Leaving LA and flight to Seoul

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We finished of our time in Los Angeles a bit slower. First we reluctantly returned our mustang, however we didn't leave empty handed as we picked up a smaller car for the day, as it would cost the same amount as catching taxis everywhere. This time we didn't stand out so much in a small, black Mazda 2. It was a good choice to pick up as it served its purpose of getting us around.

Our first location for the day was to head down to Venice Beach. Venice beach is the centre of La beach culture with muscle beach, beachfront shops, skatepark and basketball courts etc next to the beach. We casual walked along the walkway around the people, for winter it was very busy, we would hate to see what summer would be like. On one side of the walkway locals had set up markets selling all sorts of arts and touristy stuff. Up a bit there were a lot of people trying to sell medicinal medication as part of some legal loophole, we stuck clear of them and it gave us a very Nimbin feel. We grabbed some lunch, watches the skaters then headed to the Basketbalk courts. There are 4 outdoor courts at the complex with locals organising their own games. After observing which game looked the tamest, Ryan decided to join. Some of the more serious games could be heard from 2 courts over with some colourful arguments about the score, fouls and anything which upset them. Ryan's game was a lot better as it appeared to be all the more relaxed people who didn't want to okay in that court, although there was still some trash talk happening. Ryan had a head clash with someone and ended up with a bloody nose, which he was rather happy with. After about 2 hours, it was time to move on. Ryan did complain for the next 2 days as if he'd run a marathon. We had a look at muscle beach, which is an outdoor gym where people stand around and watch huge dudes work out. We then headed to our car and had the nice idea of heading up the coast to watch the sunset. This seemed like a good idea as we though Malibu would be nice. Even though this seemed like a good idea Malibu doesn't have a lot of public beaches, instead just houses hogging the Coast line. We stopped at one place but it was on a point and didn't get to see the full sun go down. It was however still very nice. We then headed back to Santa Monica, which is next to Vanice for dinner. We think that is the correct plan in the future, Venice during the day and Santa Monica at night. We had Bubba Gumps for dinner which is a Forest Gump themes restraunt.



On the Sunday we went up to Univerbal Studios. It is a theme park where there recording studios are based in their cartoons and movies. It was nice but didn't live up to Disneyland. The tour of the setting was cool as we recognised many from TV show, with the most notable being Wisteria alone from Desperate Housewives. They use the same setting for many different movies and you wojoint even realise. There was a 3D experience which was amazing, you went into a shed like building with screens either side. Dinosaurs and King Kong arrive, shake around your bus, have a fight as you drop of a cliff then head of again. It was awesome, another similar experience on the tour was visitng a 'subway' where a prop train crashed, fire set off then it flooded, this was not a screen and could be seen around us. We quickly went on another ride, got soaked then headed home. On the way home we dropped by the main Hollywood strip again, which was nicer than nighttime but still not as amazing as you'd expect. We jumped in a cab and headed home. Our cab driver was a character as he said he drives to meet and talk to people. He was a student from Tanzenia who had finished and was just living out his visa until he needed to head home to start a big job. If he was genuine he was really cool, or maybe a good con artist as we booked him in the next day and gave him a generous tip. He said how he supports a village at home and provides systems where they get power and water. He spoke genuinely and although sounded a bit far fetched we like to believe he was genuine. We then holed on our plane for a 14 hour trip to Seoul. 14 hours is a long time on a plane.

We are in Seoul for a 24 hour layover and the airway puts up people on a layover in a motel and feeds them. We had a nice and much needed sleep are are just walking out the door to have a look around.

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