Archive for July, 2007
Las Vegas Vacation: Fremont Street Experience
We took a bus to Fremont Street one evening. Fremont Street is located in downtown Las Vegas. Because of the glitter in The Strip, one can quite easily confuse The Strip as being downtown. Fremont Street is where the first casinos in Las Vegas ware opened — the place where it all began with the first gambling license issued in the 1930s.
It is here that where the original and famous Las Vegas are located: Binion’s Horseshoe, Eldorado, Golden Gate, Golden Nugget and Pioneer Club.
Fremont Street is now a pedestrian mall. Back in 1994, the street was closed to install the now famous lighted canopy on Fremont in response to the intense competition from the glitzier hotels on The Strip. This makes Fremont Street definitely more comfortable walking with wide walkways and lots of things to see and do. We simply love being here … just standing there and absorb the sound and lights and people watching. Collectively this is known now as the Fremont Street Experience.
We enjoyed the free concerts on permanent sound stages that they set up.
When the sky goes dark, that’s when the spectacular canopy lights up with the largest light display in the world. The canopy stretches 4 blocks in all and is lighted by over 10 million LED light bulbs. There are five different light shows every night. All the casino lights were switched off before the show began.
The show was mesmerizing. We only caught one show as we wanted to get back to the hotel before it gets too late. The show we caught was called the American Freedom … it was a very patriotic show.
The tough thing is taking the bus back to The Strip. I should have guessed … everyone will be going for the same limited buses immediately after the show. The bus was absolutely packed and the driver had a tough time getting people not to board. At almost every stop the bus had to stop for 5 minutes to organize everyone. We’re OK because we manage to get seats for ourselves.
Las Vegas Vacation: The Buffet at Bellagio
Las Vegas is not only about casinos … it is also known as the buffet capital of the world. There must be dozens of buffets all over the city in various types. There are buffets that costs under $10 and there are those that costs up to $40.
We decided to try The Buffet at Bellagio because they claim to be the best (and one of the most expensive, if not the most expensive) in Las Vegas. Whatever it is, two words describes Bellagio best — High Elegance.
The Buffet at Bellagio serves American, Italian, Japanese, Chinese and Seafood cuisine. The attraction is their Alaska King Crabs and Kobe Beef. We had never tried Kobe Beef before but only found out that they only serve Kobe Beef on weekends.
We were at The Buffet at about 5:00pm which we thought is early before the queue starts. We were wrong. Even at 5pm there was a line which stretches out to the entrance. The wait was supposed to be about 45 minutes from where we were.
After waiting for about 20 minutes, someone gave us their Line Pass which allows us to get on the shorter line. We got in in just 3 minutes in the shorter line. We were pretty pleased with it. He he he … we felt pretty important too.
Here are the rates for The Buffet:
- Breakfast 7am-11am: $14.95
- Lunch 11am-4pm: $19.95
- Dinner 4pm-10pm: $27.95
- Sat & Sun Champagne Brunch 7am-4pm:
- without champagne: $23.95
- with champagne: $28.95
There are no discount rates for children at The Buffet. All kids pay full price!! Obviously they deliberately do this to discourage families eating here.
The buffet islands and counters were bright and clean. We had a first visual sweep of the entire area and had a tough time deciding where to start. For sure, there are no way we could try everything that is available as much as we try to get only bite size servings as much as we can.
At the dining area, the seating, tables and lightings were comfortable, not plush. However, the table settings were good … no paper napkins, silverware and such. Oh well, we are here more for the food.
Service was prompt and they kept our glasses filled and took our plates away as soon as we’re done.
To us, The buffet is spectacular and simply the best we had ever tried. Here are the pictures of some of the food we had.
I started off with a quail. It did not have much flesh and was very boney, sharp ones too.
Arkensen and Nanzaro headed first for the sushi.
Too bad there were no Kobe Beef but the Prime Roast was in perfect pinkish medium rare. It was some of the best I had ever tried. We went back for seconds. Yummy!
The star of the day for me was the Alaska King Crab. They went very fast but they kept replenishing it fast enough to keep up with the demand.
They thoughtfully sliced the crab legs into half so that we don’t have to bother cracking them open. The legs were not puny ones … they were up to 1.5 feet in length.
The shrimp were big, fresh and fleshy. I would have wanted more but because there were simply too much of the rest to try.
I have no idea what this is called or even am certain what this is. I think this is some kind of fish.
The broth of the mussels were quite good but the mussels were disappointingly small.
