Long Beach and Hollywood

The final stop in my world trip. I think I only stopped here cuz the travel agent suggestively manipulated me into it "If you're stopping by New York, you will have to go to L.A." At the time I was like "Sure, why not? I have a cousin I could stay with while I'm there." I realise now that it wasnt a mandatory stop over, but it was nice nonetheless. Their outlets are nice, El Polo Loco mixtures of sauces are impossible for me to get get right, and Sam's Club is only a shadow to CostCo and Walmart, but boy how I wish Sydney was that cheap.

HIGHLIGHTS: Seeing my uncle, my cousin and her family and eating a jawbreaker.

I haven't seen my uncle since he stayed with us, in Sydney, since mid 2004 (I think), and the last time my cousin saw my was back in the Philippines, circa early 1990's. Hanging out with them reminded me of how far, geographically, we were situated from each other and how similar we all are. She took me to a Citadel outlet, and I noticed the seemingly endless freeways we had to use to get there. It was a day before "carmageddon", luckily lots of people watched the news and stayed at home. So we got there and I was constantly reminded of how expensive Sydney is.
By the end of the shopping my cousin and her kids had Starbucks while I started on my jawbreaker. It was medium sized and it took over 20 minutes to wear it down. Rule number one when eating a jawbreaker: never bite it unless it's down to the size of a marble. The picture below reminded meof the train that runs through Darling Harbour, so I guess that's why I took a picture of it.

Now why wasn't visiting Hollywood a highlight? Because outside of the perimeter of the Walk of Stars and the Kodak Theatre, it's a hole; cracked pavements are a commonality, broken buildings have shoddy fencing surrounding them, bums roam the streets and there wasn't much else interesting around. Think of cities as nodes, the bigger the node the bigger the city. Hollywood would be a 1 inch node whereas Long Beach would be a 0.5 inch node, in between there's little to do. In New York, however, there was always something to do in between the nodes. From Chinatown to Harlem there would be a lot going on, and I was never bored. But travelling by car from one area to another in L.A. made me sleepy and it wasn't jetlagged; I had no jetlag!


More pictures to come.

New York

Whoa! New York! My desire to go there was further pushed while I was reading the Dark Tower, by Stephen King. I had no idea how the grid system of streets worked but there was this one line that went something like this: Roland had a feeling any other city in the world would be a step down from New York.
So, why New York? Why the hell not?! The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Ramones, Jay-Z, Beastie Boys...

HIGHLIGHTS: Shopping in downtown Broadway, going to the Bronx and cheap drinks.


I became a total hypocrite because I was still listening to Refused AFTER my shopping spree. How much of a capitalist pig am I? Well, if I had spent the same amount of money in Sydney, it wouldn't have gotten me as far. Also, the lift to go up to The Impossible Project Space is THE slowest I've ever been on. Gatorade on a hot day at $1.50 USD is awesome...just saying.


The Bronx...wasn't as ghetto as I had pictured it. It reminded me of home and my original ambition to make it big in New York. If I was to live anywhere in New York, it would be in the Bronx. Brooklyn can have all its fancy factory art exhibitions, I'll take the Bronx any day, Harlem on Sunday mornings and maybe the Theatre District for some cheap shows. Not that I went to any performances, but I felt like this is New York. Something larger than you is always being performed and exhibited for the very first time in this theatre or that small museum.


$10 for five shots of ANYTHING. Bam. As a late night Sydney tradition, well at least with some of my mates, you go to McDonalds after you get trashed in a club. The other yuppie tourists who sat on either side of me didn't "get it", but I didn't expect them to and I didn't care, because when apple pies are 55 cents each you can't help but be happy.

Sheffield & London

On the bus, making my way up to Sheffield, I realised that the English are on the imperial system of units and measurements. I tried calculating how long 400 yards are but I'm so used to metric that I gave up and just went to sleep. I met up with my aunty and uncle during dusk...at 9PM. Northern countries get the sun longer during summer, however, the temperature doesn't really go above 16 degrees (Celsius).

HIGHLIGHTS: Seeing my aunty & uncle, Sheffield girls and my London walking route.

Again, these relatives of mine haven't seen me in over 20 years. They knew of me but this was the first time they've ever SEEN me. It was weird at first, but talking about the old country we realised all the things we had in common. And my uncle is the first relative I've met that's been in a legit war and lived. He had several of those old vintage-sepia photos and I could see the excitement all over his face the first time he had ever put on his uniform.

