Today is the first day of my big trip to the National Parks. This first leg was short: San Diego-Los Angeles. I drove about 130 miles, and there was a lot of traffic jam on Interstate 5 as usual (it even gets worse on Sundays). Here are some pictures taken while driving. You see those gigantic ads for people wanting to lose weight… And then, downtown L.A.
I first went to “Thai town”, on Hollywood Blvd, an area of Los Angeles where the Thai community (about 50.000 people) lives. Upon arrival, I discovered that they were celebrating the Thai New Year festival (a.k.a. Songkran) in Thai town. Songkran is celebrated in Thailand on the 13, 14 and 15th April. It was very hard to find a parking place. I had to park in a “Food4Less” supermarket a few blocks from there. I didn’t stay very long in Thai town: there were mainly food booths and way too many people for me. I saw Thai boxing (a.k.a. Muay Thai, an extremely violent sport). And apparently the “Miss Thai New Year contest” was about to begin when I left.
Sometimes, you have to be careful when you walk in Los Angeles…
Then I dropped my bags at the hotel (Best Western Gateway in Santa Monica) and went to Venice Beach. I started on the Santa Monica Pier and passed next to Muscle Beach. Maybe you’ve heard the name before. It’s this little park where all the athletic men gather to exercise… Very nice, I had a good time there :) :). Then I walked to Venice Beach, the hippie’s area where you can find smoke shop, tattoo parlors and bars. There is a large bike path on the Beach between Santa Monica and Venice. You must already have seen that on TV, well at least those of you watching the (highly intellectual) shows “Jackass” or “Next”... Many people skate, jog, walk or bike on this large path during the weekends. On Sundays, there is an “artists market”, with paintings and lots of music and street performers. Quite cool. The weather was so nice and clear that I saw Catalina island extremely well, for the first time in 4 years!!!
There are also lots of shops selling those T-shirts you simply cannot wear in Belgium (let’s say they are a little too graphic… for exemple “Califuckingfornia”, “I can’t find my nuts”, etc etc…).
Hereafter, a nice picture of the sunset on Venice Beach.
