Leaving Los Angeles, we drove onto the Mojave Fwy, heading towards the Mojave Desert on a 6-lane highway, passing through uninhabited lava mountains. After leaving California, we drove to Nevada, which is also the starting point of Las Vegas, where huge, colorful yellow and red rocks suddenly appeared, stacked on top of each other in the desert. An American friend named Jonathan, who used to live in Las Vegas as a guide, introduced it as a man-made tourist area called Seven Magic Mountains. The Seven Magic Mountains landscape is like a highlight, welcoming visitors when they arrive here.
City "without night"
Las Vegas is located in a desert valley surrounded by lava mountains. There are so many attractions here that it is impossible to see them all in just a few days.
Tuan Tran, a former Vietnamese student at the University of Southern California who accompanied us, introduced: "Las Vegas has no night time, every season is tourist season. Because tourists from all over the world come here to relax and gamble all year round." According to Tuan Tran, Las Vegas welcomes about 45 million visitors each year, with tourism revenue reaching 45 billion USD in some years.
Eiffel Tower, Las Vegas version in the city center
At night, seen from the 15th floor of the Rio Hotel, the lights illuminate the sky. All the hotels use modern lighting technology to advertise gambling. There are few pedestrians on the streets, but the traffic flows silently all night long, without a single honk.
The ground floor of the hotel is also a shopping and dining area and has hundreds of slot machines that are always occupied. According to Jonathan, in this city, every hotel is a casino with hundreds, thousands of slot machines serving tourists. Gamblers here come from all skin colors and all over the world. Las Vegas is approved by the Nevada state government for betting, gambling is legal. One of our group experienced gambling with a machine and lost $10 in 6 clicks.
Saying that Las Vegas has "no night" is actually only true for the casinos. As night fell, we went out to the streets to find a restaurant, but they were all closed even though it was not yet 11 p.m. "At this hour, if you want to eat, you have to go to the casino restaurants inside the hotel, of course the prices are more expensive than outside," Jonathan said.
Want to gamble with movie stars, must register
Rio, a hotel that is not a big one in Las Vegas, has 2,500 rooms with different prices, the highest is 1,200 USD and the lowest is 30 USD/night/room. There are some special things about hotels in Las Vegas. First of all, as soon as you enter, you can smell the strong smell of cigarettes, cigars and... marijuana. The room is too big (nearly 50 m2 ), but there is only soap, no toothpaste or toothbrush, no kettle, no coffee, tea or drinks. There is no buffet in the morning like in Vietnam. Jonathan explained that because there are too many guests, they cannot serve breakfast.
A high-end luxury casino in Las Vegas
In the hotel, we were given a copy of Los Angeles magazine advertising that many movie stars from New York, Hong Kong, France, and England would be visiting on the weekend. Jonathan said: "If you want to gamble with these stars, you have to register in advance at a very high cost." According to Tuan Tran, the reason why many stars were advertised in the magazine was because of the Formula 1 race held here. Many hotels also advertise the race and introduce the stars staying at their hotels.
During our 4 days in Las Vegas, we chose a Vietnamese restaurant called Da Lat at 4553 W Flamingo Rd., located about 1 km from the Rio Hotel. This is a small restaurant, owned by a Chinese owner who used to live in District 5 (HCMC) and settled down to do business. The restaurant has a full range of Vietnamese dishes, attracting diners of all skin colors to enjoy. The prices here are cheaper than in Los Angeles. A plate of grilled chicken rice costs 12.9 USD, beef noodle soup costs 14.9 USD or a bowl of hu tieu costs 15.9 USD...
Difficult to get into Formula 1 racing
When we arrived in Las Vegas, we were fortunate to see the Formula 1 race. Jonathan introduced the race held at the Las Vegas racetrack and was an important event not only for this tourist city but also for the United States and the sports world. It was from this race that at that time many famous people came to Las Vegas, attracting the attention of the media and it was also one of the most impressive sporting events held here.
Difficult to get into Formula 1 racing
We went to Paradise Downtown South to watch the races, but when we booked an Uber, the driver refused to take the ride because the police had restricted traffic into downtown Las Vegas. Without a car, we decided to walk over the Paradise Bridge to downtown Las Vegas, a distance of more than 2 km. Along the way, many roads leading to Downtown South were blocked off with wire fences and heavily guarded by police.
The crowds that flocked to downtown Las Vegas to watch the Formula 1 race were so large, they were jostling each other on makeshift roads, blocking their view. Inside the fence, there were police and security guards everywhere. You could only hear the roar of the cars inside, but not see the live action. Jonathan said that watching the race was impossible, you had to buy tickets in advance to get to the racetrack.
What a fun day of travel in Las Vegas!
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/trai-nghiem-thu-vi-o-las-vegas-185240425205225921.htm
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