12'05 pm - Starbucks, Excalibur. I know this is not the nicest hotel but it is (a) linked to mine, (b) on the way to the Strip, and (c) seems to be the one place I am able to find on first go!
Woke up with cracking headache at 2am and have yet to shift it which kinda sucks. Mind you after my Bloody Mary in Bellagios I did a marathon shop in the Forum Shops (part of Caesers Palace) (have the slogan 'For Those About to Shop, We Salute You' !) - unreal. Better than Bond Street (all the designers, 150 + shops) but odd lighting that makes you feel like it is about 6pm at night all the time, which is rather disorientating at 1pm! Had to make Emergency Purchase #2 - Nike Shox - as my feet were dead man! And the saddest thing? I chose the ones I bought purely on the strength of some little black girl of about 7 had them on and boy did she make them look hot! (Naturally I don't quite offer them the same je ne c'est quoi as she did...) Taking fashion advice from a child - not good! Please shoot me on sight if I ever appear in any form of Disney branded clothing eh.
How I am going to get all my stuff home I have no idea, went mad in Abercrombie & Fitch, it is so cheap it is almost free! $60 for a hoodie...so I bought 3 as I 'do'. Bought some odds and sods as gifts too, bizarrely (or maybe not so considering where I am) the old souvenir trail is pretty crap here. At least I know enough of the US to order hot tea and specify NOT Earl Grey. I don't know anyone who drinks Earl Grey, why they think it is all we Brits drink I have no idea. (I tell a lie, I do know someone who drinks Earl Grey but he is Australian and thus knows no better!!)
The worst part of here is that it is such hard work to get Outside, it takes me ten minutes from my hotel room to achieve this (and that is after much much practice, it started off running at about 25 minutes..!) I think the headache is a combination of post-flight, post-finish-work relief, neon lighting everywhere and the endless beep beep beeping of a million slot machines - plus cigarette smoke, amazed at how many people smoke here... you can smoke anywhere and everywhere which is very odd in Modern America. Needless to say the smokers make the most of it and are chaining it to the max!
Observation: there are as many anorexic people here as there are obsese. I have never seen so many stick thin legs!
Feeling better so am off to try and replenish my depleted paracetamol supply, the CVS has two whole aisles of pain relief but not a paracetamol amongst them.
6'30pm - Luxor Hotel Room. Did Shark Reef Aquarium @ Mandalay Bay hotel - good though short (the Aquarium not the hotel, that would be very very tall), the green sea turtles were amazing. What was not amazing was the bit where you have to walk across an expanse of glass with the turtles/sharks/rays etc etc swimming underneath your feet. I hate these things (I once had a nervous breakdown in a pub where they had a well that you could choose to walk over, I was pushed onto it and practically passed out with fear), but I had no choice, it was the only way out. There were tens of kids running over it, not bothered a jot, and there is me, on my own, sweating and clutching on the side of the wall with white knuckles! Just as I plucked up courage and was making my wobbly way across with eyes closed, some child ran past me and stopped in front of me, meaning I took it out (eyes closed remember) and thus child screaming, parents glowering at me and me babbling my apologies over my shoulder as I high tailed it out of there!
Having regained most of my composure I then wandered round to the Cowboy Expo - they have the World Championship Rodeo Finals here this week so it is wall-to-wall Cowboy. (Many many of them in black Stetsons, which makes me think of my trip to Oz and an older male friend of mine saying 'never trust a man in a black hat'.....he'd be having a fit if he were here amongst so many Untrustworthy!). The cowboys are a sight to behold, the cowgirls even more so, but the biggest most amazing sight is the tack they stick on their horses! You have never seen so much bling in your life. I never even imagined dyeing Ostrich leather bright pink, these guys have done it and made saddles out if it. Was sorely tempted to get Jacks something pink and glittery to put on Abba (her dressage horse) but resisted, as I know I would Never Be Forgiven!
Found shortcut from Mandaly Bay to my hotel which is great, it takes you past some decent shops too which is always a bonus in my book. I have also found a bookshop about which I am very excited, as I have finished the Kite Runner and cannot face the flight home without a book!
Am trying to summon up the energy to go out this evening to Fremont Street on the bus, as it is only $5 for 24 hours apparently and Fremont Street is the 'original' Vegas and has an amazing light display. It is very easy to stay in and watch tv however! I am so crap. Square eyes as my parents would say. Talking of which my Mum had her ankle operation yesterday so I phoned my sister to get an update (all ok thank goodness) but the phone call cost me $100!! Ouch. Mind you much of that could have been saved had we not chatted about her dog, the weather, our brother etc etc!
7'45 pm - Pyriamid Cafe, the Luxor - I did venture out but only as far as downstairs in the hotel for supper! Sad I know but there are a couple of valid (I beleive anyway) reasons ; 1. being my poor little toe is killing me as I have a huge blister on it, due to walking miles in unbroken in (but gorgeous) boots. 2. the second I stepped out of my room I was overwhelmed with tiredness and 3. I got lost again and couldn't find the shortcut to Mandalay Bay so ended up at the place I ate at on Sunday! 500 restaurants and I choose the same one twice! So here I am, Coke in hand (red wine here does not agree with me, even the Aussie ones) and one Shepherds Pie on order. Perfect. The background music (currently Lady in Red) is competing in vain against the zillion slots plus some very loud Manilow eminating from the buffet which is the floor below...all v bizarre and not in the least relaxing. I guess that is the aim of a 24/7 party place though, don't let people come down in case they stop spending money. It reminds me of what a cruise must be like, where you get all kinds of people in one place with vastly different ideas of how to enjoy themselves - some all tarted up at every opportunity, others dressing for 'comfort' and the long haul at the slots. What gets me about the food joints is that they are all selling mediocre food (even by my bland standards!) at inflated prices, yet people take doggy bags away! What the hell are you going to do with cold beefburger and chips in a basic hotel room??? It's like they know they have been ripped off but cos everyone is so perpetually NICE they can't complain so their solution is 'it's mine so I'll be taking it' ! Strange. Love me x
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