Menyeberangi Lautan Pasifik

After San Diego I was in the mood for more sand, sea and warmth. And since I would be in Los Angeles, it won't be too greedy to ask for some glamour too? Or so I thought haha

Yuting, Huaqian, Wen Chun and I arrived at LA Union Station around noon and already, we were overwhelmed by the largeness of the station. With 12 boarding platforms, it's the biggest train station we've been to thus far. We were greeted by Boh Ming aka Nick, my primary school friend who's since 16 has banished himself from the comforts of Malaysia (oops! are you reading this? : ).

First stop, Chinatown. We were in search for a good meal and we found a restaurant that was used as location in Jackie Chan's Rush Hour, so claimed the mural on the exterior of the restaurant. Cool. We went in and it was almost full. For desert, there was complimentary fortune cookies. (It turns out that most asian restaurants here does that... and I don't even eat them in Malaysia -_-)

Second stop, Beverly Hills. Took some pictures of the houses of the rich and not-so-famous. Then, it was desert stop again! This time it's Pinkberry frozen yoghurt somewhere between Beverly Hills and Bel Air. Yum! Repeat this after me: Medium Original with strawberry, mango and fruitcrackers. Repeat again... and again .... haha... highly addicitve isn't it?

Oh, on the way there, we saw Hollywood on fire! So I caught your eye! haha! (I'm learning how to sensationalise my paragraphs.) Ok, what accurately happened is that a kid accidentally set fire to the forest area around Hollywood. Thick black smoke billowed out from the hill behind the famous Hollywood sign, certainly a worthy addition to the infamous LA smog. Hollywood itself was spared from the fire, so yes, we could still go to Universal Studios the next day.

After visiting the rich people, we had to drop off Yuting and Huaqian at Arcadia, a subarea in LA. They were putting up with Yuting's acquaintance. Actually, LA covers such a large area, it is subdivided into many subareas. Moving from one location to another is best done by car. But that's the bad part: everyone here owns a car and therefore peak hour is never a good time to spend on the road. The highways in LA remind me of the infamous Federal Highway of KL. Except that they have a carpool lane in LA. So if you have more than 2 people in you car, then you are on the fast track.

As mentioned earlier, the second day in LA was spent in Universal Studios. We bumped into Yuting and Huaqian, who went separately from us. The highlight was the studio tour (especially for Wen Chun, who's desperate to see the set of Desperate Housewives. Pardon the pun.) For me, I liked the special effects part the most, whether it was the sound effects or the backdfraft. The only rides that came close to being roller coasters were the Jurassic Park and the Mummy. Brace yourself for some wetness when you visit Universal. They have a water splashing frenzy going on during the rides, and even during the tour! haha... beware! Wen Chun who sat mostly at the sides clutched onto his camera while frantically protecting it from the spurts of water coming his way. "Ahh..... noooooooo!!!!"

In the evening, we dropped by Hollywood Boulevard for a short walk. Our main goal was to check out the Walk of Fame. The famed stars flank both sides of the boulevard. They are embedded into the sidewalks and to walk the whole stretch would take quite a while.

Then the third day, we just relaxed, visited some Malaysian students in the afternoon. They were studying under Academy of Techonology Park Malaysia. It is the other option if you wanted to major in Biotechnology. So, they studied two years in KL, and another two years in Cal Poly, Pomona. Nick gave us a tour around his campus. They also had a horse stable, to keep the Bronco steed, which was their university mascot. The university was kinda hilly like NUS.

At night, we went for a late dinner with them at Penang. The restaurant which specialises in Malaysian cuisine appeared in several write ups in the Star (Malaysian newspaper) so I was curious. I naturally chose Asam Laksa, since I hadn't had it in 2 years (yup, they don't have it in Singapore). Review? Well, I'd prefer to eat back at home anytime. It's not bad, it's just not authentic enough.

This trip to LA turned out to be a big feast! haha... at least for me. Why? First day: lunch Chinese, dinner Thai fusion; second day: lunch Chinese fastfood, dinner Korean claypot tofu; third day: lunch Taiwanese noddles, dinner Malaysian. I'd never had so much "exotic" food in 3 days haha... thanks Nick!

Soaking into the LA lifestyle, one thing that can't escape is the car. Yes, the Car! haha... LA is so spread out, it's like KL plus PJ, plus Cheras, and maybe plus USJ and SJ..... I could get lost here....