No, I am not describing the whole experience to this city as hellish, but since their own claim is that of being 'Sin City', I couldn't help but give Vegas this nickname.
Undoubtedly, we had real fun. The whole experience to the "City of non-stop entertainment" is definitely unparalleled. The awesome feel one gets when you enter this "City which never sleeps" is one which we cannot forget in our entire lives. There is a strong current of money and riches wherever you visit this place. The innumerable shows cater to all kinds of audience, and by that I also include the juniors too.
Frankly, I never wanted to visit Las Vegas, definitely not with 2 kids in tow. I had this indelible feeling that I just wouldn't be able to enjoy the Adult city the way I wanted to... if I went out with my sons. Also, I had this feeling of something unholy about it, so I thought that my sons are better off without visiting this place. But then, I had this clinging feel to visit it too.. especially, when in this country, you don't have an option to leave your kids in their granny's place or so, someone suggested me to go visit this place even before my kids outgrew their childishness. I realized that they are too young to absorb the entire adult content of Vegas, so off we started.
The journey was a good one, with our best friends travelling along with us. It started off as a double-date, except that we had two car-seats in the car too..(Whew).
We stopped by at a friend's place in Los Angeles, which happens to be mid-way from our place(Cupertino)to Vegas. Maybe, it was the anticipation to visit Vegas which made us sleepless the entire night in that new place. We just waited for the dawn to break, and then continued our journey.
In a telugu flick "Manmadhudu", the hero says about the city of Paris that "It looks like a perfume bottle in the morning and like a champagne bottle in the night". Am not too sure about Paris... but the statement definitely suits Vegas. More so, I've heard someone saying that visiting Vegas at daytime is as good as seeing a woman without make-up !! heheh.. So much true. It's just any other ordinary city, except that it has expensive hotels lined up screaming of richness in every angle. I bet that no other city must be making so much of money in one single night.
We stayed in The Mandalay Bay, the first one on "The Strip". It was an awesome hotel, with classy interiors. The lounge and our master suite was very much welcoming..and the view from our room had this awesome Luxor hotel(Pyramid shape) in front of our eyes.
The first evening was a much relaxed one, each one of us taking our time to soak in the richness of our hotel. The master bath was simply stunning, and little did we want to come out of it :D ... Once freshened up, we hit the roads of Vegas along with our best friend in hand, the camera !! The city boasts of non-stop lights in the nighttime, and capturing it through the shutterbug only enhanced it's beauty.
We had a stroll until the mid of the strip, by when the kids were too exhausted and were dying to get back to Home !! ( Already?? That's why I didnt want to go with the kids... did you get my point ??) Anyway, being the good boys that my sons are, they were ready to accept that our suite is our new home, and they were utterly happy, as they realized the bliss of constant TV and no school in Vegas :P The second day started off with my routine with the kids. However, my elder one was exhilarated when he knew that he didn't need to attend school there. Maybe, he thought it's gonna be for a long time! And I let him indulge in that blissful thought atleast for a while. Post-lunch, we visited the famous Circus-circus hotel, which had stuff for kids, very much unlike the many other hotels on the strip. I was pleasantly surprised with the number of kids swarming there like bees, for the various games and shows lined up for the gen-next. It was definitely a haven for all the juniors, who might feel stuffy with all the casinos and the adult themes lined up in the rest of the hotels. After a while, when the kids were tired again and wanted to go home, our friends were sweet enough to offer to baby-sit them in the room, while we splurged ourselves away in the casino. "I'll be back in a couple of hours" ...That's what I told my friend when she took my kids back to the hotel. The couple of hours just stretched to a straight six hours, as we spent in the casino and the long walk we took back on the strip.
The rare time, which me and my husband spent walking and talking and clicking all the 5 miles( wearing heels :O) is one thing which I wouldn't forget for a long time to go..
The third day was a similar one, taking turns with the kiddos, and trying to sneak into the casinos and hotels. Amongst all, The Bellagio is one hotel to be watched out for. The richness was reflecting in every possible angle of the hotel and the Christmas theme was a great one to look at too.
In the evening, in an attempt to entertain my sons, we took them to the Shark Reef Aquarium. .
It was a good one, with lots of fishes and whole lot of information on them. The glass dome was looking similar to the one we visited in Singapore, and we felt utterly nostalgic. After all, we spent three years of our lives in Singapore and we have some very fond memories of that country too
My husband had his old-time pals come down to Vegas at the same time. I still have to figure out if it was a planned move or a coincidental one. You never know these guys na ?? I had the night to myself to take a break from the casinos visit, as these guys had something planned up for them. Me and my friend had a quality time of girl-talk, after we tucked in the kids to sleep. The relaxed time for ourselves, instead of scurrying here and there like the other nights, was definitely a welcome one, while the guys got to enjoy their piece of bachelor time. Now, I don't think I need to explain what kind of fun one haves in Vegas, while the wives are not around !!! And then the guys come down in the wee hours of the next day, only to tell us that they have lost a couple of hundred bucks in the casinos again. Not again !! I've heard of "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas"... but here, we were just losing since Day one... and that was one point which was irking the back of my mind. However, the guys who went to a nite-club ( sorry for divulging the details) ...also managed to take us ladies too, the next day... to the same place. I didn't need to be persuaded much about it, because I wanted to be a Roman while in Rome. I really wanted to see the dark side of Vegas too. Somehow, I felt like this journalist wearing club-wear. I wanted to see the girls who worked in these awful places... and Vegas is the best place to explore.
My first steps into the smoky place just left me speechless. Girls were roaming around in their skimpiest best, and I was thoroughly embarrassed with the entire place. I wanted to run back, but being the strong girl on the outside, I followed my husband to a table of two. I was fervently happy that we didn't come down with our friends together to this place. The kids had saved my day...or shall i say it night ??? However, I had a girl coming up and she sat right next to me. I couldn't face her, though I know it should be the other way round. She started chatting with me, and slowly I realized that she was such a normal girl...just being in the wrong place. She was very pretty, and told me a little about herself. I realized that she was doing her profession with the same mindset as any other job. She was there for money, and wasn't even being hypocritical about that. She just told that she hated Vegas, because it's a great place to visit but not to live. I felt sad for her, and she was awestruck when she learnt that we live in the Bay area. That might have spelt "Heaven" for her... or for that matter, any other place than Vegas was better for that girl, whom I already started feeling bad for.
With that shaky experience to take back home, we started back home the fourth day from Vegas. Not to mention, a number of shows we watched over those few days we spent ... we really had a good vacation. The return journey was one to be remembered for a long time though. That being the end of a long weekend, everyone seemed to head back home almost at the same time, just to make the already-bad traffic even worse. The slower-than-ants traffic made us move only 40 miles in 2 hours, and the guys were so tired driving at 5 mph... that they had to stop the car at a rest place for a couple of hours. Incidentally, the rest area was also a casino, the last one near Vegas, and we utilised those rest hours too in the casino, taking turns with the kiddos. Ironically, this was the first time we won and we had a good laugh about it. Finally, after 12 hours on the road, taking rest and turns with the wheel, we finally reached our friend's place in LA.
This was one trip which had it all. Enjoyment, Loss and Frustration. But of course, everything was worth it. After all, its LAS VEGAS !!!
