10 posts tagged “vegas”

while shopping in vegas, i tried to get arvie to buy his wife-to-be a wedding night lingerie set from agent provocateur...

but he didn't think his fiancee would go for it.

some of you might be wondering, "how wild did this vegas-stag trip get?"

well, put it this way - most of us are not very good drinkers. there were these long, tube like drinks people were carrying around and i kept on saying that i wanted to get one - but i never did. hoa poured me a rum and coke in their room and i ended up only drinking 1/5th of it, leaving the rest on top of the tv. he even said to me, "oh my god, shy... what happened to you? five years ago you would have been caught up to me!"

but, that was five years ago. a lot can change in five years. my tolerance for alcohol was definitely one of them. and while there were a couple of gamblers amongst our group, the rest of us spent our time mainly on penny slots. having said that, tai also did amazing on said penny slots. at one point while we were waiting at the airport for our departure flight, he went up to $88 after only playing $5. you can see him here focusing his energy on the machine...

I command you - show me the money!

finally, while on the way to vegas, tai would yell out at various times, without needing to be prompted, "VEGAS BABY!!!" him and doug also fell asleep within 30 minutes of getting into our hotel room. and once tai is gone, that's it - he's GONE (back in thailand, he once took a nap and didn't wake up for dinner. we had to check in on him to make sure he was alive. 17 hours later, he finally woke up in time for breakfast the next day). see below:

guys? ready to party? guys??

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perhaps it was a good thing that tai got some well-deserved sleep the first night though (as he's been pulling a lot of over-time in work leading up to the trip) because by next day, we were all well rested and ready to really face vegas.

yummy in our tummies

vegas dialogue:

me: dude, you paid behind our backs?

rv: yes - this one's on me.

me: but it's your stag! we're suppose to treat you!

rv: you guys have been treating me for this whole trip - it's the least i can do!

me: well, alright.

doug: shy's parents and family friends do the same thing - they fight like crazy over the bill. it's an asian thing.

tai: it's true. whenever i go out with my family, we take forever to pay. it's like we go into battle over the bill!

me: our generation isn't like that.

doug: well, we don't care about making a status or losing face.

me: it's not even that. we're just too lazy to bother.

dave: what do you mean?

me: well, with our parents' generation, they go all out:

hey! don't you even think of picking up the bill.
what are you talking about? you never let us pay!
don't be stubborn - waiter! give us the bill, not them!
oh no you don't. we're paying - that's it.
no way - we're paying!

me: but with us, it's more like...

you sure you want to pay for the whole bill?
yes.
alright.

dave: lol!

me: wait... is that why you were standing outside the restroom?

rv: yup.

me: how did i not catch on? i passed by him on the way from the washroom and even said, "hey arvie" while thinking to myself, hmm... why is arvie just standing there?

i'm here at the pool side, avoiding both the sun and water and using the last 3/4 of an hour of my internet usage.

all in all, it's been a fun trip but i'm ready to get the hell out of here.

like before the excitement of vegas is great - nightlife alone is amazing. but it does wear thin and after three late nights in a row, i'm ready to head back home to a more quiet and calm lifestyle.

we're boring people back home. but we're happy, too.

having said that, i'm milking it in as much as i can while i'm here. the music at the pool is energetic but lovely. we'll be headin upstairs in 15 minutes but before then, i'm sucking down a strawberry dacquiri (after already gulping down a blue hurricane). we'll be heading over the the caesar forum for the cheesecake factory for dinner - our last meal in vegas.

tai, doug and i will then head over to the airport while dave, viv and arvie stay another night. they will watch cirque du soliel O tonight at the belagio before heading home tomorrow morning.

will i come back?

yeah - probably. with friends and definitely mid-week as a way to stay away from the expensive prices on weekends and the huge crowds.

i was never a huge fan of vegas before, but this trip has created memories that will forever be a part of me - thanks to the company i was surrounded with during the stay. well, and some thanks goes out to vegas joe.

i believe that vegas-style for us encompasses going to bed around 4am everyday.

not something i'm use to but - VEGAS BABY!!!

as planned we did go to mgm for their buffet (best quality for buffet i've ever had) and we did go to see KA.

