Day 19 (24/5) - Las Vegas
Huishan, not wanting to miss her flight (which was earlier than the one the rest of us were on), went exploring Vegas with me, while 5 others went to the Primm Valley factory outlet to shop; for most, it was their second time at a factory outlet in our 3 weeks, but it was quite a good deal, time spent notwithstanding, for they got 'free' transport to the place (a $5 'fuel surcharge' was levied) and a free buffet lunch - this was done to promote their casino (there was supposed to be an age check, but some of them sneaked through).
Even the McDonalds signs in Vegas glitter. Gah.
There're more 6969 mobile billboards at night. The guys are probably lonelier then.
Mandalay Bay
Luxor
Mandalay Bay
We wanted to look at the Shark Reef Aquarium, but at $15.95 it was beyond our reservation prices (mine wasn't very high since after my last aquarium I realised they're all the same - sharks were the only redeeming factor for this one). The handout the hostel gave us claimed it was cheap, but I suppose in comparison to gambling costs it is. Adding insult to injury, the Birds of Mandalay Bay which according to the handout were supposed to be in the lobby had been nixed YEARS ago (probably birdshit problem).
Luxor Atrium. Supposedly the largest indoor space in the world.
Luxor Atrium
There was a Krispy Kreme in Excalibur!
It wasn't fresh off the belt, but it was good enough.
Tap water in the Bay Area was unpleasant, in LA it was bad but in Vegas it was really bad. It could give the Island of Doom a run for its money.
New York New York
Excalibur
MGM
In MGM there was a lion habitat.
MGM Lions. This one very intelligently jumped into the glass.
MGM Lions necking
These are the 8th or 9th generation in a line of lions started by the lion you see in the MGM logo. They're only about a year old.
Unfortunately they didn't have the big lions (like the MGM logo one). Probably when they get that big they start eating people.
They charged $25 to take a picture with the few-month-old cub. Wth.
New York New York
Wth. This place didn't even sell Schnitzel, but just hot dogs. Stupid Americans. The same food court also had a Panda Express, which was a self-proclaimed gourmet Chinese food outlet (right).
I saw an ad advertising a College Girl for $69. This seemed insanely low, so I speculated this didn't include sales tax, gratuity and fuel surcharge (and the condom probably would cost $10).
For lunch, we went to the A&W I'd seen earlier in the day while riding down the Strip in the Deuce. I hadn't eaten A&W since Penang in 2005, and hadn't gotten to eat it in the US in 2005 so I was very pissed off to find out that not only did this outlet not have non-beef items, they had NO CURLY FRIES (at the time I thought this was because it was an A&W Express paired with a KFC express). I had to settle for a coney dog (which sucked), normal fries (which were not bad - they were KFC's crispy fries and had more flavour than normal fries but still paled in comparison to curly fries), Wisconsin Cheese Curds (which were surprisingly good) and a Root beer float (which was, unsurprisingly, good).
Me: I will swallow the indignity. I will suffer the unsufferable and endure the unendurable.
Huishan: It's just bloody curly fries.
'Show us your package' (???)
We then went to Circus Circus where actualy circus acts were performed.
Circus act
The grand finale:
Hair spinning. Ouch. She's probably going to suffer from hair loss when she ages.
Circus Circus
Mirage
The Mirage aquarium had 20,000 gallons of saltwater, but otherwise it was like the Wisma one.
Ad for "Bare pool lounge" in Mirage. Perhaps this is where the adults went, since skinny dipping wasn't allowed in the normal pool.
Entrance to Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat was $15, so at first we didn't want to go in but later we changed our minds (since we hadn't and weren't planning on seeing any other paid attractions that day).
Suri Alpacas
Huacaya Alpacas
Snow Leopard sleeping, looking as it it was dead
White Lions
Striped White Tigers
My theory is that this is where Siegfried and Roy dumped their old circus animals after they closed their act, and sure enough: "their long-running illusion and magic act closed 3 October 2003 after Roy was injured by one of the act's tigers during a performance."
