Malibu, Big Sur & rest of the west coast
On the second cruising day we headed north from LA. Our first goal was to check out Malibu which is just half an hours ride north from Santa Monica via the south pacific freeway. I thought Malibu would be a place with a nice beach bulevard and palm trees growing on the sidewalk. Well, that's not Malibu. Malibu is a long strech of nice beach but the entrances to the beach are rare and most of the beach front is blocked by private buildings thus blocking the view to the sea. The public Malibu pier and the lagoon beach on the north side is the main entrance for the mortals to see the beach. Between the pier and the lagoon beach there is a really great point break for surfers. Unfortunately after the warm waters we've been used to the "cold" water of the west coast did not feel too inviting. We also checked out the shopping mall to see any celebs but the time was not right and I left Malibu with a slight disappointment in my mind. Perhaps we've seen too many great places not to be able to enjoy the good places anymore. Well, at least we might need some time between the places but our schedule now will not allow us that.
Anyway, from Malibu we went to Santa Barbara which is yet another playground for the rich. Instead of entering yet another narrow strech of beach front buildings Santa Barbara offered a town centre away from the beach. The beach and the central pier at it offered a great beach buleward and an excellent jogging ground for me the following morning. The whole city was almost totally rebuilt after an earthquake. When they planned the new city they decided to build the whole city as a replica of an old spanish town. You can see only red tile roofed buildings with neatly decorated white walls with mediterranean balconies and such. It's a really nice place to visit but again it is not exactly for the budget travellers.
The following day we continued the pacific highway 1 and entered a place called Big Sur. It is not really a place or town but just a long strech of coastal road turning and twisting around the mountaneous coast. We we're a bit unlucky on this part of our journey as the fog and clouds from the sea were blocking the best views most of the time. Though I'm not complaining as the narrow and twisting road is like riding a roller coaster. Plenty of fun and occational views were totally worth the time spent.
Big sur is a long ride on the coast and we arrived in Santa Cruz late in the evening. The city was getting dark when we had our dinner. We had to see the famous pier with the fun parks and all in it after the sun was set and the sight was only promising us the good time we would have had there if we would have had more time to spend. If you ever have the opportunity then you should spend a day or two in Santa Cruz as there seems to be plenty of things to do even for a budget traveller.
On our way back south from Santa Cruz we enjoyed yet another night ride on the freeway. The following day we turned away from the freeway and visited the wine country. After seeing a lot of great wine areas I was still amazed by the size of that wine country. The wine itself was not exactly my favourite but after a few tastings you couldn't care less (or be afraid when driving - just kidding!). Anyway, after Carina had her wine and I had my tiny share of the tastings we had a great picnic on the side of the road. The view overlooked a great open ranch in front of us and behind us there were yet another cattle ranch with hundreds of cows. The day was topped with a visit to Los Olivos which was yet another setting for the movie called Sideways.
Cruising the west coast
Now that I've complained about LA and all the cars I'll shock you with the following story. We hired a car for four days to see some parts of the west coast of California. I would have wished to do the tour some other way but the truth is that hiring a car is by far the best way to see the west coast CA.
So, I negotiated the best price for the car hire and considered the options according to our hostels recommendations. We got the car (three hours late - after multiple phone calls to the company - a good example of the service you get in LA) and headed south towards OC. On our way we passed Anaheim but we decided to see Disneyland on our way back from the south. The pacific coastal freeway took us along the coast and through many small surfing and beach towns. The road through the towns was quite tricky to drive as most of the times you couldn't find any roadsigns telling you the way through the narrow streets. I know, as long as you keep the shoreline on your right side you'll be fine but when the road goes up and down the blocks you'll have to slow down at every corner to decide which way to go next (dead ends and one way streets are the problem when driving through those small towns).
The sun was shining and the weather was warm on our way south. The hassle of central LA was easing up and I was already relaxing and enjoying my ride with the brand new 2007 Pontiac. Try fitting me (I drive '89 Micra back home) to the drivers seat of new Pontiac with the powerful engine and automatic gearbox. I can tell you I was really having fun when I stepped the accelerator and the automatic stepped two gears down and the engine roared with a sudden burst of strength. You should've seen me grinning for the next few miles or so.
