Well, for my last full day in Los Angeles and by extension of my trip, I extended my stay in the hostel by one more day.  No, I did not delay my trip by one more day but rather, as I had to be at the airport only late at night, I felt it was pointless to check out early and the hostel does not allow early check outs.

For the whole day, did some swimming and lazed around but did not go shopping or even sightseeing.  The reason is simply because it takes a long time to get to downtown and back and since my hostel is near the airport.....

Met a girl from Chile, hit it off quite well but well, too bad it was too late. 

The journey back to Singapore was uneventful.  As for my thoughts, all I can say is I heard the lyrics of one song that sums up my feeling.

"...I know, I'll never love this way again..."  Change the words a little bit and you get the words  "...I know, I'll never pass this way again..."  It is true, I will never pass this way again. 

Time to move on to other things.

This is it, the end game. Going back to Singapore within 48 hours.  Well, all I can say is that things have turned for the better.

I have met up with my friend, yes, the one who lost his money and hand phone. The money from his family has been sent and received so he is now financially solvent now.  I have also gone to see Hollywood and the beach at Santa Monica.

I have lots of comments about America and this trip but due to time contraints, cos it is a dollar every ten minutes on thisnet, I will write later when I am more composed and there is sufficient time.

Going to pack my bags soon so unless something crops up, read life and death, the next time my blog appears would be when I land at Changi airport. 

The trip to Los Angeles began rather badly and would only get worse, for my friend.  First and foremost, immediately after my previous blog, he came and told me his money was missing.  A search was made but to no avail.  He wanted to make a police report but the police station was closed and we were about to catch the bus to Los Angeles.  Never mind, we could always report in L.A.

The suspect was a fellow hostelier.  Personally, I do not think so but thne again, I met the hostelier for only a day or two.  Funny how trust can build up so easily when you sleep and eat together.

Anyway, enroute to Los Angeles, I tried to help him out by letting him use my handphone to call his family for help.  At the end of the day, no point because as it was Sunday (Saturday overnight to Sunday), the banks were closed and thus there was no way money could be sent via Western Union.

At L.A, we went to the police station.  The worst thing was that at the police station, I inadvertently broke his bottle of tequila.  So embarrassing but hey, I thought it was all books and that was why it was so bulky.  It was then that he realised that his handphone was missing.  He believed it could have been left behind at the greyhound station.  I went and made a search but to no avail.

The report made, it was now time to plan further.  He decided to sleep outside the station and wait for Monday when the money would arrive at greyhound station western union.  Reluctantly, I left him behind as I did not know where the hostel was and so on.

On arriving at the hostel, tired, dirty and weary, I found that the hostel was linked to a hotel.  Would have free transfer to the airport, rides to town at low rates and best of all, free breakfast and dinner.  Some more htere is a swimming pool to cool off... hee hee....  I could literally die of joy here after such a hard day and finding such an oasis.

I plan to meet up with my friend tomorrow outside the station.  Hopefully his life is better then.  After that, go see the Hollywood sigm, tour the beaches and town. 

After touring the city of Santa Fe and a long walk to a museum that was closed, I finally made it back to the hostel at Albuqueque.  Was tired out but then while having dinner, there was a barbeque session and as a result, ate more than I could possible eat as the people kept plying me with more meat and chicken.

I stayed in a private room that night with my friend at the hostel because it was cheaper since we came together.  Chatted with other hosteliers till late at night, poking fun at each other people's countries before retiring for the night.

Night was uneventful but my sleep was not restful as I kept hearing someone trying to open the room door (it was a private room so no one should be doing that as my room mate was fast asleep).  I got up a few times to look at the peep hole but saw no one.  Eeks.  I started trying to remember how old the hostel was (20 yrs old, according to the staff) and tried to empty my mind of all sorts of imagination.  I thought of waking up my partner and we go check it out but then I felt that he would kill me for being paranoid.

