Remember the Stratosphere?

Remember my previous entry on the Stratosphere? Ala, the one where I wrote about the hotel that has 3 pee-in-my-pants rides? Here's a picture of it. So those rides I was telling you about is on that very top of that tower... Care for a ride???

Vegas - September 21, 2008

Oh no....It's Sunday! Good bye Vegas, hello reality... Oh.... Why do holidays have to end? Why can't it go on and on and on? *sigh* Woke up early...Wanted to explore Vegas one last time before heading back to Illinois. Honestly I don't know where I get the extra energy from when I'm on vacation. I'm like an Energizer (or is it Duracel?) Bunny that can move it, move it (compared to when I'm home and like a Bateri jenama X Bunny!!!)... Muhahhahahha...

Asked whether anyone would like to come with me to explore but they were all not up for it. So off I went on my own with a mission of getting to see as much as I can without missing my flight. Looking at my watch I had approximately 3 hours or so before we had to leave. Armed with my camera, I walked to the Caesars Palace Hotel (ala, yang Anita Sarawak and Celine Dion pernah perform dulu) which was literally 5 minutes walk from the Mirage. And in case you guys were wondering, it is Cher that is performing at Caesars now. Caesars is gorgeous and very opulent. It's cool that they have the Pussycat Doll's club as well as a PDC themed casino. The dealers were all hot (and some so-so) girls clad in PCD style outfits. It was very pink and it was cute! Also, like The Venetian, Caesars has an indoor mall with the same kind of ceiling (clouds) and a huge indoor fountain. Again, my mind was confused and thought that I was outside! Roamed around the mall for a while, got lost in the mall, didn't know how to exit, asked a lady for directions (whom I must say was very nice and polite) and finally found my way outside. hehehhe... Time was running out so I walked back to the hotel and after a couple of minutes all 4 of us took a cab and off we went to the airport.

The flight back home was good. Slept for at least half way through the journey. Was reluctant to leave Vegas but happy to be back to Illinois (really? :P) muhahhahahhhaa...

That's it folks...Finally, I'm done with my Vegas stories. Hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it... And a word of advice, when you can, do come to Vegas and don't forget to get me a plane ticket too...

Vegas - September 20, 2008

Oh no... Today was my last full day in Vegas. I didn't want to leave. There was so so much more to see and do. So many places, so little time! Oh no, no, no... I want to stay for another month or so. I wish *sigh*

Oh well, got to make the best out of the situation and move it..move it.. So woke up and got ready early and ventured out into this great massive concrete jungle called Vegas. I love you Vegas... You are awesome!!!

In order to cover more of the Vegas strip, Itos and I decided to purchase the unlimited day pass on the monorail (which turns out to be worth every penny spent!). This was a great move since we saved a lot of time having to walk the entire Vegas strip. The strip is pretty much a long stretch road filled with rows and rows of hotels. We saw the MGM Hotel (massive!) and also the lion habitat located in the hotel. It is pretty cool since the only thing stopping the lions from attacking all of us are glass walls. The lions looked pretty sedated though. I guess they drug them or something (tak pun kasi panadol! haha). We also saw the Mandalay Bay Hotel (and saw a lesbian couple getting married at the chapel there! only in Vegas!). New York New York (it's so cool with the replica of the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, NY Public library etc.). Paris (yes, you guessed right, with a replica of the Eiffel Tower). We also saw Excalibur Hotel (which looks like a castle), Luxor Hotel (resembles the pyramid), Monte Carlo Hotel, etc. We also stopped by at the M&Ms store. It's so cool in there and way bigger than the one in New York with tons of yes, M&Ms, other candy, souvenirs, etc.

Oh, and we saw the Stratosphere Tower Hotel from the Sahara Hotel (which by the way is the most cikai on the strip...Note to self: never stay at the Sahara if I go back to Vegas ever. But tell sworn enemies to go to Sahara! muahhahahhaha). The main attraction of the Stratosphere Hotel (http://www.stratospherehotel.com/thrills/) is the 3 thrilling rides which is located more than 1,000 feet above the Vegas strip. It's crazy!!! Never in a million years would I ever do any of those rides even if someone paid me a million bucks...It looks so so scary! The description of the rides are as follows:

Big Shot - Shoots passengers straight up 160 feet at 45 mph (over 4 Gs) until they are 1,081 feet above the Strip.

X-Scream - A giant teeter-totter that propels you 27 feet over the edge of the Tower, 866 feet above the ground.

