27 May Sun

There was an abominably early pickup time of 630am today, which was not necessary as the highway was devoid of early morning traffic during the weekend. Thus, we were left stranded at the BRAVO TRAVEL headquarters waiting for other passengers (who got to sleep in) to come. And I warn you less than one hand can count readers out there, this tour agency SUCKS big time. They have no sense of customer satisfaction, big delays here and there, bus break down (I suppose thats not really their fault) and the bane, sometimes source of amusement, but grating bane of my journey: the CHEENA tour guides with horrigible engrish. It was lucky that I could understand Chinese, I pity the Indian and Malay families which were among the tour members. Key examples are like ahmahgah (oh my god), alala (a lotta), coraraorier (colorado river). One wonders whether they are just lazy to enunciate properly. it's like speaking with an open mouth.
However, our Vegas tour guide redeemed herself by knowing the back routes and short cuts of getting around Vegas, which is really essential coz we're SO pressed for time. This is one of the main reasons i dont like tours.



We had a long journey ahead of us. about 6 hours or more. The road to Vegas-- deserted desert.. barren land and more barren land. Oh but we stopped over at some factory outlet stores tho! Cheap Quiksilver shirts! 2 for US$19.90 sans tax



A piece of Singapore in Vegas too. Vegas has a bit of everything. New York, Paris, Venice, Rome...



Wynn.. looks like a yummy chocolate! Steve Wynn, owner of this resort, billionaire creator of Mirage and Bellagio also. (or rather MI-RAH-JEE and BELLALIO)



Oooh the sun was unbearable! But for the sake of a photo... Desert temperatures were about 38 degrees celcius i think! The heat was just draining! And irritatingly US hotels don't seem to have kettle to boil water. You think water very cheap is it?



The lavishly delightful ornaments in Wynn



The flash doesn't reach the flowery balls



The ubiquitous essential. Didn't try out tho all the penny slots!



Ooh a stretch limo!




There's the Paris I was talking about!



Caesar's Palace. In awe of the majestic columns



Rio- supposedly have a club with younger clientele



Prancing pony



Sexed up dancers- not my kinda scene



Ooh-er... ch-ch-ch-chip and dale: rescue rangers! makes u wonder about subliminal messages by Disney



One of my fave hotels for its mock Venice design



Dreamy sky painting over our heads in the Venetian



Pseudo venice- complete with gondolas!



Wonder what this is for. Escaping the smoky confines of casinoes



Coloured oxygen?



So little time when we rushed around can only eat pretzel for dinner



This, was the climax of the show. Not much eh?



Lights always look serene against reflections of water



Highlight of Vegas: Bellagio fountains

I never thought my Nike shoes were nice enough to warrant a pic on its own, so this is a cropped one hence the grainy quality.

Like they say, "You ain't gonna miss your water till your well runs dry"

I never thought some MOFing dickhead will come steal my shoes (and socks!) from my front porch in the wee hours of the morning! Some more my sis was awake FF8-ing til 4am.. and grandparents woke up before 6am.

Goodbye my Nikes who followed me to Korea, China, Australia, US...
Goodbye my Nikes who went thru the 2nd half of JC, NAPFA with me, my dance practices, my few attempts of running up and down NUS slopes.

For a moment there I was in favour of the hudud law of cutting off a thieving criminal's hand.

But I'll let byGONEs be bygones. This is an opportunity to shop for new shoes!

26 May, Sat


Nightmare Memorial Day crowd
I start the post again with crowd pics but Seaworld is nowhere near Disneyland's efficiency methinks



Ruffled after more than 3 hours journey to get to Sea World. Traffic was THAT bad



Look at the people at the famous Shamu show



Believe-Sea World's Shamu show



Magnificent jumps and huge splashes



Shamu shamu!



Mama and baby shamu



Shivering after the Shipwreck Rapids ride.




Flamingo Lagoon



sleeping flamingos.. their slender necks look like snakes tho. shudder



mama duck and ickle cute duckling!



The ducks are quite naughty at times.. pecking the poor flamingos' stick thin legs




Washed out.. did someone bleach them.. i expected flamingoes to be pink!



Like these!




fake flamingo- contraptiona elweirdo





Me getting all my family in the shot. We were waiting to get into some RL Stine 4D show.. which was really lame btw




El cheapo trick no2: Seaworld photos more expensive than Disneyland i think! Journey to the Atlantis ride was not bad actually.. there's this huge drop downwards, and i tot it was over so soon.. coz the wait was horrendous.. i was so bloody cold! my teeth couldnt stop chattering and i was shaking so much i felt like pooping! but anyways the ride took us into this tunnel afterwards, sorta like a lift to elevate us, then whoooooshhhh... the exhilarating rush on the way downnnnn



Manatees- I think they're more known to us as dugongs.. So adorable la.. the guide said they have scars on their tails coz they are too slow, as in when they hear boats coming, they flip to avoid their heads getting banged, but they move too slowly so the propellors hit their tails instead.. ooh.. thats gotta hurt!



Only clear shot we can get is with fake manatee




Milk got, hmmm?





posing with the pic of the otter my sis loved so much.. didnt see any live ones around



Altogether now.--- aaawwww





Clueless? The directions are pretty confusing in Sea World..



Took a lot of shots of the seals i dunno why.. oh oh.. Do you know what's the diff between a seal and a sea lion? contrary to popular belief, the black sleek ones u see performing at the zoo? Those are called sea lions! (look at the bottom left photo-the one at the left!) whereas seals are the brown, more spotty ones. Sea lions have long flippers which they use to push them forward when they move about whereas seals have shorter ones so they move around by rumbling on their bellies!
Look at the bottom right photo.. seals also like to pose hor?



Seaworld wouldve been much nicer if it were sunny that day! And less crowded of course. Don't miss the pet show though! It's one of the nicest part of Seaworld! Sadly, I was too busy enjoying the show instead of thru a lens



A lotta roast/grilled stuff here.. warm on a cold day but dont like the smokiness



It was soooo late when we finally had dinner at TGIF just a stone's throw away from our hotel.. and dinner was goooood..