Las Vegas (Day 1)

Woke up early this morning to chat with people back home in Malaysia. While chatting I had my breakfast, which consisted of left over California Pizza Kitchen ASAP sandwich. At least the flavour was still there.

My room at the Renaissance

The Wynn Hotel with its humongous golf course

The Las Vegas Convention Center, venue of CES 2007

Decided to go out to look at the Casinos and hotels. Took the monorail over to MGM Grand. Stayed here when I first came to Vegas in 95. Much has changed. There used to be a towering Lion that looked similar to the syphnx at Luxor (yes, Sunway Pyramid too). In its place is a small Golden Lion.

MGM Grand

The lobby

The lion outside has been downsized to this.

Went over to look at Luxor from the outside. It reminds me of Sunway very much. Long big road infront of it and big imposing pyramid. One interesting fact is that the pyramid emits a strong beam of light, shooting up into the night sky. Its main purpose, to guide drunks back to the hotel. That's real thoughtful on the owner's part...and I thought Vegas was heartless. So instead of being wasted in the street, drunks can be more productive and depart with their cash at the casino.

Luxor, the real deal. Not Sunway Pyramid.

Took a walk over to New York New York. Its got a big fake Statue of Liberty amidst a Manhattan skyline. Like many things in Vegas, this is just a replica. Its even got a Brooklyn bridge of its own. Inside, the place looks very much like Universal Studios. Nice darksets and restaurants with fake fronts. Had pizza for lunch. Was bigger than my hand!

New York New York

Me standing outside New York New York

New York New York upclose.

The Brooklyn Bridge replica

The interior has a nice theme to it. This is probably trying to copy the looks of Central Park

Lady Liberty doing Marilyn Monroe

This Pizza is HUGE!!

Monte Carlo from the outside

Next stop was the Bellagio. Made famous by Ocena's 11, this is definitely the swankiest casino on the Strip. Its got a fancy fountain upfront. Didn't get to see it in action cause it was too windy.

It's really big

Paris Las Vegas seen from the Bellagio's walkway.

The Bellagio's lobby is one of my faves. Nice use of colours on the ceilling.


It's still Christmas in here....

...and Chinese New Year over here

Lots and lots of gamblers.

The shopping gallery would have been great to walk through if not for the fact that its mainly populated by designer shops.

Lots of people checking into the hotel. Christmas deco was still up. Surprisingly even Chinese New Year lanterns were up ahead of time. Talk about keeping with the times. Can't really say that it is nice and stuff cause it looks much like Caesar's Palace, only more high class.

Caesar's is like a cheaper version of the Bellagio. It is by no means subtle but its got lots of Romn inspired looks to it. The Forum Shopping gallery is must see. Lots of nice shops there. According to my uncle the Cheesecake Factory serves some pretty good dishes, though I didn't feel like spending money on over priced cheese. Was disappointed to find that Virgin Records was no longer there. This was my last stop for the day. By the end of it, I was dead tired and was in no mood to walk any further.

Caesar's Palace from the outside

"All hail Caesar! Now wait until I find the other half of my dress...."

Celion Dion has found refuge under Caesar. But there is only so much one can bear hearing 'My heart will go on'. Caesar is not one to be tested with. Run Celine....run...

The Forum

Inside the Forum

The inner Forum is a nice place to be

A giant Trojan Horse is the front for this Toy Store

While its rear is used for.....other purposes.

The Cheesecake Factory holds many yummy delights

Saw this half naked guy hanging around Abercrobe and Fitch. Weird way to sell clothes by not wearing them.

Even typing this entry is a feat by itself. Thats all for now.

So ends my first day at Vegas. It has been a long one.

Blogging from Vegas

Writting this post now from the hotel in Las Vegas. The flight here was a killer. I have spent close to 25 hours of traveling. All I want to do is hit the bed.

Some notable bad things happened along the way. My flight to Vegas was delayed and worse still some bloody bugger tried to pry my bag open. The zip is busted and I can see clear signs of forced entry. Damn the bugger.

Will write more in the coming days.

Welcome 2007!!

It's finally here! A new year! The old is gone, the new is in. 2006 has been a very dramatic year for me. Many changes to my life happened this year. Among the major changes was the completion of my university education, 3 and a half years at Monash and it is finally over. Me finding my first job, hunting around for a job led me to joining the Star, working life has just begun for me. Now its already 3 months since I started work.

I decided to end the year a lil differently from previous years. Instead of going over to church, I went to the Curve, supposedly the best new year party in PJ this year. Considering the disaster that was Sunway Lagoon (during Merdeka Countdown), I thought of giving the Curve a go.

The stage is all set. Bands were doing last minute rehearsals and the early birds get to enjoy a taste of things to come.

Someone sure is excited to get a place infront.

There was a carnival like atmosphere as the kiddies rode the ever popular spinning thingy ride. You probably can find this in a gazillion other theme parks.

Things took a turn for the worse when the machine broke and the carts were spun at uncontrolable speeds!! Just kidding, I just took this at a slow speed to create some motion in the pic.

There was a Jenga competition over at Cathay Cineplex. Two guys were duking it for RM10,000. To think all that money rests on a tower of wooden blocks.


This guy was a real drama queen. Careful squatting in the corner like he needs to poo. I cringed whenever it came to his turn as he would take a real long time to make his move.

In the end, the drama queen won. Defeating his opponent. Leaving burried in a mess of blocks.

The same spinning thingy at night. Finally walked out on the Jenga competition at 7.30pm. The longest time I had ever watched some play a boardgame.

Show time!

The Hitz.FM crew hosting the evening's programs.

"Lucky" contestants get to engage in "interesting" games. Like pin-the-donkey.

Another crowd pleaser was the getting-into-weird-positions game

Actually it was an innocent game of stepping on the shrinking newspaper. Contestants were required to stand with their partners on a piece of newspaper. Each round the paper gets folded ,the area gets smaller while the number of "interesting" poses increase. :)

Pretty soon the performances got underway.

Dancers doing their stuff.

Before you knew it, there was a big crowd standing right behind me.

Hitz.FM's newest DJ, Natalie calling on for more participation from the crowd.

Other note worthy performers came on stage like Malaysian Idol Winner, Jac

6thSense was also present. Though I didn't enjoy their version of My Chemical Romance's Black Parade. At the very least, the guy struck a semi-decent pose.

Decided to go back early after looking at the crowd. On the way back to Kat's place, we managed to catch the fireworks display off in the distance from Jln Tun Razak.

So comes 2007, a brand new year. A brand new set of challenges to face. It's our country's 50th Bday. So hopefully it will be a memorable year that will go down in history.