Alrighty … it had been so long already since we had this buffet, we had so little recollection of what we ate! Anyway, enjoy some of the pictures below …
Shrimp wrapped in wonton wrappers. Pretty unique.
Some pasta from the Italian section.
They even had pizzas … this one is spinach pizza.
Fish … can you figure out what this is?
Ice-cream were pretty normal.
They had very pretty dessert bar. We only managed to try less than 50% of what they had on display.
Brownies …
Creme Brulee …
Fruit Tarts …
Unique Lemon Meringue …
Cream Puff …
Cakes …
What do you call this?
And this?
While it was a great buffet, I do think this buffet is overpriced. We enjoyed this a lot … and all of us gave it 5 out of 5. We notice that despite all the food we had, we did not really feel overstuffed … you know, the kind of regret one gets after overeating? We took 1.5 hours in all.
After the buffet we walked around Bellagio to check out their famous interiors. In the lobby, the ceiling were adorned with over 2000 colorful hand-blown glass flowers.
Just past the lobby, there is the Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. The displays are changed out several times a year and reflect the current season.
Las Vegas Vacation: Walking The Strip in 45 Celsius (113 F)
Oh boy, was it a scorcher!
It was 45C when we landed. We knew how hot it will be as it was all over the news that Las Vegas almost hit 50C days prior to our arrival. When we stepped out of the air conditioned airport, it was still a shock. There was blustery wind but it made things worse because the wind made us felt like we’re in a furnace.
We took a cab from the airport to the hotel. I wanted the cab driver to drive through The Strip but part of the street was shutdown because there was a fire at the top floor of the Venetian Hotel. So, he took the longer way through the highway. On the off ramp, the taxi was rear-ended by a SUV. I had a bit of a whiplash but the rest of the family was OK. The driver claimed he had a bump on his forehead but I think he’s trying to make a big fuss out of it. What a way to start a vacation!
A new cab came by to take us to the hotel. The good thing is that the cab company decided not to charge us for the trip which came up to about $25. Now … what a way to start a vacation right?
We stayed at the Circus Circus which is about one of the two kid friendly hotels in Las Vegas. The bad thing about this hotel is that it’s located almost at the northern most part of The Strip. This hotel is very old and is almost 40 years old. I think it’s only a matter of time before they implode this hotel and build a new one on this site.
Compared to the newer hotels, this hotel does show its age. We chose this primarily it’s kid friendly and its now exorbitantly expensive (about $75 per day for a double queen room). Like most hotels in Las Vegas, this hotel is huge. It’s a long walk from the front entrance to the tower block.
This hotel is used for the filming the James Bond’s Diamond Are Forever and Baby Geniuses. There is an indoor amusement park called Adventuredome in this hotel. We decided not to take on any rides here since we’ll be going to the Great America park the following week.
There is a free circus performance about every hour or so. We managed to catch a 10 minute contortionist act at the Midway. There are very limited seating available. We had to reserve the seat 30 minutes before the show.
After checking out the hotel, we decided to brave the heat and walk The Strip. I can’t believe how dry it was. I mean, just barely 3 minutes out of the hotel, I can feel the dryness — it was really bad for the skin and the nose. There were quite a few vendors selling bottled water for $1 each (which costs 30 cents if one get it from Safeway). So, we decided to dive into McDonalds to get our drinks because they have all you can drink soda bar!
Suanne and I tried their Iced Coffee. I think it’s a new product in McDonalds and came in several flavours. We tried Hazelnut and Vanilla. The Hazelnut Iced Coffee was particularly good — I like it a lot and had this several times throughout the entire vacation.
With drinks in hand, we started our long trek down The Strip. On the map, it seems like a manageable stretch but it is 4 miles (6 km). Even in good weather, it is still a long walk. There seems to be a lot of traffic at all hours of the day. I like the simple layout here … it’s just a long stretch. It’s very exciting walking down the stretch and lots of photo opportunities. We started off from the north of The Strip and planned to walk down to Bellagio for a meal before going as far south as we can for the day.
The Strip is very pedestrian friendly with numerous connector footbridges between hotels. In some locations, there were mist showers but it was quite useless in this weather.
The Frontier is one of the oldest hotels on The Strip and was built during the Second Wold War — oh wow. This sign on the front said that this hotel will be closed forever in a few days. Without saying, this hotel will be imploded and over the next few years will be a new hotel in its site.
We came to learn of the following names while here — MGM Mirage and Steve Wynn. We had always thought that most of the hotels along the Strip were separately owned hotels but many of them were controlled by just a few corporations. Treasure Island is owned by the MGM Mirage.
