Day 5 - The Wanderer's Life

Day 5

Where we find a medic, who brings us for Italian and ice-cream, and we experience airport life.  

Checking out of Banana Bungalow on our last day in LA was a pretty underwhelming affair. We handed in our sheets and keys, then stowed our luggage in their storage area (the security of which was a little questionable) before bumming around a bit in the lobby. Jieqi and Kenneth got around to some foosball. To save everyone’s egos I shan’t say who won/lost, but there were some impressive shots made from Jieqi’s end.

Match of the Century.

After the exciting match we headed out into the LA sun, detouring to a local mall called Beverly Center, hoping to find some entertainment there. It was a pretty long walk (though nothing compared to our little hike in Day 2) which did not reap much results. A little disappointed—and with Kenneth berating Jieqi every step of the way—we headed back down the road to the familiar Grove. Across the street from it was a row of department stores and markets, and at the end of that row was Andre’s, a cosy Italian restaurant serving up authentic-tasting pasta and rich, creamy gelato.

There we met up with Dion, a friend I first met while in NS, back when we were both serving in 35 SCE. Dion was studying at USC, and he graciously came down to meet us and show us around. We tucked into delicious servings of spaghetti slathered with meat sauce with a side of crisp garlic toast.

Half-eaten pasta. No, it wasn't served like that.

Dion then taught us the wonders of Uber and took us just outside Downtown LA. We walked into an unassuming ice-cream shop which sold ice-cream made by pouring ingredients into a tub then pumping liquid nitrogen into the mix. They had a few flavours ranging from basic Dutch chocolate to Thai tea and birthday cake. The ice-cream was smoother than normal ice-cream and tasted quite refreshing, despite its richness.

Ice-cold and ready to roll.

We followed Dion around some more and made our way to Little Tokyo, a small dining/shopping district in LA which featured Japanese food and goods. A very excited Kenneth ducked from store to store, but came out of each empty-handed, claiming that the items weren't 'Japanese' enough for him. Despite his chagrin, the architecture surrounding Little Tokyo was beautiful and photo-worthy. I snapped up a few shots before we decided to move on with our tour.

Very Asian indeed.

Next we went for beer at a tavern specialising in German beer. I ordered something called a Bitburger, which the waitress recommended. It tasted strong and a little too bitter for my taste, but I managed to finish it. Jieqi, Kenneth and Shaun ordered German hotdogs which looked amazing. We lingered on for a bit until everyone started feeling a little restless, then left just as the place was about to get rowdy.

Oo shiny.

Our last stop for the day was the Arts District, which looked really run-down, though Dion swears its hipster as heck. Most of the buildings in the district were adorned with impressive works of graffiti art. Moses claimed to have spotted the signature of a famous artist he knew, though I didn't really catch his name.

Step aside, A2 paper. Here comes giant wall.

We went into a warehouse which reminded me of a more hipster version of Singapore’s Scape. There wasn’t really anything there that we wanted to buy but I did find a mural containing Finn from Adventure Time. Outside on the trash heap was another cool graffiti portrayal of Finn.

Someone must have stolen Finn's Finn cakes.

The obligatory goodbye group shot.

The other guys were all getting tired, so we bid goodbye to Dion, who was returning to his campus for some Singaporean event. The rest of us argued a bit about how to get home, eventually settling on Jieqi’s suggestion to take the Metro. We took a train and bus and made our way back to the hostel, where we lounged around in the ‘party room’ till late night.

Around this time some of Banana Bungalow’s staff came down to the party room to do exactly what the room was for—party. The loud music was our cue to get out of there, so we called a cab, got our stuff together and made our way to the LAX.

We managed to find some food over at the airport which, by portion alone, was enough to keep me going. The paucity of amenities outside of the departure hall led me to a deeper appreciation of Singapore’s Changi Airport, and we were resigned to sleeping on the chairs which lined the entrances of the terminal.

Have you ever seen so much nothing?

Eventually the lines for Alaskan Airline’s check-in and bag-drop opened up and we were well on our way into the Departure Hall. Administrative processes for domestic flights were a lot simpler compared to International ones, so we managed to get through without a hitch. The Departure Hall had more amenities compared to the terminal, so we got breakfast at Ruby’s Diner, which served up tasty egg and cheese muffin sandwiches, as well as fried diced potatoes.

Food makes everything better.

Before long, it was time to get onto the plane to Seattle, but that’s another story for another time. Here’s hoping all the DigiPen OIP guys got to Redmond safe. Have a great Summer Semester!