Around Vegas

Bye bye Zion, for sure it’s just farewell and not goodbye as I think this magic place will see more of me.

Only a few hours move to the city where everything goes, Las Vegas. The road there is as desert as I’ve encountered so far, even the welcome to Nevada sign is in the sand.

Screen Shot 2016-08-21 at 18.00.11 — Hot route.

20160824_163310 — Having a little bet of a “Hotel California feel in the Hostel.

I am staying in Las Vegas four nights, I had not originally planned to stay this long, but I’m a bit tire of the nomadic life and I feel a bit of stationarity will do me good. The Las Vegas Hostel is refreshingly more like all the hostels I’ve encountered out of the US. Mixed crowd but no long term stayers, clean and with a super pool. I can see myself having a good time here. It’s on Fremont Avenue, in the heart of Downtown and after a couple of errands and some relax by the pool I’m off to explore.

20160824_194959 — 5 minutes walk and the city lights up.

20160824_195157 — They might as well call this neon city.

At the beginning of the Fremont Experience I spot something I knew about but I did not know to be so close to me, the Heart Attack Grill, home of the most calorific burgher in the world. I decide I’ll be going to eat there one night.

20160824_201450 — With more Vegas glitter

20160824_201707 — and a sea of slot machines

20160824_203754 — And fire spitting manthis

What a place, the extra day is due to the fact I had cut out Hoover Dam from the way in so I took a trip on the second day. So hot I was riding in boxer shorts and sandals, and even that did not make the trick.

DSCN5138 — As seen on the Transformers movies

DSCN5143 — Often you try to keep power lines out of the picture, not here.

DSCN5154 — I guess that’s the waterline when it’s full.

In drunk two gallons of water during the day but not eat much. I was just getting ready for the evening extravaganza at the Heart Attack Grill.

20160825_195259 — Smug at the entrance after being fit with the surgery gown.

20160825_195816 — Menu choice: Double Bypass Burger with extra bacon and Flatliner Fries.

20160825_195906 — Most people at table, but as a loner I stick to the bar.

20160825_195940 — Wearing a surgery disguise, waiting to eat.

20160825_200351 — By the way. if you don’t finish what you’ve ordered you get three heavy spanks, not having been to boarding school I plan to eat it all.

20160825_201407 — And so it comes: bread, 1/2 Kg of meat, cheese, chilli, onion, tomato, and fries for a total of approx. 5000 Kcal.

20160825_202643 — 2/3 of the way through I start panicking, will I be spank?

20160825_203236 — But I push through the pain barrier and I see the end of the tunnel.

20160825_201917 — After I saw how they served it I was tempted to get some wine.

Totally full it was not wise to just go back and to bed, better to go around and walk it off and in the process capture some more of Las Vegas scene.

20160825_211715 — Bars in Fremont come with dancing waiters.

20160825_211726 — And if that’s not enough you can pay to have your picture taken with all sort of local delights.

20160825_212020 — Or spend $25 for a zipline through the avenue (you can see them up there in the air) or $45 for the upper, longer and super fast one.

20160825_213241 — On the way back to the hostel this was accompanied by classical music and nothing else going on. Rather unsettling.

There is something about Las Vegas that makes me feel very thorn. On one side I feel very uneasy at the juxtaposition of beautiful naked women selling their body (picture only I might add) and the many wheelchair bound veterans begging for money. On the other I love the idea that there is a place where anything goes, that whatever you are and whatever you do is allowed and nobody will notice you, let alone judging you.

Day three was about getting the motorbike to the service place, I will leave it there for a week while at the Burning Man. The place is off the Strip, which is the other, and posher, end of Las Vegas Boulevard. After I drop the bike I decide that it’s a cool idea to walk back home, walking the whole 9 miles length of Las Vegas Boulevard. Excellent for pics, not so sure for the body, given the 38º C in the shade.

20160826_104428 — Bottom of the strip, this is what happens when a good night out is too god.

I did not take pictures of the famous casinos I walked through: Caesar Palace, Planet Holywood, MGM Grand, Luxor, Bellagio, The Venetian, etc… they are better photographed at night. I become rather obsessed with taking pictures of the many wedding chapels on the north side of the boulevard. I cannot believe people get married here. They even told me there is a drive through chapel, though I did not see it.

20160826_141236 — And another, obviously popular.

20160826_141409 — Wedding and tools for the after wedding all in one.

20160826_143430 — And then a touch of home.

I got home pretty cookedby the sun so I rested in the pool until dinner time when, having the Heart Attack burger having worn off, I was on the prowl for a steak. I got in the restaurant of a casino near the hostel and had a lovely prime rib, only they did not like my tank top, they had a dress code, so they were so kind to lend me a shirt.

20160826_200216 — My face when they told me I did not meet the dress code. It’s good that frowning comes natural to me.

I think I was better with the tank top than with the Hawaiian non ironed shirt.

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