Hollywood on horseback

Sooo, today everything actually went pretty smoothly. Woke up at 5:30 again, this time actually went to the right bus stop and caught the bus. I was the only one who was on it so I made it to the train station in time for the 6:38 train, which was awesome because it meant I was half an hour ahead of schedule. Caught the train to LA union station like yesterday, rode the subway to Hollywood boulevarde and got my first look at the Hollywood walk of fame, which made everything seem really surreal for some reason. I mean, those stars are so famous and iconic and everything, and there I was. I wouldn't ever have expected a year ago to be there, by myself, taking a look at those stars. So then I caught the bus near the hills of Hollywood, kind of beneath the Hollywood sign. Walked FOREVER up this really steep hill until I reached the horse riding place. It was incredibly cool. I was the only one there, so I had the guide all to myself. She took me on a 1 hour trail ride up the hills and I could see all the way down Southern California (LA, Catalina Island, Santa Monica, Malibu, etc.). Also saw the Hollywood sign, but it was pretty far away because it's illegal to get close to it. Apparently if someone does, the high-tech motion detector beeps and a helicopter flies in and a guy on a loudspeaker accuses whomever for trespassing, just like in the movies! The tipping was not cool, though. For a $30 ride, I tipped $20 which was insane. That's more than a 60% tip! And the lady was a bit annoying about it, before I left for the ride she was like, 'oh and make sure you tip your guide, especially since you're the only one she's taking'. And she reminded me again at the end, she was like, 'I hope your guide was worth $20'. So I kind of got pressured.I was going to tip like $10, which I thought was already pretty generous of me because honestly, who'd have thought there's such thing as tips that are over 20%? And especially since they blatantly asked for extra money, and also made me wait 1/2 an hour for other people, but when it was clear no other riders were coming they let me start. I mean, if I want to tip, I will! That's why it's called a tip. Otherwise you just charge people more money, jeez! I had to fake I was 18 on the form I filled in, otherwise they wouldn't let me go by myself. Luckily no one suspected.My butt's sore from the riding and my feet are so, so tired because I ran so much to make it home in time.

Okay, the good things about today. I didn't exactly get lost too much. Asked about 2 people for directions and that was it. So that was good. Unlike yesterday when I missed my stop several times and stuff. Getting back to the busy places in Hollywood was pretty easy from the ranch, went downhill so it wasn't bad, caught bus and subway again. Went to Ripley's museum and Hollywood museum, both of which were OK but I was on a tight schedule so I didn't have much time to look around.Ripley's basically has wacky stuff like mummified feet, and Hollywood museum has stuff like the Star Wars costumes they wore in the movie and the ruby slippers from Wizard of Oz. Caught the 3:35pm train back home (the subway arrived at the train station at exactly 3:32 so I had to run like crazy to the right platform).The reason why I went home so early was because I had to make it back in time to catch the last bus. Not to mention I was tired as hell. Caught last bus home successfully(I was the only one on the bus again).

I quite like doing stuff alone, actually. It's not too annoying and it's fun. It makes me feel adventurous.I mean, if I've navigated LA, Melbourne and Shanghai by myself this year, surely I can handle Sydney for the rest of my life. I won't be alone for several days now, though. Waking up at 5am because I'm going skiing tomorrow (or tubing) at Mountain High with my family, then Disneyland for 3 days, Seaworld San Diego and then Universal Studios I think. I'm not entirely sure. The remaining days I'll probably spend going to Santa Monica, Malibu, LA again and maybe Moorpark and surrounding cities that are closer (the $18.50 return ticket to LA hurts my wallet, especially seeing as I need to get to LA first for practically everywhere I'm visiting).

It's Southern California in the background, but you can't really tell

Hollywood sign!

Twilight prints outside Grauman's Chinese Theater

Hollywood Walk of Fame!

Harry Potter wandprints outside Grauman's Chinese Theater

The house I'm staying in. Note the creepiness of the lighting. That's what I'm walking in.

Ripley's museum

Ripley's museum: dress made of starburst wrappers

The shoes worn by the three actors when they put their footprints down outside the theatre.

Romeo + Juliet props

New moon costumes

Model of some character from some horror movie

I'm not Korean, and yes I can speak English.

DO I LOOK KOREAN??? I do, don't I? Don't even try to deny it. There's a section of Los Angeles that is like um Mexicotown. Like Chinatown, but with Mexicans instead because California's close to Mexico. Anyway, there's lots of people that ask for money there, and two separate people came up to me individually and thought I was Korean and didn't speak English! Boo. China has scammers and beggars (not people that harass you for money though). America has money-harassers and beggars (but 'hopefully' not scammers). I guess Australia doesn't have anything except for beggars, which is good.

