When we last saw our intrepid travellers, they were driving away from the SeaWorld parking lot to Mission Beach....
Mission Beach is what you would you expect the beach in California to be like: hot, sunny, warm water, and people having fun. Wayne and I arrive there around 11am. The crowds hadn't really shown up yet, the weather was relatively cool (as is the cruel midday sun, which you will shortly see), and the place was calm. We watched a whole bunch of kids in red swimsuits (a la BayWatch) taking a lifeguard class. There were already a few joggers, and some people rollerblading and biking along the path. We decided to join them, so I rent a pair of rollerblades, and Wayne rented a mountain bike.
We first went north along the shore, but it seemed fairly quiet up there, and soon turned into residential neighbourhood. We turned around and went south. More people, more surfers, more babes. :-) Suddenly, there was a large crowd of people who were gathered together watching something ... MTV's On The Beach! Wayne, who is the expert in these matters, tells me that it was SisQ's Shakedown. Anyways, I believe that On the Beach can appeal to the novice who is not well-versed in these things. ;-)
To keep the path clear, there are many burly security personnel there. People standing the middle of the road staring were asked (actually, told) to find a place on the wall. We found a place on the wall, but only for a few minutes since we had to be back to return our rentals.
After returning the equipment to the rental shop, we walked back down south (our car was parked there anyways). Also, in that area, there were a lot more people swimming, and I wanted to go in the water. I think it was around 2pm at this time, and neither of us were especially hungry (surprisingly, since we only had a bagel for breakfast). Anyways, I got a smoothie (Helena, it was no Jamba Juice, but it was refreshing regardless) and Wayne got water.
I changed and went into the water. Wayne didn't want to get wet, so he sat on the beach. (Wayne has an interesting side story. Speaking of 'babes,' when Wayne spotted the woman suntanning behind him was topless! No one really seemed to notice... perhaps because she didn't fit the standard categories for 'babes': young and slim. Anyways...)
I was excited about going in the water. Up by San Fran, the water is really cold, and pretty much unswimmable without a wetsuit. The water here on the other hand was really nice, and I joined the hundred or so other kids swimming and getting bashed around by the waves. It was really fun. The waves were huge! Did I mention it was fun? :-)
A lot of people were using boogie boards (also called body boards). It's like a minature surf-board (more like a flutter board, really), but instead of standing on top of it, you lie on it. So, I observed that similar to surfing, body-boarders swim out and wait for the 'big wave.' I wish I could have tried this. (I still had hope that we would hit the beach in LA and I could try one there, but it was not meant to be.)
After half-hour or 45 minutes in the water, I came back, and the first thing I said to Wayne was, 'Man, you looked burnt.' And, was he ever! Wearing those cool shades had given him 'racoon eyes' which would haunt him for the rest of the trip. :-) Seriously, the burn was quite bad. Even I got burnt (although it didn't show until my nose felt funny and then starting peeling on Friday), so you can imagine how much sun we got! We said goodbye to the beach and the sun. Next stop, downtown San Diego.
Only once we reached San Fran did we learn that there was an 'Old San Diego' to be seen in downtown. At the time we didn't know, so we headed for the San Diego City Hall (NeverLost could get us there, and we figured it would have to be in downtown.... good guess). Downtown was not very impressive, in our opinions. It's like any standard US small-to-medium-size city. We did, however, find a really nice shopping mall there (it was outside). Both of us thought it was cool. I really liked the pastel colour-scheme, very S. California. We hung out there for a while, bought sunscreen, as well as a kid's watch for Wayne's cousin (whose family we were staying with).
We headed back 'home' ... back to Wayne's relatives' place. Wayne's uncle took us out to dinner at this soup&salad buffet place called ??. It was pretty good, actually. Us two party animals took a night off and had a 'quiet night in with the folks'. Some memorable moments include teaching Stephanie (Wayne's 7-yr-old cousin) blackjack as a way to improve her math skills.
The next morning, Wednesday, we were out and eating at Einstein Bros. at 8am. Wayne also bought some medication for sunburns before we started off. And off we went headed north on I-5 to Los Angeles. There are some interesting things I've noted about our journey up. 1. there is a check-point along I-5 run by the INS (US Immigration). When you get to the front, an INS officer looks into your car (to see if you look Mexican or are transporting Mexicans, I suppose), and then waves you on. We thought it was interesting that the checkpoint is all the way up here. 2. There are not too many Mexicans in San Diego. I have seen way more up here in San Francisco (or at least Palo Alto, where I live). This is surprising since San Diego is right on the border. 3. Once you leave San Diego, there is a stretch of about 15 minutes where there are no housing developments and you feel that you are not in a city. And then the housing developments begin again. Later on, I realized that this is already greater LA. LA is truly huge (and I am remind of that song, "you can travel for miles and never leave LA" don't remember the artist).
All that you heard about LA's freeways are true. It is notoriously crowded, although we didn't see any rude or 'road-raged' people. We also didnt see any city-buses on the freeway (a la Speed). After hitting a bit of traffic, we arrived in Torrance at about 10.30am.
Both of Wayne's cousins were at home. Wei-Jiun just finished her 2nd year at UC-San Diego. Wei-Han, the younger sibling, is planning to join UC-Berkeley in the fall. We ended up not really doing too much in LA. Both of us had seen the sights, we just did family stuff. After lunch, I slept the entire afternoon, while Wayne visited the cemetery. In the evening, Wayne's uncle and aunt took all of us out for dinner. Like I said, pretty low-key. Afterwards, Wayne, Wei-Jiun, and I went to see 'Me, Myself and Irene'. (Thumbs down from me, but it had some funny moments.)
Overall, Torrance reminded me of Scarborough. It is suburbia through and through. We took off the next morning, heading north to Westlake Village to pay a visit to my relatives (it was my turn...) :-)
-- to be continued --
p.