Las Vegas

USA

October 2006
4 days

9th to 12th October 2006

USA : Las Vegas.

We were so close so it would have been rude not to jump on a flight to the adult playground Las Vegas aka Sin City.

We got there mid afternoon and for those who have been will know that Vegas looks a bit tacky during the day, but once the sun goes down and they power up the millions of light bulbs it takes on a new life!

Lets Gamble!

We hit the floor running with a nice $80 dollar win on a slot machine in the late afternoon. With a smile on our faces we caught the free shuttle to the Rio hotel for the worlds largest buffet!

All you can eat for about 20 bucks each when you use the vouchers. No exaggeration the amount and variety of food on offer here is sick! You can go up again and again and again until you need to be wheeled out of the place, and some do!!

As seasoned pros at the all you can eat buffet we know to do a full rekky of the food on offer meanwhile creating possible meal combos in your head as those who eat with us in the canteen will know. You don't just steam in filling your plate only to find all the best stuff is at the other end! We witnessed people walking around with mountains of crabs legs on their plates, a sight that made us feel icky.

So we rolled out of there and straight back on to the casino floor where we promptly lost the $80 on roulette and blackjack. Easy come easy go! But mostly easy go!

The next day we avoided the casinos during the day and went to see the Mac King Magic / comedy show...... which for the price was surprisingly very good.

That afternoon I just had to try my hand at some live poker so cash in for $100 in chips and sat myself down at a 10 seater table. An hour and a half later I left that table, my pockets stuffed with $320... Nice! Two good hands had earned me some nice cash.

Whilst playing poker Sarah had gone for Craps lessons! A game neither of us had ever played as its very complicated but its the one where you roll the two dice and don't wanna roll a seven! She tried to explain the rules but I wasn't grasping!

That night was spent watching the amazing and famous duelling pianos at our hotel, Harrahs.

Day 3 and after such a good session at the poker table I went back for more... Not so good this time as felt some skillful local players were at the table so I left $100 lighter. But I did meet a cool guy from SE London who was travelling alone so I invited him to dinner with us that night.

After dinner which was another buffet, Sarah and I walked to the Bellagio as we´d booked tickets to see the excellent Cirque De Solieu show called &Quot;O&Quot;. Whilst waiting for the doors to open we looked in on the Bellagio poker room and watched in disbelief as kids were sitting behind huge stacks of chips, in the region of $8k and played for serious money.

&Quot;O&Quot; simply surpassed anything we could have expected and was probably the best show we have ever seen at the theatre. The stage is a dynamic pool that can be raised from deep to zero in seconds providing a superb performance of gymnastics, swimming, diving and music. Highly recommend it!

We hooked up with the guy from London again after the show at midnight and we got the bus downtown to the cheaper end of Vegas, Freemont Street. The casinos are a little tacky but you can play roulette and blackjack for only a few dollars.

The craps tables looked busy with lots of cheering and shouting so we watched whilst Sarah explained the rules... We tentatively started betting hoping not to make mistakes and look silly but we soon got the hang of it....

We got the right table!!! We were all betting on this Chinese guy who could not stop rolling good numbers making himself a stack of money and everyone else at the table some cash too.

Its almost unheard of be this guy rolled the dice over 50 times before they finally landed on a 7 and the party was over. We went form $10 to $120, but this guy must have made over $9k.... at times the pit bosses were all coming over looking stressed and checking the dice were genuine... it was funny to watch them cursing under their breath each time we all won as the casino for once was losing money!

After his marathon rolling session the dice came to me.... so will all eyes on me it was rather embarrassing to roll out on my third attempt! Rubbish! Don our mate was just as bad and then Sarah did us proud by rolling 13 times after which we left there at 4am!!! Said our farewells to Don and got some much needed sleep.

The next day we went to the Casino Royal to steel a chip as a memento and then caught our shuttle to the airport for our flight back to San Francisco....

We were sad to leave! We´ll be back!