Today was a really...frantic day. I woke up at 5:30 because I had to take the bus to the train station. It was pretty freaky. Like something out of a horror movie. There's coyotes in the surrounding mountains where my family live (you can hear them howling) so yeah, it's definitely creepy when it's all dark and not a single car/person is out on the street. Anyway, my mum's cousin warned me that Moorpark transit is 'out of date'. Well, I thought to myself nothing can be more out of date than crappy Sydney public transport. I mean, look at Shanghai public transport. It may be sometimes crowded during the morning and evening at peak hours but it's very efficient. If they had English at the bus stops it'd be perfect. With buses coming every 5 minutes and subways every 3, and stations and stops everywhere, how can you complain? But I have to admit. Moorpark transport sucks. Hallelujah,found transport thats suckier than Sydney's. I walked for a few minutes to the bus stop but I didn't know there were two within a few metres of each other under the same street names (they don't have street names on the bus stops). So yup, I waited until 6:10 and saw the bus come...then turn because I'd waited at the other stop accidentally. Anyway, the earliest train to LA leaves at 7:17 and the bus comes every hour. So I had to get to the train station. So I asked these two nice people riding bikes how to walk there. They were pretty doubtful because it's really far away-ish. They were like, 'Honey, it's about a mile and a tenth' and I'm like, yeah that's useful, like I have any idea how far a mile is let alone a tenth of one. So they gave me some basic directions and I set out. One hour later, after I ran and speed-walked and made two wrong turns and ended up walking alongside an electricity generating plant that had 'danger' alongside the fence, I was feeling pretty down. So as you can guess, I couldn't find the train station in time for the earliest train. Found a bus stop and randomly got on a bus (there's only 2 routes) and went to the train station. Had to catch the 8:26 train ($18.50 for return ticket. Rip-off, much?). So that was lame, I was 1 hour behind schedule already. I ended up kind of winging my day in LA. Went shopping, found nice deals, walked around, got lost several times (luckily everyone's really polite so I'm not scared to ask) and eventually after a long day went back home. There was a reason why I needed to be in LA earlier, because Moorpark's last bus from the train station leaves at 5:12 so I had to catch the 3:35 train back to make it in time. Well obviously that didn't happen because I missed that god damn bus in the morning. So I had to get my mum's cousin to pick me up from the station at like 7:15. And I was already full from my Mcdonald's meal (see pic) but I didn't have the heart to tell them because they'd waited for me to start dinner.

By the way, yes I think I do have a bit of an accent (I think people might think it's a Chinese accent though). I've asked lots of people for directions and a lot of them can't understand me the first time round, so I try to speak slow. That was lame because I went to Starbucks for my grande peppermint mocha frappucino but somehow it came out sounding to the guy like I wanted a black coffee as well. So I had to get a refund for that and stuff. A LOT of people speak Spanish here. There's Spanish signs everywhere. There's loads of palm trees here too!

So that concludes my first official day in LA. Don't worry, I'm not just going to shop everyday. I was going to go to Japanese Village Plaza but didnt have the time. Tomorrow is Hollywood day. First up, I have to wake at 5:30. Again. SO I'm already screwed you see, it's 10:25pm right now and I'll be tired as hell. Guess I can sleep on the 1 hour train journey.

The jeans were $10 and the shirt was $2.50. My best bargains of today, I think.

Ok, I know this looks semi-gross. But I was starving. I over-ordered though, now I feel bloated and gross. I ordered a MEDIUM chicken nugget meal and a Reese's peanut butter cup Mcflurry. The Mcflurry was awesome, the dr pepper in the drink was not. Artificial cherry fizzy drink? No, thanks. I drank like a quarter. A medium in America is a large in Australia.

Sunny California

My 8-9 y/o cousins are doing music theory homework and Chinese work, and they are SO good at it. More advanced than me! Thank you, piano teacher that teaches crap theory to me. I know I've said this before maybe, but Moorpark weather is AMAZING. It was 22 degrees today and it's meant to be winter. The sky is always always blue without a single cloud. It's like Sydney, only surrounded by mountains and better weather. I want to find a bookstore so I can get 'Dreams of Joy', the sequel to 'Shanghai Girls'. My uncle got me 'The Boleyn Inheritance' at the Shanghai Bookstore which is a pretty good book, I read a lot of it on the plane. Went Christmas light watching last night with my mum's cousin, my great-uncle and my two cousins. It was fun.

I went shopping today with my mum's cousin. She is so awesome, I've mentioned she looks 20somethingish and today she told me she's 35. I kind of get on more like a friend with her, she acts pretty young and fun. I mentioned to her I was going to go shopping sometime but was going to go to Downtown LA today (which is really distinct, the only bit of land in LA with skyscrapers), and she said why not go after-christmas shopping with her because she was going anyway, and since Christmas was on a Sunday today is a holiday for Government workers. Which makes downtown LA unsafe today because it's full of government buildings (no residents), so usually it's ok when there's workers and security guards. But since they have a day off today, downtown LA is pretty unsafe. Went to the Oaks Mall and Camarillo Premium Outlets. Bought a TONNE of crap. It's kind of cheap, but it's annoying because sales tax isn't added on, and it's different in each city. So they add on the 7.25% tax at checkout (8.25% in LA, boo). Which is why they have 1 cent coins, because say I bought a top and pants for $10, well with tax added on at the counter it comes to some annoying number that they don't round off because 1 cent coins are used. As I said, I went to SO MANY shops and bought so much stuff. I have a lot of bags, going to count them as I post (bought stuff at these stores, basically the cheapest stores):

-Yankee Candles (50% off some stuff)
-Charlotte Russe (buy 1 get 1 free)
-Abercrombie & Fitch (50% off)
-American Eagle (marked down prices)
-Charlotte Russe again
-Bath and Body works x 2 bags (50% off Christmas stuff)
-Sony (20% off)
-Forever XXI x 2(buy one get one free. enough said)
-Polo Ralph Lauren (is it weird that I went there to buy a towel?)
-Ed Hardy (Is it weird that I saw everything instore was 40% off and I went and got myself a huge hairbrush that says 'love kills slowly' with a skull?)
-Juicy Couture (there was a 30% off storewide)

That makes 13 bags of shopping. Don't worry, we went to 2 malls remember so I guess that equates to carrying about 7 bags at once each mall trip. We were going to go to Walmart because I wanted to visit one (closest one is 10min drive) but we shopped from like 10am to 6pm so we were totally tired. Now I got myself ALL the winter clothes I need for the rest of my high school life!

All my bags

Merry Christmas!

