Travelogy – Las Vegas (Part 1)
We took a trip three months back recently to a city called Las Vegas. Here’s my little travelogue.
Just in case you didn’t know, Las Vegas is a city famous for certain establishments called casinos, where innocent people empty their wallets in the belief that they can actually make money just playing games. Smarter people know that everybody loses to the casino.
Fun Fact #1: It’s estimated that every day Las Vegas casinos give away $3 million of freebies (more than $1 billion per year) just to get customers through their doors.Another matter that those billion dollar freebies result in many multiples of that in revenue.
Here’s a casino floor. I can’t recall which one, but they are all the same, so shouldn’t really matter.
Grand would be understating these casinos. They are huge. The nicer ones are pictures of opulence where the super rich gamble away their hardly earned dollars. Many of these casinos are based on elaborate themes to model famous cities such as New york, Paris, even Venice.
Here’s the Luxor which is built to look like an Egyptian pyramid.
A shot of Newyork. This hotel is a painstaking recreation of the city, complete with deli stores, walkup buildings with their fire escapes, and very importantly, new york style pizza.
Running along the exterior of the complex is a roller coaster. This is a feature of the resorts here. Most hotels offer some attraction(s) to pull in the crowds. Some simpler attractions are free. This roller coaster is not.
It comes with its own Statue of Liberty.
Even Brooklyn bridge.
Where else could you walk from New york to Paris in 10 minutes? Paris features a half scale replica of the Eiffel tower whose top provides an amazing view of the strip for some fifteen odd bucks.
Excalibur is themed like an old castle. It features its own moat that apparently also has a dragon that we never saw.
Bellagio is one of the grander casinos in Vegas. This BTW was the casino that George Clooney and his boys robbed in Ocean’s Eleven.
Fun Fact #2: The Bellagio hotel had a construction cost of over $1.6 billion. At current exchange rates, that is Rs 8000 crores. To put this amount in perspective, the Chandrayaan launching ISRO’s annual budget is Rs 6500 crores.
Bellagio has this very famous musical fountain. It is one of the many spectacular attractions that abound on the strip. Here’s a video of a show that we caught.
Caeser’s Palace has a show called Atlantis. Take a look.
One interesting discovery was finding out how Vegas keeps its cool. Literally. Being in the middle of a desert, Las Vegas is HOT. And this is what brings respite from the heat when you are out in the open.
Its a fan with a water pipe running through it to blow water along with the air. Its a little portable air cooler right there. Very Innovative.
This was a ‘Welcome to Las Vegas’ photo album i saw in a store. I’ll just say that this is yet another ironical proof of something that we already know and see all the time.
A cool Ganesh momento i saw at this swimsuit store.
Las Vegas is close to the Grand Canyon, and we took a helicopter trip to this awe-inspiring creation of the Colorado river. That’s coming next.
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November 1st, 2008 at 6:41 pm
[...] Fun Fact #2: The Bellagio hotel had a construction cost of over $1.6 billion. Travelogy – Las Vegas (Part 1) | amreekandesi.com [...]
November 1st, 2008 at 7:20 pm
[...] Original post by amreekandesi [...]
November 2nd, 2008 at 2:22 am
Nice pictures. I am curious to know the impact of the recent slowdown on the casinos of Las Vegas. Do you think more people would gamble now as the share markets are not that attractive anymore?
November 2nd, 2008 at 2:45 am
Hey I was going to ask the same question as Prerna!
Wonderful post! What a place! So did u win anything?
November 2nd, 2008 at 11:08 am
@Prerna – Thanks. The slowdown in the economy has apparently affected Las vegas as well. I went in July when things weren’t this bad. But i have read reports of revenues and hotel occupancy being down. In fact wall street bankers were (in)famous for weekend trips to Vegas where they would spend a ton of money. That isn’t happening anymore.
I doubt that anyone would take to gambling as an alternative to trading…its far more riskier.
@Reema- I am glad you liked the pictures. And no, i did not win anything. Off and on i won little amounts here and there, but net revenue was negative
November 2nd, 2008 at 11:14 am
[...] Continue Reading [...]
November 2nd, 2008 at 3:24 pm
[...] of the highlights of our Las Vegas vacation was a trip to the Grand Canyon. Special enough to get its own [...]
November 2nd, 2008 at 6:19 pm
I have seen Vegas, and it is awe-inspiring to see how wealthy people are if given some freedom to do so. Lots of weddings: I believe Vegas has the highest marriage rates (possibly divorce rates too?) in the US. Something about licensing, I think.
I am sure the market meltdown will hit the casinos hard. The real (private) deals are in millions, where we normally do not get access to see or play! Those guys, including people from all over the globe, will be much less.
November 2nd, 2008 at 10:57 pm
[...] by amreekandesi on November 2, 2008 One of the highlights of our Las Vegas vacation was a trip to the Grand Canyon. Special enough to get its own [...]
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:42 pm
I need to visit the place. Very cool pictures and a nice travelogue. Gives me relevant info of what to see in Vegas. I had always thougth Vegas = Casinos, no one really told me about the external grandeur of these buildings and resorts. Pretty cool!
November 4th, 2008 at 2:17 am
Thanks Dinesh! You can easily spend a week in Vegas without gambling, there is so much to do and see there.
November 17th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
That is true. you can spend a week and it is not enough. There is so much happening.
December 20th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Found your trip report and really enjoyed reading it. Las Vegas has always been an amazing place to visit.
Visitor volume is down from last year’s record highs, but not when you consider that things are on par with 2006 (which was considered a boom year at the time).
The overbuilding the past few years has left plenty of rooms to fill, and rates are dirt cheap. Whatever your price category is, you can get a hotel room here in Las Vegas for less than a similar room will go in other resort cities.
Ted Newkirk
Managing Editor
http://www.accessvegas.com
January 1st, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Yeah that 3 million that those casinos give away… I bet they get 10 times that amount back. Smart move on the casinos owners.. nice post
January 17th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
I love vegas, i also love gambling. Most new visitors to the city of sin don’t realize that there is more to do in vegas then just wasting their money at the casinos. Vegas is famous world wide for the quality of shows that the city features. Not to mention the great art thats on display in some of the art galleries.. just my 2 cents..
March 3rd, 2009 at 1:47 am
I’m originally from the east coast, been living in Vegas for a while now and it was hard to find good pizza. However, there are a few places with some good pie. The place you are referring to in the New York New York hotel is called Sirrico’s Pizza and has decent NY pizza. If you ever venture off the strip try Rocco’s NY pizza (near Red Rock canyon if you head out that way) or NY pizza and Pasta on Jones Blvd.
March 16th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Nice picts, I wonder why Vegas is the best place to gamble? I think because of their facilities and attractiveness. I hope someday will back there again.