Snow White Tiger
Striped White Tigers
Snow White Tiger
African/Asian leopards
White Lions (? - Don't look at me, I just copy the labels)
Heterozygous Golden Tigers
The management was very smart. They had a sign about tigers and lions being nocturnate, but closed at 5:30.
Huishan says the White Tigers at the Singapore Zoo were very ugly - yellow, even.
Dolphin
This is practice for the sardine-like posture needed to get urine samples.
Interestingly there was only one male dolphin trainer - the rest were girls who all seemed cut from a similar mold.
Dolphin antics:
The best was a double somersault, but I didn't manage to capture that.
Jelly Belly Jelly Beans come in Jalapeno flavour. Uhh.
Photoshopped fridge magnets in the gift shop
After that, I tried checking out Bare, but I didn't have a prior reservation and wasn't a hotel guest so I couldn't see if people really were Bare inside (it seems they are for private parties).
Rainforest, Mirage
Venetian. The Lion of St Mark looks more like a Winged Monkey from the Wizard of Oz.
Gondolas
Venetian and the Mirage
Ceiling at Venetian entrance. At least this bit was commendable.
Main Street
Indoor Gondola ride
The Venetian had a travellator going over an arch (ie both up and down)
We then went to Flamingo.
Chilean Flamingos
Black necked swan (?)
Assorted fauna
Mandarin Ducks. They really do follow each other.
Sign on the Hooded Merganser: "The females are said to look like Woody Woodpecker."
Most ducks are smart. The males go into eclipse plumage after breeding season is over, so they get the best of both worlds (they get to advertise to potential mates when needed, yet not be an expensive, walking billboard the rest of the year).
Fountain at the pseudo-French hotel
I'd wanted to book Alcatraz tickets the night before but the hostel didn't have a working printer and I was supposed to bring a printout of my booking confirmation to get my ticket. I went looking for an internet cafe so I could print it, but the only one I could find sold internet time in $5 blocks, at 20 cents a minute and printing cost 50 cents so I refused to patronise it. In any case by the evening of the 24th, tickets for the 25th had all been sold out (I realised I also hadn't had a Vegas buffet, so that's one more reason to come back in 20 years).
Even 7-11 and the airport had slot machines. Wth.
The Indian cab driver who took us to the airport also said I looked like a Native American. Gah. He'd immigrated from Madras in 1986 to NYC but had moved to Vegas because the dry air was better for his father's arthritis (another reason to leave Singapore). He said in the first few years you want to become more and more American, but as time goes by you miss your homeland more and more and want to go back.
There were many checkin machines for US Airlines and we were heavily encouraged to use them. Unfortunately they only worked for groups of 4 adults and 1 child or less (we had 6), and there was no 'abort' button, so when Vinod pressed the screen trying to abort the checkin it started printing boarding passes for 4 adults and 1 child (it refused to go through with 4 adults so I'd tried declaring one person as a child). E-checkin became a big mess and we had to go to the counter to sort it out.
The baggage screeners were testy and there were no signs telling us what to do, only verbal instructions shouted from time to time. They also didn't give us plastic bags for our liquids and gels, which was very silly (I'm quite sure Changi gives them out to those who need them).
I needed to do some symbolic gambling, so I tried a slot machine at the airport called 'Cops and Donuts'. It was my lucky night, so I got a whopping return of 455%! Unfortunately, since I only wagered $1 I got only $5.55 (not even enough to cover overpriced dinner), so.
Quotes:
[On an ad for the Excalibur's Chinese restaurant] Chinese cuisine with an modern twist? Both of them are Ang Mohs and she's holding a [piece of] sushi.
It's not a zoo. [Me: It's a Secret Garden. I hope no little girls wander into the Secret Garden. They'll get eaten.] You try lah. [Me: I'm not a little girl.] Really? I didn't know that.
My shoe is a 'training/entertainment' shoe... So if I'm bored I can just wear my shoes. (shoes are labelled, shoes)