After a while the freeway got wider and we were wheeling on the northern parts of OC. You could see the change on the freeway even if you wouldn't have known what to expect. The big and expensive cars are getting even more expensive. Was it a Porche you just saw? What the heck is that car on your left? Can you trust your eyes anymore? Is that a brand new Lamborghini? Suddenly my brand new Pontiac feels like an old shopping cart set loose on the parking lot. Man, these people know how to show their wealth.
I've never seen the TV series called the OC so I'm not the best person to tell you how reality differs from the series. I'll tell you the people on Newport pier and the beach around it are not the ones you would call rich. From time to time you'll see a limo, a Lamborghini or some other million dollar car but the rich people doesn't get involved with the common people. They have their own small private harbours and you can see their houses around OC but you're not supposed to get in touch of the ones with real wealth. Atleast that's the way I see it..
The day goes fast when you're having a good time so when we set our course back north it's already getting dark. We're hoping to see the famous fireworks at Disneyland just before the closing time but we're not so interested in the whole fuss around Disneyland itself. Perhaps we're getting a bit old or something. Anyway, it's weekend and the traffic away from the beach is heavy and we're running late. When we arrive in Anaheim and Disneyland we wonder if we missed the whole thing. No, we did not when we sit on the parking lot but the design of Disneyland is genious and we can only see some sparkles in the sky and hear some noise. Oh well, at least we've been there (and didn't care about the over prized fun park anyway).
The way back is just another typical west coast freeway. Four to eight lanes both ways, huge intersections with high rising bridges diverting traffic from one freeway to another. The speed limit is 65 mph and the lanes seem to be narrow when the cars are so huge (the new city jeeps you see in Finland are just like small shopping carts when compared to the ones here in CA).
Los Angeles CA
Los Angeles.. Home of movie stars, Hollywood, movie studios etc. I've heard so many people telling me to stay away from LA. ..but you know, you've seen LAPD and all the movies and how could you resist the temptation of seeing someone famous?
Now that I'm sitting in a comfortable internet cafe and transferring some new pictures I can finally hope to write something nice about LA. We lived in a hostel in Santa Monica, just one block from Santa Monica pier and the beach. There was a shopping district just two blocks up from the hostel and everything I needed was within walking distance. I felt pretty happy living in Santa Monica.
On the second day we took a guided tour around the city and managed to see most of the tourist atractions like the Hollywood sign, universal studios etc. I'm sure Carina like to tell you more about the specific places in the city so I'll cut my story short..
The bad news.. you need a car to move around the city. If you want to get away from LA you'll need a car. If you want to go and buy some food you'll need a car. Everywhere you go and what ever you do you need a car for it. And you can not miss the fact when you're trying to surf around the city in the middle of the chaos of all size of cars. If you add the attitude of people to get your money with only bad service you're getting the point why so many people tell you to steer away from LA.
It's not all bad though. With more money you could afford living in luxury, taking a cab from A to B and enjoying your little private life full scale. There are so many places you can spend your coins and so many people ready to help you with that. Just don't expect getting a ride home when the money is spent. When you're out of $ you're out of luck.
It was great to see the place of the rich and the famous but I'm not going to miss LA.
Food!
What I'm most looking forward to in todays flight is the Toblerone at the airport! The only chocolate you can get in the islands is the terrible British Cadbury, and even that only in a few places. Which leads to excessive overeating when something good is available...
The Fijian resorts all come with three meals a day (no shops), and one very cheap resort served mainly rice. Not even lots of it. We were so hungry we fed ourself with coconut. When there at the next place was a gorgeous buffet for both dinner and lunch you can imagine how we stuffed ourself.
Bula! Fiji
Setting out for the South Pacific, we half expected to find island nations quite similar to each other. Instead we found that the cultures differ more than we could imagine. Before arriving in Fiji I was sure it was gonna be the most "spoilt" and super touristic of our three Pacific destinations. In some ways it is, with Fiji attracting many many times more visitors than Tonga or even the Cook Islands. The images people have of Fiji with styled pools at super styled resorts certainly exist here, and do a good job at keeping hordes of tourists away from other places. But the more budget variety we have to stick to at equally nice beaches often come closer to local villages, and almost nowhere else have we seen life as traditional as in them. The custom of visiting the chief when entering a village is not created for tourists, but reality here and the traditional village with no shops and no money being transfered holds little to entertain the tourist for a long time.
