No pictures to tell the story

If I have my pictures, it will tell the story of our trip to Los Angeles but the unseen dew has not disappeared from my viewcam despite "hairdrying" it. This is so trying, and with much disappointment, I'm definitely getting a newer, better and affordable digital camera. You hear me, Sharpviewcam!!!

I have many little stories to tell but in a nutshell, we had a great trip. We arrived on 13 March an hour after my Father landed in LAX airport direct from Singapore. And off we took a shuttle bus to the car rental place and got our PT Cruiser and cruised to the lousy hotel that I had mistakably chosen, in an area that I found out later was a crime-ridden part of LA. No wonder for the many sirens we heard in the wee hours of the morning. After checking in, we headed to find a halal eatery which we had selected via Zabihah, and unfortunately the one we chose, Belacan Grill, was closed on that Monday night. So we tracked Halal Grill, but we could not find the place and all of us were famished by then. Luckily we found our third choice, Bilal Cuisine. It was so nikmat when we had the nasi beriyani, naan and all the curries. It was definitely much easier to find halal eateries compared to 18 years ago when my family first came here for a holiday. But the lessons learnt are either to call the eatery first if you have a cellphone or have a few nearby addresses just in case.

The next day, off we drove to Universal Hollywood and spent an entire day there. The evening, I brought my family to my friend Rusini's and Dayan's house in a posh part of LA. So Afzal get to meet his 'old friend' Erisa and their new bundle, Aya.

Our third day was spent at Disneyland LA because Father wanted to revisit the happiest place on earth, the footprints of which he had left 18 years ago. So we went there, and at the end of the day, he was still searching for that one ride he wanted to take "It's a small world" ride to rekindle old memories but my son only wanted the "nascar ride."

The day after, we travelled one and a half hours to the outskirt of San Diego to Legoland. Afzal had a blast there, though I felt that the rides are too gentle, in fact more suitable for toddlers. Knowing my son well, this is his standard for now. It was also Father's 61st birthday and he received an Oscar from Afzal (newly bought from Universal Hollywood, hehe) for being The Best Grandpa and Afzal's very own self-made card. After Legoland, we had dinner at Jamillah's Garden, a halal Chinese restaurant. It was our usual dinner but Father told Mak that it was a six course birthday dinner for him from us. Well, we are happy as long as you are happy, Father!

We woke up late on Friday because we already had three days of theme parks, so it was free and easy today. We had lunch at Toko Rame, an Indonesian eatery, so we got our nasi campur with bagedil, urap and other ala Melayu food stuff. We could not find the mosque that Tahir had checked from the internet, so the men missed their Friday prayers. That afternoon, we headed to Hollywood's Kodak Theatre and Walk of Fame. Rusini and her two darlings met us there and later only Rusini and me had a girl's night out in old town Pasadena, just the both of us.

Off we went to Seal Beach on Saturday, and had lunched at an online friend - Sharifah's and Leland's cosy and lovely apartment overlooking the Pacific Ocean. I also had the opportunity to meet other Rantauan members there. It was a lovely day as Afzal experienced sand sledding on the beach. We went to South Bay Galleria for some shopping after that but we did not get much stuffs.

On the Sunday that we checked out, we drove to Santa Monica Pier, and that's where we got the Bubba Gump's souvenirs and later to Downtown LA again to get more souvenirs before we were stucked in LA traffic even on a Sunday afternoon. Had our final meals at Bilal Cuisine again before our flights back to our respective homes. Of course, Father back to Singapore and us to Alabama.

So until my Sharpviewcam decides not to merajuk, I have no pictorial memories to share. Oh barnacle!