Slightly crap picture. But note the (melting) ice shards in the window.

Dinner. I think my favourite part was the orange juice.

First view of LA from the plane! Look at how noughts-and-crosses the city is sprawled out!

Lunch.Who serves dried fish with coleslaw-type salad? and just look at that grey-ish chicken. And pickled radish in the packet. Yummo.

It's still Christmas in LA :) Sydney is 19 hours in the future. I'm at a Yum Cha restaurant in L.A right now. A cool restaurant with an awesome view that has free wi-fi. Yup, you heard right. I came all the way from china only to eat chinese food again. I met up with my mums cousin and my great uncle, still in LA becausewe stopped on the way for lunch. I'm bit jetlagged because technically it's like 3 am in the morning right now in shanghai and I got no sleep on the plane too so yeah...customs in shanghai went relatively smoothly (I had to take off my shoes for them to scan, but it wasn't too bad). It was a 10 and half hour flight instead of 12 and a half hours because it's a nice clear day today. I love the weather here. It's at least 25 degrees and the sky is a gorgeous blue. I've included a picture of the view from the restaurant. To be honest, so far LA is like Sydney, not much of cultural difference. I really want a shower, so hopefully we'll head home soon. I'm full from Yum Cha and a bit dazed from lack of sleep I think.

By the way, I know Juliet and Georgia had negative experiences at the LA airport but mine wasn't too bad. They're really patriotic. huge sign with 'welcome to america' and obama's picture underneath. I was just thinking if there was one in Australia with Julia guillard's picture, it'd probably get egged or something. Anyways, as I said, America security was surprisingly...untight for me. I guess when you have an Australian passport amongst a sea of Chinese passports whose owners are more likely to bring stuff like herbal medicine or something, it decreases suspicion. It was pretty awesome though, I brought in food (pickled radish from dinner, chips and more) and everything without declaring it. My uncle was right, they never checked when I ticked 'no food' on the declaration card. Saves time. But the customs card was confusing to fill in when they asked you the value of the goods you're bringing. I just wrote something like 50 dollars, but thankfully they didn't think me an illegal hobo. The worst thing was I had to line up forever at the immigration counter. They were soooo slow.

I didn't get a person to escort me this time for some reason,so I didn't get to jump the queues through the 'express lane' and my seat was lame-ish. Still a window seat, but I had a middle-aged (but non creepy) guy next to me. Food was even worse than last time, boo. I watched half of 'Just Go With It' (that crap movie we watched about the plastic surgeon in Hawaii, remember?) and half of 'The Secret Life of Bees'. I had to squint to make out the tiny TV's they have at the front of the plane, so it was no fun.

Now I'm at the house. My mum's cousin's house is amazing. It is like, totally HUGE. Huger than any house I've been to in my entire life. My grandpa was definitely exaggerating, though. They definitely have 4 bedrooms, not 8. I am sharing the master bedroom with my mum's cousin (I ignored her at the airport, haha because I didn't think it was her, I expected her to look older. She looks in her 20s and she's really cool and awesome, I think she went to high school in LA or something. Her two kids are easygoing too). She can understand Shanghainese but doesn't speak it. So it's really weird speaking to a relative in English. The bedroom I am staying in is huge, though. Like, giant walk-in closet,cool balcony,study area, and the ensuite bathroom thing is like, bigger than my bedroom at home. It's got a huge spa bath, a waterfall shower and a separate room for the toilet.Believe me, after my Uncle's shower where the water is smaller than the trickle of water from my kitchen tap, I deserve to rave about this bathroom! The piano is a bit lame though, but not too bad.Not as bad as the one in China for sure! I think there's a thing with America and big houses. Technically, I'm not in LA right now, more like Moorpark which is a little town on the outskirts of LA. The internet here is AWESOME. It's faster than my Uncle's, even. And it's wi-fi! But it might have a usage limit.Yay, I can access blogger from firefox again!

Annoyingly odd American english differences:
-It's forever cellphone this, cellphone that. CALL IT A MOBILE, for God's sakes!
-I was waving around an empty bottle and said something like, 'where's the bin' and my mum's cousin stares at me blankly and then she's like, 'oh, you can throw that in the trashcan'. So yeah, trashcan instead of bin. Got to remember that.

 

View from the restaurant

The beautiful and the ugly

So I went to Huaihai Rd to buy some stuff today, and also the Science and Technology Museum markets. I WALKED all the way to Huaihai Rd. I swear it took me at least an hour and a half. I love walking in Shanghai though, even if my feet are so sore now and my thighs hurt because my skin's really dry (because of the cold). Not only that, I walked from 700 and something Huaihai Rd to 93 Huaihai Rd. That's like, insane walking, people. But it's pretty impossible to get lost in Shanghai. There's subway station entrances with English subway maps everywhere, all you have to do is find one and interchange as many times as you want until you get to a station that has the one that takes you home. My destination was Chaterhouse Booktraders which is in Times Square mall, amongst a mega-sized Apple store, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Gucci and other stores. Unfortunately, after all that walking I couldn't find the bookstore. I asked the concierge and found out that it was closed down. LAME, it was still open last year! So my uncle's taking me to another English bookstore after piano practice tomorrow because he's got a day off from work tomorrow.

