Las Vegas where imagination comes true

Riyadi Suparno, The Jakarta Post, Las Vegas

A Singaporean executive, Poh Geok Moi, is flying from his city state to a faraway destination, Las Vegas, the U.S., with one thought in mind: gambling.

"What I want to do here is go to a casino, and another and another," Poh told The Jakarta Post as he arrived at McCarran Airport one Friday evening on a direct flight from Singapore to Las Vegas with Singapore Airlines.

Poh and many other Asian visitors to Las Vegas end up at slot machines and gaming tables in the many casinos that have spread to different parts of Las Vegas.

Indeed, Las Vegas has long been known as a city of gambling, with many casinos occupying every part of the city.

Some 35 million people per year visit Las Vegas, most going to the casinos.

If you visit Las Vegas for the first time, you will be struck by the sheer number of slot machines installed in different parts of the city, ranging from casinos in major establishments to those in small convenience stores.

But Las Vegas offers much more than just casinos.

Dubbed the U.S. capital of entertainment, Las Vegas has plenty to offer, ranging from fabulous shows, shopping, fine dining, golfing and easy access to one of the world's most famous tourist destinations, the Grand Canyon.

Las Vegas is also well-known for its showgirls. Adult shows are easy to find in this city.

This city also offers shows for folks of all ages, like the world-famous Cirque du Soleil, a water-themed visual extravagance, featuring dozens of performers and rich displays of color, acrobatics and light.

In addition to those shows, you can also find Broadway plays, like Chicago or Fosse here.

Those with a love of fine arts can also satisfy their appetite in Las Vegas. A number of hotels have just opened museums, such as the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum at the Venetian Hotel or the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art.

Touring the hotels along the Las Vegas Boulevard, better known as the Strip, is a memorable experience.

You can start your tour from the Mandalay Bay Hotel at one end of the Strip, where you can experience an artificial beach -- complete with waves, white sand and surfers -- in the middle of the Nevada Desert, and go to the Observation Deck on the 100- story Stratosphere Tower at the other end of the Strip, near downtown Las Vegas.

In fact, 18 of the 21 largest hotels in the world are located on the Strip, starting from Mandalay Bay to Stratosphere Tower. Most of them were built in the 1990s. In total, Las Vegas has more than 120,000 hotel rooms.

Each hotel on the Strip has its own theme and offers unique attractions for tourists. Touring hotels along the Strip is like taking a mini-trip around the world, as all the famous attractions in the world are reproduced in replica here.

The famous pyramids in Egypt, for instance, are at Luxor Hotel. There is a New York scene, complete with the Empire State Building, at New York New York Hotel; a Paris scene, complete with the Eiffel Tower, soars 540 feet above the ground at Paris Las Vegas Hotel and the romance of Venice, complete with canals and gondolas, is at Venetian Hotel.

In addition, some of those hotels offer a variety of free-of- charge attractions for visitors. They include a dance, involving more than 1,000 fountains in front of Bellagio Hotel, which takes place every half-hour every day; Mirage Volcano, which erupts every 15 minutes after dusk, spewing smoke and fire 100 feet high at Mirage Hotel; and a pyrotechnic sea battle every 90 minutes at Treasure Island Hotel.

Not only that, all those hotels compete to offer the best shopping experience to their guests and visitors, making Las Vegas a shopping mecca. Caesar's Palace Hotel, Venetian Hotel and Aladdin Hotel, for instance, have built huge indoor shopping promenades inside their hotels, with an outdoor feeling -- thus enabling shoppers to easily forget that day has become night.

The hotels on the Strip are also good venues for fine dining. Several celebrated chefs have opened new restaurants in Las Vegas, including Spago and 808 restaurants at Caesar's Palace, Lupo at Mandalay Bay and Postrio at the Venetian.

Besides the Strip, Las Vegas's downtown area offers another experience: the feeling of old Las Vegas. A trip to Las Vegas without going downtown would not be complete. One spot that should not be missed downtown is Fremont Street, where a large number of casinos and strip bars are located and neon light shows are performed.

But walking down the Strip and downtown in daytime during summer is not much fun as the temperature can easily reach over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Remember that Las Vegas is a city located in the middle of the Nevada Dessert.

Therefore, in terms of weather, the best time to visit Las Vegas is during the spring and fall.

In fact, Las Vegas is a place to visit in all seasons. Even during winter the city is still attractive. Many Americans spend their winter holidays in Las Vegas, some playing golf during winter. Las Vegas has over 60 golf courses.

In all seasons, the best of Las Vegas can be experienced after dusk when the whole city becomes alive with neon and other lights. Consequently, Las Vegas boasts it is a city that never sleeps.

Unique in the world, Las Vegas is indeed a city where the imagination thrives.