Feb 07

The photos are up, but for security reasons you have to be a 'friend' of mine to find them. Ask me and we'll see

Sorry!

Also, Travellerspoint now has a Map option. Click here for the link. It's pretty nifty!

Monday
After arriving late last night to Burbank Airport, today was my first real day exploring the megalopolis that is Los Angeles. We started after a leisurely breakfast, as all trips in LA do, in the car. In fact, the entire day was spent driving from place to place. It really made me appreciate just how large this city is, and more importantly, how sprawling and unidentifiable it is.

To put it in perspective: there is a downtown, but it doesn’t function as other North American cities’ downtowns do. It is the financial centre, but not much else. Up until a few years ago it was also home to Skid Row – one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the country. It’s also home to El Pueblo (the old Spanish settlement) and Chinatown. LA then sprawls outwards in all directions into individual communities, quite detached from one another. North is the San Fernando Valley (home to ‘surburbia’ in all its forms – incl. the infamous gated communities; as well as the porn capital of the world), Burbank and Hollywood. East is East LA, Pomona and Chino (yes, that Chino from the OC. South is, well south goes on forever! It’s home to Long Beach, Compton, Irvine, Orange County, Anaheim, and if you go far enough Newport and Laguna Beaches. West is more limited, owing mostly to the Pacific Ocean, with the largest two areas being Malibu and Santa Monica.

So there you have it, LA in all its glory. It is as chaotic and segmented as it sounds, which is compounded by an absolute dominance on personal vehicles (mostly mammoth SUVs and hybrids – strangely enough). Without a car you are nothing here. Seriously, nothing. We complain about our public transport options in Sydney. Jeez! At least we have options. In large swathes of LA, there is no option. It’s drive or, well, don’t go out at all. Puts things in perspective.

That being said, the public transport system that does exist is fantastic. Clean, fast, efficient,massively undervalued and underused. The biggest issue with public transport has come to define LA (and is a large reason why it polarizes opinions): the city has no definite core, so people don’t commute in set directions. They travel A-B, but also A-C, A-D, B-C, B-D and all variations therein. Thus roads can accommodate such flows far easier and far more cost effectively (short-term at least) than rail. Buses are everywhere in most of LA county, but again they are limited by the roads. The latest invention is two-fold. Firstly, to encourage 2+ people in cars, they have introduced ‘diamond’ lanes for ‘high-occupancy vehicles’. These are always the far left lane (think about it …) and oftentimes are linked to other expressways with their own dedicated lane. These lanes are fast, with drivers often travelling upwards of 70 miles an hour on them, but they work!

The second invention is to extend the limited Metro subway lines with dedicated bus transitways, very similar to the T-Ways in Sydney. I used the Gold line most days on my way in and out of downtown LA, and it was excellent. Fast, frequent, clean and safe. Reminded me of the new buses in Vancouver actually. It’s a pity there’s still this stigma attached to taking public transit in Los Angeles – my relatives mentioned that it’s mostly the migrants and very poor who use it. Whilst this is true, it definitely doesn’t have to be this way, and it’s so cheap that it can save people money from the instant they use it. Plus it saves people wasting so much time on the I-5 and I-405, which can only be a good thing!

However, I digress: back to what we actually did. We drove from the Valley along to Malibu pier, through the mountains up to an outlet mall, then back past the Getty Center to Santa Monica. This trip, if you look at it on a map, is definitely not advisable, as we backtracked a lot, but it was President’s Day holiday, so we benefited from far less traffic than a typical Monday.

Malibu was beautiful, full of all the things that make it famous – big houses, fantastic coastline and million-dollar views. You can easily see why people snapped up properties here as LA became popular. It’s a shame most of them are built on cliffs that are suffering from erosion. Makes for a bit of a scary drive as you wind along the coast.

Further north we spent some time shopping at one of greater LA’s many outlet malls. These places are huge and hugely popular, predominantly because Americans love a bargain (regardless of whether they were intending to purchase the item in the first place), and they have no qualms with driving for an hour to find a cheaper store. This particular strip mall was designed fairly well, but it still suffered from a hugely inefficient design that encourages laziness. Basically each shop is set up terrace-style, with one long single-storey building housing about 10 shops side-by-side. Surrounding the shops are huge swathes of open-air parking. Argh! It’s just so stupid! Build up people! Up!

