VEGAS

UNDER DAZZLING LIGHTS, THERE LIVES `LOSS’ VEGAS

The cheapest thing here is getting married. Just enter a chapel with a girl and pay 55$. Even if the girl refuses, you will get a marriage certificate!

When Alan was explaining about Las Vegas, I could not control my laugh. When I walked across the streets of Vegas in the evening, I realized that there was much more in the city than what it is famous for. Casinos and Girls: That does not mean that the visitors would be disappointed.

There is a mini-world out there. The casinos in new area replicate all the famous buildings and monuments of the world. Just a round inside Bellagio hotel would require more than an hour. The portico of the hotel seems to be biggest in the world, where a number of Limousines would be parked. The bakery area is a feast to see, which has a 26 feet chocolate fountain – one of its kinds in the world. The garden area is another must visit place, where they had arranged over 13 pumpkins, weighing over 200 pounds each. Everything looked artificial in the garden, but they were natural. Every hour, there is a musical fountain outside the hotel, which attracts thousands of people on every show.

The women are amazing here. For most of the women, dress refuse to stick up in the upper portion of their body and stay down in lower portion. Dress barely covers their vital statistics. A `revealing’ experience and I enjoyed it. However, life in both old and new casino towns is much more than this revealing experience.

Las Vegas marriages are much talked about. Most of the marriages take place near infamous Las Vegas sign and marriages take place round the clock. A visit to sign, which is at entrance of Vegas, next to McAm airport show marriage of rich and powerful on the spot. They drive down in Limousines, dressed grandly for getting married. For the five-minute ceremony, they wait in the queue.

Vegas sign is not only the place where people get married. A walk in the downtown, one can see a number of chapels along the road. It is big business here, but I failed to recognize the significance of it.

Las Vegas also has world’s best hotel management school. However, the passing rate is only 30 per cent. Alan said that most of the students would blow up their money in casinos and return to their countries, after completing first or second year.

The only form of gambling prohibited in Vegas is sale of lottery tickets. In 1986, a person started selling lottery ticket at Primm Nevada, border of Vegas. People went to Nevada in cars to buy lottery tickets, causing a traffic pile up for five miles. The pile up continued for three days and The Las Vegas Times took an aerial photograph of pile up and published in its front page.

Alan told me that the downtown could be a dicy area. It starts just after new casino area and most of the people live there would have lost money in casinos. Every month, more than 2,000 people plead bankrupt in the downtown super court. Pawn brokers make a big business here. I decided to leave behind valuables, including my camera. But, no one seemed to be interested in me. There were chapels after chapels on the roadside and I hit the old casino area.

For naked eyes, lights in both old and new town look the same. The casinos in old town are not themed to replicate famous buildings of the world. However, Alan pointed it out to me. While neon and LED lights illuminate the new town casinos, old-fashioned tungsten based yellow lights dazzle the old town area.

Though casinos started in late 19^th century, the oldest at Vegas in Golden Gate, built in 1906. It runs through three streets, with an arc on top of it. On either side of it, there are casinos. Besides, there are many stages on either side. Many band groups, magicians and other entertainers will be performing on these stages. One can stand near whichever show he/she likes and watch it. One of the casino displays a golden nugget, which was found in Australia. It has been preserved as it was.

Since it was previous day of Halloween, most of the people had dressed to the occasion. I could see a group of people, dressed in red and there was an eight-month pregnant woman among them. All of them were enjoying and that’s how it is in Vegas. No one is bothered about others and they just enjoy their life.

I glanced through a booklet containing details about the shows in different venues of the city. Apart from couple of striptease, there were very good shows across the city. I required at least one week completing visiting all the shows.

But business is not same at Vegas. Three years of recession has hit the business hard. Casinos pay 45% tax to the government. Earlier, one had to wait for over half an hour to get a table, but now, the tables are empty. If you don’t know how to play, the casino people offer to play for you.

Every cab has a small note on its side, which says that the driver has only 5 $ change. The sign was seen even in Las Angeles, but no one took it seriously. In Vegas, whatever money you give, the cab driver returns only 5 $.

When I returned to the hotel, it was past midnight. I headed to casino and started playing poker – the only game I could understand. For the next four hours, there were ups and downs in the game. At 4 am, I decided to hit the bed and I was down by 40 $. However, it was worth losing compared to the experience I got.