Ok, so I've been back in Vancouver for a little while now, but haven't had time (or just haven't done it) to post. Sorry about that. Anyways, photos are now mostly going to have to wait until I get back home, and then finish up the blog.
I will, however, elaborate on what I've been doing since I left.
The Vegas Strip which I visited on the 9th (wow, so long ago) was pretty impressive. There are so many hotels, and each of them has their own little theme. I'm still in awe at how many rooms there were though - I still think that there's no way in hell that they could fill all of them. Apparently one of the hotels has just built another building with another 5000 rooms in it. I don't think there's 5000 hotel rooms in all of Adelaide. Also, 3 of the biggest hotels are being pulled down in the next 6 months for rebuilding.
It's a crazy, crazy place. The Venetian is pretty nice (tries to capture the essence of Venice =P) and there's Treasure Island, which has a bunch of ships and stuff; the Stratosphere, which has a big tower out the front; Excalibur, which is castle-like (almost looks like a Disney castle); New York which has a statue of Liberty and a bunch of building like that of New York (no World Trade Centre though); Paris, which has an Effiel Tower and an Arc.... something that I can't remember the name of; and there's heaps of others too.
Yeah, kinda overwhelming.
Anyways the 10th I went to the Grand Canyon. Woke up at 5 am for a 5:45 am pickup down the road. It was scary that I walked past casinos which had people still gambling at that time. So I sat down where I was meant to be picked up and waited... until 6am and noone had shown up. So I rang the company. I was told that I was "rescheduled" and that my tour was now tomorrow.
... what? They rescheduled me, didn't tell me, and asked if it was ok that I went tomorrow, when I'd been there at 5:45am. I couldn't make it the next day, and told the guy so, so he said he'd "See what he could do for me" and sure enough, 5 seconds later, told me that there was another bus, just down the road (a block away). I went there, and it wasnt there. Rang him again and he said he'd been mistaken, and that it'd be there in 5 minutes. 15 minutes later I ring him again, and he said it'd be there in 2 minutes. Almost 10 minutes later they call me, and say the bus is there, and that I was at the wrong spot. In fact, the right spot was where I'd been waiting in the first place.
So I eventually got on the bus. The tour was awesome. The guide we had was really good, so much so that I didn't mind her not-so-subtle hints for tips because the "Tipping culture" is different in Vegas. She was the first woman bus driver in New York before moving to Vegas to do tours. I visited the South Rim, and it was awesome (almost made up for the stupidness of the morning).
It was funny when she almost left someone behind at one of the stops. She counted and everything, and had started driving away before someone stopped her and told her there was one missing.
Anyhow, the Grand Canyon was spectacular and amazing. My photos really don't do it justice, but one day I'll go back with a better camera and take better photos. No idea how I can describe it other than that =P
The next day (Friday) I bussed out of Vegas, to LA again for 6 hours before an overnight bus to San Francisco. Turns out that shopping centres close at 8 on a Friday night, and there's nothing to do. So I ended up spending 4 hours in the LA Union Station reading.
Bus to San Francisco was overnight, but ok. This bus driver actually did leave someone behind at our stop.... at 3am at a Burger King. It was pretty dodgy, some old lady tried to get on the bus when she wasn't a passenger (apparently she was on one of the other buses). The bus driver left, and about 10 minutes later, stopped, and turned on the lights. Started walked back on through the bus before saying "There was someone sitting there wasn't there? A big black guy."
...whoops. So he turns around and goes back. It would've sucked for the guy that was left behind. Stuck at 3 am in the middle of nowhere. Bus driver got a little defensive when he let the guy back on the bus, but the guy took it well enough I guess. This bus driver counted too, so apparently bus drivers can't count =P
Got to San Francisco at 6:30 am, and tried to find my hostel. I had the name and address, and a general idea of where it was, so I figured I would have no problem finding it, just pick up a map from the bus terminal and find it.
Unfortunately the bus terminal was closed, but I still kinda knew where to go, so I started off in that direction, and managed to pick up a tourist map on the way. Unfortunately once more the street wasn't on the map - turns out it was a little side alley which was too small to fit the name on it (Isadora Duncan Lane). So I walked around a while before trying each of the unnamed lanes on the map in the area - luckily I found it fairly quickly after that, but not after walking for half an hour more than I needed to.
The hostel was really nice (called the Adelaide Hostel if anyone is planning on going to SF). They checked me in at 7:30, and even gave me the bed right away - which I gratefully took and fell asleep on immediately.
