G'day everybody.
It's 8am in LA and this update is coming from a small internet cafe, which is the only thing open within an 8 block radius of our hostel. Don't think that we're staying out in the boondocks (we're in West Hollywood), but everything in LA opens late, and stays open until 7. The hours are 11-7, so there isn't much to do in the mornings.
The last 36 hours have been full on. For those who don't know, here is the rough story:
9:30pm Sat night- Win Grand Final
4:00am- Stop drinking, get to bed.
7am Sunday- Get up and head to the airport.
8am- get jerked around by QANTAS for a bit.
10am- leave for LA. The guy with the window seat had a bladder like an infant, going the the bathroom 9 times on a 12 hr flight... and he wasn't even drinking anything.
6:30am LA time: Arrive
8am- meet Mac and Skinny
1pm: meet Greg.
10pm: get to bed.
We went out to a steak house for Kiernan's birthday. Meals were huge, building was huge (with a bunch of crazy crap on the walls: shennanigans anybody?) beers were huge. We then went to this little bar (Standard Bar) for a drink. There was a live band, and as you walk in, a girl was sitting in a glass box, surrounded by teddy bears, reading her emails. Nothing sexual, I think it was art. I guess. Just real weird, and pretty cool. The guys all got cocktails, and I decided to channel my inner LA and order a Colt 45 40oz. Little did I know that a 40oz was 1.2L, and 10% alcohol. The waitress laughed at me when I ordered it, and the bitch didn't even give me a glass! (or a straw, or a brown bag). So, while the rest of hte patrons in this swank little bar stared at me, I proceeded to get tanked on malt liquor. What a start, drinking in this hip bohemian bar out of a 1.2 L bottle.
Within that period, i slept about 3 hours, so we were all on struggle st yesterday... At each others throats, snappy and generally being sandy. That was punctuated by periods of amazement and joy that we'd finally made it over here.
I've only been here one day, but i'll explain what i think LA is like. As you're leaving the airport, it's quite ghetto. We were driving to our hostel for the night, thinking we had better get guns asap, just to keep upright. Suddenly, when you cross from one suburb to the other, it's like a switch is thrown, and it becomes beautiful. So, you'll be walking down the street, checking out these amazing boutique shops, and suddenly it'll be a dilapitated, rough looking street. It's almost like they have these invisible lines down, with some blocks getting funding, and other blocks getting screwed. I'm about 20 mins from home right now, and hte walk was great, with the only weird thing being that i only passed a half dozen people on the way. The roads are packed, and the sidewalks are dead. All the people you see are dressed really cool: they're all casual, but even the kids look cooler than me.
Shopping here is obscene. We went to a mall yesterday, and everything is really cheap. Shoes that are $AU 180 back home are about $60 here. T shirts, caps, jeans... you name it, it's as cheap as chips. We were in an upmarket mall, so I imagine it'll be even cheaper when we hit the ghetto malls/walmarts. We've got a few hours to kill today before and after we get the RV, so we're going to drive up into 90210, down into the valley, see the Hollywood sign, and generally pretend we're tourists.
Food is cheap: $5 for a six pack of beer, meals are around that price as well. Food is tasty, and I can already feel my arteries clogging. Seriously, no surprise there are a heap of fat bastards in this country.
The phone situation is weird: you can't just walk into anywhere and get a SIM card- most phones here are locked into contracts. Today is monday, so i'm hoping more stores will be open, and i'll get a SIM card. Once i've done that, i'll call the people I said I would: I promise!
The other guys will be getting up now, so i'll head back, and keep causing more trouble!
Love youse all (except the people I hate... you know who you are. bastards.)
Dave
ps: this blog thing doesn't have a spell checker, so when I suck, i'm sorry.
It's 8am in LA and this update is coming from a small internet cafe, which is the only thing open within an 8 block radius of our hostel. Don't think that we're staying out in the boondocks (we're in West Hollywood), but everything in LA opens late, and stays open until 7. The hours are 11-7, so there isn't much to do in the mornings.
The last 36 hours have been full on. For those who don't know, here is the rough story:
9:30pm Sat night- Win Grand Final
4:00am- Stop drinking, get to bed.