Anyhow, I went to H&M (I've checked: the only clothing stores that aren't too overpriced but still sell normal clothing in China are H&M, American Eagle, Zara and Gap. I think I prefer H&M). There's nothing special about H&M, and I probably wouldn't be clothes-shopping in Shanghai of all places if it weren't for the fact that I am seriously in need of some absolute necessities. I got everything cheaper than normal because today a lot of stuff was on sale. First off, I needed a pair of jeans. I realised I had absolutely no pants to wear on the day of my flight because ALL of my jeans would be in the wash. My uncle turns the washing machine on once a week so yeah, you can see why. I brought over lets see...three pairs from Sydney plus I bought a pair from H&M about one week into my holiday. Anyhow, I needed another pair for the plane so I went to H&M yet again. The pair of jeans (which set me back 150 yuan, which is like 23 dollars so it's cheap but not exactly oh-wow cheap either) was something I really needed. I didn't want to go onto the plane in jeans I'd already worn for two days. Ick. So I'm not bringing any pants to America other than the new ones I will be wearing because there won't be  time for my clothes to dry. I'll be buying all the clothes I need in America. I plan on washing all my clothes after my shower on Saturday night and then waking up the day of the flight (Sunday) and hanging them up before I leave. I'm pretty much done packing and I have to say, even though I'm bringing two large suitcases (because of that damn huge sheepskin), they're both really light. I'm bringing my pyjamas, hoodie, 2 tops and that is pretty much it. The rest is souvenirs, outerwear clothing (I have A LOT of that, none of which I've worn because a lot of it isn't warm enough) and shoes (2 pairs). It's nothing compared to the suitcases I had from Sydney. As I was saying, the majority of my clothes will be in Shanghai drying while I'm in America. So I will have to buy A LOT of clothes there.

I also bought a disgusting knit long sleeved thing to wear over a long sleeved shirt. I bought it even though it was disgusting because it was cheaper than the other nicer-looking ones, surprise surprise. That cost me $15. Which I definitely wouldn't pay for something that ugly in Australia, but whatever. I needed one badly because I've worn my current one everyday for a month, I swear (I didn't expect it to be this cold and me having to wear it) It's not like anyone will see it, anyway. I'll be wearing it over a shirt but underneath my outerwear to keep warm. Item number three was a hoodie. Also exceedingly ugly (I'm not sure which was uglier) but again, it was $15 and no one will see me in it because I'll be wearing that over my pyjamas when I go to bed (it'll be cold at nighttime where I'm going). Again, I've been wearing my current hoodie to bed for a month because I only packed one. Wearing something for a month was gross enough to motivate me to buy the hideous thing. I also bought some nicer stuff though, don't worry. Not everything was that ugly. I bought a wallet because the fabric on my old one was starting to tear away (I've had it for at least two years). I went to the same markets I bought the Louis Vuitton bag from, and the lady from that stall recognised me! It was so freaky. Especially considering I don't look THAT distinguishable, right? Especially in China. But three weeks later, she still recognises me. I didn't buy the wallet from her though, I've refined my haggling skills now. I offered her $4 max, and she said no and allowed me to walk away, so I went to about five other stalls (all have the same wallet) and increased my offer each time by a dollar. This is how it usually goes (at almost all the stalls, the shopkeeper pretty much stalks you as you browse):

Me: How much is this wallet?
Owner (pulls out calculator): You know what, sometimes you see prices as high as *types $100 onto calculator* but I can see you're a student, so I'm offering you a discount. How about $30?
Me: No, sorry. I'm willing to pay $5
Owner: No. No one can sell it to you for that price. Come on, what's your last offer? Do a real offer. This is Juicy! It's good quality! It even has pockets. It's real leather.
Me: *thinks to self: yeah, sure* I'll pay at most $7 *walks away*
Owner: *calling after me* Okay, fine! How about $20? $10? NINE DOLLARS, come on!
Me: *still walking away*

When the owner lets me walk away, it means my offer's too low. And it continues like that at every stall, each time with me increasing my offer by a dollar and walking away until finally:

Me: I'll pay $8 for this wallet.
Owner: Impossible. No one around here's going to give it to you for that price. Look, how about $10?
Me: No, $8 *starts walking away*
Owner: Wait, $9?
Me: *shakes head and continues walking away*
Owner: Okay, okay! $8.50! Just increase it by 50cents!
Me: No *about to walk away again*
Owner: *throws hands up in defeat* okay, fine, fine! Come and choose your colour.

It's actually quite fun haggling in the fake designer markets! I would do it like everyday if I had the money :) Funnily enough, I actually speak in English at the markets (everyone speaks English to some extent because the majority of their customers are foreigners). I tried Shanghainese but not many shopowners could speak it, even though they understood it, because most of them weren't Shanghai natives. So I got my wallet. It's kind of a weird wallet but I like it. Probably wouldn't have gone over $8 for it though (which is like 50 yuan), so I just managed to get it for that price. I'm glad because I definitely didn't get ripped off this time, I tried 45 yuan about twice at two different stalls but no one would sell it to me so I upped it to 50 at another stall. Whereas the Louis Vuitton bag, I just tried one stall. I also got some cute warm fuzzy booties from H&M because as I said, it'll be cold and I want to wear them around the house. Those were about $10.

It was about 5 o'clock when I was done and I didn't want to walk home, so I caught the subway. The first one I caught to Jing'an temple was alright. It was crowded to the point where you couldn't stick your arm out without touching someone, but it was bearable. I had to interchange to another line at the temple though, and this one was SO crowded! To the point where no one needed to hold onto a railing because it was impossible to fall, you were cushioned from all sides by people. And the subway comes every 3 minutes, and each one can hold hundreds of people! It's insane. Usually it's not so crowded but I had bad timing, because it was when people were finished with work and school. Otherwise I'd be able to get a seat. But as I was saying, this particular subway (kill you line 7) was so bad. I couldn't answer my phone because it was so squashed I didn't have the room to take my phone out. At least there's less chance of pickpockets. I mean to pickpocket someone on that subway you'd have to poke at least three people in the process, and then probably get your hand stuck between people after you get the wallet and well no pickpocket's going to be stupid enough to do that. I was about 2 metres max away from the door and I could barely get out, I was so panicked because the subway doors stay open for about 30 seconds, if even that.

