Happy Holidays!

Las Vegas Trip
Dec 23-27
After getting a promotion, my workload is doubled if not tripled! So we decided to go for a short vacation during the x'mas holiday. We have thought about LA, New York etc...But end up going to Las Vegas because of the price. Where else we can stay in a 6 star hotel with a decent price?

In order to further save $, we have decided to fly from Seattle. We first drove to the Seatac Airport and park at the nearby parking lot: Seatac Parking. Reasonably price (half price compare to park at the airport). There is frequent (and free) shuttle bus to take you to/from the airport. The parking lot itself is fenced and seems quite secure. By flying from Seattle instead of Vancouver we have saved $200/person! Definitely worth to do it again (and of course, my husband doesn't mind driving). Anyway, we arrived at Vegas around 9pm. We walked around the hotel (Mandalay Bay) to get us more familiar with this place and had a quick dinner in the hotel cafe.

X'mas Eve
Today we are going to have lunch with my ex-coworker couple in Paris Hotel. There is free tram that takes us from Mandalay Bay to Excarlibur, which is just right across New York New York. Still, it takes around another half an hour walk to Paris. I am definitely not aware of the cold. I still remembered few years ago when I was in Vegas in December, it's around 10C. Cold but not freezing. This time, it definitely feels colder than Vancouver. Finally we got to Paris Buffet entrance. Oh my...the lineup is way beyond the 90 minute mark! We end up waiting 2.5 hours for the buffet and start our lunch (supposely brunch) at 2pm! And of course, feeling so exhausted, I just keep eating. My eyes roll bigger with the varieties of food and crepe station...And right after I had my last dessert...I started to feel stuffed, overly stuffed. On the way to Wynn, I do bump into my ex-coworker again. AMAZING! I thought walking around would help digesting but even I walk back to the hotel (another 1 hour) I am still feeling stuffed, so stuffed that I can't even sleep well. In the end, I need to throw up a little bit to get rid of the indigestive food. By the time I manage to sleep, it's already around 6am. Henry is not any better, he also feels stuffed but at the same time, he got a little bit fever! We both took some tylenol and rest...

X'mas Day
X'mas day just flies during our sleep. By the time I got up it's already 5pm. "Luckily" there is a Chinese noodle house inside the hotel, I just bought a bowl of congee (it's $11US!!!) and a plate of vegetable (choy sum for $12.95!!). Henry had a little bit share of congee and we still have no energy to go out and explore.
Being stuck at the hotel room for so long, I finally can't resist of paying $11.95 to go online...

Boxing Day
While we started to gain energy little by little, we need to move to another hotel. Today we are leaving Manadlay Bay and stay in Wynn hotel. We took advantage of the buy 2 get 1 free night deal of Mandalay Bay so we stay there for 3 nights (avg $100US/night). The very last night we would like to try the newest 6-star hotel - Wynn. There is special rate for $159US/night. The Wynn receptionist is so nice to allow us to check in at 11am, and also upgrade us to the almost top floor a panoramic view hotel room. Things feel so different in Wynn. As long as we open the door, there is music from the TV screen-saver. Both the TV and phone menu has my name on it. Very personalized service! There are more amenities in Wynn than MB too. In Wynn's hotel room, there are bath robe and very nice quality slipper for guests. And for the first time, I found a bathroom scale inside the washroom! Although, both hotel offer TV inside the washroom.

Since we don't have any great x'mas meal, I decided to pamper myself with the in-room service. I ordered a afternoon tea set and a chicken noodle soup for Henry. Overviewing the Las Vegas Strip area on the 58th floor while having our afternoon tea is definitely breath taking.
After the meal, I have a quick walk to the shopping mall right across the hotel.

Didn't buy anything, though.

We already reserved the O show ticket @ the Ballegio. At first we plan to have dinner buffet at Bellagio then we go to watch the show. Since we are still recovering, we can't have any buffet yet so we decided to have Chinese food again. Too bad there is no Chinese noodle house in Wynn, so we went to the Venetian hotel that I remember had there is a Chinese noodle house. After a short wait in the lineup, we are having congee as our dinner again! Then we decided to take a taxi to Bellagio (although there's only 20 mins walk!). We don't want to get a cold any more! And at that moment, I saw the fine print on my printed ticket: need to get there 1 hour before the show or subject to cancel! Oh it's already 9:25 and the show is starting at 10:30!! The strip is super congested and my heart just beat faster and faster! If the tickets are cancelled that means $275 is gone!!! >_<

If the show is fabulous, the venue itself must be magnificent! The stage is once a pool, then in the next split second the dancer can walk on it. Water's all gone! Amazing! Besides the usual movement, there is also a few diving scenes, which make me think whether the team members are mainly from China? Cirque du Soeli show is never disappointing, it's even better than the first one I have seen (Mystere in Treasure Island). The live music with Er Wu accompaniment is so good too! The 2-hour show is truely great! After the show (already mid-night) we took a few picture in Bellagio and took taxi back to the hotel.

Dec 27
It's time to say goodbye. There is even lineup for checkout. But being a 6-star hotel, Wynn staff is offering free hot chocolate with whipped cream for us...yum~
On the way to airport, the taxi driver (a Black guy) keeps talking about politics which almost bores me to death. You know, I have no interest in AMERICAN politics anyway... But Henry is interested to chit chat with him. Anyway, we are still early for our flight and fortunately, there is free Wi-Fi in LV airport, unlike Seattle or Vancouver...
The flight got delayed 1.5 hour this time (our last flight is on time). It's already 7:30 when we fly back to Seattle. Waited around 20 minutes (1 bus is full) for the shuttle bus, we finally got back to our car. Another 2.5 hours drive back to Vancouver... After we come back, we have congee (again!) in Fung Ming's congee place. I should definitely lose some weight with all these congee meal!

This ends our X'mas vacation: a true relax vacation that we lie down on the hotel room bed almost every day! The hotel definitely worth the price!

Las Vegas X'mas