7am Sunday- Get up and head to the airport.
8am- get jerked around by QANTAS for a bit.
10am- leave for LA. The guy with the window seat had a bladder like an infant, going the the bathroom 9 times on a 12 hr flight... and he wasn't even drinking anything.
6:30am LA time: Arrive
8am- meet Mac and Skinny
1pm: meet Greg.
10pm: get to bed.
We went out to a steak house for Kiernan's birthday. Meals were huge, building was huge (with a bunch of crazy crap on the walls: shennanigans anybody?) beers were huge. We then went to this little bar (Standard Bar) for a drink. There was a live band, and as you walk in, a girl was sitting in a glass box, surrounded by teddy bears, reading her emails. Nothing sexual, I think it was art. I guess. Just real weird, and pretty cool. The guys all got cocktails, and I decided to channel my inner LA and order a Colt 45 40oz. Little did I know that a 40oz was 1.2L, and 10% alcohol. The waitress laughed at me when I ordered it, and the bitch didn't even give me a glass! (or a straw, or a brown bag). So, while the rest of hte patrons in this swank little bar stared at me, I proceeded to get tanked on malt liquor. What a start, drinking in this hip bohemian bar out of a 1.2 L bottle.
Within that period, i slept about 3 hours, so we were all on struggle st yesterday... At each others throats, snappy and generally being sandy. That was punctuated by periods of amazement and joy that we'd finally made it over here.
I've only been here one day, but i'll explain what i think LA is like. As you're leaving the airport, it's quite ghetto. We were driving to our hostel for the night, thinking we had better get guns asap, just to keep upright. Suddenly, when you cross from one suburb to the other, it's like a switch is thrown, and it becomes beautiful. So, you'll be walking down the street, checking out these amazing boutique shops, and suddenly it'll be a dilapitated, rough looking street. It's almost like they have these invisible lines down, with some blocks getting funding, and other blocks getting screwed. I'm about 20 mins from home right now, and hte walk was great, with the only weird thing being that i only passed a half dozen people on the way. The roads are packed, and the sidewalks are dead. All the people you see are dressed really cool: they're all casual, but even the kids look cooler than me.
Shopping here is obscene. We went to a mall yesterday, and everything is really cheap. Shoes that are $AU 180 back home are about $60 here. T shirts, caps, jeans... you name it, it's as cheap as chips. We were in an upmarket mall, so I imagine it'll be even cheaper when we hit the ghetto malls/walmarts. We've got a few hours to kill today before and after we get the RV, so we're going to drive up into 90210, down into the valley, see the Hollywood sign, and generally pretend we're tourists.
Food is cheap: $5 for a six pack of beer, meals are around that price as well. Food is tasty, and I can already feel my arteries clogging. Seriously, no surprise there are a heap of fat bastards in this country.
The phone situation is weird: you can't just walk into anywhere and get a SIM card- most phones here are locked into contracts. Today is monday, so i'm hoping more stores will be open, and i'll get a SIM card. Once i've done that, i'll call the people I said I would: I promise!
The other guys will be getting up now, so i'll head back, and keep causing more trouble!
Love youse all (except the people I hate... you know who you are. bastards.)
Dave
ps: this blog thing doesn't have a spell checker, so when I suck, i'm sorry.
EDIT: i'll add a photo of the drinks... seriously, 40s suck.
2 comments:
Thoad! Glad to know you kids are alive! Tell my hard man cuz i love him (yes. he will respond 'gay'.), and to get the wife bag ready for Mischa.
Take care, don't get into too much trouble. And remember, when in Rome, don't do as the Romans would do - as your not Roman (swap Rome/Italy with America/States).....
And don't update this thing too much! It'd be a waste of time to spend every second day on the web. Instead, tell us all about it when you get back!
cheers,
Stove
hey thode, glad to hear u made it safe and sound :)
just realised i totally forgot to say goodbye and bon voyage on saturday night, my bad!
hope u guys have an awesome time, say hi to the others for me (or at least the ones i know..), and try to get into lots of trouble, cos your stories are sure to entertain me, and really, isnt that what life is all about - entertaining sally?
PS. tell liam his arm is just lovely the way it is, and not to ruin it with too much ink :)
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