|
LA is too spread out to see in a day or two -- there are plenty of great parts, but no center to it. You'll get frustrated. Decide if there are particular things you want to see, but you can't just expect to hang out and soak up the feel, because there isn't one -- not a single one, anyway. Might suggest heading down to San Diego, a much more coherent kind of town; very multicultural, too. You could also head over the border to Mexico for a bit.
Problem is, America is big. Way, way big. If you haven't seen a desert, might suggest a trip out through the little desert towns to Death Valley -- a very strange landscape, and at this time of year the temperature's probably quite pleasant.
Alternatively, head north along the coast to -- no, five days isn't long enough.
In Thailand, don't hang out much in Bangkok. I hated it: big, crowded, noisy, polluted, and so on. Actually, I did enjoy one thing in Bangkok -- the dragon-tail boat ferries that go out the canals and down the rivers. When I say "ferry," visualize that the damn things are only three feet wide -- essentially a big, long canoe with an automobile engine at one end. Most entertaining public transit I've ever taken.
Catch a train and head north to some of the smaller cities (Chiang Mai used to be good, though I'm told it may have changed), or south down to some of the islands and beaches (Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, Phuket, etc.) or that Thai/Muslim city at the south end whose name I can't remember. In Bangkok, a lot of people will try to steer your to the Pattaya beach area, but that's just a place to buy a 14-year-old prostitute -- which a lot of guys come from Europe to do.
|