Treasure Island is one of the most exciting hotels and is famous of their free “Sirens of TI” performance every night. We wanted to catch the show but did not manage to get to it in time. Anyway, it was extremely crowded when we walked past in the middle of the show.
We just walked past Wynn, which obviously is another hotel built by Steve Wynn. It had a very simple design. Up close it is an imposing building. Because of it’s sheer size and simplicity, one would not have known that this is 60 stories high.
Our next stop was the Forum Shops at Caesars. It was a good respite from the heat. They have indoor fountains and lots of seats with great view of the intricate interiors. Suanne and I took a seat while we let the boys roam the shops — they have more energy than us.
What struck me was their spiral escalators — first time I have actually seen one. It was pretty cool.
We also went to the moving statute free show. Suanne and I was was here 15 years ago and caught the same show. The good part of the show is that we get to sit down and recover in an air conditioned place! We can’t get a single word out of this show — and trust me, it’s very boring.
The Venetian is the classiest hotel to Suanne and I. We simply love this hotel the most. It had canals, lakes and so much to discover at every nook and cranny. It is also not overly casino-ey. What we appreciated a lot when we asked for directions is that they pointed us the way around the casino since we had two kids in tow.
This hotel is still half completed. Once fully completed, the Venetian will be the largest hotel complex in the world with 7000 rooms.
The Mirage is another hotel built by Steve Wynn. It is best known for the Siegfried & Roy’s show but since the white tiger attack incident, there is only one white tiger on show.
The Mirage is best well know for the free Erupting Volcano show at night. Suanne and I had seen this before 15 years ago. Back then it was pretty exciting but watching this again now, it is quite boring — Arkensen and Nanzaro felt the same way too.
Another hotel by Steve Wynn and MGM Mirage, the Bellagio is perhaps the most elegant hotel on The Strip. This is the place we had the first of our ten (yes, TEN!) buffets on this vacation. We’ll blog about the buffet tomorrow.
The fountain shows on the lake are a major free attraction and provide a romantic ambiance for couples walking along the strip. It’s hard to believe this vast man-made lake is right in the middle of a desert. While waiting for the fountain show to start, I was thinking how much water is required to fill this lake and how much precious water is evaporated every hour.
Having just visited Paris earlier this year, I was drawn to this new hotel. There is an actual replica of the Eiffel Tower which one can take a car to the top. When it was first designed, the builder (Harrah’s) had wanted to make a full size replica but were forced to scale it down because of the proximity of the airport. This Eiffel Tower here is half the height of the original. We had a buffet here too — thanks to the tip given by MammaViv.
Monte Carlo — we just walked past this hotel. I think this is a badly designed hotel. You could not really see the hotel from the street having being blocked by the small albeit pretty entrance. Something tells me this hotel does not cater for the masses and is full of luxurious private suites.
The Flamingo is another old hotel. Despite its age, it is pretty well kept up to date although it does lack the ambiance of the new hotels around it. I have always remembered this hotel because Suanne and I had one of our best pictures taken in front of it a decade and half ago. Back then there were a lot of empty spaces around this hotel but now it is hemmed in all round.
The traffic at the southern end of The Strip is much lighter with wider road and no construction. We enjoyed this stretch as the crowds are much lesser.
The Excalibur, another MGM Mirage hotel, is based on King Arthur’s theme with castles and colourful turrets. It has perhaps the most dreamy facade of all hotels. We had initially wanted to stay in this hotel. While the rates were reasonable, the reviews found on the internet for this hotel was quite bad.
New York New York is impressive and exciting. It had a very busy look with even a high roller coaster which travels both interior and exterior of the hotel. The icons of NY was very visible … the Statute of Liberty, Chrysler Building, Empire State Building and Brooklyn Bridge. While this hotel was built before the 9-11 attacks, it does not include the Twin Towers.
Last but not least, the MGM Grand is imposing because of its bright green face. One could pick this hotel out from anywhere because of the striking color. It’s one of the biggest hotels on the Strip.
Well, how’s this for a blog entry? It’s amazing how much grounds we covered on our first day in Las Vegas. Needless to say, we were dead tired by the time we got back to the hotel. One day down, twelve more to go!
Tell me about your favourite hotels on The Strip …
Las Vegas Vacation: Allegiant Air Flight from Bellingham to Las Vegas
We had originally planned for a road trip this summer to North California but decided to change our plans when we found cheap airfares out from Bellingham, WA to Las Vegas. I came across it quite accidentally when I heard over the radio of the news that a lot of Vancouverites had been coming over to Bellingham for cheap flights.
