08 November 2009

Goodbye to the Strange (Unless You Count West Hollywood)

You can't get more LA than this - a trip 3 years ago.

So here it is. My last night in somewhere-not-North-America spent lounging on an idyllic beach in the Yasawa Islands, Fiji. The last 10 days have been the complete opposite of the past 14 months of my life – I lazed around and did next to nothing, a sharp contrast to my usual constant ethnographical explorations and arduous bus journeys. Surveying the beautiful beach spread before me, I remarked to an American pal "There's so much not to do!"

Tomorrow I head to LA, and while not home it is certainly a lot closer than anywhere else I have been. The next two weeks (which I will spend in Hell A, Palm Springs and San Francisco) are the last puny vestige of this nearly year and a half journey around, well, Asia and beyond – a Pacific Rim odyssey that has led me to places I had never even dreamt about. I must admit, this last hoorah has been a highlight – I recommend Fiji wholeheartedly.

Will I miss the strange? The unknown? The exotic, whether it is the whiff of dog meat in Vietnam, a gonging prayer bell in India or the bogan twang of a rural Aussie accent? Absolutely. But am I happy to be heading somewhere that I can get a decent taco, a kiss from S and all of the products I saw advertised on Saturday morning cartoons that weren't available in Canada? Well, yeah. That'll be good too. For a while....

So now, on to my second home of California, and you can dream, on such a Winter's Day, that you are there too....

...minus all the awkward Papa John stuff, of course.

Viva Los Angeles!

4 comments:

Ophelia said...

Your blog is awesome!
I'd love to know how you funded and budgeted for your trip?!

Jonathan at Land, Air, and See said...

This is kind of sad in a way. What's next?!

Pat said...

Yes, what IS next? How will you entertain us followers?

Jessica O'Neill said...

LA is next.... and San Francisco.

After that I will be in Vancouver (and talking about the Olympics et al.) and my favourite sushi, shopping and life stuff....

More interestingly, I have about 100 more articles/photo sets about Asia! S and I are heading to Peru next year so there will be that too....

@Ophelia - Have a look here!
http://www.madnessandbeauty.com/2009/06/aint-no-luck-about-it-violet-dears.html

 
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