Vegas Trip - Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon

We joined a tour with Grand-Adventures, for $150 you get a fully guided walking tour, breakfast (McDonalds) and lunch (Arbie's) included. It pretty much takes a whole day because the drive to Grand Canyon, passing through Hoover Dam, is about 5 hours and the drive back is 4 hours. So it helps that you have a tour guide/driver that is dedicated for a small group less than 15 people (thanks Alfonzo!).

 At first I thought the whole drive in is like this - desert rocks and sand, no buildings and maybe just one car following you on the damn straight highway.

But eventually you do see lots of rock formations (not sand dunes... I was a bit disappointed...), and once-in a while a peek of the Colorado River.

But actually once you get to high enough elevation, there are plenty of bushes and eventually evergreen trees. The highway is actually quite busy - Grand Canyon tourists from Vegas like us, and lots of huge trucks transporting goods to Vegas and across the States.

 So here it is, the Hoover Dam. One of the largest human achievement at the time. Over 130 people died for building the dam. There is a sad legend because the last worker died during the construction was the son of the first worker died. The dam generates the electricity for all the Vegas lights, and also all the way to Las Angeles. Apparantly after 9-11 the US government have received intelligence that terrorists plan to blow up Hoover Dam, so all traffic to the dam most pass an inspection point, and a new highway was built to divert traffic away from the site.

 The back of the dam is where you can appreciate how big of an achievement building the dam is. Not easy to see from my photos, but the impressive depth of the dam was over 220 meters. People who are afraid of height should stick to the other side of the concret wall.

 So after 4 more hours of driving we arrived at the Grand Canyon.Yeah... it is huge, billions of years of grans of sand forms into rocks and river carving into the earth. But for some reason I didn't get that OMG moment of "Oh, I am just a speck of nothing compare to the earth~". Some people said seeing the Grand Canyon is a life changing experience? Sorry, didn't happen to me.

 This photo is just to show that b/millions of years ago, the Grand Canyon is really beneath the sea. The rock exposed on the top of the Canyon are rocks made from coral reef.

 We joined the sunset tour, so we get to see the sun set over the canyon. It was really quite a view, and we were lucky that the cloud formation that day was just very unusual. But the temperature drops so suddently after the sunset, so we did not willing to stick around for the 3 hour walking tour promised by the guide.

Overall a great experience, you get so much information about the town of Vegas and all the history of the Nevada and Arizona out of the tour guide. Alfonzo is very experience that he points out all the great view points and even takes great pictures for individual and the group. So if you can sit through the 10 hour car ride then it is definitely worth it.

Vegas Trip - Iconic Vegas

Speaking of Vegas you can't not think of all the gigantic casino hotels, which really is amazing how much money people are willing to throw into a desert - not just the people who built the hotels invested millions and billions of dollars, but also tourists and gamblers who got hypnotized by the shiny neon lights, just bring their hard earned cash to a poker table and lose them before you can say "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas". But damn, the hotels sure are pretty.

So starting from the south of the strip, the Welcom to Fabulous Las Vegas sign. Apparently it is easily missed since people would tried to avoid the traffic and not drive through the very south point of the strip. But this sign, designed and built more than 50 years ago, is one of the remaining "old" things you would see in Vegas. Being such a heavily invested town, poeple tend to focus on anything new and shiny. So these old treasures tend to disappear one by one as the time goes by.

 Ever wondered what is at the back of the sign? Here it is...

 The Luxor -  the black pyramid with a beam of light shooting straight into the sky. I asked if you actually live in the gigantic sphinx, and the answer is no.

 Going inside Luxor you realize the pyramid is really hotel rooms. But apparently Luxor is not popular among Asian tourists - no superstitious Asians would want to live in tomb.

 The Excalibur - looks all fairytale-like from the outside, but I've heard inside is just like any other casino. I asked if you really actually get to live in one of the towers, and the answer is no.

 New York New York - pretty amazing that I can actually recognize some of the buildings here but I`ve never been to the real New York (probably recognize them from all the movies and games). The roller coaster is a big attraction. And no, you can't live in the Statue of Liberty.