Anyway, the shopping was pretty decent (Banana Republic in particular), and the trip home required us to stop for an In-&-Out Burger, which is never a bad thing. Mmm… best fast food burgers I’ve ever tasted. (And there are rumours of a secret menu – I shall have to Google it!)

After a lengthy drive down the I-5 and I-405 (the two North-South interstate freeways – think 6 lanes each direction and multi-storey intersections), we arrived at Santa Monica just in time for a coffee and sunset on the famous pier. I think if I could live anywhere in LA, it would have to be here – and that may have to do with the large number of British expats who have made it their home. It’s relaxed, still warm in the middle of February, by the beach and with awesome cafes and shopping. The downside is the commute would be a nightmare if you didn’t work nearby, public transport is good locally but poor otherwise, and it’s [expensive. Very expensive.

After another long trip back to the Valley, we met with Devon (my cousin) and David (my uncle) and had an excellent dinner of sushi and sashimi. Mmmm…. Definitely an LA institution and one of my culinary highlights of the USA.

Thursday
Haha, well today was interesting. To sum it up: I hate Dulles airport.

With schools being closed again, Jen kindly offered to drive me to Dulles, and even though I was there with at least 80 mins to spare, a combination of massive line-ups and me lining in the wrong line twice meant I missed my 8:36 flight. Luckily the woman at the desk reseated me on an 8:50 flight through Seattle that actually got me to Vancouver earlier – at 1:50pm. Yay for that!

[start of rant]

Unfortunately I was delayed in security (because I am clearly a bad person!) for 45minutes as I was selected for ‘extra screening’. As such, I missed my rescheduled flight and had to wait for 2 and a half hours in a United service line. There I made such errors as presuming the call centre would be faster and explaining my situation. The woman at the counter was incredibly unapologetic stating categorically it was ‘my fault’ and therefore she was going to be unhelpful. Any requests made by me for the location of my baggage were met with ‘well it’s not going to make this flight so you can deal with it in Vancouver’. Well fuck you woman!

Some people should NOT be in customer service.

[end of rant]

And so it was that I arrived into Vancouver at 9pm, only a mere 30hrs behind schedule. Once again I was sans luggage, but seeing all my old friends and roommates again was awesome and more than made up for it. Sebastian, Rob, Hanneke and I stayed up chatting till about 1am and it was great.

The most interesting thing was meeting Sean and Kevin – the new replacements for Isaac and I. Sean is an exchange student from Cape Town in South Africa and Kevin is another local student. Our replacements share many of our eccentricities and personalities, with Kevin going home most weekends, having his meals cooked and generally staying out of the others’ business. Sean and I have the exchange student thing in common, which accounts for a lot, but we also share a passion for dance music and the Dutch (ahem!).

Friday
Today was my first full day back in Vancouver and already I’m really glad I made the decision to return. Although many of my friends aren’t here because they have already headed home for the holiday (it’s reading week here), I managed to do fairly well. My luggage still hasn’t arrived and my cell phone battery is rapidly dying so we’ll see which one gives in first. Something tells me Air Canada aren’t nearly as efficient as United at returning lost luggage. They clearly need to lose more of it to improve their practices!

Due to the aforementioned lack of luggage (which came to define my return visit to Vancity), I spent most of my time whining about its loss and buying replacement items. It also meant I had to re-wear my old clothes. Eugh! If this luggage doesn’t come soon it will be one smelly Tristan my friends get to meet.

This afternoon I met with Vivian, a friend from two of my classes last term. We discussed the upcoming AIDS conference and how she could help out. Very positive stuff. We also made a quick trip to the UBC Bookstore so I could buy my UBC patch – the one I had intended to purchase about 4 months ago. I got a really nice one and Vivian had a chance to practice her French with our Quebecois server. Fun times.

I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to find my C$90 that I was convinced I had packed in my luggage somewhere to no avail. Much of the time was also spent preparing for tonight’s party.

Before to long it was time for Gage E13B to again do what it does best – host parties. By all accounts it was AWESOME. Early on, numbers were down on last time (we even had to call around to get people to come at the start – bummer, eh?), but was SO much fun. Best night I’ve had in ages, if only because all my buddies were there partying with me. Clayts came with his new girl (he’s a changed man I tells you), all the E13B peeps were there (except the new Isaac – no surprises there), there was great music and it lasted longer than last time too boot (helped by the fact that we knew the RAs on duty).

