Houston, Texas

Besides sightseeing, I needed internet to track Hurricane Ike, since I'm heading to New Orleans =/ I found a library, a really decent one; I spent two hours with proper internet and even took a photo of it =) I liked downtown too—the skyscrapers look like they were rendered in a 3D editor, all blue and surreal. The trams are cool, straight out of the future, push-pull style =) But the Houstonians have a problem with fountains and other water-based entertainment; they built some weird stuff on the tracks, and the central park smells like chlorine and is covered in foam.

Everything is fine with the hurricane; they expect it to hit the Houston/New Orleans area in four days, but by then I'll be in Florida, where the danger will have passed. I like everything so far, I'm taking a 3-day bus pass (the 12:20 is sold out) to New Orleans. It's surprising that there are only 4 people on it =)

The ride is incredibly pleasant; I've sprawled out across four seats in my sleeping bag.. =) So nice =D Falling asleep periodically along the way, I notice the swamps starting; they look like our regular mixed forests, only here, as they say, with crocodiles =) In a sketchy little village where we stopped before sunset, a local cop said a 14-foot alligator lives under the bridge =) I took a photo of the bridge, but the alligator only comes home at night...

PS Before leaving, people scared me saying that psychos and criminals are always riding the buses. Well, today at one stop, a guy got on who spent the whole trip laughing under his seat, and a kid in a white jumpsuit with beacons on his wrists and ankles. They got on at one stop and got off at the next. First time I've seen that. And the last.