LA Trippin 2

Had an absolute fun time this past weekend in L.A. with Stephen and Ben. We drove down south Thursday evening (Veteran's Day), and with surprisingly little holiday traffic, we arrived at West Hollywood Ramada Hotel in a record-setting 5 hours. I had sworn off the hotel during my last LA trip, as it seemed as if they wanted to make money off of you by charging you for things and then subtlely telling you later. Reluctantly, as there weren't any other hotels close enough to walking distance of "WeHo", we wound up staying at the Ramada again.
Show those pearly whites!	Sha Ney Ney at da wheel	Artistic shot at night
Getting ready 4 bed	I'm rail-lee relaxin!
Friday, we all went to dim sum for lunch in the ever-Chinese Monterey Park. We ate at Ocean Restaurant, a large, popular restaurant with, fortunately, no long wait that day. We ate a lot of the typical stuffs like ha gau (shrimp dumplings), siu mai (pork and shrimp dumplings), spareribs, etc. We even spotted some 'gay jello'.Lol..After lunch, we headed down to Long Beach for a stroll. Amazingly it was dead there, perhaps due to the holiday or it just not being as popular as i last saw it in '99. In the evening, Stephen and Ben hit the Promenade, while I had the chance to finally meet Seymour. We went to a local mall where I helped him with shopping for a gift for his friend's birthday, getting shmoozed into buying myself a new black shirt from Men's Xpress, almost convinced to buy a nice orange KC tie from Robinson's Mae, and loading up on sushi and other japanese delicacies at Toodai's. Seymour got me to chow down on some fish egg sushi but was unsuccessful in getting me to eat sashimi (had a bad experience with it in Japan). After dinner, Seymour drove me back to my hotel where we met up with my frenz and went clubbing. To my pleasant suprise, i was able to get Seymour out on the dance floor, teaching him a few basic 1A dance steps. He did really well, and I was happily amazed that he overcame his intimidation. Overall, I had a real fun time with him.
Eat that dim sum!	Look guys! Gay jello!	LA has the best air quality
ChabLee and ShaNeyNey	Ben n Lee at Long Beach
Saturday, Stephen, Ben and I watched the U.S. premiere of Ethan Mao, the newest thought-provoking film by director Quintin Lee. I liked it, and its intensity, drama, and even humor gave you some reflective insight into the extremes of Asian parents finding out about their son's sexuality. Afterward, we got a surprise treat of meeting the actors and director! Later that afternoon we had a late lunch in Westminster, and then at night went clubbing at Red Dragon. Was our first time there and it reminded me much of Club Asia, my old stomping grounds where I first came out. At Red Dragon, the house music was so alive that the energy of the music, the air, the sights and sounds took over me and I burned it on the dance floor! It was sooo soul-reviving. Sunday, we ate breakfast at French Champagne in WeHo. After that I checked out Omar's Exotic Bird shop, where I was thrilled to physically hold affectionate parrots, macaws, cockatoos and cockatiels! (For those of you who don't know, my folks and I are 'bird-brains', having two pet birds of our own). We all then left Hollywood for home around 12:30p and got back to my place in SJ shortly after 5pm! (Wish I could go back and forth between L.A. that fast more often!) Overall, I had not just a relaxing time but also a time to reflect on myself. Through the fun and experiences, I came to truly realize someof what makes me who i am and what i want to be. ~ L.
Cast of Ethan Mao, plus us!	Reflectin...
Bird tailoring the shirt!	Smile for the camera!