Home » United States » FEAR AND LOATHING, THE GOOD CANYON, DUSTING THE VODDY

I took the stretch limo option ($10 extra) for the ride to the chopper depot for my tour of the Canyon, good but not really ‘grand’……on our return, we flew down ‘the strip’ , the heart of Las Vegas, and this was the Grand part…..I’ve seen many fantastic canyons over the past 14 months, this one is big and all that, but not the most speccy by far…..but the whole Las Vegas thing, Jesus wept, this is soo different…there is NOWHERE like Las Vegas…it’s big and glitzy, total BLING…plastic fantastic, phoney, skin-deep, rip-off-heaven, schmaltzy, smokers’ heaven, money, money, money (all going one way!) ..….and there’s nothing apologetic about the plastic glitz….fantastic..they know what they are and they are damned proud of it…and it works…a totally artificial, contained, cosmos, and all these hotel/casino complexes all trying to be bigger and bolder and more standoutish, fabulous architecture, in fact an architect’s dream, open cheque book, ‘just make it bigger and brighter than all the rest’ instructions…unbelievable!….and from the air, unforgettable! Inside, they’re all the same, miles and miles, millions of poker machines, gaming tables and (more sedate) poker rooms, bored looking people staggering around with bottles or glasses….altho’ many made it to the pool…they tell me this is why the prices are rising…more tourists, less gambling…as they say…go figure!

FEAR AND LOATHING, THE GOOD CANYON, DUSTING THE VODDY

Bill Shum
2006-09-30 11:16:35

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grand…it was a unmemorable flight, I can remember some of it….a young heartwed couple from Georgia and a couple of young Venezuelan guys who hadn’t seen anything better…I mean, to be fair, it’s pretty speccy, and also, to be fair, I didn’t get to see the whole 440 kms, I would like to take a fixed wing airplane and go the whole way, and/or I would have liked to have gone further in the chopper but hey, you pay your 50 squillion bux, you get the
45 min flight, the landing at the bottom (I don’t think so) the glass of sour champagne, the cookies, the croissant, the banana, the 15 minute piss-and-a-look-around and back on the chopper….but on the way back (I got the front seat on the way back) the fly-by down “The Strip” ……Later, it was seen as a bit odd when I told all and sundry that the last run down the strip was the highlight for me….of all the amazing and fantastic things I’ve seen, the “”Strip” is truly amazing….everyone is supposed to be blown away by the Canyon but downtown Las Vegas is in a league all of it’s own!...and the shows...aarrgghhh...more time please..... amazing magic, The Folies, I saw Ka, the newest Cirque de Soleil production, as amazing as you could imagine...there were 3 other Cirque shows running in town...I wanna see them all....next time!.....meanwhile, back at the bar, I'm trying to stay in front of the game...I found the bar where you keep drinkning free as long as you got money in the bartop machine in front of you....I got to know the barman, Richard and the waitress, Deborah....he's a bikie and made me outstanding cocktails while I battled to keep $10 alive on the 25cent-a-throw machine...Ha...big spender!...but I figured I've pushed my luck way far enough on this adventure and had no expectations of pulling it off here....of course I was always living in hope but that's what this place is all about....land of broken dreams?.....so I got thoroughly sh*t-faced for 10 bucks most nights.....even during the day!...so.....now....

Here I am, in the middle of the night, something deep within me , fighting thru’ the obfuscation of drugs, alcohol and nicotine, battling its way out, in my run-down hotel room, lonely, alone, clawing thoughts, battling the all-night jackhammers of the nextdoor development projects, the TV backdrop of an old, black and white art decco docco on ABC of past blues singers/comedians…flashbacks to previous lifetimes…

Trying to get up the nerve to ask the receptionista (Italian descent) for a date, setting up my wardrobe/closet with the little tangy heater as a drying cabinet for the clothes I bought back, still damp, from the local Laundromat….and that was another experience that I’ll save for another day…

Ahh….morning again, made it thru’ another night altho’ you can tell it wasn’t easy! Another clammy misty San Fran morning….7/11 OJ and coffee on my little machine…perfecto!

Photo time......it is soo much easier getting them up here!.......hmmm a funny selection.....not sure it sums it all up at all but there you go.....