Insanity, the Ride - A massive mechanical arm extends 64 feet over the edge of the Tower and spins you at a force of 3 Gs for a truly mind-bending experience.

C.R.A.Z.Y!!!

That night Itos and I went to see The Crazy Horse Show at the MGM Hotel (highly recommended). Becs and Baz went to see a Cirque show 'Love' at The Mirage (also was spectacular).

A tiring (having cramped all those sight seeing in one day!) yet enjoyable and always exciting day in Vegas...

Vegas - September 19, 2008

Itos and I made a promise to each other that by hook or by crook, we were going to go to the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum that day. We were suppose to go yesterday but because we were distracted with other activities, we decided to postpone it till tomorrow. So we woke up bright and early and got ready. According to Itos, when she was in Amsterdam, the line to the Madame Tussauds was so so long that she did not get a chance to go in. So, in order to beat the crowd, we wanted to make sure that we were among the first to arrive. Yay! We got there early and there wasn't a line even! wohoo!! Also, we managed to get student priced tickets (all thanks to my CLC student ID). The wax museum was fun and we took so so many pictures there (ambil gambar tak hengat!!!)...hehehhe...My favourite has got to be Johnny Depp. He looks pretty real. Julia Roberts did not look anything like her. When I first saw the was, I thought it was Hillary Swank, so go figure! We spent about 3 hours there. After getting some stuff from the gift shop, which by the way has really really cool stuff we went to the Venetian Hotel. As the name suggest, it has a Venetian theme to it. Hence the gondolas and the Italian art decor. It's really cool. Having been to Venice, it was fun to see the Vegas version of it. I must say they did a good job!

Most hotels in Vegas have huge shopping malls within the hotel itself and the Venetian has an awesome one. It is an indoor mall with cool architecture. Besides having a river flow through the mall (gondolas and all, with the gondolier singing), the roof of the mall is painted to mimic the sky on a nice sunny day. So when you look up you see a nice blue sky with pretty clouds. Look closely at the picture of me in the mall and you can see the sky. Isn't it cool? And the thing is, your mind gets confused and tricked into believing that you are actually outside when you look up to see the ceiling! I like. Then Itos suggested that we try out the Oxygen bar. You're suppose to inhale oxygen and then they give you a head, hand, and back massage. Supposedly it's suppose to rejuvenate your body (konon!). That I felt was something we had to try but would never do again :P Mahal woi! It cost us about $60 for a 45 minutes session. Ceh!

Later that afternoon, we went to the outlet mall for some shopping. Boy was I excited! You know me, always out there looking for a good deal. So outlet malls are like a slice of heaven for me. The outlet mall that we went to was an outdoor mall with rows and rows of stores such as Juicy Couture, Aldo, Coach, Armani Exchange, Fossil, the list goes on. And yes Shereen, you and I can shop till we drop there and camp overnight for more shopping the next day! We didn't have much time so we had to rush through the shops. *Aih* I am happy with my purchases. I got myself an Ed Hardy hoody and a Bebe t-shirt. I must say, I am very proud of myself for being able to contain myself and not buy too much! Granted that we didn't have much time...hmmm...Itos got a couple of good deals too. She got herself an Ed Hardy hoody too (kami kan kembar siam), sunglasses from Fossil, Armani Exchange t-shirt, and sandals from White House Black Market (Obama's wife Michelle likes dresses from here!).

Later that night we went to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner. I had some kind of Thai Spaghetti (tak sedap!) and Itos had pasta soup.

Again another great day in Vegas!

Vegas - September 18, 2008

Thursday (September 18, 2008) - I couldn't wait to wake up!!!

Despite having slept late the night before due to all the excitement that Vegas had to offer, I was up so early. I looked around the room to see whether anyone was awake. Nope, they were all still deep asleep. *sigh* I thought to myself. I want to get moving. I want to explore! I want to soak in the sites. I wish I had the same kind of energy when I am working or studying! hahha....Not happening anytime soon! :P

After contemplating for about 15 minutes I decided to get ready and explore on my own first. Time was precious. I didn't want to waste any time at all. So off I went exploring on my own. I pretty much explored the hotel where we stayed at, The Mirage. In Vegas, each hotel was ginormous with tons of attractions. You could spend a whole day (literally) at each hotel just exploring the sites and the unique attractions that each hotel has to offer. So by the time I was done, Itos was up and came to meet me at the hotel lobby.

