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Sorry sorry sorry for not updating yesterday! I'm in Vegas right now and everything is manic!
I will start from yesterday morning when we caught the bus from L.A. to Vegas. My day started off pretty sad. We had to catch the bus in downtown L.A. - for those who don't know, downtown actually isn't the hub of the city. Its a quite derelict and absolutely filled with homeless people - they reckon there's around 6000 of them :( As you would have read before, we've tried to avoid them as we simply could not afford to give them all money, and we have become quite cold about it which is horrible. But yesterday when we were in the bus building a homeless man came in and asked for money. I said we had just used it to catch a taxi, and he replied not even a dollar? It was horrible because we've seen so many "homeless" people that realy look like they just chucked on a shabby pair of pants and found it as a good way to make money. But this guy, he had such a sad and scared look in his eyes that I felt guilty throughout the whole bus journey. We're so lucky in New Zealand to not have a poverty problem anyway near as what I have seen so far when travelling.
The bus journey was quite long. Maybe about five or so hours? But it was pretty cool! It was my first time driving through a desert. Thank goodness the bus was air conditioned because when we took our halfway break at a petrol station I couldn't believe the heat. It was 41.1c D: Vegas is frickin hot too. And it was windy yesterday so it was like being mulled by a super hot hairdryer all day. On the bus we saw something pretty funny! We were on one of the main highways almost coming in to Vegas, and there was a guy in the lane next to us reversing really fast :/ I don't know what he was up to, and fingers crossed there was no major accident because of him! We saw the remains of a big accident further down - there was a truck and car totally burnt out! Another funny thing has been the interesting calls to Matt's phone on a frequent basis... He bought a U.S. simcard when we first arrived in L.A., and it must have been someone elses number until really recently because we've had heaps of phone calls and texts to it! Such as calls about his son Anthony not going to class, legal documents needing to be picked up, etc, etc! Pretty amusing.
Right, now for Vegas. This place is actually mental. I can't even describe it and the photos definitely don't show it. The sheer magnitude of the features here are just mindblowing. The hotels are MASSIVE!!!! And are built on top of huge complexes. The hotels have everything from golf courses, swimming pools, casinos, multiple theatres, shopping malls, heaps of restaurants and even more that I just can't remember. Even our hotel, which is just off the strip and 'only' has about 1200 rooms, has a 24 hour swimming pool, gym, casino, theatre, wedding chapel.
We spent the day checking out the main hotels, such as Wynn, Encore, Mirage, Ceasers Palace, Treasure Island, Hollywood Planet. Ceasers Palace is the most insane I reckon. It has an actual town built inside it which looks like you're outside. When we went in it was super hot and very bright outside in Vegas, but when we entered the town it was like sunset and warmish - so it made our bodies feel really weird because our body clock was trying to adjust quickly.
Other cool things include the man-made volcano outside of the Mirage. I thought it was just going to be some mist/smoke with red lighting and cool music, but then suddenly fire is bursting eveywhere and it's just honestly mental. The biggest thing I have learnt here so far is that is doesn't matter how much I tell you or how many photos I show you - you gotta see it for yourself.
Outside of, I think Ceasers Palace, was a stunning fountain show. I don't even know how high the water reaches but it must be VERY, VERY high. And it is timed with music.
At night time Vegas definitely comes to life. In the day time it's just ergh and hot. Whereas at night time it's only about 30c so a bit cooler! And it looks great with all the crazy neon lights! You also get all the show girls parading the streets which just adds to the Vegas feel hah! And big streets shows everywhere (such as the volcano, fountains) and also there was like a dance show on the big boats outside of Treasure Island.
We haven't done any typical Vegas things yet like hitting night clubs or gambling - We decided to spend the day getting our bearings and checking things out first! So I'll let you know tonight goes hopefully very soon!
Love from a very, very hot Vegas xxx
- comments
Aunty Claire Hmmm comments are not working :(
melissa Vegas is sounding pretty awesome!! so the conclusion of todays blog is....... Vegas is a must on the bucket list. Ha! You've got me looking up flights already lol! Have an amazing night and be safe xxx cant wait to see the pic's xxxxx
Stephanie It's weird because I'm not too fond of Vegas ATM! Don't like the heat and it's very over the top - but do feel like it's deffo somewhere you have to check out yourself to make that judgment! X
Mum Sounds like fun! Make sure you have a go at Black Jack whilst you're there - dad will be really jealous ;) Love you baby, and miss you a whole lot more xxxx
Awesome brother WOW... sounds intense, when you do start gambling, you should split all the winnings with me, seeing as i'm such a good younger sibling ;), just kidding.. hope you have fun on your travels big sis :D