Free & Easy Los Angeles – Chapter 4

After the excitement we had at the Holloween trick or treat we drove back to our hotel and started packing as we will be off to Las Vegas the next morning.

PiggyBeng wasn’t too happy with the car given by Hertz so he went back for a change early Wednesday morning…. and this is what he drove back… A Ford Taurus. The car was huge and very comfy… Look at the little cheeky boy… sleeping so soundly in his new car seat… he did not even wakes up when we stopped by Barstow for fuel and toilet break! He slept almost the entire journey which took about 4 or 5 hours.

The road leading to Las Vegas was really straight and there were hardly any turns. The entire journey we were surounded by hilly desert. Was quite surprised that the traffic flow was amazingly heavy even though it was a weekday.

Finally we reached Las Vegas and these greeted us…. Outlets! Have wanted to drop by so much but PiggyBeng can’t wait to drive to the motel so did not get to shop lor…

Don’t ask me why we are staying in Super 8 Motel but I was glad it is not a lousy place. It is also very near the Strip area where all the happening stuff are located. One thing I must say is…. Las Vegas is not a place for babies!

Though we arrived around 3pm but were not allowed to check in until 3.30pm… a bit rigid lar their rules so after cleaning up Darrius and fed him it was almost 5pm and the sun has started to set. When we walked out, we said all the beautiful lights… so bright and so nice!

This is Bellagio… one of the grandest casino hotel along the Strip. It house the biggest dancing musical fountain (in the wrold?) right in front of the hotel and one of the highlight and a must see if you are in Las Vegas…

The fountain starts at 3.30pm daily with 30 minutes interval. people will start to gather around the fountain 10 minutes before it starts. The best view is of course from the hotel room.  (If any of you ever watch the Korean drama Hotelier, you would have probably saw a scene where it flimed the fountain from one of the room at Bellagio) We prefer to watch the fountain at night as there were spotlights flashing at the fountain which make it look so magnificient when the water were dancing gracefully to the music.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG3DJfum5v8]

At the opposite of Ballagio is Paris. There’s a smaller version of Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe in front of Paris Las Vegas Hotel.

New York, New York… they actually built a smaller version of NYC complete with Statute of Liberty and a roller coaster ride. We heard people screaming from the roller coaster… it’s quite a thrilling ride but we did not take the thrill… hehehe

The Excalibur… looked so much like the castle in Disneyland…

This Spinx look alike is Luxor. Can you see the beam (blue) on top of the Spinx’s head? The beam was actually from the pyramid behind which was the hotel itself.

On the next day, we explored the other side of the Strip (coincidentally our motel is situated right in the centre from the Strip). The ever famous Caesars Palace, is one of the biggest hotel at the Strip. The interior of the hotel’s lobby and casino is really grand and not to mention it has a mini Colosseum outside the hotel.

Next to it was The Mirage. There were a few really nice man-made waterfalls outside the hotel. I heard that during the night, there is a volcano eruption show but we did not managed to catch that…

Treasure Island is another hotel with nice outdoor deco. However, from the inside the hotel has somewhat looked ‘aged’. Then we walked over to Fashion Show which was tauted as one of the biggest shopping mall on the Strip with a floor area of 2,000 sq ft to work up the appetite of all shoppaholics! Too bad we don’t have much time to spend inside shopping!

But we managed to take this photo! Hmmm…. Darrius looked so skinny here hor?

For bikes lovers, the Harley Davidson Cafe is a place not to be missed! I really like the way the front part of the giant bike poke out on top of the cafe’s main entrance… it’s something like HRC where there are cars poking out…

The Free Dinner

Ok… we were conned… knowingly! On the first night when we were walking about in Exalibur we were being hijacked by a lady just outside the casino (I was actually looking for the washroom) and were being asked if we would like to see some free shows or get some free meal vouchers… Both PiggyBeng and myself already knew it was some kind of marketing gimmicks but we still fell for it… We told the lady we are not keen to see any shows as we have a baby with us so the free meal vouchers will be a better choice… and so we were being ‘tied up’ for more than 30 minutes. After paying USD20 as a ‘guarantee fees’ we were relased…

To claim the vouchers successfully, we have to first go through 3 hours of brain washing… to own a beautiful apartment in Las Vegas… Ok… this was none other than the hard-sell time-sharing programme… It was a good experience but 3 hours of continous pitching by the salesmen is kinda long… However, it was not as bad as we have imagined earlier. After 3 rounds of ‘offers’ we were finally allowed to claim the vouchers…

We were given USD75 vouchers so we went to Sir Galahard’s Pub and Prime Rib House. This two suaku thought the ‘ribs’ were those babyback ribs so went to order the biggest portion! PiggyBeng ordered the King Authur’s Cut which is 16oz and I went for the Round Table Cut which was 12oz. We started our meal with their famous Tossed Salad and some rolls. Then our main course came…. both of us were a little stunned looking at the huge chunk of meat on our plate… then PiggyBeng asked me “eerrr… ribs look like that one ah???” We were quite dissapointed as we did not get to eat the ‘ribs’ we have wanted and those huge chunk of meat were too much for us to stuff into our tummies… only managed to stuff in half of it.

With some money left, we ordered a dessert to complete our meal… so we asked the waiter to recommend to us and we had the Banana Foster which was not in the menu. It was an excellent choice as it was specially prepared at our table!

It was filled with home-made ice-cream topped with banana cooked with orange and lemon juice, sugar and some liquers. The taste was yummy-licious!

After dinner, we drove down to the Old Vegas, Fremont Street. The highlight of this place is the Viva Vision – where it will lights up the night and heats up the street with 12.5 million LEDs and 550,000 watts of sound!! Not forgetting it has a different show every hour from 6pm to 12am…

We only stayed for one of the show which was telecasted at 9pm (Speed, Smoke and Spinning Wheels). It was getting late and all of us were soooo tired. Darrius even slept through the entire journey and back and never wake up till the next morning!

Before we head back to Los Angeles, we went by HRC Hotel. The hotel exterior has two huge guitars… We took the photo above from the street opposite the hotel.

Elvis Presley… among my favourite and the motorbike above belongs to one of the singer of Guns N’ Roses. There were a few more bikes around…

On top are some of the jackets belongs to some famous rock band members… Cool rite?

Ah… my brother’s favourite… The Beatles! Look at those collections… I’m sure all The Beatles’s fans will die to have all those memorabilia…

And finally, at the back of the hotel housed one of the kewlest looking pool complete with individual spa huts surrounding the pool area… The hotel may look quite ordinary looking from the outside but it sure has it charms when you walked through the door….

Related posts:

1. Free & Easy Los Angeles – Chapter 3
2. Free & Easy Los Angeles – Chapter 2
3. Free & Easy Los Angeles – Chapter 1