Last few hours in Downtown LA

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I am leaving LA today and while I didn’t get to see any of Hollywood or Beverly Hills, I figure that these places are just glitzy shopping malls for people with more money and time than me. The tourist stretches of the movie industry are a big attraction for some, but I will have to come back another time to find out why. Perhaps if I saw Yodo walking along the road, I too would want jump and scream. Anyway, wherever I went saw small groups of tourists flocking to watch some b grade camera crew just for a glimpse of someone they might think is famous.

My only real contact with this world was a momentary glimpse of the Hollywood sign. I saw it down a little way from city hall.

For anyone who has been here it is pretty obvious that some areas of Downtown LA are dangerous, like any big city I suppose. So I have always been careful when out. But on my last afternoon just before I was about to go up to the bar I was robbed. Before you all fall over and start to panic, let me explain. I was robbed by an ATM. I put my card in, accepted the charge of $1.50 and specified a small amount of money to be withdrawn and then it said proceeding and stated thank you - “have a nice day”. The only thing I got was a receipt. I played around with the ATM for a moment, but as I said this was a neighbourhood that you did not want to look like you were in trouble. So I left it alone and am pretty sure the error was within the ATM. There did not seem to be any box covering the cash out. I will call the bank tomorrow. And all the time I was warned about the people on the street.

Another danger I have to watch out for is the food, especially the cheese and sugar. Everything comes with this weird orange cheddar like melt on it. To help wash it down I mostly order Coke as it is relatively cheap and refillable, but how much sugar am I having each time? I think I should start ordering diet coke, but that just doesn’t seem to be American. At least I am walking a lot. Some people have told me that LA is full of health nuts, I am still very confused with this. I am not sure what healthy food there was except for a few salads and wraps. With all this in mind I warily prepare for my flight to travel for the east coast. Will the food be ever more risky there. Will I be able to buy a simple orange or will they be on planes to Australia?

So far I have found only two extremes on eating out. The first being the typical fast food or coffee shops and the second the high class expensive restaurants. At the moment I am sticking with the first but I will need to find another alternative to stay sane.

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Comments

[Kahne]

stuff
Hey dude, I hope everything is well. I seriously dig this whole map thing on the right. I wanna see more pictures. who agrees?