Long Brunch On A Long Weekend

Thanks to Deepavali (though I don’t really understand the complete story/essence of it), it’s a long weekend!  Hence, I managed to have a “stressless” day which commenced with a long brunch at Mercure Hotel with my flatmate – pizza, pasta, varieties of cheese and wine!

After a short nap (thanks to the heavy meal, I felt sleepy immediately), the day ended in Haji Lane with fellow Pinoys.  The culinary treat continued with seafood nasi goreng (plus extra plain rice), chili prawns, Grey Goose and Kilkenny.

Tomorrow’s gonna be another food day perhaps…  Will have to sleep after this post so I can immediately wake up to another round of “yummy” / “delicious” / “sarap”!  :P

2009 Grand Vacay (Part 4): What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas!

While it was my second time in Vegas, I still have this great fascination about the destination since it is where I would be reunited with 3 great friends that I have not been with for the longest time!  True enough, the experience was more than just great – the weekend in the “Sin City” really gave us a “hangover”!

Welcome drink in Ruby Tuesday's before going to sleep - Mango Mojito!

Day after, Pinoy trip agad! Hahaha! Jollibee LV - buffet style! Yup, both meals are just mine!

With college friend, Laurence - another Vegas tourist from NYC!

And the retail trip started... Tsk tsk tsk, I'm blaming both Lau and Mitos for the unplanned splurging!!! Arghhhh!

Bonding with my new found friend, Charlie - Mitos and JR's pet (more like, pseudo-baby before the real thing comes along!)

Splurging into meals as well... Day 2 lunch - our octopus appetizer and red wine in Olive Restaurant - Wynn Hotel

Our very gracious host, Mitos with her burger and wedges - a friend from grade school to high school to college, now an expecting mom!

Lau and his giant steak!

Before digging in to my pasta with meatballs

And finally, Mela - the last guest arrived, making the 4 of us complete!

Reunited after 5 years!!!

Experiencing Fremont (LV's old strip) at night...

One of the most glittery casinos in the area found at the intersection of Fremont...

Tons to see outside of this casino - "Elvis Prestley" impersonators, sexy dancers, hookers with giant boobs, bums asking for cigarettes and a whole lot more!

Price per game in this area is relatively cheaper versus casinos in The Strip - you can find a table that is not more than $25 per round...

Of course, there will always be a place for souvenirs and "pasalubongs"!

Waiting for the light-show-projected-on-the-long-ceiling to start...

Ending the night with a funny drink... vodka with kool-aid, served in a hookah-shaped long glass with a long straw!

Starting the day early and right... Hotel-hopping in The Strip - first stop: Wynn

One of Wynn's attraction... A well-designed and themed lobby aided by fresh flowers turned into anything and everything...

And there goes the long strip of designer shops... Unfortunately, we were tempted by this sunglasses shop with a big "Sale" sign... ended up buying a Barton Perreira

That personal joke using the term "Society" made me take this one... Even if we didn't eat or drink anything from here!

...and also this, for the favorite drink - Mojito!

Next stop - Palazzo: one of the newest and grandest hotels in The Strip!

After watching Cirque du Soleil and having a steak-filled dinner in Treasure Island, time to burn the calories by walking some more before gulping more alcohol!

The Mirage as background...

The seemingly real skies of Caesar's Palace...

Waiting for the "Julius Caesar" show that didn't happen - perhaps, we were way too late for it!

This time, waiting for the fountain show in The Bellagio... which also did not happen since it's past midnight already?!

The pseudo-Eiffel Tower of Paris Hotel... Looking forward to seeing the real one - hopefully next year?

The old and so-so Flamingo! Hehe!

The Bellagio - my favorite amongst all of them! Walking inside it made me feel that I'm part of the movies "Ocean's 11" and "21"!

Planet Hollywood - may not be my favorite, but is the most memorable one! While playing Black Jack, Mela got into a "word war" with this Chinese-looking lady after saying nasty things about her in tagalog... suprisingly, she understood what my lovely friend said! Crap!!! That was the most intense, yet funniest event of the whole Vegas weekend!

After that humorous "Planet Hollywood event" and a sorry-Joseph-you-can't-come-in-to-this-club-coz-you're-wearing-sneakers, we ended up with rounds of more vodka in V Bar-Venetian Hotel...

Cheers! Let's drink to those craziness... and look forward to more!!!

The last craziness done that night (or early morning the following day)... getting a suite at Palazzo coz we were drunk and tired! Geeeez - pure indulgence with no reason!

As Mela put it, it was indeed soooo totally worth it... unfortunately, we only spent less than 7 f*cking hours in it as we needed to check out by noon!

Next time, we'll spend more time here... I promise!