Later in the day I met up with Anna and Yu Heng, and we went to Alcatrez. The audio tour was apparently award-winning, and it was actually pretty good. The prison was kinda cool, and there was a little boy who was kinda cute, asking questions and stuff. The gift shop had a couple of amusing items though. You could buy a rock, which was formerly a part of the prison, which was a little stupid (it really was just a rock in a box). They also sold "Extreme Dark Chocolate" which I kinda regret not buying. Extreme Dark Chocolate sounds cool =P
We then went to Fisherman's wharf, tried the chocolate place that I forget the name of (it's Ghiradhelli or something?) and was the uber curvy street thingo. Also got my Zune that night (after 11 pm). I'm using it at the moment, and I'm enjoying it, pretty much what I expected it to be =P
Sunday I biked over the Golden Gate Bridge, which was good. Hard work, but good. Got to a touristy town which was touristy, and that's about it.
Monday I went to Berkeley, which was not quite as impressive as Yale, but still pretty good. Saw Yu Heng and Anna again (for the last time), and got a hair cut.
Tuesday I walked around SF, went to Chinatown which was really big, took photos, went to the Asian Art Museum, and yeah, not much. Took the train to Seattle that night.
The train was a little interesting. Got on and had a seat next to a couple of red-necked. Both probably around 30-40, and had been on the train for a little while already. The woman had a magazine, at which point the guy started to go on and on and on about how much he liked the butt of one of the models. Who did he think cared? =P Then at some point the conversation got on to bridges, at which the woman proclaimed "I once had sex under the London Bridge." Huh?
Anyways, the train took a little while. Had to stop for 2 hours because the track was broken. But we went through hills and snow again, so it was pretty and such. It was a 24 train ride in the end, which wasn't too bad, but I got into Seattle at about 10:30-11pm.
Checked into the hostel (The Green Tortoise Hostel - another rather good hostel), for that night.
The next day I wandered around Seattle trying to buy stuff. Didn't find much really, but I did end up getting bored and going to the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). It was one of the better ones I'd been to, a few really interesting and cool pieces, so I quite enjoyed it.
The night I didn't do much, got on a computer at the hostel and chatted for a while. It was comedy night, which meant there were a bunch of local stand-up comedians around.
... they were awful. Half of their jokes were greeted by silence, and it was rather pitiful. Saddened me immensely.
Friday I walked around a bit more, and got on the bus to Vancouver. This wasn't as eventful as my other bus trips, got across the border without hassle this time and yeah, got back to UBC.
Good to see everyone again and such. Bummed around residence on Saturday, and went to see a movie at night (Juno - which was quite good for the type of movie it was, and I kinda enjoyed it, although it wasn't really my type of movie).
Sunday I went to church, went to the city for a little while, and had my little farewell dinner at a place called the Eatery. Dinner was nice, the company and the food was awesome. It's a Japanese place which isn't entirely Japanese. Kinda a 'hip' place, and yeah, the food was good.
I had a Deep Fried Mars Bar (so I'm officially going to live a couple years less than I was formerly), which was actually surprisingly good, and edible. Definitely needed the ice-cream that came with it though. But yeah, definitely wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.
That brings me to today. I didn't really do much. Packed for most of forever, closed my bank account, and walked around UBC for the last time. I'm going to go around, have a chat to a few people in a little while, before I leave for Japan tomorrow. Have to leave here in the morning for a 2pm flight.
So yeah... that's the end. Should tidy this up and go now...
Hopefully will post a little bit from Japan. Talk to you all soon (and see most of you soon too).
Justin =)
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10 comments:
BOOM!!!
Um my brains still digesting all that info so I can't make any witty comments :P Sounded like you enjoyed yourself and did lots of things so thats good :) Deep fried anything is a must try doilet toilet.
I (finally) get to go home to Melb tomorrow too :) Coincidink.
Bought a new dress btw hehe.
nooooo... I haven't even read the post yet, but I didn't get first comment, so I'm not sure if it's worth reading...
(by the way, über cheap textbooks. I bought Rudin 1 for S$20.25, when Amazon is selling it for something like US$160 (in hard cover). That's awesome.)
(doilet toilet??)
Woo, double post. The first post was need immediately to get it off the silly '1 comments' thing. I'm not sure why Google with all of their brilliant engineers can't write a small bit of script for the sake of good grammar.