Bula! We travel around the islands on a bulapass and I had my coffee at bulaccino. Bula, bula, we hear a hundred times a day, eventually you get sick of it even when meant well.
Fiji is an island hoppers paradise. After recent accidents with small boats going under, they have made a huge facelift and invested in modern vessles that do a daily route between the different islands of the Yasawas and the Mamanucas. With our pass we could travel as many legs as we wanted and accomodation could be booked on board! With waters as stunning as in the brochures it's easy to see why it has become a playground for backpackers and other tourists. Fast, easy and fun! Elsewhere people tend to stay at least a week at each island, here you can do a new island every day. We chose to see 3 islands in a week, with the last and most expensive Bounty island for only one night. How could I resist a tiny styled coral island with the name of a chocolate bar???
50% of the population is Fiji Indians, so the cities serve great curries and the shops sell traditional Indian attire that would do well in any Bollywood film! The native Fijians are darker than the people in Tonga and the Cooks with wild afro-curly hair and are apparently of Melanesian, not Polynesian origin. The coups of Suva remain very distant in the islands, and as most tourists travel in and out from Nadi, there really is no reason to avoid Fiji at the time. The main island of Viti Levu is very crowded with more than 500 000 people, compare that to the average island village of 500!
Now we are shabby brown-faced creatures with clothes practically unwearable, flying straight to LA tomorrow... I'm sure they will regard us as a different spieces altogether. First thing we do will have to be getting some new clothes before going star gazing! And I'm so definitely not gonna reveal who I hope to spot in West Hollywood... ;-)
New pictures!
After months of literally no internet connections, we have now spent hours uploading our pictures the last days here in Nadi. By some time today they should be finished, so go and take a look at what the islands in the Cooks and Fiji look like!
Aitutaki
Seven years ago Carina told me about a place called Aitutaki. I was like - Mmm.. What? I didn't understand a thing Carina kept telling me. Something about lagoon, water like nowhere else, swimming with unbelievable fishes and snorkling for a day and getting your back burned for years to come. What could I say? I guess I said as something like "Ok.. Right!"
Well, there was this time many years ago when we started planning our round the world tour. One of the first places that ended into our planned route was Cook Islands and Aitutaki. I was exited to see the place Carina kept telling me about. Could it be such a great place or was it just a nice place among the other great places in the world?
Now that I've seen Aitutaki and the lagoon in it I have to admit I've been left breathless. In Tonga we had some great snorkling with beautiful coral and strange fishes. I've seen beautiful places before in my life and been snorkling and diving in a places most of the people can only dream of. What makes Aitutaki and the lagoon so special, and a jewel amongst the most beautiful places in whole world, is the lagoon. Yes, the plain and simple sea water in the lagoon! It's pretty difficult to take pictures that gives the proper justification to the color of the lagoon but I can tell you that when you see it your self you'll know what I mean. Try to think of taking a boat ride through a lagoon and awe the changes in the colors of the water. It can be everything from bright blue to almost neon green and the clearness of the water is amazing. The green water you'll see from the boat will make you wordless. As you dip your head under water and see that the water is still green but at the same time so clear that you can probably see hundred meters in front of you. The sun will play on the coral and will ignite the colors of the fishes in the clear water underneath. And this is just the beginning.
When you surface on one of the motu's and take a look at the bright white coral sand beach you'll have to adjust your knowledge of paradise. The water surrounding the motu is clear as far as you can see. When you look at the horizon you'll see the huge waves string to the reef front and it seems like the white wall of foam will emerge on the sky as the horizon gets lost where the sea and sky meets. The green vegetation with the palm trees will stay in your mind for ever as you stroll along the beach. You're feel like crying as you inhale the beauty of the paradise. Welcome to Aitutaki.
