DECEMBER 28
7:30pm - Quickie pack-up. For some reason I thought we were stayin for a week, so obviously I had the biggest maleta among the group.
8:00pm - Dinner at an unusually smokey Carl's Jr. Looks like someone overcooked a patty.
10:30pm - The start of hours and hours of stop-overs, uncomfortable dozes, unhealthy snackin, and idle conversation.
DECEMBER 29
5:30am - Vegas in sight! Whoopee!
7:30am - Hotel check-in and bedtime. This would be the start of a messed-up body clock.
12:30nn - First official day in Vegas. Woke up, got dressed, and drove to...
2:30pm - Late lunch at China Star buffet. Now, you know a Chinese resto isn't good when you don't see a single Chinese eating in there. But hey, buffet for $5.99... Ya really can't complain ;P
4:30pm - Sight-seeing & shopping (aka Walkathon) at Bellagio, Caesar's Palace and Paris.
9:00pm - Dinner at Bourbon Street. Steak and lobster for $7.77 was way too good to be true. Twas more like Litid steak with crawfish. hahaha.
10:30pm till the wee hours of the morning - More trekking at the Venetian, capped off by drinks with the Big boss.
5:30am - Finally catching some zzz's.
DECEMBER 30
12:30nn - Wakey wakey!
2:00pm - Buffet lunch at Bally's. We had an hour to eat before the buffet closed, so we practically stuffed ourselves crazy (think oink, oink).
5:00pm - Gaming at the Luxor: Some tried their luck in Blackjack & Baccarat, while we opted for Air Hockey and arcade games. hehehe.
8:30pm - The magnificent watershow at the Bellagio. It simply took my breath away (good thing Celine Dion wasn't playing at the time though, that would've killed it for me).
930pm till God knows how long - Dinner at the Hard Rock Hotel. Man, what took the burgers forever??
12:00mn till the rooster crowed - Party hardy at Tangerine. Now that was a mighty fine club.
5:30am - End of another day.
DECEMBER 31
1:30pm - Naturally, we woke up late, so that totally ruined our bathroom schedules (imagine eight of us sharing two banyos. Veery busy and very complicated).
4:00pm - Extremely late lunch at that Chinese cafe in Venetian (the name escapes me right now).
6:30pm - Shopping at the Fashion Show mall. Now shopping is usually a great experience for me, expect that in this particular occasion, we actually bore witness to a girl (in her 20s) getting mauled by two other women. She was climbed on, punched on the face and God knows where else, till she fell from the beating. And just when you thought it was over, some idiot of a guy came while she was on the ground and continuously kicked her on the neck, right by the spine! Man, it was too painful to watch. Some onlookers screamed for Security, and guess where we saw them? A floor below us, oblivious! Like they were strolling through the tulips. Pssshhh. I felt sick to the stomach. I really hope that woman's alright and those bast*rds rot in jail.
8:30pm - Drinks at some mexican place above Venetian.
10:00pm - Dinner at the Grand Lux Cafe. I had a hearty serving of slow cooked ribs while Bebs had chicken. Yum! Poor Em though, brushed her thigh against the table and caught a freshly-chewed gum on her black dress pants. hehehe. I did feel bad for her, but now in hindsight it's pretty funny, especially when you think about how she raised hell for it and wanted to sue the hotel. Hahaha. That will definitely go down the anals of history :)
11:45pm - There we were lounging at the resto, not realizing it was apparently close to midnight, until one of us noticed the time. We then sprinted to the hotel patio, and just when we were a door away from reaching it, I realize I had left my camera at the restaurant. GREAT, NIKS. So Bebs and I dashed like mad and retrieved the cam back, and ran even faster towards the patio, hoping against hope we didn't miss the fireworks.
11:55pm - We make it five minutes before midnight! Whew! There we were with our closest friends in such a beautiful place. It really was such an awesome way to welcome the New Year. There were fireworks lighting three different areas in the sky, so you really couldn't miss anything. Ah, Vegas. What a great New Year's :)
1:00am - Back at the Grand Lux Cafe for dessert with friends, the Big boss, and the rest of his extended family. We had a humongous plate of fudge and ice cream coupled with one of those margarita yarders. Yeba! Naturally, we went giddy from there (either from the sugar or the alcohol, no one really knows). 
2:00am - Hung out at the Aquanox for all of fifteen minutes, until we realized the darn thing was closed, then moved on to...