I've got tomorrow to go, and then I'm leaving on Christmas day! I went to the supermarket today and got Sugus (chewy candy) for the plane in case my ears pop. They have Sugus in Sydney, I'm pretty sure everyone's seen it at some oriental supermarket. I also picked up a packet of chips ('American classic flavour', which looked pretty plain and safe). Now I don't usually go for the original flavoured, but the alternatives were flavours like 'cool blueberry', 'lobster cheese' and 'numb and spicy hotpot', so I say better safe than sorry.

My plane's at 1pm :) next post will probably be on Christmas at the airport! I hope they have wi-fi at Pudong airport. I think I remember they do. Then when I get to California at 9:30 am it'll still be Christmas. Yay.

The beautiful...

...and the ugly

Books, books, books

So I was reading Sharna's latest blog post, and it reminded me of a rant I need to do on books. As well as being heat deprived (yay for weather that's actually above 10 degrees in California), I'm also book-deprived. I brought over a total of two book, 'Hush Hush' and 'Ink Exchange'. I bought 'Hush Hush' on eBay because I managed to snag the sequel, 'Crescendo', for a pretty good deal so I thought why not read the first book before I read that one. I got 'Ink Exchange' because it was a good deal too. Sit back if you plan on reading this, guys, because this is going to be one long post about books. I know Claudine and Sharna enjoyed 'Hush Hush', but sorry guys I DO NOT see what all the hype is about. I'm only halfway through, that's how uninteresting it was. I got through about five chapters on the plane (only after doing an hour of theory work and favouring 'Hush Hush' over French revision). In my opinion, when a book is still a bore after halfway it's pretty much a lost case. It's just a dull book. I'll probably finish it because I don't have anything else to read on the plane. I mean, it kind of screams 'Twilight' to me. The mind-speaking, forbidden love when supernatural handsome-guy falls for human. It's an annoying book. The 'series of terrifying encounters' that girl experiences are just annoying to read about. And her character is unrealistic. Oh no, I just got cornered by a creepy guy at school in a dark alleyway but you know what, I'm going to accept the ride he offered to me on his motorcycle because even though the author emphasises my practicality and level-mindedness, I seem to be a bit of an idiot anyway. I may check out Chaterhouse Booktraders, for some okay English books tomorrow. I've got more money now because my great-aunt insisted. Although she would give me a huge lecture if she knew I was about to spend 100 yuan on a book. 'Ink Exchange' is the second book of a series. I discovered this about two weeks into my holiday, so that was lame. I refuse to read sequels before the original book, for obvious reasons.

I was going to bring one of my favourite books, 'Shanghai Girls', but decided against it because I'd already read it and I'm all for broadening my book-reading. I so wish I'd brought 'Shanghai Girls' now. It's an amazing book, seriously amazing. Lisa See is an amazing author. I love the type of book that isn't a huge long read, but has so much to it at the same time. I couldn't put down either of the two books I've read by her. 'Shanghai Girls' is such a fitting read too, because the plot is set in Shanghai and Los Angeles (It'll be like reading about the history of the places I'm visiting). How sad that I decided not to bring it.  I NEED THE SEQUEL> NOW. I'm definitely looking for it in America. By the same author is another good book, 'Snow Flower and the Secret Fan'. I can honestly say that although 'Snow Flower' is a good book, it's not good enough to be one of those books I have to read on a regular basis.

Before I came to Shanghai I read 'Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother'. I LOVE that book. It has got to be another favourite of mine out of the books I've read in the last several months. I kind of hate that 'Asian parents' stereotype. E.g., possibly when you achieve something: Oh, that kid's Asian so they must have strict parents so that's the reason why they got that Maths trophy or whatever, it wasn't based on ability but because I bet her mum forced her to do three hours of maths a day. I can't tell you how many times people have assumed my mum is strict, or asked something like, 'did your mum get really mad when she found out about that mark?'. Oh yes, my mum got so mad she made me eat cow poo for getting that mark. Nom nom nom. And even creepier: 'You're so lucky you're Asian. I want your brain' (I think you can guess who said that). It's genius of someone to think of writing a book about it though. The book is hugely controversial, which is kind of surprising but I guess growing up surrounded by my mum's friends and their overachieving kids (and lots of people at my primary school had that type of mum), I sort of took their parenting habits for granted. I suppose it might come as a surprise to some people.

I also read Lang Lang's autobiography, 'Journey of a Thousand Miles' for the second time recently. Now, I'm not a giant fan of the book, but I like it well enough to read it twice. It's slightly depressing when I compare someone else's willpower to my own, but I like reading about his 6-hour practices and the drastic measures his father took to make sure he didn't practise any less. It makes me feel a bit better about my own meagre-in-comparison practising. I guess overall, I kind of like the book but I don't at the same time. It's more of a wow-I-can't-believe-how-amazing-his-determination-was type of book. It reminds me of 'Falling Leaves' and 'Mao's Last Dancer', but kind of not-as-good because at least with those books, you could sort of relate to them to some extent whereas this was just BAM, I loved piano since I was three and I've never had any doubts about it. Because that just sounds a bit too fake. And it doesn't really explore his 'relationship' with it as much, it's more a book about how he got famous. I think he's trying to counteract the assumption that his skills are based on his parents forcing piano on him.

