Sin City

For our stay in Las Vegas, we chose Stratosphere, a unique hotel off the strip. It has the most visible structure in the skyline of the glamorous city, an observation tower standing at 350m, making it the tallest free standing structure in Nevada (2nd in US).

Stratosphere (technically speaking it is still in troposphere)

For dinner on the first day, we went to MGM Grand for the Grand Buffet. It was costly, but worth your penny (if you don't eat too little). I took in quite some calories, eating stuff ranging from seafood (king crab, crab, shrimp, various kinds of fish) to mutton, beef, chicken and pork. After the sumptuous meal, we went to the Venetian to watch Phantom of the Opera (Las Vegas version). It was shorter than the Broadway version, but since there wasn't any intermission the show actually felt longer. The effects were more suited to the Las Vegas feel with more lights and fireworks. Overall, I still feel that the New York's show was better.

On the next day, we went up the Stratosphere tower to get a better view of the city. The most interesting thing about the tower was that there were rides on top of the tower. The sheer height of those rides make them the worst nightmare of people with acrophobia. Of course, I did not take those rides (as I knew I would be taking more insane rides later - another story).

 

On the outdoor observation deck of Stratosphere

Errr....no thanks.

For lunch, we went to the highly recommended Todai, a Japanese seafood buffet. The food was good, but wasn't quite up to my high expectations (boosted by praises from VS).

On that night, we went sightseeing along the strip, and I finally got  to see the famous fountain performance of the Bellagio. Bellagio was indeed the  ultimate luxurious hotel; the interior was just palatial, embellished with seas of fresh flowers which I wondered cost how much to daily maintain them.

Eiffel Tower (in Paris (in Las Vegas) )

After the sightseeing, we rushed back to Stratosphere to make sure we were not late for the adult show - Bite that we planned to watch. The show was not that much erotic. It combined elements like magic, singing, dancing, acrobat, and lights and sound to make it an entertaining package. Yeap, another show not quite up to my expectations :)

Of course, any Las Vegas experience won't be complete without any gambling. I did play some slot machines, and learned first hand why casinos exist.