Menyeberangi Lautan Pasifik

After the vastness of LA, it was a change of landscape as I was next confined within the thin strip of hotels and attractions along the neon-lited Las Vegas Boulevard.

Las Vegas Strip... hotel establishments, each with over-the-top architectural designs, casinos, shopping centres, amusement parks, circus acts, glitzy shows, concerts, even broadway, free performances, fountains, the Coca Cola shop, the M&M shop, buffets, piano bars... you either love it or you hate it.

A city built in the middle of a desert aka in the middle of nowhere, it still amazes me when I look at the amount human traffic at the strip. The strip, which thrives solely on tourism. The strip, which source of economy is from imports. And the strip is packed, fully packed with people. And it was weekdays. And it was not summer break. Where did all these tourists come from? I bet you to ask anyone on the strip for directions, probably half of them would be as-blur-as-you-are-tourists.

We took the bus from LA to LV, which gave me a bad impression of Greyhound Bus. First, the bus departed late by 40 minutes, of which the cause was rumoured to be a last-minute search for a bus and a driver. (hmmm.....) Next, the bus broke down middle of the Mojave desert region. Plus, the driver didn't seem concerned about getting aid. The bright side? We had a chance to witness a beautiful sunset at the desert.

Finally we arrive delayed at our hotel, Circus Circus. haha....I know, what a name! (They have free circus acts throughout the day.) It was around 1am and we were caught in surprise by the long queue at the reception desk. So many people at this hour! The bright side of checking in 3 hours later than our expected time was that we were upgraded to a better room without extra charges, as the original rooms were full. Yay!

One queen bed for Wen Chun and we three girls had to squeeze onto the other. I definitely didn't have a good sleep. Haha, but I couldn't complain. The next two nights, I had the entire floor to myself. =) Lesson learnt: Sleeping bags are handy.

The next day, Wen Chun and I had to get up early, like 6am. We had a shuttle to catch for our LV adventure. hehe... Half sleep deprived, half awake, I told myself that getting up this early would be worth it.

The oft-borrowed line from Peter Pan "Weee......... I'm Flying!" pretty much sums it up. Cuz.... weeeeee..... I'm really flying! haha...

The shuttle brought us to Boulders City Airport and quickly, Wen Chun and I plus two other people who had signed up, were shuffled into a room to watch a introductory video. Then, our instructor came in, showed us the right moves and next, we donned our blue overalls and harness, ready for flight. Only 6 participants signed up for the morning session so we took turns. Only two could go at a time. Wen Chun and I were the last. As a prelude to our turn, we watched the rests perform their landings.

Finally it was our turn. My instructor, Greg was all ready to go, so was I! We climbed into the small plane and the pilot didn't waste time in sending us into the heights. as we soar, I could see Lake Mead, where the Colorado River ends. I could see greens interspersed with red rocky hills. The view was magnificent. I'd expect nothing less since we were 2 miles from ground.

Greg tightened me up and ran through the drill with me, verbally. Wen Chun went first. Then Greg and I "shuffle shuffle shuffle" forward on our butts until the opened plane door was on our left. I swung to face the opening. Wrapped my legs underneath the plane. Without so much as a "One, Two Three"... it was more like "Go!" then i leaped into the space below me.

FReeeeeeeee Faaaaaaaaalllllllll.... Ssooooooo..... Ffffaasstttttttt.......

Breathe. Remember to breathe. Slow.... breaths.....

I was supposed to enjoy the view but I couldn't. I was supposed to smile into the video camera but I couldn't. I recall all I did was... remembering to breathe. Haha

After probably 40 seconds, Greg pulled the string. The parachute mushroomed and we were lifted several metres higher. And my mind no longer reminded myself to breathe but to enjoy the bird's eye view. After the initial jerk as the parachute opened, it was literally smooth hanging until we reached ground.

Greg handed me the handles of the parachute and taught me to do spirals, which I enjoyed thoroughly. Everything on the ground looked so minute. Even Las Vegas looked so plain! It was like a blob of blackness in the middle of brownness (the desert). Closer to landing, I could make out the airport, the planes and the golf courses surrounding it. They do look like mini landscape models.

When we landed, I did so with a ungraceful thud. The parachute's really heavy, not my fault!

The afternoon was spend walking along and taking pictures, which the strip certainly didn't disappoint us of opportunities. Along the way, there were a few 1/2 price booths where you could obtain show or entrance tickets for half the normal price. But of course, the tickets are for shows on the very day or the next day.

We wanted to indulge in this sin city. Since we don't gamble, so we bought a half price offer for a dinner buffet at Pampas, a Brazilian Steakhouse at Aladdin. Slurp!

Indeed! They had salad bar where they had all kinds of beans you could imagine. There were also cooked cheese, pasta, rice, vegetables and some fried meat stuffs. On top of that, the waiters would go around the tables, meat on skewers in their hands, serving you different Brazilian meat dishes each time they came around. It's a buffet so you can try them all! They give you a small card, which had a red and a green side. If you placed it with the green side up, the waiters will come to your table and unload meat onto your plate. But if you need a break from the meat, just put the red side up! Simple as that.

On the way back from the buffet, we stopped by Bellagio, another hostel establishment, to catch a free musical fountain performance. It was quite short, about 5 minutes. There was a technical glitch that night and they had to fix it. So we couldn't have the full performance.

The next day, we took a Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam tour. A whole day was spent on the bus, except for the few hours of stop and sightseeing in between. The Dam, situated on the Colorado River, supplies energy to three states: California, Nevada and Arizona. We only went to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. There are trails and hikes you could take, whether along the Canyon or down into the canyon. We spotted a ranch in the canyon... wondering who'd live there? The Colorado River flows through the canyon but unless you go further down, you can't really see it from the South Rim. 3 million years of Earth history lies here, imagine that.

We retired to our hotel room burnt out at 9.30pm. But Yuting and I wanted to catch the free outdoor pirate show at Treasure Island. We arrived there too late. The sidewalks were all packed and you could not even squeeze through the crowd. Attempts to watch the show from the opposite side of the street proved futile as the vehicles on the road blocked our view. So much for being vertically challenged!

We decided to catch the last show of the night at 11.30pm. In between the wait, we caught a band act at an open air bar at Harrahs. We were, however, more attracted by the bar-tendering skills of their employees. Even the female bartender was no less good! Then, we passed by a piano bar, where two pianists would perform musical duels.

Huaqian left us the next day. So our foursome shrunk to a threesome.. which later would shrink to a twosome, when Wen Chun left for home after UCDavis Picnic Day.

While waiting for our bus in Las Vegas Downtown, we checked out the Fremont Street Experience. The street was only meant for pedestrians, like the main streets in Dutch towns and cities. There were a number of street artists but other than that, it was just another street of casinos and restaurants.

After Vegas, I couldn't wait to return to Los Angeles, our stopover before journeying North towards Davis.