Day 5-

After posting our last blog from the middle of day 5 we headed for the underground bus terminal and somehow managed to work out which bus we needed to get to Seattle airport for $2 instead of $11 :) Again we encountered some interesting characters as, when we boarded the bus, we were greeted by a bearded man saying 'Do you like STEAK?'' to which we simply replied... mmmhmmmmm. He continued to try and talk to us... and himself for the duration of the journey covering a large range of realllly random topics. We flew through the airport and had so long to wait before our plane I decided to call home at midnight UK time. Mum came on the phone sounding very sleepy but was nice to touch base again. The remaining wait went without incident and when we boarded the plane we were sat next to a nice lady who thought we were from Washington! Andy reckoned it was his shockingly bad american accent that did it. haha.

As we flew into Vegas it was like nothing i'd ever seen before- dessert mountains and flat planes as far as the eye could see. We arrived at sunset but by the time we got out of the airport irt was dark but still extremely hot (I was hooping it was just the heat coming off all the buses BUT NO!) None the less everything is super air conditioned so that you even feel cold inside. The ride to the hotel was amazing as we drive past many of the extreme hotel light displays and bustling casinos, some of which were slightly scary eg the circus circus hotel which has a huge clown straddling the entrance. We arrived safely at the hilton hotel and I must say i've never been to a nice hotel in my life! It looked as though it was covered in diamonds and the corridors to the rooms looked like the higher classes' rooms on the titanic! (i think theres a theme developing here) The receptionist asked if we wlould like to upgrade as when checked in but decided to pass on this to save money so headed to our room on floor 27 out of 29. The elevator took about 11 seconds to reach this height causing our ears to pop each time and creating a very odd inbalancing effect as we slowed. As we entered our room we discovevered that it wasnt quite as 'standard'as we thought- 2 leather sofas, a large open area infront of a panoramic window overlooking the city, a comfy bed with a mound of pillows we had to dig through to reach the bottom and to Andy's pleasure an LG widescreen plasma TV!

I decided to have a nice relaxing bath whilst Andy checked out the TV where most of the channels were just adverts. My bath was about a quarter full when i noticed the little nozels all roundit which suggested a jacuzzi function. not thinking I pressed in the button to turn it on (unfortunately it was on max as I found out later) and all 8 nozles jetted out cold water everywhere; two of which hit me full in the face!!! I felt like one of those people who look down the end of the hosepipe! After finally having a bath and mopping up the water we headed down to get some dinner. Andy had already done his research and discovered the pizza hut in the hotel. However, it turned out to be a pizza hut express which served small pizzas for big prices! Anyway, we decided to get some anyway as we were hungry and headed back up to the room with our food to eat on the comfy sofas and smart glass tables. After food we attacked the pillows to get some sleep.

Day 6-

Had an early start by our standards as the posh electric blinds didnt work so stayed wide open letting in the early morning sunrise. We jumped on the over pirced monorail ($13 for 24- hour pass) our stomachs rumbling from the lack of breakfast. As we stepped off the monorail into the direct sunlight for the first time the full force of the 41 C heat really hit (dont worry mum- i was wearing my hat :)) Considering it was only 10am the strip was already bustling with a mixture of eager gamblers and sightseers. The constant ping pong ting as quarter after quarted tumbled into slot machines was already very alluring. Before locating the dolphins I had discovered we decided to have brunch. As there was not much choice under $15 per head we were forced to enjoy yet another gourmet sandwhich... you guessed it- SUBWAY! (eat fresh) After this I felt really unwell (i think it was the lack of real food) but Andy seemed very happy with subway in hand and gambling all around us; he was just itching to get on one of the fruit machines. I think it may have been a good thing we were unable to gamble as Andys wallet would have become considerably lighter.

Next stop was the dolphins :D This was by far my highlight of the trip so far. Standing in the socrching heat and drinking gallons of water we were lucky enough to see some of the amazing tricks performed by the dolphins. It wasnt a show as such but a series of ínteractions' between trainer and dolphin as the main emphasis was on research, conservation and education which was nice to see. The dolphins were extremely intelligent and very aware of their trainers instructions to the point where they would jump completely out of the water to splash the trainer with their tails just to get attention! They also had a baby dolphin (a calf!?) called Bella who were saw playing energetically with her mother and grandmother. Behind the dolphin enclosure was a secret garden housing a number of siberian tigers, white lions, a playful 9 month old leopard cub and a group of alpacas- one of which looked very grumpy! Andy wouldnt let me buy a huge teddy lion that was bigger than me but has promised me a siberian tiger for chirstmas. We ended up staying for 4 hours until the heat became a bit too much so headed back to the hotel with the intention of hitting the pool. However, as we grabbed our towels we peeked out of the window to see a huge ominous looking cloud hanging over the airport throwing up lots of dust. Only moments later the trees below us bent low and chaits, sunbeds and umbrellas went flying. The mini hurricane (we think!?) passed over very quickly but none the less fored them to shut the pool for the remainder of the day.

The Evening- Hotels and Casinos:

As the evening rolled in we headed down to the hotel cafe for yet another crappy meal. As we had our 24-hour monorail passes we decided to use them to the max and rode all the way up to the furthest stop- the MGM Grand with the intention of working our way back on our casino crawl. Each monorail stop leads directly into a hotel casino and we spent at least half hour in each just trying to find our way out onto the strip! The hustle and bustle of it all however was intoxicating and were definately up for visiting again in a few years time. Anyway, once we had found our way out onto the strip it was like being in a lifesized fairy tale. Directly infront we had the imposing towers and twisting rollercoaster of New York New York, flanked by Monte Carlo and the wonderland castle turrets of Excalibur. Each of the casinos themselves were actually quite similar but the architecture of each building was so surreal and individual it was breathtaking. From the castle we headed to the Luxor- a giant black pyramid guarder by a huge golden sphynx. On top of this luxury hotel sat a massive spotlight which was definately bright enough to bring down planes. A short walk across Europe and we were walking the streets of Paris gazing up at the blue sky and fluffy clouds of the painted ceiling. As we exited the casino we found ourselves under a brilliantly lit Eiffel Tower. Again Maika was hoping for some rmance but my camera took precedence! (she is now expecting me to take her to the REAL paris... cheeky git)

As we slowly tired of getting lost in various casino's and with the time appraoching midnight we decided to make a hurried visit to the Stratosphere before retiring to our hotel- legs aching and ready for bed after our sunrise wake up call that morning.

MS and AC xxx