In the morning, I was a bit tired since my sleep was not a restful one but hey, what the heck?  After a good breakfast, I went to the National Atomic Museum.  SInce I did not get to go to Los Alamos, this was the next best thing.  The exhibits were interesting, especially the ones on the Manhattan Project and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The plan now is to go to Los Angeles by Greyhound and well, what will be will be. 

Early in the morning, I took the first bus the Santa Fe.  My aim was to get the Santa Fe as early as possible in order to get to Los Alamos.  Unfortunately, after I checked into the hostel, I realised that there would be no bus back to Albuqueque on Saturday so it would be difficult for me to get back in time to get my bus to Los Angeles.

I met up wtih my friend there and we checked out.  I immediately went to the bus station to get the bus to Los Alamos.  Bear in mind that at this time, it was barely 0830 hrs but there was no more bus until 1400 hrs and if I took that bus, I would miss the last bus back to Albuqueque.

Was a difficult choice but I think I will have to give Los Alamos a miss and just go downtown to do some sightseeing.....

Nothing much to add here.  An uneventful ride from Denver the night before.  Reached the hostel in one piece and made two new friends.  The plan now is to have lunch together and the rest, well, see how.  There will probably be a change of plans since one of them is now going to Los Angeles on Sat and I can always delay my trip for one more day so see how.

So stupid but there is no bus to Los Alamos in the late morning.  Either early morning, as in 4 am plus or in the afternoon by which time when you reach there the museum would have been closed.  So I will go tomorrow and maybe I will extend my stay in Albuqueque though so far, it is very boring.

As there are no beds in San Francisco, I will not go there after all because it seems wierd and a waste to spend all night travelling there just to spend the day looking a gate before taking another ride to Los Angeles.  As a result, I will head south to Albuqueque, New Mexico for the night.

There, my plan is to visit Los Alamos before heading to Los Angeles, my final destination and end of my trip.  Sigh....

Forget what you have seen on TV shows or have read in books on court room drama.  In real life, they are long and boring.  Today, I was walking around, not knowing what to do or where to go when I chanced on the county court.  On the sput of moment, I decided to go in.

I asked for permission to take pictures of the court room from the clerk there but was informed that court was in session but if I were interested, I could go in and take a look.  I asked if they were halfway through or just started and was told that the lawyers were giving their closing addresses but it would take about two more hours.  I was reluctant to go in because I did not know the protocol for going in halfway through a court session but the clerk offered to accompany me so I went.

Guess what, I was the only person there who was watching the court case, other than the clerk of course so everyone turned and glanced at me when I made my grand entrance...  I sat down for a few minutes.

As I have said, forget what you have read or seen about court cases.  The closing addresses were so boring and I thought I saw the judge yawn *snigger* and then the clerk asked if I was bored.  I said yes so I left and was told to go to another court room where they were having arraignments.

What this entailed was a quick trial where the judge would either make a quick sentence, send the patient to jail, supervision or arrange for a trial date.  No juries or anything, just the defendant, lawyer, judge and prosecutor.  There wasn't much of a drama as in teary eyed relatives or major arguments but it was interesting to hear some of the cases.

After that, I went back to the previous court and asked if I could take photos.  After a few minutes wait, I was allowed into the court room to take photos.  I was given free reign to take as many pictures as I wanted to.  I took pictures of everything but I had this temptation to take a picture from the judge's seat, or maybe even pose on the chair.  I resisted the temptation as I did nto know the laws on contempt of court.  I know, probably nothing will happen but if the judge ever got offended and as evidence showed pictures of me making monkey faces from the judge's chair, I am not sure if anyone will try to defend me so, ahem, I passed.

The rest of the day was spent buying some souvenirs and going to the convention centre.  Oh, I did go to church but it was a very short sermon with an audience of four, including me so I left immediately after it ended.

