Las vegas

No prizes for guessing for what we Indians do on a so called "LONG HOLIDAY" in US , that too a first timer like me in US.Someone said "err....how abt LV this thanks giving?",could I say NO ? .......No way.

Las Vegas - A Dream city

Sanjeev planned the itenerary , Madhu [sanjeev's friend] was ready with his SLR-Nikkon..with Tripod ... thats Great,..All we had to do was to pack our bags ,, too cute right ;).

So sanjeev came to pick us up @ GSB , was sharp as always!bye to Shiva and Shashank .. they did not come .. well they had been to LV . Raced [h-uh , u cant press the gas pedal over 35 mph in city] to Madhu's appartment, he brought Photography stuff ,,

All set , got2go2 Nevada .. we stopped at PETROL BUNK... correction .. We stopped at GAS STATION! [shh .. it was actually petrol bunk.. ].We entered .. one-O-one . edu uncle sam na country nalli dodda dodda highway ge FREEWAY anthare,Sanjeev starts in by lane , 60mph, lane-2 65mph and lane 3 70 mph.. zzzzzoooooommmm.

Eyebrows raised ? 70 mph and zzzzzoooooommmm?..!! its just 112kmph in our desi meter.

....The fun begins , we enter the FREEWAY ..,,sanjeev at the pilot[driver ;-0] seat.Madhu in front , Pradeep and me at the luxury of the rear portion of sedan. Anyone wants a reco for corolla ,, well its good , go for it. Conversations used to begin on one topic.. obvi ,, it was NOBODY's guess where it used to end..1 among 4 of us would come on some friendly banter.. else goobe or shiva or politics (come on we won't waste time on Indian or American politics , we are too practical..).... er sorry GOOBE, dont mind(shhh... not taken your name, so call me and thank dude!!).

The drive was nice and dry , dusk set in [plus dust] .. round about 10 PM , damn hungry , could not find any Indian hotel .. so stopped at .. umm some nth TACO BELL ... the moment I stepped out ,, zzup... it was cold ,,I quickly grabbed my Jacket. This was the first time I tried TACO. What I got was like RUMALI ROTI+thick RAJMA sabji rolled in some paper... it was mexican veggie actually,, it was not going down our throat :(.

Then Madhu introduced the term , "take FOOD PUSHERS!".... ah-a whats that ? its nothing but the same pepsi/coke/sprite taken so that these Pizza/rolls/burger etc etc ,, goes down the throat easily. Now I know why there is an obesity epidemic in few countires :-).We rushed back to inside of the car , it was so cold that we had to switch on the heater.. to keep us warm , ya it was damn cold! we again zoomed in some XYZ freeway.

Sanjeev got tired and it was madhu's turn to drive, me and pradeep had taken little cat naps till 10 , so it was our turn to keep the pilot (driver) awake,,uff pradeep was too tired for that job.I bravely took it, and took the front seat, sanjeev quietly slipped in back and started to take his well deserved nap.

There was no need of sleeping pills for Pradeep and Sanjeev to fall asleep , they started dozing instantly , it was all left to me to keep madhu awake , ha ha .. I hardly knew him before the trip , but we got along well. Madhu drove on and on and on , I kept chatting , light music went on and on..

It was all fine till 2:45 AM ... we were almost near the destination , my throat was getting dry , my eyelids were pulling down , could not even streach for the water bottle on the dashboard,,was just noding to what madhu was telling ,,,well at that point I remembered my ENGINEERING exams previous day preps , sleep seems to be the world's greatest assest at that instant, then finally and I faltered , maybe 10 seconds or so , Madhu did'nt quite observe it. Sanjeev and Pradeep woke up, energy levels raised again , about 10 miles b4 LV, you can make out that u are entering LV.The lights are so bright. It was sight to watch, No explanations, the pics will do the rest for you , for pics scroll down we have 100 plus AWSOME snaps.The roads were crowded , it was 3:30 AM and it was freaking full people on the road..well thats LV , as they say.

We went to imeperial palace , our stay was booked there , parked the car and went straight to lobby , collected the room keys, went up the lift, opened the room fell flat on the bed ZZZZZzzzzzz ZZZZZzzzzzz ZZZZZzzzzzz.......

I was almost sunk inside the bed , it was atleast 1 feet deep mattrice , was it 1 ft ? just kidding , but it was comfortable though.. ;).Got a call in the morning ,???? .. it was from the adjacent room ..:) Sanjeev , just a gave us a wake up call at 11 AM ,, to get ready.

