LA Tour Guide

So the second part of my trip to Debby's was to serve as an unofficial tour guide and driver.  This part was unplanned but it ended up being pretty important.  It just so happened to work out that a number of my family members were passing through Los Angeles the week after Debby had her baby.  Naturally, they all wanted to "stop by and see the baby."  The hard part of this is that Debby just had a baby and was not really in any condition to entertain and help visitors.  Honestly, just handling the visitors was probably one of the most important things I did for Deb and Same while I was there.

Basically, in a two day period my sister Becky and her family stopped by on their way to catch a flight at LAX to Mexico.  My dad flew in to stay with Debby and help after I left and my dad's sister, my Aunt Pao and her husband had a 12 hour layover in LA on their way home to Thailand.

I won't give all the nitty gritty details, but I drove to the airport 3 times in 24 hours.  On top of that my sister Becky left her new BMW with us while they were in Mexico, so I pretty much was driving a unfamiliar car, in a traffic-jammed unfamiliar city.  My dad was too nervous to do any driving so I had to help him and figure out how to get people everywhere they wanted to go.  It was a little stressful at times, but there was also a good side to it all.  First, I got to spend time with family I hadn't seen in a while and second, because people had time to kill and Deb and Sam needed rest, I took everyone for some sightseeing.

First up, Debby lives within walking distance to Hollywood Boulevard, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and Graumann's Chinese Theater.  The evening when Becky and her boys came, I took them over to look around.

My favorite boys!

We also ordered pizza for dinner from the exact same place that Ellen did during the Academy Awards.  It was pretty tasty.

After Becky and her family left, Mao and Pao, my aunt and uncle from Thailand came the very next day.  During my multiple trips to the airport, I had ample opportunity to drive by Randy's Donuts.  Of course, I had to stop at least once.  Yummy!  

From Randy's, I drove my aunt and uncle to meet a friend for lunch in Thai Town.  Just imagine me trying to find a tiny Thai restaurant in Thai town, while driving my sister's brand new car through LA traffic with car full of Thai senior citizens.  It's a miracle we didn't get lost or wreck the car!  Remember I don't live in LA and haven't visited since college…crazy!!  Anyway, we finally met up with Pao's friend and we, along with my dad, had a very delicious lunch of Thai food.

After lunch we went to Pao's friend's place of business: a Thai massage parlor.  Nice!  My dad and I both got a massage, which relieved all my stress from a day of tense driving!  The parlor was on Hollywood Boulevard in the courtyard of a home once owned by Charlie Chaplin, that was pretty cool.

Next, we stopped by Debby's place to see the baby, relax for about an hour and then meet some of my dad's friends for dinner.

Aunt Pao with the Kolie

This part is for the foodies.  We went to Korea Town and ate at BCD's Tofu House.  This place was so awesome, both my dad and I were giddy with joy.  Basically you order a bowl of tofu soup and they bring you all these side dishes to eat with your soup.  BCD makes their own tofu and it is so delicious.  They bring your soup to you in individual cast iron hot pots.  The soup is so hot it arrives at the table boiling, which is convenient because you can crack a raw egg right into your soup and cook it right in front of you.  Along with the soup you get a whole fried fish, rice, veggies, kimchi, pickles, peppers and sauces.  We also ordered some beef bulgogi to go along with it.  It was so good and such a fun place to eat.  I'd definitely like to go back sometime.

One more fun food find was Papa's Beard, which is basically a cream puff shop.  I love that idea!  You go in pick out what kind of filling you want in your cream puff and viola they make it for you.

I saw this shop by Debby's place, but also found one close to the hospital in Pasadena so for Mother's Day, I stopped by and bought some.  I should say that this was the first Mother's Day I have ever spent away from kids.  It felt weird, but at least I was comforted by some flowers from Sam's dad and the cream puffs.  I also think it was good to let Dave off the hook of trying to make the day special, etc.

Whew, what a fun trip.  I'm so glad that I could go and can't wait to go back with my family.  It should be a breeze since I'm already an unofficial tour guide!!