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Published: July 16th 2008
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Bike riding along the strip
Becca loved the houses and it was great to get outside in the sunshine. Blogger Dougo ...And so the next great Bec and Doug adventure got underway with a long haul flight from Bangles (Dhaka, Bangladesh) to LA with a 6 hour stopover in Honkas (Hong Kong). Twenty two hours of our lives gone forever. The up side came in the form of a great hostel in San Pedro, south west of Hollywood. The YHI San Pedro Hostel was a converted army barracks on the edge of the Angel Gate park, overlooking the Korean Friendship bell and the bay. Yes it was a mile from everywhere touristy, but it was quiet and had a great view.
We spent the first day just getting our bearings in San Pedro and trying to get over the jet lag. We became experts at using the Metro bus service which departed from directly behind the hostel. Only problem was it only ran every hour.
On the 2nd July, we decided to head to the trendy shores of Manhattan Beach. We couldn´t actually find a way to catch the bus there. After 2 hours we got to Hermosa Beach, the next one along, and were surrounded by bronzed blondes, surfer wannabies and girls wearing very
little. Beach volleyball nets lined the shore and being the school holidays, there was beach volleyball camps, junior life guard camps and Camp camps.
Coming from Oz, where we have the best beaches on the planet, Vermosa and Manhattan beach wasn´t anything to write home about. Bec and I felt the same about the Caribbean last year. If you don´t know what a beach is, then WOWEEE!, otherwise it´s just an average beach.
We hired a couple of bikes for 10 bucks an hour and rode along the beach towards the famous Manhattan pier. It was really interesting to gawk at all the million dollar real estate that looked out onto the beach. What some people view as tasteful boggles the mind, but Becca found her favourite, a nice narrow number with dark wood and biege rendering.
Manhattan pier was a bit of a let down. The Marine Centre was closed and the cafe was a pretty dodgey affair. What totally blew us away was the view down the beach. Past all the lifeguard towers and sun bathers, beyond the volleyballers and surfers, standing out like a sore thumb was a big, huge, massive Chevron petroleum refinery.
A beautiful beach view
Yes that is a Chevron Oil refinery. WHAT THE???? Who in their right mind would allow such a totally outrageous eyesore to be constructed right on the beach?
We rode our bikes up to have a look to make sure that it was really there and it was enormous. Stretching easily 500 m along the shoreline. The other weird thing was the fact that people had built their million dollar beach condos right up to the fenceline of the plant. Crazy. Oh and by the way, there was another big plant at the opposite end of Vermosa beach. Never in Australia would we stand for it. It would be like plonking a bloody chemical treatment plant on Bondi or a sewerage out flow on Torquay.
Besides getting rediculously sunburnt coz we didnt reapply our sunscreen, the day was totally enjoyable.
The next day, we decided to bypass all the glitzy screen crap and do what LA is really all about - The THEME PARKS. Three hours and four bus changes after we left the hostel we arrived at Knott´s Berry Farm. This was my first taste of roller coasters and being the middle of the week, the only had to deal with YMCA camp day
trippers and a few adults who had the day off. Unfortunately we didn´t take our camera coz we didn´t know what the go was with entry and lockers and stuff so no pics I´m afraid. But we went on every single roller coaster including the awesome wooden coaster the Ghost Trail and the legs dangling Silver Bullet. We had an absolute ball and didn´t have to wait any longer than 15 minutes for a ride which apparently is unheard of.
It was a great way to end our stop over in LA before heading to Miami and then onto Lima, Peru.
Hostel in San Pedro
Manhattan Beach
Lots of buses
Knott´s Berry Farm
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