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Published: April 8th 2015
The money shot
That dream photo of my face next to the Hollywood signI'm not sure if there are other Asian nations more obsessed with Hollywood than the Philippines. We try to talk like them, dress like them, look like them, and live like them. Inasmuch as living in a poor tropical country would permit. If there were only two places I could see in the United States, it would be Los Angeles and New York because those cities are the setting of most of the movies and series that I watched growing up. Prior to my trip, me and my colleagues talked about what they would do when they get the chance to visit the US. Most of the responses were something like:
I'm going to reenact that scene from Pretty Woman when Julia Roberts said "Big mistake. Big. HUGE"
to a store clerk while shopping in Rodeo Drive. I'm gonna hit the stores in Beverly Hills like Alicia Silverstone in Clueless! I'm gonna go to all the clubs in New York that Carrie Bradshaw went to. So those are the ultimate symbols of the United States for us I guess. The statue or Liberty and the Hollywood sign. Needless to say I was very excited about finally seeing
California. But it turns out, California is so big, it took days to reach Hollywood. Cali has more things, and surprisingly better things to offer than the Hollywood sign and Beverly Hills.
First stop was Redwoods National Park. I read a blog here, I forget who, but he's an Australian guy who said one should experience camping in the Redwoods in ones lifetime. Well, I got close. I didn't have camping gears and even if I did I'm not sure I'd want to camp there. It was cold and there could be bears. Or snakes? So I stayed in a motel and went on hikes. With all the hikes and walking I've been doing, and eating very little to save money, I'm sure I'd be unrecognizably thin again when I get back home. I eat as much as I can when the motel offers free breakfast.
There are several spots where you can see these gargantuan trees and they were "WHOOOA!". I didn't get to research if they can be used as construction materials but man those trees can make a lot of houses! If the hunger games were held there, I don't think Katniss would be able
to climb those trees. Driving on a road curtained on both sides by the Redwoods was a surreal experience. Just beautiful. I wish I had enough time to see Sequoia too as I heard the trees there are even bigger. I can't imagine how much bigger they can get. Some enterprising individuals bought trees and carved caves at the base so they can charge $6 for tourists to drive through them. The drive-thru-tree I saw was not one of the biggest trees there but it was big enough for a car to drive through. I thought it was a cheesy tourist trap. But hey. Let's not be judgmental. I also found Elks which I thought can only be found in Canada. But I've had enough of rural America. It was time to see the big cities. You can't go to "Cali" without seeing San Francisco.
What a drastic change it was when I finally got to San Francisco. I arrived late at night and checked in at Motel 6 in Geary corner Larkin. People were walking down the street with "swag" and talking loudly in a very gangsta way. The people around when I arrived that night scared me.
Redwoods National Park
It's hard to believe there's a tree bigger than this I expected that from New York, not San Francisco. But that was just that part of town that was scary. I didn't know San Francisco was such a hilly place. Some roads we on a 75 degree angle. It was almost vertical! It's so difficult to walk up and down those streets. They must have very strong legs in San Francisco. My favorite part of San Francisco are the residential areas on the hills. The houses were so cute and colorful! I don't know if houses are required to follow a theme to be uniform with all the houses in the city but it looks like it. It's like a mix of Mexican, Greek and Hobbit architecture!
Food is expensive. The cheapest I can find is $8. The store attendants talk way too fast for me to understand. I was ordering a burrito in Chipotle and I understood less than half of what the guy taking my order said. I just gave him the confused Asian "Yes". And I thought I spoke good English. Apparently not. I noticed most of the tourists are American. Or maybe they're just white tourists who speak very good English. I was told to
check out the "murals" on Mission street but they turned out to be gang art. Do those count as murals now? I don't get it. It was a poor part or town and there were lots of scary people. I had to walk fast. And of course I had to take photos of the Golden Gate bridge that I don't remember the history of. That's how you prove you're in San Francisco. San Francisco is now number two on my list of places I'd like to live in. Vancouver is still the top. Fisherman's Wharf is a joy to explore! It's the best sea wall I've seen anywhere. Wide street lined with exciting and colorful shops. It felt so American although I knew it was a tourist trap. I had no idea that Alcatraz was in San Francisco.
And finally, Los Angeles. I have a friend who lives in North Hollywood and I thought she was living THE life. How awesome would it be to have Hollywood on your address? It was hot in Los Angeles. The temperature goes up to 31C but there wasn't much humidity so it was okay. I wonder why it isn't humid in LA.
I thought all coastal areas get humid when it's hot. The sun was scorching hot as I hiked up the mountain to get to the viewing point closest to the Hollywood sign. It was HOT! This was supposed to be the culmination of my travel to this country but it's not as great as I imagined it to be. Although that dream photo got the most likes on Facebook. I walked around Beverly Hills and I was not very impressed with the houses. They were big houses but the architecture did not inspire me. I expected Beverly Hills to be a gated village because of all the high profile people who live there. But that's not the case. It was open for anyone to explore. You can wait outside the gate of your favorite celebrity's house if you know where it is. I did not dare go inside one of their restaurants in Beverly Hills. I had frozen yoghurt that cost me $12. It was crazy and it was all I could afford.
The best thing that happened to me in Los Angeles was when I had dinner with my college friend Rica and her three year old daughter
in a restaurant along Hollywood boulevard in front of Mann's Chinese Theater. The movie GET HARD was having it's world premiere there while we were having dinner. We could see the red carpet from where we were sitting. I've never seen so many beautiful women in my life. That's the moment I felt that I was in Hollywood. One of my lifelong dreams. I realized how lucky I am to be here. When I achieve something I thought was far fetched, it makes all the other goals look more achievable. Perhaps I can see Rome and Paris someday too!
California is so incredibly diverse. From forests, small towns, big cities, and even deserts. There are so many Filipino's in California because of the type of weather that they have there. And of course I had to visit some of my friends who had migrated here in the states. Spent a few days in Ontario city and Loma Linda. Not much to talk about Ontario. It's a city in the desert but I had someone there where I can sleep and eat for free. I had to visit Loma Linda because you can't be Seventh Day Adventist and visit California
without going there. It is there that I found a vege-turkey sandwhich. I finally know what turkey kind of tastes like!
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frankardenas
non-member comment
Dreams!
Life is full of dreams and let´s hope that we´ll live enough to realise them. Good read