ain't nothing happening here, trip impressions 3

impressions in my last trip

3) Los Angeles

after the week in China I went to LA for some fun and relaxation, family had been in Southern CA for a few days so they picked my up from the airport,

hotel is in the south bay, the same hotel I stayed in about 10 years ago,

"You know", I talked to my wife, walking towards the beach, "this place had nothing changed during the last 10 years."

it's probably a little overstatement, considering that at beach front, you can see houses are being remodeled one by one. But the overall setting didn't change at all, unlike other famous beach places like Miami beach where condos are being setting up like mushrooms, same if not more than the HuaiHai Road in Shanghai.

--------------
after we fight our ways going through the traffic to have dinner at the Hunna Restraunt next to DaHua supermarket off Rt 10, and fight all the way back, I said, "this place is doomed. They have got over 1000 square mile of land and can't even make it a working city. Millions of people have to spend hours everyday burning gas idling on 12-lane highways.

nothing can be more dysfunctional,

and, you know, if you look at Shanghai, its 5 districts, with probably less than 50 sqaure miles, probably are more functional business-wise than LA combined. And, now they have got 5 subway lines. Can't you believe that?"

in a way LA is just like US, we set up too much a table, and don't have enough hands to take care of the shop, a great significant part of society resources went to spend on maintain what we have set out, not much left to make things new. And even in case we do make something new, we quickly run out of demand.

----------------------

the second day, though, my mood is slightly different,

"maybe this is not too bad", I said, "see, the beaches are even better than the best in China, the air is practically sweet", I watched the waves coming and going, "and there are birds, many birds."

----------------------

the third day, I told my wife, "I have got it figured out"

"what?", she looked at me a little indifferently, after seeing too much of my easy excitement,

"well, this will be our retirement town", I declared, "nothing can beat this, this is even better than Hawaii, you don't have to fly to middle of nowhere.

beaches great, air great, weather great,

and this is California, so nobody is going to look strange at you."