Las Vegas (Part 2)

If you haven't read the first part of our trip below, please do so before reading this entry...unless you don't mind reading in non-chronological order.

So after our trip to Hoover Dam, we still had a few hours before we needed to head to the strip to see Ka, one of the newer Cirque du Soleil shows. We decided that we wanted to dinner on the strip, and because Las Vegas has tons of restaurants to satisfy any appetite. So we looked around and after some debating, we settled upon a nice sounding French restaurant located in the MGM Grand, which, coincidentally, is where our show was. So we drive there...Nick thought he knew what he knew what the directions were to get to the strip, and I believed him. Turned out that he actually got on the wrong freeway, but we managed to get back on track and reach the MGM Grand with plenty of time.

It was about 7:40 when we arrived into the main casino area of the hotel, and since our reservation wasn't until 8:00, we decided to find someplace to purchase some advil for Nick's mild headache. It took a while, but we were able to find a store that didn't sell high end clothing or frozen margaritas from a chic-looking slurpee machine. We then decided to go back to the restaurant, and on the way, I somehow found myself in front of a slot machine (really, it wasn't on purpose at all...I just needed to rest my legs...in front of a slot machine :)). So I did some light gambling (aka: money squandering) and gave up and proceeded to the restaurant. Before we went in, I decided that I wanted to take a look at the menu to see how much things cost. The website we looked at only had the pre-set menu, but no price. Anyway, it was a good thing that we didn't go straight into the restaurant and get seated 'cuz the price of the meal (excluding tax, tip, and alcohol) was $165 per person!!! Nick and I sooooooooooo weren't paying that much for dinner, so we basically stood up the restaurant and went somewhere else for dinner. We remembered that we had passed by a nice looking Chinese restaurant during our search for Advil, so we went there instead. The food was excellent, if not excessive...we were very, very full afterwards. It took a while for our food to arrive, which worried me because we did have a show to get to. But it all worked out in the end, and the cost of our bill was lower than the price of one person at that French restaurant.

We then proceed hastily to the Ka auditorium where we experience the joy of finding our seats. Actually, it wasn't that difficult...the ushers told us the general direction that we needed to go in and we were able to figure it out from there. What was really funny was that the two women who sat next to us were the same two women who sat next to us at the restaurant. I don't know what the probability is of being seated next to the same two people in a restaurant and then in a show is, but I can't imagine it being very high.

(If any of you are planning on seeing Ka, or would rather not read about the show, please skip the next few paragraphs. I'll let you know when you can resume your regular reading with a line of asterisks)

The auditorium was decorated in this sort of grim futuristic mechanical mining world (I have absolutely no idea how to describe it). But one thing that Nick and I were a bit confused about was that there was no stage. Instead, there was a big pit that shot out random blasts of fire. So we were wondering how there was going to be a show if there's nothing to stand on. Was it going to be an all-wire act with people suspended above the audience?

Shortly after this pondering, the show began, and our question was answered. We see the actors being raised up from below on top of this incredibly complex stage. Nick, being a nerd, was admiring the mechanical engineering of the stage since it was being lifted by two hydraulic lifts. Not only does it go up and down, the stage can actually go from being the floor of the stage to becoming perpendicular to the ground where it acts as a wall. The creators of the show used this stage magnificently throughout the show by incorporating it into every scene and projecting various images to make it look like a boat to an icy cliff.

The performers were amazing and the music was dramatic. All in all, it was a great show and was worth the cost of the ticket price. After seeing this show, we are eager to see the other Cirque du Soleil shows.

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(If you skipped the Ka part of this blog, you can come back now...please? :))

So the show ended and it was after midnight, so we headed back to the parking lot to go home. Little did we know that midnight is the time when everyone leaves. The lot is crowded with cars trying to find the exit, and we were on the floor above the majority of the chaos, so we knew that we would be at the back of the line to get out. We got in our car and joined the long line of cars. At some point during the crawl, I see this woman screaming at this white truck and wondered what was happening. We both figured that the truck cut the corner a little too closely and hit the back corner of the screaming woman's car...and we were right. What was really surprising was that the woman driving the white truck wasn't stopping, which pissed of the other woman even more...so much so that she actually walked in front of the white truck and was forcefully pointing at hood while screaming at the driver. And then I notice another woman next to the hit car screaming as well. The driver finally gets out with a frustrated look (I have no idea why she had that look since it was her fault that she hit the car...did she think that it was OK?), and there was more yelling and screaming. By this point in time, we drove past them so I have no idea what happened in the end, but it was an interesting way to end our night.

The next morning, we wake up and have a really nice breakfast at the hotel. I had french toast with walnuts and banana, and Nick had an omelette with salmon in it...all for prices waaaaaaaay more than anyone should have to pay for such a breakfast, but whatever. Since our flight to LA wasn't until 9:00pm, we had many, many hours to kill, so we head back to the strip so that I can satisfy my gambling addiction. But, my first destination was the Vosges-haut Chocolate shop in Caesar's Palace.

Actually, our first destination was the Lucky Brand jean store in the Aladdin. You see, the night before, Nick realized that his jeans had a hole near the crotch area and that he's been walking around with this holey pair of jeans, so we needed to get him a new pair before the hole started to get too big. Anyway, Lucky Brand is the only store that we know of where Nick can find jeans his size, so that's why we went there as opposed to any jeans store.

