After conking out the previous night, I found myself woken by my alarm at 9am. I tried to get up, but I knew it wasn't gonna happen. I ended up getting out of bed, going to the door, putting up the "Do Not Distub" sign and climbing back into my bed. Next thing I knew, it was 12:30pm. I had already lost the morning, but in the city that never sleeps, this was hardly an issue.
This day was quite relaxed as I explored the various hotels, casinos and shopping complexes along the strip. Lunch was a buffet at Wynn which did not even compare to the Bellagio one, but it was still good. I eventually found myself at the new retail outlet mall near the end of the strip called Fashion Show, where I ended up buying myself a navy blue Tommy Hilfiger suit for only $280USD. Everything was on sale (65% off) because of the July 4th sales, and I scored a further $25 discount from the salesman because I'm awesome! New suit in hand, I trekked it back to the hotel, trying as hard as possible to avoid venturing outdoors to the blistering heat. Word of advice: many hotels have trams/monorails that connect to each other, as well as side entrances which are relatively close to side entrances of neighbouring hotels. Use these and you should be able to minimise your time in the heat.
Night time rolled around quite quickly (especially given that I woke up after noon) and soon enough it was time for me to see the famous Cirque du Soleil "O" show which never leaves Vegas, and is based around a pool. I had bought my ticket online and hence scored 20% off my ticket which had me seated in the 7th row from the front. The show was amazing! All those jumps and dives into the pool! The performers were just so majestic as they glided through the air and slipped gracefully into the water. There was this one act where they had three giant swings and the performers would launch themselves from the swings, perform incredibly intricate and complicated twists and turns, before entering the water. The show seemed to go by way too quickly and at the end, I was secretly hoping for an encore performance. It was well worth the money and now I'm keen to see other Cirque du Soleil shows. After I left the theatre, I ended up trying my luck again, this time at the Bellagio casino. No good. Down another $100. Oh well. End night.
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Day 4
July 4th - Independence Day! Red, blue and white everywhere! I woke up to a complimentary brunch buffet celebrating their great land. After sufficiently stuffing my face, I checked out, headed to the airport and soon enough was on my way to Texas, the Lone Star state.
Upon arrival, I was greeted by my brother Michael, who lives in Vancouver, Canada. It's been several years since I last saw him so it was definitely good to see him again. My cousin Ginny, the one getting married, was waiting with the car, and soon enough we were speeding down the freeway into the city. One thing about Houston (or Texas in general) is that you need a car. Everything is so far away from everything else, and there really isn't any public transport system outside of the city. After saying that I needed to experience authentic Texan cuisine, my cousin took me for dinner at Spring Creek, a BBQ joint which had delicious ribs covered in an amazing BBQ sauce. Also what they say about American food is true, their portion sizes are huge! And apparently Texan portions are even bigger compared to the rest of the country. I think I'm definitely coming back with an extra few kilos of padding.
Independence Day means fireworks. And they went off all through the night. We also were able to (legally) buy some fireworks of our own but to set them off would have been illegal (in certain areas). In the end, we never got around to setting them off since we got too busy trying to coordinate getting the cousins together and Ginny got really busy sorting out logistics for everything (namely the wedding). But from my limited experience with Independence Day, it seems like a nice fun celebration, but I wouldn't call it a big celebration. We ended up catching a movie (Despicable Me 2) and I found myself drifting off at times. Clearly the exhaustion from Vegas was creeping up on me. I relished the fact that even outside of a hotel, I still managed to have my own private room where I was staying at my cousin Linda's house. We spent an hour or so catching up on each other's lives before fatigue caught up and I needed to sleep. I had a lot of time in Houston. I could afford to take it easy for a while lol.
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Day 5
Friday started off quite slowly, and we all went for a low-key breakfast at Kolache, which makes breakfast buns/rolls filled with various types of fillings. The rest of the day was filled with shopping at Katy Mills outlet mall where I scored myself three new pairs of shoes (two pairs of Vans and one pair of formal shoes), a dress shirt and silk tie, and a new polo all for $200USD. I told myself I would stop spending after that, which I kept to and only window-shopped at the Galleria afterwards, a more upscale (ie. expensive) shopping complex. The evening was spent with a pizza and movie at home and I thought it was going to be a quiet relaxing evening. Boy, was I wrong.
It was the night before the wedding and I was crashing at the house of the sister of the bride, not to mention the house where the morning ceremony would be held. Of course it wasn't going to be a quiet evening. At about 10pm, chaos blew through the doors and I soon found myself frantically tying ribbons around cups and spoons and preparing party favours while others were hanging signs and decorations. Don't get me wrong, I was glad to help out - I just didn't expect to be doing it so last minute. But we got it all done eventually ready for the big day. I could tell that my cousin Ginny was stressed (who wouldn't be?) but the best thing she could do was get some sleep since, as I told her, she needed to look awake and refreshed for the millions of photos the next day. I probably should have taken my own advice - I didn't get to bed until 4am.
HBL signing out of Houston, Texas, USA.
Up next: Wedding bells ringing in Houston...
Previously: Over, on and in the Grand Canyon...
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