Friday, September 2, 2011

ူLas Vegas

Las Vegas

I’ve been to quite a lot of cities, but I’ve never been to anywhere like Vegas, it’s one crazy town.  Nevada is a strange state, it seems the USA have relaxed their laws and allowed this one state to become a party zone.  Across the US there are pretty strict drinking laws, it’s illegal to drink on the street or in parks for example in New York, and in San Francisco you can’t order a beer after 2am.  In Vegas you can drink anywhere, any time.  You can drink walking around the casinos, walking down the street, in shopping malls.  There are street stalls on every corner selling booze, there was one guy I noticed who was selling massive bottles of Corona, each contained the same amount of beer as in a normal 6 pack!  In one shopping mall I went to there were girls pole dancing inside, could you imagine that at Buchanan Street Galleries?  Vegas really does live up to its name of ‘Sin City’, there is an altogether sleazy element which I suppose you’ll get when prostitution is legal in a big party town.  At night, everywhere you go there are armies of people handing out flyers, to men and women, for escort girls. 

The Hotels are something else too.  Every big Hotel has a massive casino, everything is 24hrs, the casinos, bars, shops.  I stayed in the Mirage on my first night before the mountain biking trip, every night it has an erupting volcano with fire coming out of the top accompanied with a firework display.  The other night I stayed in the Luxor, which is a giant pyramid with a massive spotlight at the top of it lighting up the sky at night.  Inside they have very intricate and incredibly tacky Egyptian statues of pharaohs, sphinxes, hieroglyphics etc.  The New York Hotel has scale models of the Statue of Liberty, Empire State’s building and other famous NYC landmarks, along with a roller coaster ride going through middle.   The Stratosphere hotel has a big drop fairground ride on the very top of the tower, it's the world's highest amusement ride, and it looks mental.

When I arrived in Vegas, I checked into my hotel and then went out for a steak dinner.  I wandered up and down the Las Vegas strip taking in the sights.  I got a taxi to Fremont street, which has a famous huge LED light canopy.  I bought a couple of gin and tonics from a street vender, took in the craziness of Fremont Street experienc, eand ended up going back to my Hotel.  I was really looking forward to spending some time in a comfy bed after sleeping in a tent for the last four nights.  I got up early the next day to watch the Scotland vs. Czech Republic game in a 24hr Scottish bar.  It was a 6am kick off Vegas time, I slept in a bit and ended up getting down for the second half.  There was another Scottish guy in the pub who I chatted to for a bit.  After the game we both left, rather disappointed with the unlucky circumstances of the draw.  I then checked out of the Luxor and got ready for my flight to San Francisco.

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