And then after we got his jeans, we went to Caesar's Palace. Some more slot machine playing happened along the way, and my wallet seemed lighter and lighter as a result, so Nick and I hurried along to the chocolate store before I lost too much money at the slots. The grandiose curved escalator going down to the floor level was broken, so we had to walk down the escalator instead. I don't know...there's something less extravagant about having to walk down this escalator as opposed to simply riding on it. I don't know why it is, but that's what it felt like to me.

We make it to the store where I purchase a few boxes of chocolate to take home with me. The salesperson knew that my flight wasn't for a while, so she bagged the chocolate with two ice packs to keep the chocolate cool. I guess this is something that is a concern for them...it would suck to go home to find that all your chocolate melted. And ice packs are cheap, so it's a great investment for them. Before we left, I asked the salesperson if anyone has ever purchased their cakes for a wedding, and in fact, someone had a wedding the day before and served their cakes for their occassion, so it wasn't an odd thing after all. They also had the mini-cakes on display, so Nick and I got to see them up close, and we liked them. We haven't tasted them yet, but so far, we are enthusiastic about having our wedding cake consist of many of these mini-cakes. So don't be surprised if on your wedding invitation, you see a choice of two cakes: white or chocolate :).

After my chocolate trip, we make our way to the Wynn--the newest hotel on the strip. The price of the smallest room at this hotel for the weekend that we went: $500+/night. Seriously, we were not going to shell out that kind of money for a dinky room...so we walked there to see what the fuss was all about. It was a long walk, but we made it. There's a mini-waterfall near the entrance to the hotel, and inside, the decor is very elegant. Nick says that it is the next generation of the Bellagio. The floor was covered in ornately designed carpet, while on the ceiling, swaths of fabric drooped outward from the center. There was some garden type walkway with hanging balls of flowers in the center of the casino. That inspired me to have hanging balls of flowers at the wedding, but I don't think Nick is too keen on that idea. We walk around even more and take in the over-the-top feel of the hotel, and then leave 'cuz I lost some more money at the slots.

We head to Treasure Island for some reason; I can't remember why we went there, but we did. Actually, they no longer want to be called "Treasure Island." Their new name is "TI." I guess they're trying to create a new image. I decide that I want to play blackjack, and I find an empty table, so I sit down and entertain the dealer. I start off doing poorly, but then I have a string of wins which brings me back to even. The dealer talks to Nick and me and we discuss life in California...and then it's time to rotate dealers. I lose the first three hands with the new dealer and joked that the old one should come back 'cuz I was doing well with him. But then my luck changes again, and I pull back to even with my money. This new dealer, her name is Sandy, told us that at the table behind her, the player kept calling her Sally and didn't know that that wasn't the dealer's name at all. Then we get into the discussion about Sally and how many Sally's we know and whether or not is an antiquated name...and all this time, I'm playing blackjack and winning and losing. In the end (about 30 minutes later), I leave with the same amount of money that I started out with. It was worth it since it kept the two of us entertained and we didn't lose any money during the process. Then we decide to play Casino war where the two of us lost to the dealer. What was really funny was that I ran out of money first, and Nick only had one chip. So if he won, I took that chip that he won and played a hand. And then I lost and Nick won, so I would play the next hand with that chip. This cycle repeated about 4 times before I got a 2, Nick got a 3, and the dealer got a 6.

We were starting to get hungry, so we headed back to Caesar's Palace to eat at the Mesa Grill only to find that they were booked until 8:00, which would be too late for us considering our flight would depart an hour after then. We manage to eat dinner at the Monte Carlo, but found ourselves in a long line for the taxi. For some reason, there were no taxis arriving at this casino, and people were getting really frustrated. But shortly afterwards, a line of taxis arrived, so everything was all right.

We got to the airport and I realize that my earphones were broken. I don't know what I did to them, but one of the ears keeps falling out, so I wanted new ones to replace them. We head to the Bose kiosk where I buy their newest model of Noise-cancelling headphones. They really do block out a lot of sound, and they were really effective on the airplane. It's a good thing too, 'cuz then I don't have to pump up the volume on my iPod...the higher the volume, the shorter the battery life...at least, that's what I've been experiencing.

The flight back home was very, very bumpy. I don't know what it was, but the turbulence was horrible. The descent was incredibly shaky, and at times, the turbulence actually dropped us down a bit...I was incredibly uneasy during this entire landing. We touched down rather aggressively. Nick felt that the plane was coming in a bit faster than normal, which would explain the odd feel of the landing. It takes a while to get to the gate, but we arrive, get off, and then head back home where we immediately fall asleep in order to be ready for work the next day.

And that was our Vegas trip. It probably doesn't sound as exciting as it really was. Now we need to plan our next trip.

Oh, and I guess Planet Hollywood bought the Aladdin hotel, so sometime in the future, it will be called the Planet Hollywood Hotel (or something like that). This means that the current owners will be charging less than normal for their hotel rates since they no longer have an investment in it. So check the Aladdin prices in case any of you are planning on visiting Vegas sometime in the near future.

And now I need to go to sleep. Have a great week everyone!

Jerry Liu