Berkeley is the flagship campus of the University of California (although UCLA and UCSF are pretty good too, i think).
And Arc de Triomphe? Also, Alcatraz.
I'm so not buying that she was the first female bus driver in NY.
Your hostels had cooler names than the ones I stayed in...
I kinda regret not buying 99% Lindt in Switzerland (they also sold it in Italy).
Yay deep fried Mars Bar. We should deep fry some at home.
And everyone knows Americans can't count. They also can't spell and have bad grammar. Every single one of them (including their president).
Umm... I'll have the pancakes if Tania doesn't want them.
oops... i missed an 'ed' in that last post.
"ed'd" - the ultimate in silly deaths in Teen Girl Squad. Or it should be now anyway.
Yes, Arc de Triomphe, that would surely be. Since you are jetsetting the world, I guess I'm allowed to boast that I've seen the real one (and there was nearly a motorcycle accident when we were there).
...the shops actually close in LA?
Maybe bus drivers use a non-standard metric.
The little boy asks questions of the audio tour? Or the audio tour includes a little boy who asks questions (big annoying potential), or...?
Über curvy street thingo? I want details, or at least names!
Did anyone ever explain what a Zune was or not?
...rednecks. But then again, what do you expect if you are in America? That would be like complaining about finding Paul Hogan types in Australia*
And...oh look it's the end of the entry. That was sudden after the epic voyage! Enjoy Japan! (and the plane flights)
*it actually wouldn't be at all. Yes, I realise this.
p.s. Do any of us do anything in your comments except whinge?
p.p.s. This counts as a whinge doesn't it? Nooooooooooo...
Woo.. lots of comments.
Whingeing (spelt with an 'e'!) is what happens at blogs. Whatever else would you use them for?
It shouldn't really matter what metric the bus drivers use, as long as it's consistent and maps injectively (or invectively, if you're a spell checker) onto the standard metric?
Hah! I see your "I've been to the Arc de Triomphe", and raise a "I nearly caused an accident while there". (Well, there was no way over the road, and we didn't know we could go under it, so we just ran through it (and that's why Play School does NOT teach good problem solving technique.).)
At the Chateau de Versailles, they had audioguides in 10 languages, including sign language. Hmm...
Them Zune thingys play mp3s.
Do red-necks have red necks?
I can't find anything about an über curvy street thingo around Fisherman's Wharf on wiki, but apparently there's a street performer called "The World Famous Bushman" at Fisherman's Wharf, whose act consists soley of jumping out from behind bushes and scaring people. He purportedly makes US$60,000 in a good year, and has been doing it for 25 years... . When I grow up...
Again...they actually have bushes in cities?
Them Zune things could turn out to be useful - I finally can access my music now! I cleverly put music into the 'protected' part of my USB drive when I came here, but since we are logging on to the Monash Uni system, we have limited user rights - and they do not include the ability to run random programs apparently. So the ability to run my unlock program wasn't there, so no access to private files. Annoying. But now I can. Cool story, huh?
Anyway...clearly there was a way over the road to the A de T, because you took one.
And yes, the metric would matter - if they used some mangled form of the discrete metric, so that the bus had either '0' people or '1' people, then that would spell chaos for passenger collection. That probably fails injectivity, but that's not the point.
What did you get for that assignment/project/thingy anyway?
Did I get whingeing incorrect somewhere? Typical. I was just winging (or whinging) it at the time though...
It strikes me that Brendan and I's ramblings (how are you supposed to construct that anyway, it never looks right) are about equivalent with your local live comedy stuff, and so we should probably stop abrup
Hmm... she said she was the first female bus driver, although she does seem like the kind of person that would embellish the truth somewhat.
However, she did start driving the buses 35-40 years ago I think, so it might be true.
And yeah, we saw someone like that Bushman guy. Yu Heng took a photo, and then the guy started to approach him to get money off him, but he was intercepted by some other guy so we hurried away =P
And the curviest street is... I dunno. But its really windy. I'll get back to you on the name. It's just a section of a street that they put lots of curves so that you can drive down it. The houses on that stretch are really nice. And for some reason lots of tourists (ourselves included) go to take photos of it.
And your ramblings are infinitely better than the standup comedians. INFINITELY =P
ARGH infinity *runs in terror*
Oh hang on, I'm at a maths conference. So I should know all about infinity, right? Or at least not be afraid of it?
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