California Dreaming: Los Angeles (Part 1)

Leg 4: Stargazing in the City of Angels

Being in LA was exactly what I expected it to be. Having lived on a staple of Hollywood fare pretty much all my life, I felt like I knew all the shops along Rodeo Drive from when Julia Roberts sashayed down the street in Pretty Woman. I even had the soundtrack in my head as I tried to reenact the scene. Sunset Boulevard, Orange County and Santa Monica were all familiar places from various movies. The sidewalks and palm trees. Blading on the Venice Boardwalk, chillaxing in Newport Beach. Ah, I felt like I was home.

The first thing we did upon reaching LA was to head to Staples Centre to catch a Lakers game. It happened to be game night against the Houston Rockets (The Yao, baby) and being the die hard Lakers fan that he is, the husband refused to check into the hotel until we caught the game. Only thing was, we didn’t have any tickets and we had to loiter outside the stadium looking for black market ones. We eventually got a pair of courtside tics from a burly dude at half price just 5 minutes before the whistle blew and it was like winning the lottery.

I wasn’t a fan of either teams, but it was the Yao, so being Chinese and all, I pledged my allegiance to the Rockets for the 80 minutes while the husband was screaming himself hoarse for the Lakers. The game turned out to be quite a cracker. Kobe Bryant stepped up with a buzzer beater and I was the only crazy Rockets fan booing him and being stared down by a sea of yellow and purple. Although, the highlight for me was watching a showdown between a feisty little black lady and a giant Italian dude whom I suspect has links with the Mafia cos he sounded like Don Corleone and said Omerta a lot. Or it could have been Berta. It was kinda hard to tell with all that noise.

I was really excited to check out Hollywood Boulevard and I even promised the husband that was THE place to meet Brad Pitt and maybe we might even get spotted to star in the next Rush Hour. Well, nobody told me that famous Hollywood stars didn’t spend all their time hanging around their stars on the walk of fame. Because if I had a star on the walk of fame, that would be all I did. Just sitting next to it looking all smug and pleased with myself. All. the. time.

I bet the husband $5 and a lifetime of gloating rights that he wouldn’t be able to make a stranger give him money. Which he totally won. Also, the guy who threw him a quarter was actually really cute and possibly gay.

I did manage to take a photo with the Cat in the Hat, which cost me a dollar. I still feel ripped off when I think about it now. I was too shocked that he made me give him a dollar for the photo and I was partially afraid that he would summon Thing One and Thing Two to sit on me and start rhyming if I didn’t pay up. The worst thing was the husband actually managed to take a kickass photo with Borat (I swear he was real) FOR FREE, which was actually way cooler than some stupid striped cat.

The thing about LA is that there’s just so much to do and see. The 5 days we spent were barely enough to cover all the main attractions and unlike SF, we hardly had time to sit and watch the world go by. We would be in downtown LA in the morning, and by the afternoon, we’d be in Venice Beach and finally, to Santa Monica to catch the sunset. Speaking of Santa Monica, it was a place filled with awesomeness. It was where we met and fell in love instantly with Sha-Shaty. The guy has mad sax skills.

Another great thing about being in LA? In-and-out burger. It is by far the best burger I’ve ever tasted and we had it everyday for because we couldn’t get enough of it. Fatburger doesn’t even come close. And Carl’s Jr tastes like McCrap in comparison. It is THAT good.