Del Amo Fashion Centre ...

Day 2, Feb 4th

Woke up just before sunrise to an almost cloudless sky, just a few clouds on the horizon. I was waiting for the sun to come up so I could see what was on the billboard closest to the hotel...

Around 10am we headed off to Del Amo Fashion Centre, a huge and very sprawling mall. Jumped a bus out the front of the hotel which will transport us to LAX Transit Stop where we need to change buses to get to the mall, about 15 kms away. Our first lesson was that we needed to tender the correct fare as it needed to go into a machine. The driver doesn't take the cash, however she spotted we were tourists obviously, so when she informed me it was $1.50 a head, I placed a $5 note into her hand and that somehow changed the rules. I neither received, nor expected, any change.

As we pulled into the transit stop, I saw the Torrence 8 bus pull out and I knew by looking online and confirming with the hotel concierge that it was the bus we needed to be on. As I got off the first bus I confirmed it with the driver, but as it turns out, she was clueless and gave me the story that we should have taken this bus and that bus blah blah blah. In the meantime, Diane had flagged over the driver of the Torrence 8 and on we got. I went for my money and the driver said "Just get on, I'm not supposed to pickup from here". I confirmed that we were going to Del Amo and off we went. In retrospect, the first driver mightn't have had a clue, but she did have my $5 firmly placed down the top of her uniform....lol. When we got to Del Amo I asked the driver what the damage was and he said 'Don't worry about it, it's on the house'.

We arrived at Del Amo about 11am and headed straight for a late breakfast/early lunch at the food court. I chose a US special, Chilli Dog, chilli cheese fries and Jalapeno Poppers...

After lunch we headed for the shops for what would turn out to be an interesting afternoon. Casey broke away from us to do her own thing and I headed with Diane to wherever. Wherever, was often seated on a chair outside some shop as Diane browsed inside. We were in Macy's womens section and I found a spot near the fitting rooms that had a little television screen tuned to CNN news and I was discussing the Egypt situation with a Morgan Freeman lookalike.

Shortly after his wife came and retrieved him, a teary Casey managed to find me....somebody had stolen her phone.

Correction, somebody had stolen MY iPhone that Casey has been using since I got a Star City issued mobile. It appears she was trying on shoes and sometime between placing the phone on the seat next to her and trying on and pacing around in her shoes, the phone had walked. I went back to the shop and managed to find Security nearby. He called his supervisor who came and took details before talking to the sales person who supplied details, sketchy at best, dodgy at worst. Casey is convinced she may have had something to do with it because the shop was very quiet at the time and she appeared nervous.

I looked everywhere in the ceiling of the mall arcade looking for cameras, but there didn't appear to be any, which was later confirmed by security that no cameras patrol the common areas in the mall. Amazing. He said that some shops have there own cameras for internal CCTV coverage, but this particular shop did not.

I looked at my watch and realised that Clive and Lorraine would still be at home before leaving for their flight. I gave Lorraine a call to ask if they had an old phone sitting in a drawer so Casey could buy a prepaid simcard to throw into it. Unfortunately Lorraine had not long before received the news of the sudden death of a close family friend so this day had suddenly turned very sour for everybody. I held off telling Diane and Casey, who also knew him, until we were on our way home as I thought they may as well enjoy what was left of their shopping.

On a happier note, Diane bought a few nice tops and a thick double breasted jacket/coat which will get a good workout over the next 5 weeks. I bought a few pairs of socks for my joggers. Casey bought .... well this may be easier, they say a picture tells a thousand words...

It was well dark before we arrived back at the Hilton...

...but it was a fairly painless bus ride back and it was only a $1 trip. So not only did 'Miss Clueless USA 2011' have my $5 note snuggled in her cleavage, she'd ripped me off as well....lol

Dinner was clam chowder and a shared lasagne in the hotel Bistro. Very nice indeed.
I was about to type 'I'm going to have an early night' however it is closing in on 10:30pm here, so it is bedtime anyway.

The Rats, Franks and Kaye-Smiths are all in the air right now and in 11 hrs the USA will welcome Turbo Tayla, Rocket Riley, Jumpin Jack and 'TBA' Kody.

God help them.

I'm talking about the USA...lol

Later