Vegas baby!!

Made my first trip to Las Vegas this Christmas. I still remember back in university during our summer at Berkeley, my friends already went there. I unfortunately had to hurry home and take care of something. And as a result i waited 7 years until i have the chance to.. gosh that makes me feel old! Winter in LV is quite cold, with strong wind and super super dry. There isn't much to do in Vegas besides gambling (of course), but my goal was to check out the shows. The strip is nice at night time when all the lights are on. All the hotels are just humongous, and interestingly a lot of them have this tri-wing shape like the Mirage, Monte Carlo, Mandalay Bay, and even Bellagio is almost that shape but more curvy in front. I don't know if there is any reason to this, but my wild guess is perhaps related to either the wind or the view :)

Show #1: Le Reve at Wynn Las Vegas

Initially i wanted to see O by Cirque do Soleil but couldn't find tickets available on those dates. Le Reve seemed like a good second choice given that the production is done by the same guy, Franco Dagone, and it is a water-based show. The venue for this show is rather unique with a circular pool in the middle, giving somewhat a circus feeling. A lot of acrobatics, with performers either swimming, hanging, or falling into water. The storyline is about a girl in her dream, venturing into this magical journey (or something). I guess i didn't understand much, but it's also possible that there's nothing to really understand :P Important thing is, the show was great. Perhaps that's another way of telling myself it was worth the $$$ hehe.. but honestly i liked it a lot. Even liked it more than the second show by Cirque.


Show #2: KA at MGM Grand

This was the second on my Cirque list, and i had high expectations. From the poster it looked like a show with some fire demonstration right? Well in reality they only had some fire before the show began, and that was it. This one tells a story about the twins - one was kidnapped - and how they went through their journeys to find each other in the end. Again, more acrobatics and martial arts. Surprisingly i think all the casts were Asian. So imagine watching a กายกรรม show in China or something, it's quite like that hehe. Of course the set up and props they used were really grande, and the music score was good too. I guess it was the expectation i had that kinda spoiled it a bit.

Our third show was actually on the 'magical' side - David Copperfield. Heard of him but never knew he was like an icon back when he was at his peak. Partly due to his good looks maybe, which explains why he's not as hot anymore given his age :P Now i kinda regret not watching any of those 'vegas' shows with all those showgirls dressed up in fancy costumes like in Miss Congeniality. But most of all, i'm so sad i missed Celine Dion's. Hate to admit but i really like her singing. It was during her break so there were no performances. I'm sure it would have been awesome!

Puerto Rico

Enough of the snow, it's time for some sea and sun. Caribbean here we come! The reason we picked Puerto Rico is basically because it is still part of the US and thus no need for a visa, although I always think P.R. is a country and not a State. We flew via US Virgin Islands which is to the east of P.R., also another recommended getaway destination that you can probably explore in a few days. I heard it's really nice over there, with some top diving and snorkeling sites.The capital of P.R. is San Juan which is located north a bit towards the east side of the island. Old San Juan is on the tip west of San Juan, perhaps one of the must-go place for tourists. Some interesting attractions include the El Morro and Fort San Christobal which was built to protect the island from sea attack way back 3-400 years ago . I could tell they were really really old, with quite a number of tunnels and secret passages. From the top we got a great view of the ocean and the city. Old San Juan itself is not big, and what i like most is probably the colorful buildings and all the cool work they do with their doors, windows, balconies, etc. There are many restaurants, shops, and a couple of museums (we didn't get to :P) in addition to small parks and squares where both locals and tourists can just relax and chill. What i thought was really cute was where they had a local band performing in the park (sort of), and in front were a group of elders just enjoying themselves either just by relaxing and clapping along or dancing away. It was definitely something that strengthens the sense of community and how they live a joyful life in this country (or State, hehe).

The remaining parts of the island, we got to cover only a tiny bit. One was the Arecibo Observatory, the largest radiotelescope or i just call it 'dish' where they filmed James Bond's Goldeneye. If you could recall, it was when he was fighting the bad guy on the hanging tower and then slid down the dish itself. Not far away was the Camuy Caves and sinkholes. Inside the caves were those หินงอกหินย้อย basically, very difficult to capture some pictures given limited light. We also visited El Yunque national forest and checked out some trails and waterfalls. Quite a walk that day.

East of the main island, there are two smaller islands called Culebra and Vieques. We went to Vieques first by ferry (only $4 return fare!) which took about an hour each way, and so we decided to save time (and me avoid getting seasick) and take a 15-min flight to Culebra. No doubt Culebra is much nicer among the two - white sand and clear water. We were at Flamenco beach and it was just wonderful.

Unfortunately didn't get to do any diving this time around, but all-in-all it was really fun. One of the highlights however was the kayak tour to the bioluminescent bay and lagoon "Laguna Grande" near Fajardo. Basically it is like fireflies living in water - those micro organisms would produce light when something moves. As we paddled, water lit up. We dipped our hands in, they lit up. In the end we jumped into the water, and as we swam the whole body just lit up!! It was just awesome!

We didn't explore the west and south sides of the island. Apparently the island is much bigger than i thought :) Ponce is another recommended town to visit, and to the south there is another bio bay as well. Our kayak tour guide however claimed that it is not as nice compared to Laguna Grande. Then i guess the one on Culebra island is probably another option for this type of experience, again i don't know enough to compare.

More on Puerto Rico: Besides LP, you could check out the travel website or recommendations by Frommer's. Definitely good references, but while on the road i would say LP book saved the day. Not so much for the map, which we had to pick up the recent copies at the car rental, but pretty much all the 'getting around' info you need is in there. And btw, the food there was really good too. Very eclectic and has a variety of tastes. Got to try a lot of new things, and of course i choose to remember the yummy ones!

Vail recap

So since i wrote about going to Vail, i should at least write about how the trip went. It was again another fun trip during winter break, and i'm sure everyone looked forward to it. We left on Dec 9 and stayed on until Dec 15 - so basically about a week of exercise! Our group stayed at Monteneros resort, and we got some sweet 4-bedroom condo with fully-equipped kitchen, dining and living areas. So there were 10 of us total, and the fun part, besides skiing, was definitely cooking! With the help of condomates and designated head chef, we all enjoyed really yummy dinners.

The skiing part was exciting and, after a while, pretty tiring :P It's been exactly a year since i last did this, so took me a while to get used to it again. Vail is definitely much bigger than Steamboat, and therefore the trails are a bit more confusing. Sure i tried to stick to the greens, but sometimes you cut through the blues as well, and there's no other way but to go ahead. Of course my pro friends would go to blues and blacks and double diamonds whatever.. i'd rather enjoy my chill-chill ride, hehe. But the view up the peaks was just awesome, and i'm sure those who went down the back bowl would say even better. We were lucky to have gone during that week, cuz after we left the snow storm just hit Colorado pretty bad. This could be my last ski trip, at least for a long while, so next time i go skiing i guess i'll have to start from zero again.. Just thinking about that process tires me out already :P I hope i could just get used to it like riding a bike!!

Map of Vail

ski trip countdown

and it's time for Kellogg's ski trip again! we're heading to Vail, Colorado this year and i heard it's supposed to be awesome.. two more days and we're ready to get some action.. last year was super fun in Steamboat, and of course we're up for more this time around.. regardless of skill levels hehe.. i plan to stick with the green trails, but who knows blue might not be so bad.. the worst it can get is just falling (onto snow) anyway.. this was a good shot by Ten last year.. can't wait laew~