After checking-out of Palazzo, since we have a few hours left in Vegas, we went straight to the outlet shops for more shopping (yes, using the same clothes the day before since we were not prepared for that hotel checking-in and didn’t have time to go to Mitos’ home anymore to change!).

The day ended with packing, dinner at Yardhouse (widest selection of beer!!!), saying goodbye to Mela and Mitos (she ended up crying a bit – awwwww!) and hopping to another plane, this time, bound to NYC!!!

To make us more excited again, we promised to be back in Vegas next year, for the Christening of Mitos and JR’s first baby (I’m betting it’s a boy) – and hopefully this time, we would be complete…  the 8 of us! 

there’s always a time for “first time”

nung nasa pinas pa ko at tumatambay kami sa tgif, napapansin namin kalimitan ung mga tao sa bar.  most of the time, ang mga andun e yung mga puti na nag-iisa (tapos maya-maya, may kausap nang pinay na mahaba ang buhok, boot cut ang jeans at naka-elevator shoes).  nakaupo lang sila, nanonood ng tv habang umiinom.  a few days before i left manila, nag-dinner kami sa tgif at this time bigla ko naisip kung mae-experience ko rin kaya yung katulad nung mga tao sa bar pag nasa indonesia na ko – yung tipong mag-isa ka lang sa bar habang nakatambay at umiinom.  i’ve never experienced this scenario coz i always think that hanging out in a bar or clubbing is a social event – until i actually experienced it tonight…

nakabalik ako sa hotel from the office around 8pm.  after eating my take-away (yan ang tawag nila dito sa “take out”) kfc dinner, wala na kong magawa.  humiga lang at nanood ng first episode ng “the moment of truth” sa star world.  since talagang ayaw ko pa matulog, naisip kong bumaba dun sa bar at the back of the hotel para lang mag one round, pampatulog kumbaga.  so i went down and made it inside the bar called “the rock” (parang imitation ng “hard rock” ang pangalan!).  since i was alone, i decided na mag-stay sa bar.  the entrance fee rph 100,000 (or php 500) includes one beer – kakatawa lang coz ang default beer nila ay san miguel, so parang uminom din ako ng beer sa pinas!  while waiting for my drink, nag-start na mag-set up yung bandang tutugtog.  one of the nice waitresses approached me para sabihing “it’s beatles night tonight!”.  not bad, i told myself coz i like this classic english band’s music – growing up with parents na die-hard beatles fan, i learned to appreciate the music na rin.  going back to the waitress, sobrang gracious host ang dating nya, dahil siguro alam nyang mag-isa ko, nakipagkwentuhan na sa akin sa bar – i don’t wanna sound bad, pero parang g.r.o. ang role nya (touchy pa habang nakikipagkwentuhan!  hahaha!).  nung hinulaan na nya kung saang bansa ako galing, i told myself, geeez – it really never fails, most of them think that im either singaporean or thai, e pinoy na pinoy naman itsura ko.  oh well, it may be a function of my being 1/4 chinese.  after our small talk, bumalik na sya sa trabaho nya.  so i just sat there with my san mig and listened to the band playing (by the way, “mooners” ang pangalan nila – i wonder if there’s a profound meaning to that name).

offhand, not bad naman ang banda the way they imitated beatles.  majority of the songs they performed were taken from the first two albums (if i’m not mistaken) – as far as i remember, they sang these songs: “all my lovin”, “twist and shout”, “with love, from me to you”, “i saw her standing there”, “yesterday” and “till there was you”.   nakakatawa nanaman, nung kinanta nila yung “till there was you”, sablay ang pronunciation ng word “meadows”, the vocalist pronounced it as “mi-dows”!  wahahahaha!  bigla ko rin na-realize na ang iikli pala ng mga naunang songs ng beatles.  wala lang.

going back to my alone moment, i realized that it wasn’t really that bad after all.  maaaliw ka rin kahit papaano.  nang maubos ko yung beer, i decided to order one of my standard drinks – absolute vodka with sprite (pero pucha, nagulat ako sa kamahalan – rph 140,000 or php 705!).  so while on to my second drink, nakinig at nanood lang ako ng performance while in between e nakikipagkwentuhan ang native waitress – actually, not bad ang pagi-ingles nya, plus, cute din naman sya so ok na.  aside from me, may dalawa pang lalaki na nasa bar din (1 caucasian and 1 asian), at like me, nag-iisa din sila at may ka-small talk rin na waitress.

after finishing my drink and finishing the band’s set, i decided to go back na to my room.  i bid putri (that’s the name of the gracious waitress) goodbye and walked out of the bar while singing in my head the last song that the band performed – “hard days night”, and realized that what i just did is a classified “first time” experience – which really turned out to be an enjoyable thing to also do (but i suppose, not all the time).