The Really Real Las Vegas (According to me) +45

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So Horse and I decided to go our seperate ways but not before a "72 hour bender" in Las Vegas! yes, that's right... Las Vegas the "party capital" of the world? or maybe just North America, I really have no idea but it's still filled with tons of "party" things and as most of you who know me would realise how much of a party person I am... so for me going to Vegas would be like a vegetarian going to a slaughterhouse , well maybe not that extreme but the point is that I dont like "party" places and the sooner I could leave the better. Note: this is probably the only non-orgasmic cyber blast about how rad Las Vegas is but that's me. Im not your average joe blow so to speak. Turn away now if you want to read about hookers, expensive beer and strip clubs.. Im sure there's 100's of other journals which cover those subjects... I urge you to read on, maybe just to keep me happy 😊

We left on Wednesday at noon, a very bleak and cold afternoon... massive dark clouds and spittings of rain with the premise of a snowstorm at anytime. We drove in my Aunty's Audi (with fully functional butt-warmers) and traveled along the highway for another roadtrip, this one a meer 5.5 hours, as compared to my last cross country adventures which were roughly 10 hours a piece. The drive was pretty cruisy seeing as though Horse and I weren't driving which is great because the weather conditions were pretty intense outside... ie: we ended up hitting some ferocious snow action not too far out from the Salt Lake City limits... it was nice being cosy inside so I put on my headphones and disapeared deep into my own world for 4 out of the 5 and a half hour trip, which made it a whole of alot sweeter. Eventually after the usual Utah scenery (such a chore to have to see such beauty!) we entered the state of Arizona and like magic the scenery became something other than snow and mountains but instead became arrid and desert-like, rich red coloured ranges and sand aswell as cows and perhaps deer surrounded us either side of the Vehicle. Trully marvelous, enough to inspire me to mention it in my journal. At some stage we passed through the Arizona/Nevada border... for those of you who have no idea where these states are... they're both South (toward Mexico) from Utah and also slightly west, back towards Los Angeles (where we started out 7 long weeks ago) The Transition from state to state was unoticable because they both seem quite similar at those points... though Nevada is like a fat bony finger that stretches up towards the northen states aswell, so there's a bit of snow up there, aswell as Desert down the bottom. We passed through some great canyon areas, I think maybe through where both the Zion and Bryce Canyon national parks are situated, so I got my "grand canyon fix" of the southwest, as I am no longer willing to pay $100+ for guided tours of touristy
locations in the USA... they can market anything and make money from it. In Santa Fe there was the "USA's Oldest house" which cost money to go in and it sucked so bad and then there was TWO DIFFERENT churches right near each other, BOTH cost money to go in and look in awe at something that doesn't deserve any of my money. Luckily I didnt' pay for any as my family seemed to enjoy paying for us to get it, so I shouldn't complain. However I do complain... everything costs money and sometimes it's ALOT of money for something like "go up a tower to take pics" which costs $8 (this was in San Fran) and now in Seattle to go up the Space Needle it costs $15 ... screw paying money just to take photo's .... nowback to the point hehe... just a tiny rant there. The canyon we passed through was definatley something very special, like a mountain which has been sliced into many pieces and revealing it's insides to the people traveling between it's split torso.. the colour scemes (which at night, I am told, are something even more spectacular) were shades of red and gold, very similar to the cliffs back at home along the southern coastline of South Australia but at a much larger scale. However this was only a passing trip and maybe on a second holiday to the states I could spend more time exploring the natural beauty of these areas'...

After some boring bits we hit out first Casino town, called Mesquite.. it's about 60 miles North of Las Vegas and it in itself has at least 4 casino's plus the "pokies" in every hotel, motel, post office, abortion clinic, public toilet and butcher store... yep these "free to gamble" states which are licenced to sell their filth and sin really go full throttle and (just like bums on the street) beg for every last cent lining your wallet. Some fighter jets flew overhead as we traveled even closer to Las Vegas... all of a sudden it became clear that this place was going to be a "grand show" ... and like magic, we crossed over a small pass (hill/crest area) and the skyline of Las Vegas stood there like a literal Oasis admidst stinking desert. Wasn't long til we hit a traffic jam and I learned that Las Vegas was like a living breathing city where people do actually live and have lives, send their children to school as opposed to playing hard and spending your dollars in an endless zone of money snatcher machines. My aunty is a member at a Casino/Hotel there in Vegas because she owns a second home there out in the "burbs", so she's there either on Business or a weekend away pretty frequently. She organised Horse and I a hotel room in "Treasure Island" (www.treasureisland.com) which is a 35 story 4 star hotel above their own casino and bars/clubs/restaurants... it's pretty much a massive resort, you could spend all yout time here and get your "party fix" if you were either lazy or thay way inclined. Horse and I went there and had a beer but weren't able to check in until Thursday afternoon, so we went and stayed at my Aunty's place. Her house was awesome and after we went out for a japanese feast, Horse and I bought a bottle of vodka and a bottle of bourban and drank it up and sat in the hot tub (yep sounds pretty homo I know but it was very nice in the hot tub regardless of who else was in there at the time!) oh yeah and I she has an awesome pool too which I lept into not realising how cold the desert at night turns water into an icy pit of despair (the pain!) ... after that night it was time to go shopping... I bought a nice pair of dress shoes (ewwww!!!) and some pinstripe dress pants (because im such a pimp) ready to "hit the town" once we hit "The Strip" the following 3 nights... for those of you who dont know what The Strip is, it's pretty much the "main street" of Las Vegas which is lined with their famous celebrity owned bars and shit and of course about 30 or so seperate casino's.

