We finally arrived at our hotel in North Hollywood and were keen to experience LA, we managed to make our way by train (the people on public transport are always interesting) to the Staples centre in the hope of seeing a basketball game. We lined up in the ticket line and when we finally got to the front and asked for the cheapest tickets available they told us they were $240 each so we opted against this and had dinner and a few drinks at the LA live bar across the road. After dinner we were heading back to the train station past Staples centre when a strange looking man asked us if we wanted tickets, four of the boys bought tickets off him for $60 each but Jesse and I didnt go becuase he only had 4 tickets and we have other opportunities to see games. The next day we went to universal studios and none of us knew what to expect so we were pleased to discover there are awesome rides and tours and we ended up spending the whole day there and still didn't want to leave. They have digital screens that show how long the wait is for each ride so you can decide which order to do them in, great invention. The poeple here though are very rude and will blatently push in front of you so you quickly learn to be assertive. All the public toilets in Hollywood have pull out disposable toilet seat covers in them so you don't have to try and get toilet paper to stay in place over the seat to avoid germs, not sure why Australia doesn't have this yet. After Universal studios we headed out to a bar with a mechanical bull, kareoke night and amazing ribs (which were so big that we all shared one meal between 2). Daz decided to play a trick on the women running the mechanical bull and when he fell off the bull he quickly took out his fake tooth and told the women he lost it, she nearly had a heart attack and was shoccked - very funny. We probably had a few too many drinks that night and the next morning Lachy and the others went on a 4hr driving tour but Lachy fell asleep on the bus and missed most of it (not the best way to spend $60). Jesse and I took the train into Hollywood blvd that afternoon, the stars were interesting but it was packed with people and not to mention the wierdo's that try and trick you into giving them money, we didn't really enjoy being harassed and it was too busy. That night we went to 'put put' minigolf and had a hit in baseball nets like they do in the movies which was awesome. The most confusing thing here is the tipping, everyone who we ask has a different explanation of what to do, some say %10 some %18, it seems if you have a group of 8 or more they automatically add %18 to your bill, also they don't include tax in their prices here which adds to the confusion. Not only is it hard to decide what to pay it is hard to figure out when you are or aren't meant to tip. On our fourth day we moved from North Hollywood to the Sheraton park at Anaheim. We went shopping and the assistents would come up to you and if they find a size or anything for you you have to tip them, very annoying. It is easy to see why there is an obesity problem here, the food is so large, fatty and cheap, you can get 50 chicken nuggets at Maccas for $9.99 CRAZY, not to mention how cheap the alcohol is. Another confusing thing is that there are three types of $1, they have bills, silver coins and gold coins. The most annoying thing is the 1c coins, everything has strange prices and if it is $1.18 you actually have to get all the 1c coins out. On our fifth day here we had to get up at 6am to get to disneyland early however there were soo many people who were already there and we soon learnt that new years eve and new years day are not the best days to go to disneyland but we did what we could to get on rides. The first morning we had a 'magic morning' pass which was meant to allow us to get in 1hr earlier than anyone else to go on rides, this would have been great except that we soon found out we were not that special and that nearly everyone else had these passes as well. The first 2 rides we lined up for where shut down due to technical diffulties and majority of the other rides don't open until later so we had a bad start to disneyland (I think our expectations were too high from Universal). The rides are pretty basic and it is meant for younger kids so we found it boring. Across from disneyland is another park called 'California adventure' which was much better and had aweseom rides we also went to an Aladdin musical show which was great. New years eve night we decided not to stay at Disneyland becuase it was too packed and we went to an all you can eat bar. New years day we slept in after our night out and then went to Denny's diner for lunch and back to disneyland for photos with Mickey and then to 'California adventure for some more rides'. There is another park around here that the locals have recommended to the boys so they are there at the moment while Ange and I have a look at some shops and I try to get a phone card. Our first experience with Walmart was great - they sell pretty much anything (even a gun senction). Tomorrow we all head to vegas so there is only 3 more days with the group until they leave and we are on our own. Sorry to ramble on with the blog but we have had so much planned for the first 10 days and then it will get shorter. Hope everyone is well xoxo