Sheffield girls are fit.


My London walking route was based off of Alan Moore's From Hell. I calculated and triangulated the route using Google Maps which DIDN'T infom me of the dozens of construction sites for the London Underground and an overall redevelopment of specific sections London. Moore said it's frustrating if one does the route by car due to one way roads and that it would take a day (I assumed 4-7 hours) to walk. I walked for about 5 and only reached a third of the destinations. The best part of the route was probably the garden in the middle of the city that I didn't expect to find. During WWII parts of London got bombed and this one church only had one facade that withstood the blasts, but someone had the idea of turning the insides, where the alter and pews used to be, into a garden. In the between the busy business people and other professionals there lies a tranquil garden in London, it's good to know that there's a chilled out place like that there.

Hong Kong & Macau

The best sense to recall memories is one's sense of smell. If I wanted to remind myself of Hong Kong, I would have to close my eyes and imagine smelling the city's thick and polluted air, even all the way up to the Big Buddah. It comes from the mainland factories that produce goods for the rest of the world, I felt like a dirty Capitalist pig letting this happen.

HIGHLIGHTS: Seeing my cousin and aunty, Fairwood and suits.

My cousin hasn't seen me for about six years and my aunty even longer, over nineteen years. If you don't know, citizens of Hong Kong (those who can afford it at least) employ a lot of Filipino maids (male and female). This happens because of the poor lifestyles available back in the Philippines, compared to the somewhat better lifestyle offered in Hong Kong.
My cousin took me to Macua and that place is what I expect Las Vegas to be like...without the sleaze and the one hour ferry ride. The Venetian is one of the largest buildings in the world. We got lost..twice. My aunty shouted me Jollibee. I love my cousin and aunty.

I was told by my friend beforehand to eat at a place with an orange sign. I wander for five minutes away from my hotel and lo and behold: Fairwood. Fairwood is a cheap place to eat. Service: 10/10 Food: 7.5/10. I was really hungry as well, maybe that's why it tasted better the first time I went there, or I was just entertained by their ad that played while I was browing their menu, neither of which I understood but luckily they had pictures next to English numbers I could read. I really recommend going to this fast food place, here's hoping that it's a little bit less evil than McDonalds.

I bought two custom made suits while I was in Hong Kong, they're both awesome. The 24hr suit is not exactly what you think...First you pick out an already made suit and they cut it to your preferred measurements. Luckily I had a friend translate for me. She is awesome, and we both agree that this one girl who rode the train with us was really pretty. Anyway, the second suit I got was more of the traditional fitting and then a second fitting to double check the measurements. It was made from super-fine cotton, wool and silk would have been way over my budget. When I return to Hong Kong, it will be to buy an even more expensive suit, plus some silk shirts, thin ties and a classy bow tie for lols...see my cousin and aunty and eat at Fairwood, in that order.

Tokyo

Whoa, I have time to update this blog again! What was up with the hiatus? The two main reasons are: globetrotting & university, yo.

First stop Tokyo! I travelled during Summer, so the weather was hot, nearly 40 degrees celsius kind of hot. The realisation hit me when I was alone in my hotel room - I knew I was in Japanese airspace over 5 hours and I landed in Narita Airport wating to vomit - I'm in Japan...Holy crap! I'm in Japan! I know about 20 words, including numbers, I know how to be relatively polite, aligning with their culture, I'm not feeling nauseaus, I'm not nervous being here by myself and I've got some money to get by with while I'm here.

HIGHLIGHTS: The Pokémon Centre and Yokohama Cosmo World

My friend and I found this place accidentally while walking through the Landmark Plaza heading towards Queen's Square. I felt like I was 10 again. On display, they mainly had the new Pokémon with some of the classics like Pikachu, Mew Charmander, Squirtle and Bulbasaur. But my favourite Pokémon was always Psyduck. So dopey, not exactly slow like Slowpoke, cute, oblivious to almost everything going on and that damn headache! Anyways, this place was awesome, I recommend going if you've ever dreamt of having real Pokémon of your own, or if you ever wanted to become a Pokémon master and travel the world when you turn 10, just like Ash Ketchum...or Red...or Blue.
























I didn't go on any rides, I didn't see bright lights of the Cosmo Clock 21, I didn't eat any of the typical lollies, crêpes, or fairy floss while I was there...instead I went into a haunted house. It sounds lame at first but when it's a weekday, you're in the house by yourself and the rules state that you can't run or hit anything, you will get frightened a lot easier.