Talk about long bus ride.  It was about forty hours from the time I boarded the greyhound bus at Union station Washington DC to the time I stepped out of the bus at Denver.  Forty hours when one is looking at the net and forty hours when one is actually travelling are two different things.  Forthy hours means two whole nights on the bus.  The journey was unremarkable in the sense that nothing really happened.  Was stuck next to a man who was complaining of his family and legal woes, then occasionally had an old lady sit next to me who seemed a little, well, how to say it, a little off.

Initially, before the bus ride, I had a big meal so did not have an appetite when we stopped at McDonaldś.  Well, I told myself, will have chance to eat.  Unfortunately, after that, there were no more meal breaks.  We stopped at Pittsburg, Columbus, Burlington and Omaha before reaching Denver.  Unfortuantely, all these stops occured at the bus stations and they only sold chips or microwaveable hotdogs and that was all I ate until the last night when we stopped at a diner.

Sometimes, when we see TV shows, like triple X, we see people in a diner by the road side.  Yes, the diner was like that.  That was my first cooked meal in over a day.

Anyway, when morning came, I got off at Denver and walked towards the hostel.  Along the way, saw a McDonalds'so I rushed off to eat.  After that, checked into the hostel.

After some rest and a shower, I went to the State Capitol.  Wow, there was no restrictions in photography so I had a nice time snapping pictures of weverything I saw.  Following that, I went to the bus station and went to Boulder.  Nothing remarkable there.  There was a shopping area and some mountains to see but generally, that was all there is.  Went to the university to see more of the mountains but what the heck, a mountain in this angle looks the same from another angle.

So now I am back in the hostel, about to rest for the day.  Some people ask me why I cam eot Denver as there is nothing much to see except some mountains and a mountain is a mountain anywhere.  Well, this is planned ot be an ädministrative break so to speak to re-charge my batteries and get some proper food instead of running about looking at sights.  Having been living off McDonalds' but now living off bread, butter and McDOnalds'and some fruits.

Plan for tomorrow?  Rest the whole day and then go to church as I saw that there was a service tomorrow at noon.  Will most likely go to San Francisco after all by greyhound on Thursday for one night and then by amtrak to  Los Angeles after that.

Well, it is 8 August US Washington time.  I went out early in the morning to look for a way to Arlington Cemetery.  After loking at all the routes, I decided to take the metro as it was the most convenient.  I bought the day pass so that I could go all sorts of places with the metro.

First stop, Arlington Cemetery.  After a look at a few of the monuments and the houses (including JFK burial ground and Robert Lee's house), I went to see the changing of the guard.  Early don't happen, late don't happen, just as the guards were about ot change my battery in the camera was exhausted.  I had to change the battery in double quick time.

Following that, I took the map and went to Iwo Jima Memorial.  Basically, it was the statue of the marines hoisting the flag atop Mt Surabachi in Iwo Jima.  Unfortunately, the map was not clear in instructions and I went until I got lost.  Honest, the map was wrong, not my eyes cannot see.  Tired out, I stuck out my thumb and I got a ride (of all places to hitch a ride, a cemetery) to the memorial which was all the way across the cemetery.  Saw the Iwo Jima memorial and some chimes from Netherlands.  Tried to hitch a ride back to the metro but this time, no luck.

Next stop was the Pentagon.  No photos were allowed but I was directed to take the stone tablet erected in memorial of the Sept 11 attacks.  A bit of the Pentago was in the background. 

It was back to town later for the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam was memorial.  Yes, the Lincoln memorial is the famous one of him sitting on a chair and the Vietnam war memorial is the one where it starts of low and insignificant but as you walked on down the slope, the memorial got higher and you see more and more names of the people who died in the vietnam war.

Got lost for a while but after that, went to the Navy Yard.  I managed to given my innocent face and entered the Navy Yard even though the museum was closed.  Managed to take a picture of the display ship which was a destroyer.  Dunno where I got the info from that it was an aircraft carrier.....  Could not board the ship as it was closed but there were monuments scattered all around the area so what the heck..

Tried but failed to hitch a ride out of the naval base.  Reached the hostel very tired.  Still have not bought the ticket out of Washington DC.  Will do so tomorrow.