Hsi Lai Temple

I had a free day one weekend and came to Hsi Lai Temple

I came here sometime in Early November...maybe I don't quite remember when, but I do remember why. 

 Beautiful views...

Interesting buildings make you feel like you have been transported to somewhere in Asia and yet it was only a 20min drive from Torrance.

I came here because I wanted to try there under $10 buffet! I didn't take any pictures inside the dining room but it was packed to gills with people, mostly Chinese/Taiwanese people. Anyway, the buffet was great! It was all vegetarian, of course, but you wouldn't know the difference.

Now where was I...

I've been traipsing around L.A. county for almost 3 months now. Time keeps it's continuous flow unlike the seasons here. At least, the seasons I'm used to in Michigan. Perhaps, the o so subtle changing of the seasons is why I haven't realized it's almost been 3 months and I haven't kept up on my part of the agreement. You have a part too and you are already fulfilling it by reading this. Ergo, I'm fulfilling my part by writing this.

So I've been occupying my time outside of work getting a feel for my community, Old Torrance. It's a very nice and quiet neighborhood. However, there's not much to it. So, just this past weekend, I went to the getty museum. Of course, to get there on a Saturday, it took over an hour for a trip that would normally take 30min. Complaining aside, it was an adventure to a new part of town I had yet seen.

Once parked deep in the cavernous parking area, the tram up the mountain awaited. A quick but scenic ride up offered views like this:

Once at the top there were different building to enter and see ART.

They seemed to have a lot of french art/things...actually some of that is Japanese but Asia had an influence in things even back then.

I like these paintings a lot. the DIA has a bunch as well.

There are lots of stairs (and elevators but I took the stairs). 2nd floor to the first floor down to the viewing areas.

Then to the Garden!I should have taken more pictures of the interesting things they had in the garden but I was enjoying it too much to. So, If you come to LA we can go here and enjoy it again.

Objects are further than they appear

So the weekend has come. What to do? After looking at some potential apartments to move into (because I'm living in a hotel) I needed to just take in my new surroundings a little better. Luckily, the McLallen network never fails. We know someone in every major town, I'm sure of it. Through email introductions I was able to meet up with a fellow mid-westerner/Detroiter who was kind enough to spend the day giving me a guided tour to a small section of the sprawling metropolis called Los Angeles.

First leg of the trip was to Griffith Park, to search for the lost and forgotten old LA zoo. However, due to an error in memory and mapping, this leg turned into a hike up into the hills and back down with no zoo in sight. Only lush views of the L.A. metropolis were procured. The old LA zoo忍者任務  to re-commence at a later date.

The next leg of the journey lead to this Frank Lloyd Wright building called the Barnsdall.

 What do you think that fruit is?

 The hill/mountain on the left in the far distance has the "hollywood" sign.

This is supposedly the daughter's room. Very ornate doors.

After that, a quick stop join the scientologists was needed.

Weird building, right? Even weirder in person! I guess it's their HQ. Where's Cobra Commander? Scientology security was on me as soon as I stepped out of the car and snapped this picture! Only in L.A.!

The next journey was to little tokyo, where a much needed pink berry break was needed.

Coincidentally, there was a summer festival celebration going on for the Japanese holiday of O-Bon. There were taiko drums and food stalls and dancing. This caused a hunger to grow and it was off to Korean Town for some food. Of course, My eyes are bigger than my stomache and I ordered way too much food. But I still left very satisfied.

Finally, a drive through the fancy areas of West Hollywood and Beverly Hills ended the evening.

This leaves me with one more day in the weekend to continue looking for apartments. You think people want tenants when the advertise...maybe they just like collecting voicemails from people eager to move (-_-#)