It's raining cats + 'we wisk you a merry Christmas'

Yeah. I know. I bet you're probably cursing me right now because your eyes are like permanently bugged out of your head or something. And yes, this girl is for real and has 34000 subscribers. At first when I watched the video (randomly clicked on it because I was bored) I was completely horrified. The comments are even scarier o_o I'm mortified for the girl. I mean, how old is she, like 11? If I were her I would be soooo embarrassed in later life. But you got to admit, she's actually semi-entertaining once you get over the mortification factor. She's entertaining in an 'ohmygodican'tbelieveshejustsaidthat' kind of way. My favourite part is her squeal-ly tone of voice when she talks about pimples. Like she's excited about them or something.

FIVE DAYS LEFT UNTIL CALIFORNIA!
I can't believe I'm finally going to America. Sure, it may not be New York City, but ever since I can remember I've always wanted to go :) I still haven't fully completed my itinerary, though. Been putting it off like it's an assignment or something.

I've realised my blog isn't really much of a travel blog, heehee. I guess the more exciting places I visited were kind of earlier into my trip to China when Blogger was still blocked for me. Hopefully it'll get more exciting starting this Sunday (well, next Monday for you guys I guess). I get to LA at 9:30am Christmas Day so woooooo! I'll be at some ski resort for New Year's so boo. I've had a look the Mammoth Lakes website and the most exciting thing there (dog sledding) costs $90 for 50 minutes and minimum of two people. I wonder if  horse riding is available in the winter. I'm trying to get myself all pumped and excited. For some reason the excitement has kind of waned after school certificate. It's weird but I was more excited a month before. Today I went to my great-aunt's university to practise piano, again. Great thing to blog about. Not. But I love the feral (wild?) cats they have there. They're so cute. There's seven cats in the school grounds (a mummy, daddy and five baby kitties). There's two white kittens with little grey tabby patches on their foreheads that look identical. They're the only cats that aren't really scared of me, apart from the dad cat. I feed them a lot. I feel sorry for those poor things, they're so skinny and the dad cat kind of shies away when I try to pat it (maybe someone abused it once?). Okay, now I'm rambling about cats. But you guys know how much I love cats, right? I'm the crazy cat woman. I'll try to get pictures of my favourite kitties, or better yet all seven cats. Which if you're not a cat-lady-in-waiting you probably won't really care about. But I like meself some kitties, okay? I mean the only cat I've been in contact with in Sydney is Felix. I've been too cat-deprived, which is why I'm going on and on about cats so I'm going to stop now.

Bad picture. But it's meant to be of live turtles for sale. These were super-expensive ($40 each I think?) because they were wild-caught instead of bred.

Famous scissor shop on East Nanjing Rd. 

Blue lips, blue veins, blue: the colour of our planet from far, far away...

I'm currently watching 'China's Got Talent' (which has the weirdest performances ever, definitely much more entertaining than the standard 'Australia's got talent'. There's a guy who can shut himself into a little glass box, and an English guy that dresses up as Chairman Mao and sings Chinese songs) I'm loading...let's see...20 YouTube videos at once. I'm going to watch them in bed after my shower, snuggled up on top of my electric blanket. I hateeeee making my itinerary for America. It's a long, bothersome and anxiety-inducing process. There's a little voice in the back of my mind going, 'you are SO going to get lost'. I'm still at it. Sad, I know. Here's a sample of one of the days:

Day 5– Thursday 29 December

Hollywood (bring (?) dollars, Guinness World Records museum ticket)

-5:40am: Wake up

-6am: Walk to Mountain Meadows and Mountain Trail line 1 bus stop (7mins)

1. Head northwest on Amberridge Ct toward Mountain Trail St (80m)

2. Turn right onto Mountain Trail St (483m)

-6:10am: Catch line 1 bus to High St across from train station (ticket $1). Previous stop is High St and Spring Rd.

-7:10am: Catch 7:17am 106 train to L.A Union Station. Last stop, previous stop is Glendale.

-8:28am: Catch metro red line 802 subway travelling in North Hollywood Station direction (ticket $1.50) to Hollywood/Vine station (19 mins, 10 stops). Previous stop is Hollywood/Western Station.

-8:56am: Walk to Life Food Organic (Breakfast chai nut milk and coconut yogurt parfait, $14.50, 7mins)

1. Head west on Hollywood Blvd toward Ivar Ave (160m)

2. Turn left onto N Cahuenga Blvd (321m)

-9:15am: Walk to Hollywood/Cahuenga (5mins)

1. Head north on N Cahuenga Blvd toward Selma Ave (321m)

2. Turn right onto Hollywood Blvd (22m)

-9:24am: Catch bus 217 travelling in Washington/Fairfax Transit Hub direction (ticket $1.50) to Hollyood/Orange (5mins, 5 stops). Previous stop is Hollywood/Highland.

-9:35am: Go to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre

-9:45am: Catch 212/312 bus travelling in Hollywood/Vine Station direction (ticket $1.50) to Hollywood/Whitley (3mins, 3 stops). Previous stop is Hollywood/Las Palmas.

-9:53am: Walk to Guinness World Records museum (5mins)

1. Head east on Hollywood Blvd toward Whitley Ave (92m)

2. Turn right onto Schrader Blvd (321m)

-11:20am: Walk to Hollywood/Whitley (5mins)

1. Head north on Schrader Blvd toward Selma Ave (321m)

2. Turn left onto Hollywood Blvd (61m)

-11:25am: Catch 212/312 bus travelling in Hawthorne Station (ticket $1.50) to Hollywood/Highland (3mins, 2 stops). Previous stop is Hollywood/Las Palmas.