Ended, as all good parties do, with a big group of us going to the top of BuTo with Chris. We didn’t go right to the top as there were too many of us, but we did take some great stupid photos and throw moss at the ground. Good times. To top it off there was a fire alarm at 2am. This was surprisingly good as I had yet to go to bed and it gave me a chance to see a whole bunch of people I hadn’t yet caught up with.

Saturday
The loss-luggage issue continued to be a huge issue for me as my cell phone died last night. This meant that even if the luggage had arrived I had no way of confirming it. I called Air Canada to try and explain this predicament, but they were rather unhelpful. Grr! At least I now know the luggage is in Vancouver! In fact, it’s been there since 3pm yesterday so c’mon guys … why don’t I have it yet!?!?!

The day was complete at 4pm when my luggage ARRIVED and the fun began.

Plans for the big party that night were split between the exchange party that Sean was going to – a costume party at Fairview, or a Rob, Erin, etc. party at a house nearby. I made the decision to go to the Canadian party as I actually knew more people there (!) and wanted to end my time in Van at a place I knew would be good.

In the end this was the best decision ever as we had a ball. Met loads of Jess & Erin’s friends at Annie’s place and really enjoyed myself. That may have had something to do with the alcohol, but probably more a combination of having new clothes, my luggage and being with awesome people. The photos speak for themselves. Fun times abounded, especially revolving a bottle of beer (“once you go browny-translucent, you never go back”), my “Ich Bin Ein Berliner” tshirt and a yoga ball.

That was, until I thought it would be an awesome idea to climb a BC Hydro power box and leap into the tree. Well, Daniel had just done it and been fine, so I thought, well hell with it – me too. In the end I picked the one part of the tree that had just been trimmed and landed stomach first onto a big branch. Eek!! It winded me and I still have marks and will do for some time, but all is generally good.

So the best night ever ended perfectly with a LONG walk back to Gage – predicted at about 2hrs until …. A 99 BUS came to pick us up! How RANDOM was that?! It was awesome because not only did they pick us up, but they drove 100m down the road and picked up our friends. Talk about service!! All faith has been resorted in Vancouver as a city of incredibly friendly people.

We all went back to Jess’ apartment for my first taste of KD (Kraft Dinner – mac’n’cheese), nachos and watching Erin & Adam’s wedding video. Awesome fun, but the video and wedding look … well awkward!

Sunday
After a few days of late starts and bumming around the house, I had huge plans for my final day in Vancity, and I think I met most of my objectives. Well, except for the haircut and piercings, but that’s ok – I can do them anywhere.

A group of us (past and present exchange students) headed to the Chinese New Year parade. Vancouver is known for its ethnic populations and this parade was no exception. Well executed, huge and with lots of firecrackers – simply put it was great. It also seemed apt that I was ending this trip with something that just screams “Singapore” to me. Tying the two trips together pretty well, don’t you agree?

As I mentioned, this trip was made with many new exchange students. Some of the basic dynamics are there from last term, but to be honest, it’s just not the same. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that I don’t know a lot of them, but the personalities that existed in last term’s batch aren’t replicated here. There are FAR less Aussies and far more Europeans too, so all-in-all a more diverse group.

Because we arrived so early to the Parade (about 2hrs in advance actually!), we went for a walk around the route, eating bao along the way. Mmm… nothing like Steamed BBQ pork buns to cheer me up! The parade itself was all it should have been – colourful, noisy, imaginative and above all proud. It was amazingly inclusive too, with the Brazillian community presenting a few floats, along with almost every other minority in Vancouver. Interesting, eh?

After the parade I finally met with one of my friends from Singapore (!). Jeff studied at SFU, the other Uni in Vancouver, and so after much cell phone tag we decided to meet and have lunch at Tim Hortons for one last time. It was an awesome way to end my time in Vancouver and a great example of how things have come full circle.

Before too long, however, it was time for me to hop on a taxi to the airport. That was definitely the saddest I’ve felt for a LONG time. I nearly cried many times, including at transit in Portland. I miss UBC and Vancity SO much, but I consol myself with Facebook, Skype and the fact that I’ll be back soon!

Sunday ended with a safe arrival (WITH LUGGAGE!) in LA. My relatives, Chris, Lillian and David all came to pick me up, which was awesome. Now it’s definitely bed time!

