Vegas, Baby!

Today I realized that the blog is a wonderful place to document vacations. We usually do so much research before going anywhere, buying lonely planet, picking out recommended places to eat that I feel we should record it somewhere for us to go back and remember and even to share our recommendations with others. I hope to go back and write about our previous vacations - Bermuda, Peru, San Fran, Bahamas, Prague, Brekenridge (Denver) sometime, however, for now is our latest advent Vegas!

Day 1: We stayed in the Mandalay Bay hotel and the first morning decided to check out the buffet which Vegas is famous for! Turns out it was a bad idea to start with the breakfast buffet. Don't get me wrong, the buffet was awesome and after stuffing ourselves for 2 hours and 4 rounds and the MS disappointed that we didn't do justice to the dessert, we really couldn't move. I mean literally as we went to our room and slept for the entire afternoon!! In the evening we got dressed and ventured out. We walked to the MGM Grand and had a drink. The hotel was not really impressive and was actually hideous from the outside, but we had tickets for a show called 'Crazy Horse' there and decided it was best to hang around it. Everything in Vegas seems a little plush, little grand. Our bar was in the middle of the casino surrounded by comfy leather couches and the girls who were bartending would occasionally get up on the bar and dance (!!). The show was nice - it apparently has its origins in Moulin Rouge of Paris and was very sexy. This reminds me one of the songs they danced to was 'I am a good girl"..go listen to it, deliciously naughty!! By the time the show got over, most restaurants were shutting down as it was thanksgiving thursday so we had a quick dinner at an Asian place and headed back to our hotel, tired and sleepy. Don't know why tired but we again slept like babies!

Day 2: This time we were more planned. We walked down to Paris as the weather was gorgeously sunny and right outside the hotel there was a sign saying "join us for pastries and coffee on the patio". This was of course sufficient temptation for us to veer towards the direction of the sign. We sat outside on a lovely terrace with a beautiful fountain on the side with coffee, a huge banana nut muffin and a blueberry scone. It was perfect. After a while, fountains of the Bellagio across the road started up and I felt like I was really in Paris (not that I have seen dancing fountains in Paris ever!). Anyhoo, we walked through the entire insides of the hotel and it was absolutely amazing how they have replicated the whole city with little touches inside complete with corner cafes, Parfumeries and what have you. We then walked to Bellagio and the Caeser's palace hotel. Caeser's palace was beautiful as well with Rome replicated in the shopping area. By then our legs had given way - we grabbed a quick lunch at Chipotle and headed back to our room for a quick nap. We had tickets to go see Cirque de soleil's show O in the evening and I was so excited! And it did not disappoint. It was the most spectacular show I have ever seen. I don't know how they get water on stage or those Olympic calibre divers, but it was just phenomenal! After that we headed to the Venetian for dinner. Another beautiful hotel with Venice with Gondolas, canals etc replicated. We went to the highly recommended Tao for dinner. Though an hour wait for a 10:30 reservation was a bit much, the food made up for it. They even gave us a line pass for the super popular club next doors, however, we were too tired to party and called it a day.

Day 3: The day started with the famous Bellagio brunch buffet (yes, we really don't learn). We then decided to figure out the public transportation in Vegas and took the monorail to the Wynn. I have this fascination for the public transportation and love figuring it out in new cities and get a great sense of achievement if we can manage a trip without using cabs, just walking, buses, trams/subway. So anyway, monorail was very disappointing to say the least (more on that sometime else) but the Wynn was a wonderful surprise. It is one of the lesser known hotels in Vegas probably because it is more 'residential' and does not mimick any famous city like New York, Paris, Rome, Venice etc. However, it is absolutely beautiful complete with high green hills with waterfalls. You can sit in one of their many terraces, sip coffee/cocktail and look out at one of these waterfalls and you'll never guess you are in Vegas. We then sauntered off to the Venetian to appreciate it by the day light. By the time we walked back to our hotel, it was already close to our flight time and my legs had completely given way.

To conclude, don't listen to anyone who says Vegas is good only by the night. It looks just as beautiful by the day if you can get the right weather. And oh, the food! I have already shortlisted the restaurants for my next trip!

Thoughts on the Mumbai incident

• I have been glued to my computer over the last 3 days reading as much as I can on the Mumbai attacks as pundits analyze, city residents reminisce the good times and Indians everywhere mourn the attacks. The more I read, the more helpless and pessimistic I feel. There is the same sense of outrage after every incident and then we go back to our usual humbug existence. But what choice do we have, what can we do? I don't know but I am looking for answers. I don't think the incidence will mean our politicians will wake up or even overhaul our intelligence agency. As things settle down, we will not remember about the modernization of forces, the need to get them proper bullet proof vest, until something else happens.
• We were in Vegas over the Thanksgiving weekend but ended up being stuck to TV for almost the entire Thursday, thankful that CNN had chosen to cover it live rather than ignore it like other non-US news. Even after, I felt vaguely guilty going out and enjoying myself when a crisis was going on in my country. I felt I am expressing my solidarity by tracking it on the news, don't ask me why.
• People have asked me if I am still going ahead with my India plans, specifically Mumbai. Of course I am!! In fact I want to there sooner and for longer. I feel the need to touch the air, breathe it, fell the same things my friends and family are feeling there. The thought of cancelling the trip didn't even cross my mind. We will be there and visit the Taj and travel in a train and do anything to show solidarity. If I wanted to move back to India for good sometime in the future before the incident, I want to even more now. It is my country and I signed up to stand by its side in good and bad times. The attack has brought out some emotions in me which I didn't know existed.
• I spoke to my sister who is in Delhi and she said that for the first time, she is afraid to step out of the house. You never know what happens next. Is this really what it has come to?