Off we went to explore another hotel called TI (old name Treasure Island) (dunno why they changed it from Treasure Island to TI, errrmm...Malas nak eja panjang-panjang kot! :P). Then later, we caught the Sirens of TI show. That was by fluke actually. We were on our way to meet up with Becs and Baz at the Fashion Show Mall when we saw this huge crowd of people waiting on the streets. Having have read the Vegas guide book, I pretty much knew what it was. So we decided to catch the show. Heck, it was free and because we were staying at The Mirage (which was a sister hotel to TI among others) we were able to stand at an allocated spot! wohoo!! That was nice. The show was alright. It's on a huge makeshift boat with a river flowing through it and all. There was even fire and fireworks as part of the show. The 'sirens' were hot sexy female pirates all dressed in scantily clad clothing and baring their assess. Heck, I saw more ass in Vegas then I have had in my entire life! hahhaha... Yes guys, save up your money and come to Vegas for some ass watching! Hahahahha!! So these sirens are vicious hot mamas who captured a pirate (lucky lucky man!). So the story revolves around how his pirate mates tried to save him la di da and in the end they all got together. The usual..

After the show we went to see Becs and Baz. The mall was really nice with all the branded stuff. But I was saving my money for the Outlet Mall (I'll write about this in my next entry). Becs got stuff from Betsy Johnson (I'm so jealous of her really gorgeous hot pink dress! It's fab!!) and Baz did some shopping too at Nordstroms etc.

After, we went back to the hotel. I was pretty exhausted. From all the lack of sleep! hehehhe... So off I went to bed. zzzzz...

Vegas - September 17, 2008

Hey guys...As promised, here's my first Vegas entry. Enjoy!!!

Wednesday (September 17, 2008) - Excited, excited, excited!!!

I woke up early today at about 8 am. The taxi wasn't coming till about 11.30 but I had to run a few errands before I left for Vegas. In total if I had to guess I only had about 5 hours of sleep. Between the excitement of leaving for Vegas, packing, washing my hair (yes I waited last minute so that it would look good for Vegas...hahah), and being on the computer I slept late. Oh well I thought, I'll be able to get some shut eye in the plane. So I woke up, took a shower, straightened my hair, and got dressed. I left the house at about 9 am while Itos was still in dreamland (damn lucky I thought to myself..ehheh). First stop was the library to return some books. Next was the bank to deposit some money into my checking account. Then went to get my eyebrows done. Finally I had some time to spare and went to a store to return some clothes. And whalla, I was back home with 30 minutes to spare! yay!

Itos and I reached the airport at around 12.15 and everything was smooth sailing. The airport was not too busy and security check went well. The only thing that bugs me is the new ruling that all airlines here have. You have to pay $15 for each bag you check in. Urrgggghhh...

There we met Becs and Baz who were going to Vegas with us. They just got in from London and I was very happy to see Becs since I haven't seen her for quite some time. She was lucky enough to have gone to London and Ireland prior to her Vegas trip! Man, I'm jealous!! :)

I knew I was in Vegas when once I stepped outside, I saw rows and rows of slot machines! kaaaaacccchhhhiiiinnggg!!! Man that was exciting. The four of us stayed at The Mirage on the strip (good location as it is right smack in the middle of all the action). The room is gorgeous and spacious. With a huge flat screen and the beds, oh my, were they comfortable...It's like sleeping on a bed of clouds...

We chilled in the room for a while, unpacked and got ready to go out again. We decided to have dinner at the Cravings Buffet in the hotel itself. The food was good and they even had sambal (chili paste) with bubur (congee)! wohooo!! That was great...My other favourite was their shrimp dim sum. I had a ton of that. After dinner, Becs and Baz went to sleep while Itos and I roamed around the hotel and its surroundings.

I was so hyper and excited that I just didn't feel tired at all. It is true what people say about Vegas, it's a city that never dies and the excitement just makes you want to stay awake all night!

All in all, my first day at Vegas was great. Can't wait for tomorrow!!

I love food!!!

What can I say? I love my food. Any kind of food... The first picture was taken when I had fajitas at a Mexican restaurant called Las Palmas. I used to not like Mexican food but now I love it and can't get enough of the guacamole!! The next picture was taken at Olive Garden, an Italian restaurant. It has good food which is reasonably priced. Also, they have unlimited soup, salad, and bread sticks...Wohooo!!! My dream job would be to become a food critic. Man, imagine being paid to eat? Wow! Just thinking about it makes me so happy... Food, glorious food...

On a different note, I know that I promised to write about the Vegas trip. I will soon k... Building anticipation konon! hahhahah...