Las Vegas where imagination comes true

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.