-11:30am: Walk to Ripley’s Believe it or Not museum (1min)

1. Head east on Hollywood Blvd toward N Highland Ave (49m)

-12:25pm: Catch metro red line 802 subway travelling in Union Station direction (ticket $1.50) to Hollywood/Vine station (2mins, 1 stop).

-12:35pm: Walk to Tender Greens (5mins)

1. Head south on Vine St toward Selma Ave (321m)

2. Turn left onto Sunset Blvd (45m)

-12:50pm: Walk to Sunset/Vine (1min)

1. Head west on Sunset Blvd toward Vine St (77m)

-12:51pm: Catch bus 2/302 travelling in Westwood/UCLA direction (ticket $1.50) to Sunset/Highland (5mins, 4 stops). Previous stop is Sunset/Cherokee.

-12:59pm: Walk to Hollywood Museum (ticket $15, 5mins)

1. Head west on Sunset Blvd toward N Highland Ave (15m)

2. Turn right onto N Highland Ave (321m)

-1:45pm: Walk to Hollywood/Highland (1min)

1. Head north on N Highland Ave toward Hollywood Blvd (53m)

2. Turn left onto Hollywood Blvd (31m)

-1:50pm: Catch 212/312 bus travelling in Hawthorne Station direction to La Brea/Wilshire (ticket $1.50, 24 mins, 17 stops). Previous stop is La Brea/6^th.

-2:18pm: Walk to Whimsic Alley (5mins)

1. Head south on S La Brea Ave toward Wilshire Blvd (39m)

2. Turn right onto Wilshire Blvd (321m)

-2:44pm: Walk to Wilshire/Dunsmuir (1min)

1. Head west on Wilshire Blvd toward S Dunsmuir Ave (45m)

-2:45pm: Catch bus 20 travelling in Downtown LA – 7^th – Maple direction (ticket $1.50) to Wilshire/Western (14mins, 14 stops). Previous stop is Wilshire/ Saint Andrews.

-3:04pm: Catch metro purple line 805 subway to Union Station (13 mins, 7 stops, last stop). Previous stop is Civic Centre Station.

-3:30pm: Catch the 3:35 train to Moorpark. Previous stop is Simi Valley.

-5:05pm: Catch route 2 bus to Country Trail Park (ticket $1). Previous stop is Mountain Trail and Mountain Meadows.

-5:46pm: Walk to home (3mins)

1. Head east on Mountain Trail St toward Amberridge Ct (147m)

2. Turn right onto Amberridge Ct. Destination will be on the left (80m)

Yeah, that's how detailed each and every single one of my days on the itinerary will be. It takes me FOREVER to make this type of thing. I have to calculate all the times, convert the units, look up bus lines, do tonnes of research and everything, and Google Maps definitely isn't that reliable. I will probably have to edit that day because I'm going to add landmarks so I know where to walk and stuff. I mean, how would I know where for example 'Northeast' is? I don't want to go around holding a compass. 

Right now, I know for sure where I'm going on December 26 (downtown LA):

-Citadel Outlets (I need cheap clothes during the post-xmas sales! I have like zilch summer clothes, and a total of two jackets that are warm enough to wear in China)

-Fashion District (I need non-ugly fingerless gloves. I left my black ones at a random restaurant)

-Japanese Village Plaza (cool gift shops. I'm a sucker for buying overpriced unique things)

27 December (Camarillo and Oxnard):

-Camarillo Outlets (In case the clothes at Citadel are a rip-off)

-Target (just because I want to)

-Walmart!

28 December (Thousand Oaks)

-The Oaks Mall (I need hand sanitiser from B&B works. And as you can tell, I am going to buy tonnes of stuff in America)

29 December (Hollywood):

-Ripley's Believe it or not museum (I was obsessed with these books when I was a kid)

-Guinness world records museum (cos it looks cool)

-Hollywood museum (not sure why, so not spending much time there)

-Grauman's Chinese theatre (I want to look at the Harry Potter actors' wandprints!)

-The attractions are pretty much all along the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the most famous stars are near the theatre so yeah.

-Whimsic Alley (It's a harry potter store!)

Yuck, my mind is scarred right now from the sight of muscly female bodybuilders on China's Got talent dancing in fluoro rhinestone-studded bikinis. Ewwww. And they got into the next round! The judges are so lame. 

Lunch on the plane was gross. It was some sort of curry pork noodle dish.

Dinner. The chicken noodles were ok but the salad was disgusting. It was a raw bean salad thing. Air China does wayyy better food than China Eastern Airlines. And China Eastern Airlines has no TVs :(

8 days to Christmas and California!

My Grandpa phoned me up today saying that another store similar to ours a few streets away in the same area was robbed and the shop owner and his kids were threatened with a knife for money. It's blocked off by the police (who probably came 20 minutes too late) and everything. Not too sure of the details yet but our family knows theirs pretty well, the shop owner has a son that's my age and two other children we used to babysit. My grandpa says the shop owner and kids are all scared out of their minds. I feel bad for them, I would have total nightmares if I was at the cash register or something and a knife-wielding guy demanded money. I hate how dangerous Sydney is :( now I'm freaked out because my Grandpa's sometimes alone in the shop, and if it's not him its my mum. The store that was robbed is near the library and further away from the shopping center where Hot Dollar is, so there's not many people walking near there. Chances are it's hopefully never going to happen to my mum's shop because it's close to Mcdonald's and everything.

I'm doing my head in from all the research I've done on Southern California lately, so taking a break by posting. I love Google maps but it doesn't have all the public transport companies, so I've been doing A LOT of research. I'm planning out every single hour in America, but I've only done 2 full days so far. I like how cheap and simple the buses are (I HATE how some of them come like every 2 hours) but I don't like how expensive the train system is. My family there lives a 1 and a half hour train ride away from Los Angeles, and about 2 hours and 40 minutes away from Anaheim (where Disneyland is).