 The MGM Grand, gigantic golden lion. One of the most expensive (and secret) villa is housed somewhere on the gounds of the MGM Grand. For $50,000 a night you get a secret entrance that lead you into a villa that would made you forget that you are actually in Vegas.

 The not-so-white white tigers of MGM - sleeping, and not very lady-like.

 Coca-Cola and the M&M stores - who knew you need two entire 5-story building for those products.

 Harley-Davidson Cafe, compare to other building and signs this is actually pretty discreet.

 The Bellagio and the fountain show. the entire hotel looks like it is built on water because of the huge pool in the front - how can you really think you are in the middle of a desert?

 Inside Bellagio it is a winter wonderland theme - very classy.

 The Paris, a ride up the tower costs $16, but I believe the vew is better from the outside.

 Caesars Palace with Celine Dion being its huge selling point.

 Inside Caesar Palace (Forum Shop shopping mall), the place is decorated with huge stone statues of half naked ladies.

 The Flamingo - Donny and Marie!

 The Harrahs - very playful carnival theme, but you can tell it really is an older casino, so the people who hangs out there have a different vibe too...

 The Venetian and Palazzo. I am really sad that for some hotels I only have photos of them during day-time, because the Venetian and Palazzo really looks so much better at night.

 The indoor (really, that is not real sky) gondola. But how can you really get into the mood? You know you are in Vegas and not Venice! Such a novelty.

 Inside the Venetian is filled with grand ceiling paintings and gold on everything - quite mesmerizing.

 There is a small waterfall inside the Venetian, very pretty autumn decore - falling leaves, fall harvest, and things like that.

 The also very new and shiny Wynn and Encore Hotels.

Inside Wynn is a fantasy garden theme (again, look much better at night). Good venue for weddings if you can afford to rent a whole section of the hotel.

 The Fashion Show Mall - or as people call it, the Cheap Mall since it is the only place on the strip not filled with high end brands like LV, Gucci, Prada but it has common brands like Macy's, Abercombie, Zara etc. - my kinda place.

 Further away from the Strip is the Old Vegas. I have to say it is actually quite a scary place because it feels quite run down, and the dealers there are all retirement aged, well I should say, more experienced. Definitely not somewhere young people hang out. But I am glad to come because the classic Las Vegas icons are here. The Cowboy sign is so classic, but I think his hand is broken...

 The Cowgirl sign... hmm...... ignore the "Girls! Girls! Girls!" ads that runs beneath it.

Vegas Trip - The Trip

Hi everyone! Happy 2012! But before we really celebrate 2012, I have some unfinished business... I am way behind on my blogs! So here is what happened in November 2011 - my Vegas trip!

My trip begins with a quick dinner at the YVR... healthy...

 From Vancvouer...

 to Las Vegas!

 It was really an amazing view when flying over Las Vegas at night. Photos really cannot capture the brilliance of the man-made wonders. This being my first time to Vegas, I didn't know what to take picture of on the plane, but this one I believe captured the Vegas Strip on the left hand side there.

 The sea of lights...

 I stayed at the Planet Hollywood, or as people called it - PH (ph'uh).

 The rooms at PH are kinda movie themed, or rather decorated with movie props, hence the sword by the bed there. Hotel room is big, clean, and comfy, but it is because we upgraded to a luxury room by bribing the check-in. I am sure the other rooms are clean too, but have extra square footage in the room is just a bonus.

 View from the hotel room - supposedly the room overlooks the pool, but it being November no one is in the mood for tanning (darn!), so no view here. But looking at few of the newest hotel, Aria and Cosmopolitan, is a good sight too.

Happy Halloween!

This year I figure I'll get into the spirit and celebrate Halloween. So I decorated my cubical and pulled out my wear-once-a-year shirt. But unfortunately on the day of Halloween I was stuck at my desk working on numbers coming from unreliable sources and getting the blame, while all the excitement happens just steps away from me. Oh well, such is life, SSDD.