Although the airport is called the Bellingham International Airport, I don’t think they have scheduled flights to airports outside of the US. It’s a small airport really and that means that checking in and out is so much more faster and easy.
The flight tickets we bought were just $89 one way from Bellingham to Vegas. We decided to fly Bellingham-Vegas on our way there and take a return flight from Reno (which was just $39 or $59 depending on the day of travel), Taxes and all came up to about another 20% more. They do charge $3 for each baggage checked in. All in all, it’s a good deal — I figured it could be actually cheaper to fly than to drive from Vancouver to Las Vegas. You should check out their prices on their website … you’ll be surprised I’m sure.
One thing though … you need to be careful about all the additional charges they put on. I am not surprised because this is a no frills fare they are selling. For instance, if you book the flight ticket over their website, they will charge you $7.50 convenience fee, It is not charged if you buy it from the ticketing counter at the airport. To select a seat of your choice, it will be an additional $11. If you want a choice seat, you have to check-in early … at least 2 hrs early.
Everything about this flight is really basic. You don’t even board the planes via aerobridges but a walk-up stairs. Gosh … the only time I had boarded a plane via stairs were in Phnom Phen, Cambodia about 10 years ago!
The flight was smooth and pretty short. It took about 2.5 hours only. We were quite late checking in and got seats on the last two rows. The last row had no views at all … the engine was just by the window.
Can anyone recognize the mountain below? The give-away is the half crater.
They don’t serve anything for free at all during the flight … you have to pay even for a bottle of water.
Nanzaro loves the airline snack boxes I bring home from my business trips. So when he learned that they also have snack boxes for sale inflight, I just knew he wanted one. Each box costs $5.
Allegiant Air’s Snack Boxes were no where compared to United’s which costs the same (see here and here for United’s Snack Box review). They are all very dry snacks and simply not worth the money. You should bring along your own snacks.
Just before we landed, the stewardess organized a raffle on board. Everyone who wanted to participate have to write their seat number on a dollar bill and put it in a bag they pass around. The winner takes all the money in the bag (about $80!).
As we land we can pick out some of the hotels on The Strip. The LAS airport is just about 5 minutes from the Strip which I think is awesome.
Allegiant Air is an airline based in Las Vegas. You should check out their airfares on their website (http://www.allegiantair.com/). What I like about the website is that they show you a table of the prices by a range of days so that you can see at a glance all the options available.
Summer Vacation 2007: McDonalds Breakfast in Bellingham
Here it is everyone … our new series of our summer vacation this year. For the next few weeks, we will be blogging about our travel, and food adventures in our journey around Nevada and North California.
We started off very early in the morning. It was 5AM when we started off from Vancouver and headed to the Bellingham, WA International Airport to catch a flight to Las Vegas — our first destination.
There were just six cars ahead of us at the border crossing at Peace Arch. On our last crossing a few weeks ago, it took us 45 minutes to cross the border. This is kind of spooky … immediately after we passed our passports to the immigration officer, he actually knew the name of the hotel that we are staying in and the number of days we have bookings for! The only way he would have know it is that they have access to Expedia’s records … or maybe it was a lucky guess.
I asked how he knew … and he told us that he works for the US government and the US government knows everything. He gave us a wink and sent us our way. What do you think? Was that a lucky guess or he actually have records like that.
We couldn’t think of anywhere else other than the McDonalds nearby the airport that is opened before 6AM. We had decided to skip lunch and then hit the Las Vegas buffet for Lunch-Dinner.
Now, for Breakfast-Lunch you call it Brunch. What do you call Lunch-Dinner? Lunchner? Dunch? Dinch? LOL!
It was just standard fare we had … Suanne and I shared a Big Breakfast … or at least I think it was the Big Breakfast. It consists of some scrambled eggs, pancakes, sausage and biscuits. I’ve never knew why they call the patty like thingy a sausage. Shouldn’t sausages be long?
Arkensen and Nazaro had theier McMuffins and McGriddles.
We all prefer the McGriddles more. They are more moist and sweeter.
The boys fav … Hash Browns. Suanne and I gave them our share.
We’re actually still on vacation and are blogging from San Francisco where we had better access to the internet and the schedule less hectic.
Oh … for the people who expects to read about recipes and all, we won’t be blogging about recipes for the next few weeks. I think we have about 4 weeks worth of blog materials in all to share on our travel.
