive day making photo Cds and finally getting the underwater cameras from the Galapagos developed. We also managed to finally post that bloody Cuba parcel, (on attempt number 5), with the new levis, and despite being twice the weight it was only slightly more expensive than the Cuban PO had wanted to send it home.
The next morning we got up early and drove on back to LA, which ended up taking around 2 hours in traffic. We drove straight to the Chinese embassy to go and collect our passports (knick of time) with our new Chinese visas in them (result). Rather handily the collection window had a sign up in Chinese saying that they don’t take any cash or cheques, only cards, so thank God Steve had his credit card with him, otherwise we would have been none too pleased after standing in line for 30 mins! Then another productive day getting haircuts and posting the photo Cds home. We went for lunch at a Johnny Rockets, which is a retro (like 50’s) burger joint that makes Malts - yum. The strawberry malt I had was to die for and we loved the whole 50’s feel of the place, the waiters were wearing black dicky bows and there were mini juke boxes up on the counter. Then back to the same hostel in LA for one night, before our flight out to Japan the next morning.
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