Qurater past 1 , we came to the casino lobby, had few snacks, then the GAME began .. Had come all the way from Mountain View to LV , had to bet somethin there ,,, I had made few notes on black jack and other games ,,my initial target ,, put 100$ , if it reduces to ZERO ,, leave it.

It so happened that in the very first black jack table I sat, I was the only one , the dealer was kind enough to explain that game was simple enough ,, He who was giving me tips when to stand and stay in the game or increase the bets,, well 10$ increased and I started making profits ,, made around 80$ in 6-7 games , by this time another guy joined the table ... he started staring at me as if I was a punter !! .. humm it just clicked without my knoweledge , then came anathor joker/dealer ,,

He did not give hints nor did he give me sufficient time to think , I lost 30$ ,, so I thought it was wise to make 40$ profit and exit from table ,,, I made a move on. Then tried my hands at 3 card poker.. made some 30-40$ profit,, next in Roulette ,, lost some 20$.. then came the jackpot in wheel of fortune ,, took a 5$ bill and started pulling the lever monotonously - 25 cents every pull :-(,, it was fast reducing , only 75 cents was remaining of initial 5$ amount ,, and I struck gold ,, won 25$ and then had to spin the wheel at top ,, for the multiplicaiton factor ,, the wheel was filled with 1's , little 2's,fewer 4's ,,, :). ,, I spun the wheel ,, [it was with a button ,,,] ,, my golden touch that day give me 25.75 X 4 ,, got around 104..as prize in a slip , went to the cash counter , showed the prize slip , and collected cool 100$ bill plus some change,,, ;) lucky me ,,,, I become rich by about 260$ in total ,then I gave a break and started to enjoy LV ,, I stopped any further gambling ,, I never knew that , it was last time lady luck shone on me ,,, :(.

After food , we went across the LV strip (its like actually the main road of Vegas where all the casinos are there), to many casino's,I started to play again .. lost around 50$ , then decided not to play anymore,,and be happy with 210$ profit,, the day went by we visited the following casino's

WYNN


Trump



A Beautiful Ceiling

If only I could afford it ;)


Modified Harley

The Mirage

A beautiful water fall!!


Caesers Palace


The Mirage Again!!

Pillar Art @ Caesers palace


Harrah's


Casino Rayale - Where's the Bond :)


Harrah's

A Musical Ad - The best Picute 10 out of 10 :) , SLR effect :)


