Went to watch Hana Yori Dango movie 2dae at cine..finally!!!
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It was a decision on impulse, coz i realized that if i dont go today, i wont have anytime on sat, sun and the following week, and the movie will probably be down the week after..so i ran out of my house at 1246pm and reached there at 140pm, just in time for the 145 show..
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Not a bad movie after all, camparable to the tv series in Japan..=)
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Most importantly, part of the movie was shot right in the heart of Las Vegas, which inevitably brought back tons of beautiful memories..I think most of that part i was thinking about my own experiences rather than watching the movie itself..hahas =P
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It was just before my work term ended, when the 4 of us decided to go to vegas. Boon and da jie went 1st since they took off day one day earlier than me and da ge. I still remember trying all methods to ask my colleagues to cover up for me coz i got to leave 30min earlier that day in order to catch the cheap vision's bus..it wasnt a big deal after all in the end..hahas =) The canyon was facing the problem of over-staff especially for front of house at that time and da ge happily got off 2 hours earlier to go back to his dorm to get his stuff, while i had to compete with every sec to get my food done and ensure that there was enough to last when i was away, till the afternoon shift people came in..
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It was a miracle that we actually managed to squeeze up the vision's bus, after hearing lots of rumours and 2nd hand information from our friends who got abandoned by the bus after waiting patiently for abt 3,4 hours..=P But since it was actually a tour bus taking people from vegas to the canyon and back in 1 day, we have to wait for the bus to stop at all the attraction points in the canyon (which we have visited a thousand times) before it finally departed for vegas. Well, what more can we ask for a 25bucks trip to vegas??
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I remember being awaken by the tour guide as the bus passed by hover dam, and immediately went to back to sleep in 3 sec..it was a 5.5 hr ride and we only managed to reach at abt 10pm. It was exactly the same as what i've seen on TV, lots of neon lights and extravagant hotels each with its own unique theme. Ours was the Excalibur castle, which i later discovered to be modelled after a knight-and-sword story..We immediately tried to use the walkie talkie to communicate with the others, only to find ourselves talking to the air around us.
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Luckily we managed to contact each other in the end, without having to spent the night on the streets(which might not be bad after all..heh =P). Since me and da ge had considerably little time, we decided to explore the place on that 1st night, after being abandoned by Mr boon and da jie at the restaurant (Sheraton Forest?) which sells steak at 8 bucks after midnight..
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There we saw the famous New york New york, Paris, Bellagio(with its world recognised giant majestic water fountains), Planet Hollywood, Caesars palace, Treasure island, Luxor, and of course MGM (with a huge lion cage and real lions!!!!). What's more amazing is that each hotel had its own casino and each with a style of its own! Too bad i was one year away from the casino tables and the tempting ice cold magheritas..=(
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Went to queue for tickets for Phantom of the Opera early 2nd day morning, and later went for a brazilian brunch (which was more like lunch) at planet hollywood together with Steven Emmanuel Xiangyan and Kevin (Wu si kai!! I swear =P). The lao ban niang was actually korean and was kind enough to show us around her kitchen before we sat down for a meal full of meat and very nice cheese bread right from the oven =) They also had this huge wine bottle with the wine menu printed on it =) Too bad there was no room for the tandelising mouth-watering eyeballs-catching desserts, which looked all so nice and yummy
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After that we went to get tickets for Phantom in Venetian, which was the most beautiful hotel i have ever seen in my whole life!! Especially with the gondolas and the river which flowed all the way into the hotel from the outside. The celings too were decorated with European art and it makes you feel like you are really in Venice!!
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Following that we walked around shopping for evening dress (da jie) and shoes (me) before going back to Venetian for the Phantom of the Opera at 7pm. It was super impressive coz they actually built a theatre just for Phantom (called the Phantom Theatre!!) and the sets inside are permanently there just for that show! Quite a different experience from the one i watched in singapore, mainly more special effects (a grand chandelier made up of 4 small chandeliers, and live fireworks on stage!!), but the people didnt sing as well as those in singapore and broadway(which i later went to watch).
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Went to Danny's for supper after that, before taking the Deuce bus to Fremont, which was supposed to be one of the liveliest places in vegas..larger casinos, more bars (with bartop dancing), and there was this man who can paint amazing pictures in 5 mins using just spray paint alone, like those seen on tv. After that we went back to the Strip (street with all the signature hotels) and that was when i finally got my 1st magherita!! All thanks to my lovely brothers and sister who promised to make me drunk at least once before i return to the canyon =P All along the streets you see people carrying big tubes of magheritas in all funny shapes (high heel shoes!) and drinking like nobody's business..actually it just tasted like smoothies with some alchohol in it..but i think i got very high and started to laugh non-stop like a mad person..hahas =P One of the most enjoyable nights i had in US though..=D
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The next day we went to a Japanese restaurant for brunch (again!) as the buffets in vegas are well-known for their low cost and good quality..it was really good, with all kinds of sushi teppanyaki sukiyaki sashimi desserts etc and the green tea soft ice cream was really good!! After that me and da ge went to Premium outlet to shop, where everything was really cheap, all branded somemore!! And the Levis jeans cost only 20 plus!!! Too bad we need to catch our greyhound bus at 8pm, so we had only limited time there, while Boon and da jie had another day in vegas..but they went to watch mama mia at around the same time as us though..=)
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The tiny bus station was packed with people going home in LA, Santa Babara, and all sorts of places, and most of them have lots and lots of bags..=p The bus ride (which was super cold and we had to share a single jacket =X) took us 5 hours to get to flagstaff..i remember reaching flagstaff at 145am, and we had to call a taxi to bring us up to the canyon, which cost us another 100 bucks in addition to the 60 bucks bus ride..=X So when we finally reached the canyon it was already abt 330am, and after i showered and stuff it was about 4am.
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That was when i did the craziest thing in my whole life, which was to get up at 5am again to go to work!!! Hahas i really must have been crazy then..for the 1st two hours of work i totally didnt know what i was doing i think..=P Luckily da ge had a day off so he could sleep like a pig..=(
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Afterall, a really packed but super duper enjoyable experience at Las Vegas, especially with my brothers and sister around..=P
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Awww..how i miss those times.....=)
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Hopefully theres a chance to go there again in the future..with you people of course!!! =D
Labels: Grand Canyon15
