After a short tour at the Cathedral of our Lady of Angels and a drive past Disney Hall, we had lunch at the California Market in downtown LA. I had a foot-long soft shell taco (w/ chili sauce, lettuce, chicken, tomato) and thick french fries. There I realized I SO loved the thick french fries in Sydney because they came w/ chicken salt. Without the salt, it gets boring too quickly. For the first time, I did not eat french fries down to the last stick in the bucket. I disappointed myself, yeah.
After lunch, we trooped to the Santee Alley, a shopping district in downtown LA that will surely impress Americans who have never found themselves in the crazy shopping havens of Asia like the Yashow in Beijing, Greenhills in Manila or Carbon in Cebu. In US shopping standard, everything is cheap over there. Boots at $20-25 (in fairness, better-looking than what I found in Yashow). Clothes at $10-20, but many of the type that you can find in Greenhills so no thanks. I only walked away with $3 big rings and $1 & $5 perfumes!
What fascinated me was the seeming familiarity of Santee. It was like I walked out of California Market and entered a less-crowded Carbon. Seriously. The big difference I guess is that murky canals are not in sight and people don't spit freely, don't cross the street like color blinds, don't speak Bisaya. You need no sign to know you're treading Mexicano turf. Spanish is thrown around more audibly than English. The gum-chewing ladies you see in movies w/ tight-fitting tops, short shorts, fully-streaked hairs tied up messily, and who speak with a flip of their hand, a sexy, twisty language, and a lot of "You ain't talkin' to me like that!"? Well, they're real. And those glossy-bald, macho guys w/ tight undershirts? Yeah, them too. And those big mamas w/ big boobs, w/ 5 kids behind her? Those rose-cheeked young men w/ unbelievably long noses, longer lashes, lingering stare? All of them!
See photos above :)
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