Yujian's Exchange In USA: 3 days into my travelling

Hi all,

I have finally completed 3 days of my 10-day west coast travel. For the past 3 days, i've covered Santa Monica and Hollywood. It has been an easy three days and I enjoyed myself. Well, the 2 places aren't exactly the most exciting places ever but it reaffirmed my theory that media culture has really created more hype than neccessary.

First up is Santa Monica. Santa Monica is most famous for its beaches and its beautiful sunset. Well, i have to agree that its really the first time i've seen the sun set into the sea and it is really quite nice. Unfortunately, its winter season and the beach is empty! yes empty... no hot babes or hot hunks... just no one... nonetheless, I still went to the (world famous) Santa Monica Pier and took some pictures. The other thing that is interesting about Santa Monica is the 3rd street promenade. Its like xi men ding of taiwan and bugis junction of Singapore. The only difference is that it has all the famous US brands like guess, A&F, Victoria Secrets, etc. Here's some pictures of Santa Monica Beach and the Third Street Promenade.

Santa Monica Place

Third Street Promenade

Abercrombie & Fitch

Cupcakes

Sunset @ Santa Monica Beach

Santa Monica Pier

Another sunset

Sun setting into the sea

Sunset with me

Coming back from Santa Monica Pier

The 2nd day was spent on Malibu beach. Malibu beach is another famous beach in the US. Private properties sprawl accross the sides of the beach and trust me, these houses are damn damn damn beautiful. Its not only nicely built but i'm sure its very comfy. The houses extend into the beach and I'm sure the owners can just sit in their house and watch the beautiful sunset. Nonetheless, during our walk along the beach, we realize that most of the houses are empty. Let's assume that the owners are either at work or this is their vacation house. Check out these pics...

the sea!

nice house 1

nice house 2

nice house 3

nice house 4

nice house 5

nice house 6

nice house 7

lying on somebody's deck chair

my legs and the sea

Today was spent in Hollywood... Quite a nice experience I must say. Well, this is afterall the world's movie center. There is the walk of fame, the hollywood sign, the Chinese Theatre, the Kodak Theatre (where the oscars are held every year), and more! Nonetheless, i feel that its just a place that is more or less done up to cater to tourists. The true symbolic meaning of the place probably should be the whole media industry that sprawls the surrounding region. I took the chance to catch a movie in the Chinese theatre to get myself into the movie mood. I watched the show "I am legend" by Will Smith. Its ok i guess. Hmm... Hollywood seriously is a touristy place. All you can see and feel there is more about the history and the development of the media or rather the film industry in US. My opinions of the place is that its just a hub where the script writers, the actors, the producers, the directors and other people involved in making a movie come together... that's abt it...