Las Vegas (Part 1)
I have to admit that I have never been to a place that blew my mind more and brought me closer to a state of shock the Las Vegas at least that was the case when I arrived yesterday.
Yesterday I went to the “Las Vegas Strip” were you can find most of the main casinos and hotels. I had to take a shuttle bus from my hotel that brought me to Mandalay Bay hotel that is located on the outskirts of the strip. From there I started to walk. I ran into Stacy this girl that walked down the sidewalk with her shoes in her hands. After I told her that she is lucky she is not doing this in New York because she probably would have stepped already into some pieces of glass we stated to talk.
Stacy is in the city for a water convention. We talked about Las Vegas and how much water this city needs on a daily basis. The hotels, golf coursed, sprinkler systems and all that while it is located in the middle of the desert. Stacy had been here many times and told me all about what places to see and where to go. When we passed her hotel our ways separated and she went to her room.
I kept on walking what felt like an endless walk, the strip is miles long. There were so many people on the street. The Strip feels to me like a long Times Square, my least favorite place in New York City. There are shops, restaurants and billboards everywhere and one huge casino after the other. It is all about commerce, all about spending money. There are guys who give out flyers for clubs and strip clubs. Then there are flyers that say “Girls Direct”, all you have to do is to call the number and a hooker comes directly to your hotel room.
I have to admit I do not get it. I do not understand why all these people go through driving or flying here to spend their money they have worked very hard for on this, on gambling, alcohol, food and sex. To me it felt so meaningless, so unsatisfactory so empty.
At 8:00 PM my friend Ming picked me up in a limo to go to the Voodoo Stake House located on the 40th floor of this building on the strip. The ride to the place was fun. We had a limo for the seven of us. I had to sit on the floor besides them because there was not enough space. It was the first bachelor party I have ever been to. We had a great time, lots of laughs and lots of dirty jokes. We met with a few more of Ming’s friends at the Voodoo Stake House and had a really good dinner. The views from the stake house and its outside deck are absolutely breathtaking. You can see the whole city in all directions. Above the stake house is the Voodoo Launch, a club. We ended up going there afterwards for a few of hours. I danced a little bit and enjoyed being outside not needing a jacket and the amazing view.Around 12AM it was time to go to the Penthouse club. Even though it was my second time to a strip club I still felt a little weird about it. One of the things I am really interested though is to be comfortable in any situation I am in and so far Las Vegas had been pushing my buttons.
The Penthouse Club is a huge place with three big stages with poles and about 30 to 40 girls working there. They dance on the sages then walk around and do private “lap dances”. There are private rooms as well.
For me it was a lose/lose situation. I feel bad for the girls to have to do what they are doing and I feel bad to say no when they ask me to dance for me because they do not make any money. I was really torn at the beginning but then had another revelation.
Who am I to judge what is going on here? Who am I to know what is wrong and what is right? How can I know what is best for anybody?
I will not go into detail how the night continued because of the rule, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” but we all had a fun night and left the Penthouse Club at 5:30 AM. It was another lesson in not to take life too seriously and to just have fun.
"Las Vegas" Las Vegas/Las Vegas Strip 03-28-08 at 02:38 PM
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