After a 4 hour flight from Tokyo to Beijing; a three hour wait at Beijing for my connecting flight and then a 12 hour non stop flight to Los Angeles and then to cap it all a one hour wait for my shuttle to pick me up...I was weary and my body clock was shot. I'd just had a 36 hour day. I had slept a bit on the jumbo jet... but... I was wide awake at 430am this morning. My motel room was expensive for what I got: $72 and I couldn't even have the satisfaction of a long night's sleep.
And lost in Venice by 11am. Walking the wrong way down Venice Boulevard for well over a mile, heavy bag over my shoulder and me pulling an even heavier case behind me. Of course I eventually caught a bus and got there in the end. But the beach was shrouded by a gloomy mist til well gone 1pm.
Venice beach is not what it used to be. It used to be bohemian, a centre for beatnik and the sixties culture. It is supposed to be arty, zany, bright, youthful, with roller skaters and cyclists and a beach culture.
I expected lots of quaint little cafes. NO. Now it is a mile or more of street vendors selling cheap jewellery, cheap non-art and cheap tacky clothes. And the atmosphere is sordid and nasty and angry. There was even a guy advertising 'kick my ass for $1'. And he was being serious. There are more homeless, more down-and-outs here than there were in Beijing. And I do not feel safe.
It may be called colourful but it has a feeling of hopeless resignation. I'd much rather be in Beijing.
Tomorrow I will escape to see J. Paul Getty and Queen Mary and Naples and I will sort the bus I want to take over the Mojave desert to Las Vegas - now that's one place that will not disappoint me... surely??
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