C'est la ve NLV, 1st night only - 16th Feb

Nope, spelling is not wrong. It is also not Louis Vuitton. It is Nevada Las Vegas. Really happening and exciting. You want it, you get it. As long as you can pay. Got up early, got laundry done. No time to do wait for dryer to finish, had to go eat brekkie. Arrived in LV about 1pm, took a while to get the bags. Edna decided to be sweet and brought Kee's mother who is abt 73. In LV, a few things to remember. (1) it is a desert, so it can be very warm or hot depending on the season and the temperature then takes a sharp dip from evening onwards (2) its a desert, so it is freaking dry and dusty (3) you don't want to be a hero in LV, so take a few steps behind everyone else when standing at the kerb/traffic lights/interjunction becos there are a lot of out of town folks who drive and lose their way and accidentally swerves onto the crowd and it also incl a lot of drunk drivers(4) watch your handbag, wallet, becos when it is peak is when the pickpockets are in action (5) you have to walk down the strip if you want to see the action, night or day becos otherwise you will not know what is meant by the Strip (6) what you see at night is not the same view when yo see in the day (7) if your hand is itching, LV is a bad bad place to be, becos the moment you arrive at the airport, all the slots are just waiting for you, and that does not incl the hotels or the casinos along the strip..did you know Las Vegas is also called the city of Lost Wages? Kee's mother friend lost an equivalent of 4 houses value in LV alone (8) what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas (9) since LV is a desert, water is recylcled, so guess why your skin may itch when you hit the shower..nope you are not served brown or dirty water, just chemically treated water again So, since we are also meeting Lei and family, and Gina is the pet of the family, we stopped at Chinatown to eat Sams BBQ meat..that is char siew and siew yuk, roast duck, etc. After that, we bought a crate of bottled water. Took some photos. And then we checked into The Mirage. Pity 3rd Aunty cancelled, otherwise the four of us wld have stayed at The Palazzao suite. What to do, got to wait next time lah. After a shower and change of clothes, we hit the strip. Started walking across to The Venetian, mama mia, its really eye opening. Never mind what the travel channel may feature, nothing comes close to what you see in person. And shopping..no kidding. If you don't have the money, all you can is oogle. And most surprising thing of all, so much Chinese New Year decors. Just shows how important the chinese is to the LV economy. You don't even get to see the CNY decor much in SF though it has 2 china towns. Vegas sure knows who their customers are!! Each hotel wld take about almost 2 hours to really quickly go through. In fact, if you want to admire the opulence, decadence and sheer size of what Americans call, OTT, then you have to be in Vegas. No other city comes close to it. Got to see the gondolas, a live Opera show with full costume, regalia singing at the Venetian steps/canal ways. Cld only be amazed and oogle. Again. Plus the shops..every big brand is here, incl Barney's New York. The racks of clothes are higher than me, why, becos it means if you have to flick the price tag to see how much, it means you can't afford it. And the shoes. Edna lectured me on why i decided to break the pair of boots i bought and i told her it was flat and wld go with anything, incl take me up to Grand Canyon. Boy, first night was damn true, my legs was hurting by the time we got back to the hotel. Anyways, after The Venetian, we went to The Palazzo, which was just next door. Then we walked down the strip. Was asked to pop in Sephora by Edan, cldn't find anything good, so we walked out some more. Walked further up and passed Harrah's and Flamingos, which during their hey days, were "the" hotels. All that water drinking sure meant looking for a restroom., that is pretty difficult. Only place to do it is to walk into the casinos along the way, becos they allow anyone to walk in. The hustlers as the Americans call it..boy they sure know how to spot out of towners, non Americans and their eyes are so sharp. They can zero in on any piece of jewellrey you wear or have and try and hustle you out of it. You just keep walking and act dump like you dun know what they are saying. Stopped at Paris, wanted to go up Eiffel Tower to watch the water fountains presentation at The Bellagio, which was across. Unfortunately dinner date with Lei and family was calling and so we had to do a quick and short walk through tour, incl looking for the self parking garage. Paris looks like Monte Casino Johannesburg..same layout, skyline, facade of shops, other than more french plus more french cafes/bistros/restaurants. Self parking garage..sounds funny? Nope, it means parking garage/bays which is done by the car owner/driver. That is to differentiate from valet, limo service, tour service, etc. American terms are explicit and right to the dot, no messing around. On the dinner plus other meals we had....will be specific about on a separate note. After dinner, we went to Fremont Street. This is where LV started in those days. Still operating here is the Golden Nuggets hotel, with the same facade and waving cowboy lights. The only difference is that Fremont Street is now a big pedestrian mall with a lot of souvenir shops in between. Unless you are with a local our tour guide which is a male, you dun wan to try and get a cab and to to Fremont Street even though there are 3 of you women around. Because Fremont Street is far from The Strip and in between a number of shady places. The Strip starts from The Palazzo/The Mirage and all the way to The Stratosphere, where there is a revolving restaurant plus all those crazy people looking for a rush, taking the free fall rides outside of The Stratosphere. Me, i don't have that kind of guts and sure don't have that gumption not to risk a heart attack on it. Its definitely not for the faint hearted.