California

Our first stop when we landed back in the states was LA. We only had about 48 hours, so we didn’t waste any time taking advantage of the great Asian and Mexican food available. Thanks to our local peeps, Larry & Sopheak and Wyatt & Christie for helping us decide the wisest way to make use of our limited meals!

We arrived after a sleepless 11+ hour flight from Auckland and somehow, Larry & Sopheak knew steaming bowls of hot, spicey pho was just what we needed! It wasn’t quite as good as what we had in Vietnam, but pretty awesome nonetheless.

The next day we got to indulge in something we’d really missed about home – Mexican food!!! After a bit of debate, we settled on Hole Mole in Long Beach. We were so happy we waited for these delicious tacos instead of giving in to the urge to try any of the “Mexican” food we’d seen in Southeast Asia.

After picking up our rental car near LAX, we drove past Randy’s Donuts. I am not a huge donut fan, but when a place tries this hard and is this iconic, I put it on my list of places to try. We had to return the rental car around 6am, so we picked up a couple of donuts on our way. I must admit, the chocolate frosted cake one that I got was one of the best I’ve ever had and Suhail sang the praises of his traditional jelly donut (sorry, no photos, but we were starving by the time we finally boarded the plane and ate them!). This place is hard to miss, so I suggest making it a point to check it out next time you fly into LAX!