Bright Lights Big City and the possibility of a gambling addiction for Mr Jones!

Mr Jones and a an exhibit from "American Choppers". It was pretty impressive.
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Well after a a very long trip we finally made it!  I don't think that I want to be visiting Sydney Airport any time soon as I have been there three times in the last week!  United Airlines didn't present itself as being a very exciting airline so I took a sleeping tablet and was out like a light.  Mr Jones woke me up a few times when the meals came around but I ate those in and out of conciousness as my sleeping pill was far too strong - I think that it could have tranquilised a horse.  Note to oneself, just a half a pill for the flight to Germany Sunisa!  However, before I knew it we had touched down in Los Angeles where we were fingerprinted and our pictures taken in customs!  Mr Jones was not very impressed by this but took comfort in the fact that they do it to everyone and not just us.

At the Venetian
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It took me a while to figure out how to get to the other terminal to catch a flight to Las Vegas (I was still drowsy at this point) but eventually I figured it out and away we went to the right terminal.

After checking in our heavy back packs and I am pleased to announce that I had packed lighter than Mr Jones!  Only 16 kilos - a new record for Sunisa!  I can't make it to Mt Keith  with less than 25 kilos! We proceeded through domestic security where an extremely loud and abnoxious security guard was giving anyone a hard time if they set the metal dectector off when walking through it.  She kept shrieking "go back out and think about it people!" One poor distressed woman kept setting the alarm off and this guard had great pleasure in making her feel about two inches tall!  I looked over at Mr Jones and we were both of the same opinion that this cocky security guard needed a headbutt right between the eyes!

The foyer of Caeser's Palace
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We had about two hours to kill before we had to board the plane to Las Vegas so we found some seats and slept for a bit.  We awoke to a young couple making themselves comfortable beside us and it was very obvious that they were heading to Vegas to get married.  She was a rather tall very slender bleached blonde with an extremely obvious boob job!  They were huge - I couldn't help but stare and I'm not into chicks at all!  However, emblazoned across her white singlet (where her artifically large breasts are) was the word "BRIDE".  Subtle.  She was so tanned that Col the serviceman at work would have catergorised her as a Bungarra lizard that has lived on the surface of the sun itself for the last two years!  To top it all off she had impractically long fake fingernails.  The were so long that she couldn't even text properly but I guess that's not such a bad thing as I cut my nails off so that I can text faster!  Her husband to be was a relatively insignificant sort of a guy that was just stoked to have her as a trophy wife.

Mr Jones at his lucky machine!
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Finally we board the plane and I am asleep within a minute of buckling up and woke up drowsy again in Vegas.

We get to our lovley Casino Hotel "The Sahara" and I swear it looked so much better on the internet?  Brings back memories of the Philippines.  Oh well I guess if we were here 20 years ago it would have been very classy.  After a bit of a snooze we got up for a meal and a bit of a wander down the strip.  The beauty of Vegas is that it never sleeps and you can eat and be entertained anytime of the day or night.  We ate down in a diner type restaurant in the casino where I gave Mr Jones the run down on tipping.  He wasn't impressed that you had to tip and if he felt that the meal was inadequate he wouldn't be tipping.  I decided there and then to handle our financial affairs.

Glass blown flowers at the Bellagio. Very pretty. One of my favourites.
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We decided to head to the into the heart of the strip and those of you that have been to Vegas know that the strip is very deceiving and you can walk  a very long way with out even realising it.  Mr Jones was in awe of the lights and the hustle and bustle of the place.  We went from casino to casino before stopping at The Venetian where  canals flow through the casino and the ceiling is painted to depict the sky and even though it was 1am it made Mr Jones feel like he had been out all night and that he had stumbled out of the pub and it was daylight.  Very amusing such a lovely experience could be related to a night out on the piss!

Mr Jones in front of the Bellagio
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Heading further up the strip we watched three young girls get arrested for solicitation right in the heart of the Mexican "ticket flickers".  Anyone who doesn't know who the Mexican "ticket flickers" are basically a bunch of people who stand around handing out tickets that advertise stripclubs and other unsavoury places of the like.  I have been told that they are mainly Mexican people but don't quote me on that.  I guess i should really generalise it to Hispanic not that I should be generalising at all really.It had also become very obvious to us that the fashionable trend for females is very short, very tight and very low cut dresses.  It doesn't matter how tall, short, fat or skinny you are if you get squeeze into it somehow then wear it girlfriend!  By this time my feet were begining to develop blisters all over from the shoes that Barbara told me that I would be mad NOT to buy at the David Jones sale!  So we headed in to Caeser's Palace for a rest.  We had not yet had a gamble so Mr Jones picked out a slot machine and we fed in a crisp dollar bill. Within seconds a cocktail waitress wearing a low cut and very short dress that looks like she has been in Vegas 20 years too long, appears to take our drink order.  Naturally Mr Jones orders a Jack Daniels.  I inform him that as long as you a gambling then you don't have to pay for drinks and that you have to tip.  Rather impressed by this he feeds a few more dollar bills into his machine and waits for the waitress to come back.  Seeing as the both of us are not gamblers we just pushed the buttons and hoped for the best which turned out to be not such a bad thing because one press of the button turned out to be an $85 win for Mr Jones.  He was rather chuffed as he never remembers winning that much on the pokies at Stumpers but then again they never handed out drinks for free when you were gambling.  I guess if they did then he would have a gambling and alcohol problem.

Me in front of the Bellagio
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We decided to head home and it was now that we realised that we had such a long way to walk!  My blisters were killing me but i was rather entertained when we walked past a night club at Treasure Island where two guys obviously out to impress some skanky dressed girls decided to strip off and jump in the lake that is front of the club.  Both swam frantically to the loud applause of the nightclub patrons but were met by casino security on the otherside and in nothing but their undies they had to do the walk of shame with security in tow.  It was very funny.  Finally we made it home at 3.30am and after a video call with Mr Bishop we drifted off to sleep only to wake up at 12pm! Bloody Hell I can't believe we slept in that long!

At the top of the Stratosphere.
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We headed further down to the Stratosphere where we thought that we could get a wholesome lunch but everything just appeared to be laced with sugar and fat!  The sight of overweight people made me not want to eat even more!  However, after a quick look at the top of the Stratosphere and the silly people on those awful rides that hang you over the edge (I hate those rides with a passion) we decided to be really American and just have pizza as our first meal of the day!  Mr Jones tried to persuade me to go on the Rollercoaster at the top of the Stratosphere but I informed him that I was petrified of them.  He tried to tell me that they are really not that bad and I then informed him that I want to go on one of those rides as much as he would like to run dispatch.  He stopped bugging me about after that.

Top of the statosphere
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Well after lounging by the pool for a bit in the lovely afternoon sun we then went to the famous "Sahara Buffet" which was rubbish but we ate far too much anyway. Buffets are intriging event as you can witness such amazing things such as people in wheel chairs and grossly over weight people move very quickly to obtain the closest seat to the buffet then pace the buffet relentlessly choosing what they are going to have for the first, second, third, fourth and fifth course!  The was a two hour dining limit - I wonder if many people exceed that?

my blisters
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Tomorrow we'll be up early to head to the convention centre to look at some mechanical marvels(and maybe some more human ones) at the MINE expo 2008!