Ancient Egyptian Art
~~~~

A Designer Roof!

Roman Lady

Fountain

Roman ruins ???

Shopping in History

Trojan Horse - filmy!

Caesars play

Ancient Womens

Caesars Palace

Caesars Palace

Ballys - Station Entrance

Eiffel Tower in Vegas

Casino Paris

Harley Davidson Cafe

Hollywood

Caesars Palace

Fountain @ Bellagio

Fountain @ Bellagio

Twinkle twinkle little star....

Neptune for Sale.. want it!

Creepy sea animal design

stopped at thamba for dinner ,,, Indians were overflowing in that hotel ,, and all of a sudden I could feel our very own , sweet Shanti sagar atmosphere inside the hotel ,, sounds of spoon and plates, people talking at one corner , could be heard at another corner ,, Indians really live their life king size ,, I luv it .

It was a buffet ,, idli,sambhar,uppma,roti,gobi,etc etc ,, it was like some marriage buffet there ,, :). set out ot road again at 10 (obviously PM) ,, visited few more casino's .. roamed around till 2 AM ,, went to our hotel's disco/pub ,, nothing special ,, we hardly spent 10 mins and pushed off ,,Sanjeev and Madhu went to room ,, me and pradeep went out agian for some more adventures ,,It was nice LV was glittering as gold at night, LV was at its best , even at 4AM , crowded roads ,, it was really a night to remember ,,we hit the bed again at 4 AM ,,second day trot.

The same routine , next day , played few games ,, agian lost 50$ , so I decided not to play more,,profit of $150 is good enough,, so did not play anymore ,,pradeep told about the famous saying "The house always wins, in the end". Had I played more, I would have come out losing money.


Gamble away!

for this Jackpot!!

Well that was just a dream , just a dream for my Dream Machine....;)

Ancient Hut @ Bellagio


Grab some for Health - Bellagio


Stay Away @ Bellagio


Park @ Bellagio


Future LV Projects on Display - Fancy comming again!!


Definately I would !!!! [Future LV Projects on Display]


Brooklyn Bridge at LV


MGM Grand - LionHeart


NY - NY , :) made me nostalgic abt NY trip earlier that month


The Strip view from Pedestrian bridge


DisneyLand


Las Vegas Pins


Ads wherever you GO!


Liberty Dollars


Garland, I suppose


Aurora


Imax @ Luxor


Magic Pillar


3D Photoframe


Beauty in 3-Dimension


Divinity in 3 Dimension

These 3D's are a treat for any photoghrapher ,, you can see the 3D effect only at perfect orthogonal angles, Nikkon SLR does a great job in capturing it!


Shark Reef Auqarium


Mayan or Aztecs


Luxor lights

saw in discovery channel that the light is so powerfull that even at great height you can read a newspaper , Funny ? Now who would give it a try anyway


Sphinx


Luxor


Dark Pyramid


MGM Grand


Not a Chapel !


Las Vegas Pins


Rain Forest Cafe


Luxor Disneyland for the Adults


Stratosphere


Fitzgeralds


Queens and Fremont


Fremont and Queens

Hey!! Watch the above two pics carefully , whats your guess :)


Fitzgeralds


Umberella ... Nah its a Screen


Plaza


Spiderman Eye in spray art

Guess what ,, this was done in flat 10 mins. First they spray the background , use paper/cardboard as blocker when they spray second color coat and so on ,, once all the layers are done , they use a metal peice to give sharp edges , use paper as brush .. sorry can't explain..If you happen to visit Fremont street, catch a glimpse of this art live.


Glass engravings


Bom Marley spray art - :) anathor spray art under 10 mins ...oooopph


LV at Night





Fremont Steet show

This is anathor attaraction at Fremont street , every 45 mins the show starts over the electronic screens , dolby effect sound with moving images.All the surrounding casions switch off the exterior lighting to make way for a Fremont street experience.. good one!


Bright Elevators


Sahara


Circus Circus


Look what Joker says


Stratosphere


Stratosphere


Kiddo stuff


Stratosphere


Sunset photography on way back to California


World's tallest thermometer , well I wasen't feelin sick.

The artifical ceiling in venition which gives a morning blue sky look inside shopping area , european style architect in ceasers palace, Luxors pyramid and guarding sphinx, Effiel tower and Paris , New york's statue of liberty and Brooklyn bridge miniatures,MGM lions, the posh bellagio, legendary Casino Royale,madamme tussades and many more. All these make LV a trip to remember.

The stand out being Bellagio musical fountain , it a beautifull show every half an hour , the musical highs and lows syncing with the dancing fountain ,,a pretty sight , ya I call it dancing fountain.The other nice experience is the Freemont street show. Its an electronic display on a umberella kind of screen over the Freemont street over the entire length.

The Final day we went to Stratosphere , tallest free-standing structure in Nevada. The Stratosphere tower is 1149ft tall .Obeservation point and a revolving restaurant at the top make this an absolute must. Yes , that the reason we had to wait for more than an 1 and half hours in queue to reach the top. Once we were at the top , it was a real sight , could see LV like a bird, LV in the morning does not look as great as it is at the night , well it does not glitter ..:).

We enjoyed the Big Shot - its a kind of free fall drop at a great acceleration.Litrally when it drops you feel the g force so much that you doubt if the heart and lungs have got misplaced ..;). Next enjoyed the X Scream , it looked scary but was not that much though. Its somtheing like a car with seats that rocks over the edge , while it swings up and down too .. maybe I was sitting at thrid row so did not feel it to be that scary. Missed on Insanity ride , were getting late . Got down the super fast elevator , went to room checked out. Started the long journey back , clicked few snaps of LV from inside of the car , hmm first time in daylight we could see how such a beautifull city is located in the heart of a desert . It was a silent drive back , all of were little tired , we did not want to be late , so drove without break.It was getting dark , the location gave us a golden opportunity to take Sun set pictures ,, clicked a bunch full of sun set pics.:)

we stopped at some shop to have some refreshments.We searched for some hotel via GPS , it showned some Punjabi restaurant in Bakersfield , we drove on and on as per GPS , It said "You have arrived at the location", only to find that we were directed to some remote residential location where there were no shops let alone restaurants :), maybe the maps were not updated correctly. It was late already , we came back to the main city , managed to sneak into one indian restaurant just b4 closing, had a nice dinner.

The journey was getting tiresome by now ,,we had another 2-3 hrs , I guess. I slept from then on.Finally readched home , we dropped Madhu to his appartment , then came to our sweet sweet Homestead studio suites . Sanjeev was too tired to go to San Rafael , California .He planned to stay with us. We came to room after a tired tirp , went to showers , had hot cup of coffee and we hit the bed like never before dozing immediately ,, Again no prizes for guessing what we did on sunday .......... "SLEPT ALL DAY"