Monday
Instead of spending last night re-packing (as was the plan), I spent it downloading new music to my MP3 player. So today I finally caught up on some important Radio National and JJJ podcasts. Yes, I am a nerd!

I actually got a lot out of it – not least the Aussie accent! I finally heard a fair and balanced account of Singapore’s politics and media (about time!), cried to an account of HIV Positive kids and the plight that befalls those suffering from a un-talked-about disease. Think about it, when was the last time you saw a fund-raising initiative for HIV. We generally (and largely subconsciously) take it as a self-inflicted illness. Well, for these kids it’s not and their story is DEFINITELY worth listening to.

OK, so now I’m off my soapbox, I’ll continue. In case you hadn’t noticed, health is a HUGE issue for me – public health especially. Methinks I’ll work in that field at some point…

The biggest news that I had yet to hear about from home was the election of Kevin Rudd as Labor’s new leader. Given how politically aware I thought I was that came as a bit of a shock. Odd, eh? I don’t know how effective he’ll be at bringing back my favoured party, as he has the personality of a rock. We’ll just have to wait and see.

And now onto the actual travelling business. My bags arrived at 11 (yay!) – clearly this lost baggage business happens to United frequently because they have a fast and effective procedure in place.

After a brief but touching reunion with my bag (“Ah so that’s where those clothes were!”) I headed straight for downtown. I had lunch at a Subway-style place called Potbelly. It’s a million times better than Subway and surprisingly good for fast food. I had a beef sub there and it was definitely filling, a perfect starter for one of the best tours I’ve ever taken.

Last time I came to DC I found out about the Voice of America tour. The VoA has been in operation since WW2 and is basically the ‘objective’ propaganda station of the US, built to counter the German and then the Soviet media. It has never broadcast in the States, but now broadcasts in something like 100 countries and 20 languages. I think those numbers are actually far higher, but I can’t remember right now. The tour takes you behind the scenes of their studios and why they exist. It was really interesting to hear (from their point of view) how they view objectivity and their purpose. They never broadcast unconfirmed information and take their mission as providers of truth VERY seriously. No one here is unilingual, and that in itself fascinates me. You need to book ahead online to go on a tour, or just show up at 1 or 3pm. Definitely recommended.

After the tour I finally had a chance to meet with Scott, a friend-of-a-friend who works at the IMF. It was a really insightful coffee meeting we had, discussing politics, the IMF and higher education. Given his role there, as an inside-but-independent observer and critic, he’s got a birds eye perspective and is a wealth of knowledge.

Finally it was time to head back to Fairfax to repack. I spent the evening alternating between that and posting lots of photos of Facebook. Ah the dilemmas of a traveller.

Tuesday
Woke to a call from United telling me my flight was cancelled and thus spent the morning fixing that up. I spoke to a really helpful United employee (see they do exist!) and, provided all goes well, I should end up there tomorrow night. Not too bad I guess. I went downtown for one last time to drop off some of my luggage with Cliff for Dad to come and collect later on. We had lunch at the Old Post Office (a really interesting building if you ever get the chance to visit).

From there, I headed straight back to Fairfax to shop at Tysons 1 with Melissa. This mall is the 6th biggest in the US so I felt I should pay it a visit. It turns out not to feel that big, as the Americans build out not up, but it was still huge. The parking alone reminded me of one place: Castle Towers. Nowhere in Sydney has truly terrible public transport like the Hills, and nowhere in Virginia has good public transport, so I guess they share that in common.

I bought some pants, and a long sleeved shirt at H&M and then watched Casino Royale. It’s typical Bond fare. Not too demanding and definitely farcical at times. Good fun and definitely plane material.

One highlight for today were the ads on the Metro. “If you don’t eat on our trains, we won’t sit on your kitchen table” & “4 out of 5 dentists recommend gum in your mouth instead of in our trains”. Priceless, eh?

Wednesday
Argh! I hate the cold weather, it's official. All flights today are grounded from Dulles airport, and indeed 90% of airports on the East Coast due to a severe weather system. Clearly I’m spending more time in DC.

Unfortunately I had nothing planned and really no interest in doing anything so I spent the day using the Internet and watching TV. Oh, and I shovelled snow. Before starting it I saw that as a rite-of-passage – something that must be done before you can say you have truly lived in the snow.

Now, afterwards, I agree with that statement, but I’m still never doing it again. Clearly I’m not doing it right because it kills. It hurts muscles that don’t normally get used.