we didn't however, go to caesar's pure nightclub. in turned out it wasn't open last night. and any of the top rated clubs required a strict dresscode - not everyone had the appropriate attire.

so... with a bit of decision-making, we ended up going to venetian's V and to be quite honest, i'm glad we did. the club was small yet intimate. the atmoshere was great. but how we got in, was even better.

it all started with arvie and i trying to decode the directory map (these vegas hotels are huge!) the security guard came over (obviously due to the look of utter confusion as both arvie and i were pointing at different directions) to help us out. AND he told us to look for some guy name 'joe' and tell him that 'matt' sent us. and that 'joe' would take good care of us.

alright.

well, turns out joe took very good care of us. he waved our cover charge and gave us 2-for-1 drink coupons.

not a bad way to start off the night.

then tai, using his ultra, charming ways, talked to joe into providing us a bit of more excitement for the night.

the next thing i knew, we were being whisked away in a limo to another club where the cover charges were waved again (though no 2-for-1 drink coupons but you know, greed was never our colour anyway). [edit: learned afterwards that the first round of drinks were free]

what a night!

granted, we were dead by the time we got back to the hotel yet for whatever reason, we had enough energy to try and go to one more club.

this time, the guy wouldn't let us in for free.

i guess at that point, we got cocky and forgot we lost the 'joe' connection.

thanks vegas joe. you did us good last night!

we ended up at a roof-top restaurant for brunch this morning.

with a light breeze and blue-blue skies (and just enough clouds to cover us from the dessert sun), we found ourselves sitting across from caesars.

not a bad way for us to start! and the food was actually very tastey without paying the big bucks.

the rest of the group found a van taxi to take the to some outlet mall. doug and i decided to bow out. i'm sure the outlet mall is amazing but neither of us are really into shopping while on vacation. instead, we walked north up the strip and visited the bellagio, mirage and treasure island.

we walked a lot! and while my feet are sore, i feel great to have been on the move for a few hours.

we're both back in our hotel room just to cool off for an hour and a bit before meeting up with the rest of the group.

off to mgm we'll go later tonight for cirque du soliel's KA and then back to hopefully check out caesar's nightclub, pure.

we finally manage to find the rest of boys - turns out they were put in a different room then what the concierge told us. just after 1am, vegas time, we said 'good night' and left them to go to la-la-land. doug and i, as a last minute decision, decided to take a walk around our area.

we walked down to bally's and paris. outstanding! and while we didn't go inside bellagio or caesars, we had a great view of the grandiose hotels across the street from our stroll. at night, these two hotels were even bigger in appearance. they seemed to glow like great monuments in the nevada sky.

before heading back up to our room (around 3am now), we decided to christen our first night in vegas with a bit of slots.

on my very first spin, i all of the sudden realized that the BING-BING sounds and flashing lights where coming from my slot machine! the sound seemed to go on forever until it finally ended. i found myself coming out with 250% of what i put in!

i played a little more but didn't win much so i stopped and cashed out my earnings.

too bad i was just on the penny slots. :)

still, i managed to make one dollar into two.

not bad on my first night!

we arrived at the hotel a bit after 11pm. by the time we checked in to our room, it was 11:30pm. or to be more precise around 2:30am our time. the time our bodies and minds are functioning at.

the other boys arrived earlier this morning. we have no idea where they are.

in the meantime, tai is in our room and completely asleep. in fact, he's across the table from me with his head resting against his arm.

man. we'd better calm down. gotta save some wildness for the next couple of nights!

though on the way here, tai did exclaim, "VEGAS BABY!" at every opportunistic time. which was a lot.

looks like we're in for an exciting night.

(how do you wake this dude up? he's totally out!)

...except that with a bunch of late 30's and early 40's type of people that we are, it's not like we're going to wake up the next day like the movie, the hangover. on the contrary, i'm curious as to how i'm going to stay awake past 10pm every night.

WE'RE NOT EVEN GOING TO A STRIP CLUB!

that's right. my first time ever going to a stag and the guys are the ones that don't want to go to a strip club.

not that it makes a difference with me either way (though i am a little bummed i can't stuff a dollar bill down a g-string of a vegas peeler). i suppose i'm a little proud that they all seem to be beyond that phase.

on the other hand, it's a little depressing of how it signifies our age and basically, how old we're all getting.

*sigh*