So we were let loose on The Strip, with our own private hotel room where porn costs extra and you pay for old movies and the only stuff you get for free are news shows and sitcom re-runs (I tell a lie, there was a Steven Seagal movie on one night m/) Horse was desperate to be part of the "cool scene" so after some trials we ended up at "Tangerine" which is your a-typical club, they're the same doesn't matter if you're in Vegas or in Adelaide at some overpriced shithole that people just "need to be seen" at ... ugh it was atrocious. After 1 $7 Corona I made the executive to make like a tree and get the hell out of there and head for the hills, so after Horse dicthed me to go drink by himself, I went back to the room and fell asleep... Las Vegas blew harder than I expected haha.

Im being a bit harsh here. It's not as bad a picture as I paint... I mean the strip is pretty interesting, it's colourful and all the Casino's have their seperate themes... in Particular "the venetian" which is a huge mock-venice, with all the Architecture and italian style inbuilt all within the casino complex.... inclussive of a series of canals with gondola's and their "captains?" (do they have their own name? someone help me here) Very impressive and indeed I did walk up and down the stripp 3 times during my 3 days in Las Vegas (approx 4 miles of street and 30 or so different casino's and themes) very pretty and the New York themed Casino had an awesome roller coaster. Bottom line is, I am backpacking around the world (well 2 continents) I dont really have the cash to blow on endless poker machines or other casino games with the ignorant vanity of believing that "I am going to win something" ... it's better to let temptation run dry of your body instead of it taking your money! Horse I think was disapointed because maybe this was going to be "party central" but I dont put on a party mask and dance around upon request but I hope his 2-3 days there by himself proved more fruitful!

So after my stay at the hotel and after my flight to Seatte had been changed (again) to leave on Tuesday and not Monday... we left on the monday afterrnoon and arrived kinda burnt out for various reasons, mainly mentally not so much physically, at about 8pm that night. Gave me a chance to book a hostel for Seattle (where I type this entry from right now) and check emails and stuff before I hit the long road alone. The Plan is to hit a few places for roughly 3 weeks and rendezvous with Horse in NYC (new york city) on the first of May, but I think this may change, perhaps if someone has other priorities or is finding it a tough task getting a grip on the USA ... time will tell. I was going to join this entry up with Seattle but Ill leave it until next time.. Ill do a joint Seattle/Vancouver entry and cover some issues concerning travelling by yourself and whether it sucks or not or whether it comes down to the individual and what they want out of their extra-continental adventures...

Ill finish with my hatred towards Australian stereotypes. It seems asif Americans have no knowledge of anything apart from their own country or what they see on Television, so if you're Australian you're automatically The Crocodile Hunter or Crocodile dundee or you wrestle *insert australian native animal here* and eat it with vegemite, but they dont know what vegemite is, so you're left to explain it and because it's not made from whipped cheese of spray on butter you get confused looks and more ridicule. Oh yeah and we all drink Fosters, it's Australian for beer because the TV commercials here say so. The jokes are endless and they drive me far behond my patience. It's ironic that the first time ive drank Fosters (from it's blue can/logo) was actually about 4 weeks ago in San Francisco and not home in Australia... but hey, I don't focus alot of time on hating their ill-concieved atempts at humour, it just gets a bit a much having to explain the same thing over and over again. It's almost like you pray to meet other Australians in the hostel ...

That's it for now, hope the people who are still with me are enjoying my stories and if anyone new is reading, I hope you get something out of it, too.

Stay tuned in a week or so for my current Seattle action way up in the Pacific Northwest and see if I can find something to do other than waste 4 days in Vancouver! I have no idea what to do there ............ arghhhh

bye for now :P

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Photos

Chaos City
It was impossible to capture what the strip meant to me... but I think I captured at least 10 casino's in this one shot..

Pool of Ice and Pain
The Pool at my aunty's house looks inviting... luring you to a cold death.

The House of Money Loss
This is the hotel that we stayed at and enjoyed the finer things in life such as poker machines and watching people play poker machines.

I can't Believe it's not Venice
cheesy title, sorry but this is how insane it was inside The Venetian Casino... I was impressed anyway ;)

Even More Madness
The Casino's were filled with useless statues and junk that probably cost 100's of millions of dollars to put together. This one is from "The Ballagio", which was my fav casino of them all...

Comments

[Father]

G'day
Our neighbour, Julie, brought her laptop over today just in time to find your latest blog entry. We have just returned from a tour of the bush around Elliston. It was a five-hour four wheel drive trip during which we dodged plenty of roos. It was a big contrast with your Las Vegas experience. Sounds like you are still enjoying the U.S. adventure. Hope the solo leg is just as interesting. Keep your cool with the naive Yanks and steer then onto Coopers Pale Ale which I am enjoying at the moment. By the way, I think a gondala "captain" is a gondolier. Look forward to tracking your progress via the weblog. Back in Adelaide on Wednesday and you can email me re your future schedule.

[Ingrid]

Great writing!
Hi Paul, must say your writing is great ! You tell it how it is. not served with strawberries and ice cream. Your sense of humour comes out very clearly, and how you feel about certain things good on you! Sounds like you are seeing and hearing plenty, more then your average joe blow!!! Hope you are enjoying your time out alone, it will be another experience. Well keep having fun, and we look forward reading about it in the next entry. Cheers for now from south aussie land, and its pets :)

[Sulphuric Mountie]

Reject Claim
Hey, sent you the email address of a friend who's living in Vancouver and actually works in like the only metal shop there. He should be able to come up with a few interesting things to do there, including that giant mall, and maybe a visit to Devin Townsends condo..

[Glenn]

Kept me awake
Have just spent what seems the better part of an hour reading all of your tales. I'm on night shift in Melbourne trying to stay awake and have you to thank you for giving me a laugh. You remind me of Bill Bryson. Keep it up.