Been MIA-ing for a while. Moved to my aunt's place for the holidays. Huge coincidence that her family decided to move to San Diego. So I'm staying in her place here in the high-class neighbourhood. Internet connection hasn't been up till few days back, that explains my MIA. My parents just left yesterday with my 2-year-old cousin. Missing them already.

Vegas. Spectacular. That's really the word to describe it. After miles of nothingness in the desert, (it's called a desert but there isn't much sand, just lots of desert shrubs and weirdo trees), a city of bright lights appears. We arrived at around 4, the sun was setting then (it sets at 4.40pm) and the city was dyed in gold by the sun's rays. Really beautiful. Took a while to find our Aladdin hotel, park and check in. The Desert Passage (Aladdin's shopping area) was really Arabian like, with painted sky and lights that makes the place look permanently at evening time and it makes you feel that you're walking in an Arab street. The shops all had the Arab domes. Anyway, we went to look for cheap and good buffets that Vegas is so famous for.

Couldn't find any buffets which are cheap and good enough, or we were just looking in the wrong places, so we settled for a 16.99 buffet. Filled myself up with food and lots of dessert. The crepe was great. =) Then we walked up the strip to TI to watch the free pirates show. Watched the huge Bellagio fountains on the way. Walk walk walk, in the cold, ok lah, not that cold, about 2 degrees C. Went to TI and saw the place was dark and rather deserted... Checked out the sign and it said the show's dark from 10-23 Dec for maintainence. dots....

Ok nvm, let's go on to the next free show, which is at Circus Circus. Walk walk walk.. reached there, found the place, sat down, waited for the show to start. And then we saw people who sat down leaving one by one, and we wondered why. Then this security guard came over and said the last show was over 10 min ago and told us to clear out of the area. double dots....

Next morning, had brunch at a food court. Haha, too full from the previous evening. Then went to the Venetian. Woohoo, an indoor canal. Vegas really splurges on water. It's in the middle of the desert and there's water everywhere, huge fountains, a water volcano, an indoor canal.. Saw a guy in a Haagen Daaz icecream suit giving out $1 off coupons for Haagen Daaz, took one, he thinks we're Japanese. And realised that the Haagen Daaz listed the prices of all their items higher by $1. Cheaterbugs!! Anyway, we went to Caesor's Palace to take pictures of the Roman architecture and walked through their shopping area and saw all the brand names.. I wonder who shops there.. Then off to the other end of the strip to Luxor to wow at the huge pyramid, mummies and the Sphinx. Then went to Tropicana to catch the free air show. And guess what? The show's dark till Christmas. Triple dots...

Darn sian by the time, so we decided to go see a paid show. Wanted to see a Cirque de Soleil show, and guess what? shows for the night are either dark or sold out. dots again.... Sian, went to Vegas and didn't catch a single show?? Anyway we caught a glimpse of the lazy MGM lion sleeping under a rock.

So went to Rio to see the other airshow. And phew, this one's on. And it's good. Dancers and floats on the ceiling. And they were throwing out free necklaces. Very Christmasy. Then went to Circus Circus again to see the circus acts. The acts are great man, they're so professional, wonder why they're not charging people to see them. Saw the water volcano erupt on the way back.

Gambled a total of $1 and lost a total of $1. Vegas is a great place, just go at the right time. If you go the period before Christmas, hotels will be really cheap (3 of us stayed in a huge room with a huge toilet for $50/night) but beware of dark shows.