Howdie!

Well i know this is quite a strange thing to do, but i am going to write this entry even though i am back home. i tried several times to update my blog whilst i was in the US but no where seemed to have internet. And at some point i want to print off my blog entries so i want to still update this even though i am prettys sure no one is going to read it! Here goes anyway....
Lee and I flew into LAX after a ten hour flight, very tired having not slept at all. We then rented our car which was a Hyundai Sonata which we called 'Sunny'. We then decided to drive straight to Vegas which took about 6 hours, so we were very tired when we arrived. We stayed in the MGM Grand which is a really nice hotel (one of the ones in Oceans Eleven) We got to our deluxe room (the one with the tv int he mirror) but found that it absolutely stank of smoke! so we got moved to a room (without TV in mirror) but had a really amazing view of the strip on the 25th floor (our first room was on the ground floor). we had trouble adjusting to the lack of sleep and time change, going from 11 hours ahead of the uk in Fiji to 8 hours behind the UK, so ended up sleeping for most of the first day! the next two days we just spent our time doing some gambling (on racing horse machine) and i liked playing blackjack on the machines as you can play for .25 cents a go as opposed to the tables where at least 1 dollar a go. the tables were generally more expensive to gamble on.
The strip itself is unreal! the best way to describe it i think is khao san road but just more expensive (and with more naked women but i think less transexuals, as far as i could tell anyway). There are a lot of Latino people constantly flicking the 'girls' cards at you all the time. Some of the hotels are actually quite 'beautiful', the venetian, bellagio and caesars on the inside. the bellagio had beautiful glass arrangements of flowers on the ceiling and a giant conservatory . the venetian has an indoor canal with gondolas and the ceiling is painted like the sky. We also had dinner in the Paris which was lovely. Generally all you see in vegas is girls and sex advertised all over the place all of the time. it was really fun just wondering the strip as there was so much to see, hotels, casinos, fountains, the coco cola and MnM shops, all very tacky. It is weird because some people dress up a lot, and other people look like they are homeless!
On friday we drove 100 miles to William, passing by the Hoover dam. unfortunatly lee had to do all the driving as i wasnt able to be put on the insurance. the landscape changed an awful lot in that time, vegas being very brown and barren and hot, the grand canyon area being much cooler and covered in forest. we then drove another 100 miles to the grand canyon national park. the canyon is totally amazing, it doesnt look real, like a fake backdrop in a tv programme. luckily the weather was overcast and not hot as we decended the Bright Angel path down the canyon. i'm not really sure how to describe the canyon as i know my words will not be able to describe it adequately. We did a 3 hour walk down to the first rest station. i thought it would be more rugged but i hadnt allowed for fat americans (my god they are huge) so you drive right up to the edge of the canyon. Saturday night we ended up driving about 600 miles back towards LA It was labour day weekedn so really struggled to find anywhere to stay.
We stayed in LA one night, and there is only one way to describe LA - absolute dump. it truely is a horrible place. WE went to beverly hills , bel air, which were nice, but the rest of LA was s***. we did the hollywood boulevard, which has the mans chinese theater and the stars on the pavement, but that is all there was to see. The next day we decided to escape LA and drove for a couple of hours up to Santa Barbara, a cute coastal town which was really really pretty. definitly much more what you imagine California to be like.
Americans generally seemed to be confused by us, generally had no idea what we were saying, and some generally guesses at our nationality were australian, german and indian (i mean really, indian?)
The day after that we flew back! Thats it! I am home now back to sunny portishead, and i can say that England is so beautiful! it is so green and pretty! Very glad to be back. Everyone keeps asking me what my favorite country was, and i would have to say Thailand,followed beind by Vietnam. I have done 12 flights, lots of boats, buses, trains, motorbikes, cyclos, tuk tuks, rickshaws, kayaks, campervan, snorkelling, diving, skydiving, skiing, kayaking, teaching, cycling and lots and lots of walking in the last 6 months. Kind of feel a bit sad that this is my last blog entry, but have enjoyed it and writing in my blog has helped me to feel a bit closer to you all. Thank you for reading my blog and for all of your support.
Photos updated soon.....