In my review of SFO city, I had mentioned that my wife and I stayed in that city for only 2 days as we were on an epic road trip starting from San Francisco and ending at Grand Canyon while touching Los Angeles, Hoover Dam and the Neon City – Las Vegas . This is a review of Las Vegas which is a city that technically should not exist as it is built right in the middle of the Nevada desert. The two most important requirements for any modern city – water and electricity are made available in Las Vegas thanks to the Colorado River and the brilliantly engineered Hoover dam which made electricity abundant for the city.Vegas in the early part of 1900s was a small town which developed around the railway tracks and it wasn’t until 1935 with the completion of the Hoover dam that Vegas took off in a different direction. The city was notorious in its first few decades into existence for gambling, mafia and brothels which led to many catch phrases like “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” and “The Sin City”.
Our drive from Los Angeles was an easy one; we started in the morning and made only one pit stop to fill gas. The highway from LA to Vegas had considerable traffic and somehow we didn’t feel intimidated by the desert that lay on both sides of the highway, it all looked like gods beautiful handiwork. After about 4 hours of driving, the most anticipated sign “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” came into view and after a mile or so we could see the skyline with what looked like LEGO bricks. The only casino I could identify was Pyramid because it looked like a…… pyramid. My wife had of course planned out the day in advance, we parked at the hotel, had something munch and then set off by late afternoon to Ethel Chocolate factory . This factory is famous for making the M&M chocolate (it looks like the Cadbury Gems we get in India). We took snaps of the factory, the machinery and also bought some chocolates. Day light was getting dim and although most cities consider this as the sign of wrapping up business, Las Vegas waits for this moment as eagerly as a Heron waits for its favorite fish.
With the evening sun sinking into the horizon, our next stop was Fremont Street. I parked my car at the Golden Nugget Casino, we entered the casino from the parking lot and I do not have words to explain what my wife and I saw. It was a completely different world, well dressed bell boys and managers were walking here and there, beautiful girls dressed like billiards players were dealing cards, from the carpet to the ceiling not a single inch of the floor was left without decoration, the lights inside would make even the sun raise an eyebrow and of course the people, where on earth did they come from? No one knows anyone here and yet everyone knows one another. The slot machines filled the grand room with only enough room for two men to walk in between them. Lights from every known color in the universe and every known visible wavelength appeared to be here and this is only the beginning. Being in a casino for the first time, the two of us spent a lot of time watching others play, there were loud shouts and claps when someone hit a jackpot and there was some display of bad temper when someone lost a fortune, rich old men could be seen with beautiful women and almost everyone on the gambling table appears to be a cool gangster right from the movies. All of this is OK because what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
We stepped out of the Golden Nugget casino into Fremont Street, the street can only be used for walking as vehicles are not allowed in it. The street is covered with an arched roof, I thought it was for protection from rain but I was wrong. The roof was in fact a giant TV screen and every 30 minutes there came a spectacular audio visual show. We were spellbound to witness this. We spent a couple of hours or so hopping from one casino to another and also trying our luck with the slot machines and when a jackpot seemed to be a distant dream, we decided to beat a retreat. The next stop was the famous Las Vegas strip. The drive along the Las Vegas Strip is a lifetime experience; the casinos here were much bigger and newer. I parked at one of the smaller casinos I do not remember the name and we decided to walk. First stop – Bellagio , this casino is famous for the world’s biggest fountain and also for its role in the movie Ocean’s Eleven. The fountain indeed was big and the casino was grand.