2:20am - V Bar for our final Vegas hurrah. The downside: Man, of all celebrities to catch, we saw all these pinoy starlets! Good god, who let these people loose?? hahaha. I'm being mean, but you should see them strut their stuff like they actually owned the place. Well, atleast one of us took home one of the girls' numbers. Woohoo! I'm not tellin ;)
4:00am - I'm spaced out by this time from all the colorful lights and exhaustion, but I do remember the guys driving us to Dre's in the attempt to catch yet another New Year party. Unfortunately, it was going to cost us an arm and a leg to get in the club, so we scurried outta there and--with someone's recommendation--drove to some place I thought was way too far to be a party place.
5:00am - I woke up in the car to find we had just arrived at another place called the RoadRunner. Now, the name alone should've warned us; but nooo, we jumped right in that log cabin of sorts and found exactly what that ghost town of a neighborhood told us... nothing. No one was in there. Nada. Zilch. Zero. Not a warm body in sight, unless you wanted to pop it like it's hot with the bus boys. Our swinger boys decided to call it a night and we finally drove home for some much needed sleep.
JANUARY 1, 2005
12:30nn - The start of a New Year!
2:00pm - Hotel checkout then drove to Luxor for a buffet lunch, except that the queue was as long as a Disneyland coaster ride. We ate at Nathan's instead, and had practically everything with bacon and cheese. And because the food court was grossly overpriced, we paid more for those darn hotdogs than we would've had, had we eaten at the buffet. hwe hwe hwe.
3:30pm - Took the tram and headed to New York New York Hotel for more sight-seeing.
4:00pm - ESPN Zone for more arcade games (aka. air hockey, car races and basketball).
5:30pm - We were pretty much all low batt at this point, but we couldn't leave without riding the hotel's roller coaster. So we did. Now, considering the ride snaked in and out of the hotel, and gave you a beautiful view of the Vegas strip when it actually led you out, it was one helluva ride. In reality though, the fun was only in the first 25 seconds and somewhat turned into a choo-choo train afterwards. Nonetheless I give it props for its unique concept.
8:00pm - Drove to Primm for some final shopping and gaming. This is where Raffy L. and JJ teach me Blackjack, and I eventually play a few hands. I probably have my dad's itch in gambling, cause I actually more than doubled my $20, except that the momoy Bebster lost $20 on the slots. Which means we merely broke even. Ha! Twas a fun experience though :)
10:00pm - Buffet din-din at Primm's resto. We had a pinoy (gayish guy) wait on our table who took good care of us. Apparently in all his five years of work there, he has not once played at the casino. Good job, manong! Talk about principles. We on the other hand were on a vacation. And since it was our first time there, I wanted the full Vegas experience, so I'm happy I got to do a little of everything. Well, not close to everything, but more than enough for this visit :)
11:00pm - Goodbye Vegas! Thanks for the grand experience :)
We then drove to LA for the night and pretty much stayed up till 5:30am as Master Host Raffy L. (literally) wined and dined us while watching Martin Lawrence Live. Man, that guy is hilarious. Crass, but extremely funny. heheh.
JANUARY 2
12:30nn - Good morning LA!
2:00pm - Lunch at Thai in L.A. Super yum! Highly recommended, best bang for the buck Thai food.
4:00pm - Two hours and five pounds after, we head back to the car with our to go boxes (leftovers) and were met by a hobo who was either peddling or other. Check out our unusual conversation:
Me: Hey, Raf, ask if the guy wants some food. We can give him our take-outs.
Raf: Do you want some food?
Hobo: Food? You have some pastrami? (huh???)
Raf: Uh, no, but we have this (shows the man our bag with leftovers).
Hobo: Oh, food! (grabs the bag, sorta sniffs it, then says..) Is it kosher? (what the???)
At this point the guy tucks the bag under his armpit, and just when we thought he was going to show some gratitude, he says..
Hobo: Do you have a tobacco in there too?
Hahaha. What a strange character. I hope he ate that food, cause that would have been a total waste of good Thai cooking.
4:15pm - Drop off Raf, meet Pao for all of two minutes, exchange gifts (not mine though), then drive off for another six or so hours back to SF.
11:00pm - Back in San Mateo! Late dinner at Joy Luck Place
12:00pm - Ah, home sweet home :)
So there. Whew! A chronological account of our New Year happenings. I hope 2005 will prove an even bigger adventure for all of us. I sure am ready for it! As Martin Lawrence would say (minus all 200 cuss words), Life: drive it till the wheels fall off.
...Wow, who knew I'd be quoting Martin Lawrence someday. heheh. ;) Dont forget to check out our Vegas trip in pictures!
No comments:
Post a Comment