so after another fun filled over night bus i managed to make my way to las vegas - altho it still gets me that there isnt a direct route from san fran to vegas , so i had to get a bus down to LA then change and go up to las vegas - another ridiculous thing and a challange for the bladder - seriously the lengths you will go to to not have to pee in the horrible toilet on the coach!

so i get off the bus and OH MY GOD it was like stepping into an oven - nothing like the last time i went. so i got my bags and decided that i was goning to save my money and walk to the hostel as it was apparently only 15mins from the bus station. ok it was only 15 mins but add a backpack that weighs the equlivent of a small 3rd world nation and heat so hot that your sweat is sweating it took me about half an hour - altho i wasnt alone as i got talking to someone at the busstaion as we both had the same bag - its strange what little things get you talking when your traveling!

anyway i arrive at the hostel and never been so thankful to the dude who invented air con in my life! so after checking in i had the most needed shower of my entire life!

i then got talking to the guy in my room and because i hadnt eaten for what felt like a decade he asked if i wanted to go to one of the casinos buffets- loads of food for cheap - yey!
so we went down to freemont street which is basically the old strip of vegas where you can find the four queens the marlbro man and the golden nugget. so after deciding the buffet was too expensive i had steak about the size of my face along with a soup to start and a drink for around $10 and boy was it good!!!!
we then went round the casinos and had those first little flutters in the slot machine - and i won about 50 cents! we then caught the bus back up to the main strip to catch the treasure island prirates show and the biagio fountains

i then had to have an early night as i had to get up at a ridiculous hour in the morning to go on the grand canyon trip in the morning!

5am the next day im stood out on the street waiting for the coach to take me all the way to arizona

we firtly stopped off at the hover dam - i cant rememeber why its important but it looked impressive and many photos were taken. we also traveled along a part of route 66 and stopped off at this funky little shop which had all this old school memerbillia all to do with the road

after this stop we headed off to the southern rim of the canyon. when we got there we were given 3 routes we could take along the edge - i decided to take the longer route as i wanted to see as much of it as i could. when i got there it was really strange as when you looked out it looks like a picture and dosent seem to be real. the shere expanse of the thing just makes you feel absolutely insignificat. so after walking round what looking at a map is the smallest bit of the canyon we got back on the bus - altho i was lsat one on as i was sooo hot i went for icecream and ended up being late doh!

we got back to the hostel at around 7pm so one of the longest days on record - dispite this i had got my second wind and woken up! i got talking to these 2 american guys and this girl from switerland and a south african girl and we decided to go for a walk back down to freemonet street - after being tought how to play roultte by what i can only imagine to be a croupe bored out of her mind as we still didnt bet anything we headed back to the hostel

the next day i decided to take myself round the main strip as i hadnt been up there yet and i wanted to see all the casinos i hadnt already been to as well as taking pics of the flamingos in the flamingo and being disapointed again as the white tigers enclosure in the mirage again contained a regular tiger!
and this is when i had my first celeb spot of my trip - we i say celeb i mean bepe from eastenders just walking through the shopping area of one of the casinos!
and boy was it hot it felt like i was walking with someoen blowing a hair dryer in my face and never sweated so much.
so after seeing all the sights and grabbing some dinner i had signed up for a lomo tour down the stip organised by the hostel - was only $20 and got as much champange (lets just call it fizzy wine) as we could drink and free access into the cyote ugly club in the new york new york hotel. so doing what every self respecting traveler would do we got drunk on the free stuff so we wouldnt have to buy a drink in the club!
the club was awsome and spent the night dancing away until we got hungary and headed down into the casino -where we got new york style pizza, we also found the times square bar where there was these 2 dueling pianists playing requests from the audience - was brilliant as everyone really got into it
after this we were all knackered and headed back to the hostel - plus the next day i was off to san deigo!