Tim Hortons on No. 3 Road
It sure was a scorcher the past few days here in Vancouver. I guess I shouldn’t complain because it’s still less than 30 Celsius. By this time tomorrow, am gonna be in Vegas which hit 47 Celsius!! Gosh! I sure picked a lousy time to be in Vegas. What more, am gonna drive thru the Death Valley from Vegas to Yosemite. I am having second thoughts of that right now.
Back to Vancouver, it’s so freaking hot, we decided to pop over to Timmy Ho for a cup of our favourite iced cap. We went to the one on No 3 Road in Richmond. As you can see below, the Skytrain Canada line construction had reached the Aberdeen station now. Traffic had been a nightmare nowadays here.
Did you know that there are more Tim Hortons’ outlets in Canada than Mickey D? Yup, kind of hard to believe it but it’s true. I believe that McD still had more outlets here in BC but in the east, Timmy Ho reign supreme.
We simply love Timmy Ho’s Iced Cap … more than the other iced cappuccino from other places like Starbucks, and Second Cup. This came in three sizes.
They had a new iced cap on the menu. The Iced Cap Supreme is available in four flavours: Butter Caramel, French Vanilla, Hazelnut and new Strawberry Shortcake. I chose the Butter Caramel.
I remember reading in the papers comparing Tim Hortons’ Iced Cap with Starbuck’s Frap, Dairy Queen’s Chillate and 7-Eleven’s Slurpucino … and Tim Hortons’ won hands down in number of calories. I can’t recall exactly what it was but it seems something like 1000 … give or take 500. :-)
Ohhh … Tim Hortons also have the prettiest looking Strawberry Tarts.
I dunno what it’s called but they do have some kind of cream in it. What is it called? Venetian cream? Anyway, it’s too rich for my taste but Suanne absolutely digs these stuff.
Total bill was $8.66 for the two large Iced Cap and that one tart.
We’ll be traveling tomorrow and we’ll blog when only we get the chance. But stayed tuned for our trip report shortly … it’ll be Vegas, Death Valley, Yosemite, San Francisco and Lake Tahoe/Reno. I think you all will enjoy reading it. BTW, thanks for all the comments/tips that some of you left on this blog … more tips appreciated.
I’ve been working like a dog the past few weeks and so badly need a break from all the madness. He he he … this morning I received an alert on my cell on a Production issue and guess what … I don’t have to respond to that sort of stuff for the next two weeks!
I so look forward to this trip!!
Golden Award Cafe & Restaurant in Richmond
Please note that the Golden Award Cafe had already been closed. In it’s place is now the Silver Tower Cafe.
There are dozens of Asian restaurants along Alexandra Road in Richmond. We had barely tried 10% of them. For sure, we hated the uncertainty of going into restaurants that had chandeliers on high ceilings or rows of Mercedes and Audis parked outside. Then there are those that had not a single English word visible from the outside — you see, we are illiterate.
But we found one that is more like our kind of restaurant. Well, to us it’s a HK-Style restaurant, well, because of the ubiquitous iced milk tea … but with a slight twist. The Golden Award Cafe and Restaurant is located in the Connaught Plaza on Alexandra and Kawtlen.
Although they have the HK style menu where you pay a price for an entree which comes together with a drink, we like their “combo” menu. For a fixed price, you get to select a number of dishes (for the Cantonese, it’s like “chow choy” style … know what I mean?). We ordered the 2 dish combo which comes with two selection, soup and rice (no drinks included here). The kicker is that it costs only $13.99!! That is enough to feed the three of us.
The soup was not great but is flavourful. Well, what can one expect from free soup.
The first dish we selected was the Pork Chop in Honey and Rock Salt. This one is awesome — the sweet sticky gravy is a bit spicy. I don’t know why they name this “rock salt” because it is not even a bit salty at all. The dish is large and we had a tough time finishing this off between the three of us. You should try this one, you will like it I’m sure.
We ordered a hotpot dish as wanted lots of “charp” (cantonese for gravy) on rice. So, we opted for the Prawns with Vermicelli Hotpot. It came all steamy and bubbly hot. It’s a simple dish with the primary ingredients of vermicelli, prawns, green onions and onions.
There were lots of large sized prawns. You know, I was thinking … most Chinese will have EITHER rice OR noodles for their meal but rarely both together. I kind of like the idea of having both together. Hmmm … I am actually thinking of asking Suanne to research rice/noodle combination dishes … but then I guess not!
Bottom line … if you want to bring your family out for a “chow choy” meal and don’t want to spend a lot of money, this is the place to go. Great value for money and the food is pretty good too. Try it and let us know what you think. BTW, this meal costs $18 including tips and is more then enough for the three of us.
Oh … they take cash only.
