City of Angels and the Highway to Hell

It’s been a while (like duh) since I last blogged. Honestly, I felt really touched when people asked about my blog (eh when you going to revive it?). It always feels good to know that someone is indeed interested in your life. I shall start with the standard “updating of my life” kind of thing.

Los Angeles

(Seemingly) Artistic photo taken on the way back

 Went to LA with Matthew, Thanh and Syazana. I’m probably the “outlier” in the group – I don’t usually hang out with them. Nonetheless, that didn’t stop us from enjoying a great time by ourselves. One thing that make groups click is the synergy and spontaneity. While plans should still be made to ensure we do not waste too much time milling around, this doesn’t mean plans can’t be fluid. I must applaud them for being so spontaneous (read Syazana, queen of spontaneity) and providing so much fun. Yet, we were still able to hold some deep conversations which I appreciate a lot as well.

One thing about me planning for trips is this perpetual fear that the itinerary is too boring/tiring. I like it when people show their own desires for the trip – sometimes the word “anything” is quite irritating. I just like this “confirmation” that people are enjoying themselves and by filling the itinerary what they requested is probably the most obvious way to get this confirmation. For instance, Matthew specifically requested to take some photos of some buildings, and Syazana suggested with not coming with 3 of us to Six Flags because she didn’t feel like it. There’s the balance of compromise and assertion, and I didn’t really need to worry if I was over asserting myself and not letting my travel partners have a say in what they do.

It was an interesting trip, which saw us going to Joshua Tree Park, and staying at an AirBnb house that’s in suburbs. The 10-km hike around the Lost Horse Mine Trail is particularly interesting, but not because of the scenery – there were definitely vantage points where we saw just HUGE pieces of land with nothing but sand / rock on it (the only “structural” highlight was an abandoned mine, which was not really inspirational a little bit). What was more interesting is how we walked, and chatted, and simply spend time with each other. It’s basically: even if you are in a middle of a desert, friends (rephrase: the right friends) will make even the most mundane places / task interesting.

Probably one of the few interesting things in Hollywood
*Fanboy*

The owner of the AirBnb house was super friendly, and the accommodation was furnished beyond our expectations. Furthermore, we were allowed access to the kitchen and most of the food there was “free for all”. As it was my first time in an Airbnb, I had no expectations; but they seriously raised the bar of what Airbnb accommodation can provide. Airbnb seems like this: In giving up your freedom (privacy), you gain additional financial freedom as well as social interaction with different people from all around the world. While I don’t foresee Airbnb coming into Singapore homes anytime soon (in fact the later it launches in Singapore the worst it will get as the size of our house is inversely proportionate to time), the idea behind Airbnb is pretty simple, and effective. 

Death Valley

View from Wildrose Peak - second highest point

Death Valley trip was the last trip of the year with my room mate. It could have been the same quartet (me, my room mate Wouter, Sean and Yoshi, a Japanese) but Yoshi couldn't make it. So we got the next best "alternative", Kent, another Japanese, and to add it up Kent and Yoshi are pretty close! 

It's the longest drive, furthest destination, and highest point I have ever been while in US. Death Valley presented a new sort of "challenge" and of course more types of view. Spectacular in terms of sheer mass, and variety - from white crystalline salt to brown barren rock to green shrubs. This is in contrast with Yosemite, which had more vegetation and was more mountainous.
There are other interesting facts about Death Valley that you can read up, and hence I shall not bore you with them (irony intended). However, Death Valley is a place where either you really like it, or you will find it boring. I heard some "bad reviews" about this place, and while it is indeed not somewhere where you can have a laundry list of "things-to-do", I enjoyed myself pretty much while in Death Valley!

Pretty-sight-on-arrival. By the time we reached the motel it was dark. 

The main highlight of this trip though, wasn't the 8.4 mile hike up (add in strong winds which felt as though if you were to jump off the ground you would be displaced horizontally by the wind) but rather the extremely exciting test of wit, adaptability and skill of changing a flat tire and finding a replacement one.
Changing the tire was the simple one, in fact I was surprise as to how intuitive the task actually is. However, because the spare tire was a "doughnut" - it is meant for you to bring your car to the nearest tire shop to get it replaced, we had to find a tire shop. And in the middle of a desert in Nevada, there's not many places with a tire shop. Furthermore, because our Jeep is a very new model (it has a tire specification of P205/70R16), many shops did not stock - even Walmart. And we went all the way to Pahrump only to find that the shops didn't stock, and camped in some random hotel/casino, and then made our way to Las Vegas just to change our tire. And because they didn't have the exact tire specifications, we had to settle for something like P205/70R15 and change both front tires because we can't have a lopsided drive back. And I had to drive at 40 mph (~64 km/h) because that's what was recommended for the doughnut, any higher we have to probably use manpower. Funny thing is, I got so used to driving at 40 mph the moment I had the new tires I was "cruising" at such slow speeds. And now I'm trying to claim money back, but Citibank nor Enterprise were willing to reimburse the $270 ):
But then again, am so glad I'm back in Berkeley.

The flat tire...
Disclaimer: All 4 of us assisted in whatever way we could. And I did the cranking of the tire too, just that because I took this photo I obviously wasn't doing the task xD