This is a very simplified itinerary (I'm currently planning the much more detailed version with all the directions and transport to where I'm going, and where I'm visiting):

Day 1 – Sunday 25 December

-The day I arrive (I get there at 9:30 am but not doing anything because it's Christmas and everywhere is either crowded or closed. I think my relatives could be going to a Christmas party. Or maybe mass because they're Christian. Hmmm do Christians go to church on Christmas day, or is it Christmas eve?)

Day 2 – Monday 26 December

-Downtown Los Angeles 

Day 3 – Tuesday 27 December

-Oxnard and Camarillo

Day 4 – Wednesday 28 December

-Thousand Oaks

Day 5 – Thursday 29 December

-Hollywood

Day 6 – Friday 30 December

-Santa Monica

Day 7 and 8 – Mammoth Lakes

Day 9 – Monday 2 January

-West Hollywood and mid-city

-Beverley Hills

Day 10 – Tuesday 3 January

-Disneyland and downtown Disney

Day 11 – Wednesday 4 January

-Disney’s Californian Adventure

Day 12 – Thursday 5 January

-Anaheim

Day 13 - Friday January 6 

-Los Angeles again 

Day 14 – Saturday January 7

-Malibu

I don't have enough time in America! I want to go to Los Feliz and Griffith park, and Santa Barbara and San Francisco and San Diego and Las Vegas as well, and many more days in Disneyland, but I simply don't have enough days to visit everything :(

I'll probably go everywhere alone, except Mammoth Lakes and maybe Malibu. My mum's cousin and her husband work on weekdays and I really don't want to drag around my 8-9 year old cousins or my 70 year old great uncle.
I went to Zhouzhang a few days ago with some relatives. It's a little water town. I actually like how derelict and falling-apart it looks, it kind of has a nice charm to it. I also went to Suzhou which is famous for its ancient gardens. They weren't actually that beautiful.
My uncle and I went to a cool restaurant today for lunch called 'Mr T' where they cook the food in front of you. It tasted pretty good to me, though my uncle didn't think it as that tasty. I've been eating SO MUCH chocolate lately. Remember that picture of the food I brought over?

Egg with black caviar 

The chef at Mr T!

What part of our meal looked like halfway in

Zhouzhang

Ancient Water town, Zhouzhang

The Humble Administrator's garden, Suzhou

Clouds from the plane

Weeping willow, Zhouzhang

Squishy baby

I think the most interesting thing I did yesterday was visit one of my great-aunts (I have what, like at least about 11 of them?) and her family. Went there in the early afternoon with my great aunt (another one) and stayed until dinner, so great aunt number 1 bought me Mcdonald's again (Big Mac this time). I'll have to get her to stop, I've had it for lunch like twice in a row. Mcdonald's is considered semi-expensive in China and it's not exactly seen as unhealthy either so I guess she doesn't know any better. She then left for a dentist appointment so I walked to the bus stop and rode the bus with her a bit later. Great aunt number 2 (the one who's house we were visiting) lives pretty far away so it was 11 stops. Wonder why I know how many stops? Well everytime I go somewhere via bus I count the stops so I know where to get off (they do have English on the actual buses, just not at the stops, but I like to feel secure about not getting lost). It's just a pain because I always lose track of how many stops its been and I get paranoid.

The main entertainment that kept me from getting too bored at my great aunt's place was a little 9-month-old baby boy, the son of my mum's cousin which makes the baby my second cousin. Everyone dotes on him like crazy, because there hasn't been a baby in the family for ages and it's unlikely there'll be another one anytime soon because of the one-child policy (which is confusing because it becomes a two-child policy if both parents don't have siblings). Now, I am definitely not the type that goes all goo-goo-ga-ga over babies (e.g. those supposedly 'cute' babies on the bus that stare at people...no I don't feel all gooey inside and I don't smile at them. Does that make me a cold, heartless soul?). But this baby is THE exception. He is absolutely adorable, and most definitely not in an annoying, aw-watch-how-peacefully-he-sleeps type of way. I can just tell he's a genius, an absolute budding genius. My baby cousin is like, the most precious, gorgeous thing I've seen in awhile. And during the day he stays with great aunt number 2 because his parents work. 

My top favourite things about my new cousin:

-He smiles at you like crazy every single time anyone says his name.

-He points at places that he wants you to carry him to.

-I have never, ever, ever seen him cry. I've spent at least like 10 hours with him too.

-He makes the funniest face when he eats sour orange but keeps on eating it anyway.

-As soon as I carry him he makes a grab for my glasses

-He laughs so much it's insane.

-He knows how to wink! And blow raspberries. And shake his head like crazy.

-He calls me 'baba' (daddy) all the time and he calls his favourite toy 'mama'. Sure he might be suffering from a bit of...identity confusion but it's still cute.

I've got a video of him where he's laughing like crazy. And he does this all the time, for the strangest reasons.  I'm sorry about the freaky woman next to him, that's great aunt number 1 and she is definitely the freakiest out of all my family members. So I apologise for the cringe-inducing tone of voice she's talking in and the amount of times she repeats his name. Over and over. But I guess its a way to make him laugh even harder because he smiles each time anyone says his name.

Not doing much today, going to take the subway to my great-aunt's university and then I might go somewhere I suppose. Maybe Huaihai Rd but window shopping's getting a bit old. I'll think of something though.

Authentic home-made dinner in Shanghai

He's just so cute! Even if he looks like a girl in this jacket.