All Alone in St. Pierre

We went out for dinner on the first evening here on St. Pierre. The restaurant was right around the corner, one of many in the town within walking distance of our hotel. There was no one in the restaurant, except the server and us, but we were early so I didn't think anything of it, especially since the chef walked in dressing his street clothes a few minutes later. I could almost imagine the server slipping into the back room after seating us and calling his home . . . "Some crazy English tourists are here for dinner; come quick!". It did get a little better later, with a young couple dropping in for drinks and another English couple for dinner, but that was it. On the upside, we did chat with everyone there - you can't do that when the restaurant is full.

Leaving the restaurant at about 8:00 pm we exited to empty streets. Not a person anywhere; not a car on the streets; complete silence. It was like aliens had beamed up the entire population. We walked back to the hotel in complete and utter silence. We met no one, and heard nothing but the wind. It was odd, and a very little bit eerie, but we figured that there was a hurricane bearing down on this little French colony, so perhaps everyone was hunkering down indoors. We were told the next day that it was the day before school started, so everyone was home early getting ready for an early evening. WOW, in the cities I'm used to, the teenagers would be out for one final night of freedom before a year of school. Talk about culture shock! I should have been teaching here.

Overnight the hurricane came and went, leaving the island relatively unscathed, so when the sun came out at 10:00 we set out for a walk. Eventually we found a paved road leading out of town into the hills and decided to explore. We were gone for over three hours and saw one car and met no one on the road or the trails through the hills. That evening we tried another restaurant, this one with lots of people, but again when we left to walk back to the hotel we were presented with a dead empty town. Not one person on the streets and we walked through a silent town.

The next day we decided to explore the town and discovered that indeed there were people who lived here and the streets were busy and full of people. There were cars, buses, tractors, construction crews, and lots of people on the streets and boats moving in and out of the harbour. The town was actually alive! BUT . . . . . 12:00 noon arrived and everything stopped. Really;  everything completely stopped. The town went silent. No people on the streets, traffic stopped. the streets were dead! We walked back to the hotel past closed shops and empty streets. We were once again alone in St. Pierre. Looking at the signs in the shops we realized that everything shuts down from 12:00 to 2:00, and they really do shut down. It is very weird to suddenly have an entire town go so completely silent. It seems that the same thing happens in the evenings. No "Night Life" here, they roll up the sidewalks and go in for the evening.

I have learned to adapt, and I'm quietly writing this inside at the hotel at 1:57 pm, oh wait a minute I can hear the whole town waking up and coming back outside. Time to finish this blog entry.

Food !

Good but Expensive

It would have cost $15.00 a day to have a refrigerator in our room for the two weeks. We could have ordered one from Sears for what we would have spent. We spoke to someone staying in another hotel that included a fridge. It was full of those little drinks and snacks, but he wanted to put his own food in it, so he took things out to make room – didn't use them, just took them out to make room. He was charged for every item he removed. So, if you come to Las Vegas, you are probably going to be sampling some of the many eateries in the city.

A delicious Hot Dog

There are an amazing number of restaurants in Las Vegas. In general, there are two bits of useful information I can give you about them. The food is excellent. The prices are high.

We really have been pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food. We really have not had a meal that we could complain about. From hot dogs at a fast food place (Nathan's), to authentic Brazilian beef barbecue, at Pampas, the food has always been among the best we have had. We were taken to a Barbecue restaurant while in Santos Brazil, where the beef is seasoned with nothing but course salt and brought to your table on a spit and chunks carved right at your table so we knew what to expect, and the beef at Pampas, was almost as good as the original.

I have been trying, during all my travels to sample calamari from every place I go, looking for a sample that can match the calamari I can get at our local tavern The Mic Mac. I tried two samples here in Las Vegas, and although the Mic Mac still has the best calamari, the Las Vegas varieties were almost as good; cooked properly, and spiced just right.

Even the Buffets were good

Even the little places are good. We went out for lunch one day to a little bar and grill in the Luxor resort called the T & T . This was just a small bar in the main lobby area of the Luxor Casino, but the chicken wing appetizer I ordered was, I believe among the best wings I have ever had; big, meaty, and spicy enough to make them interesting without hurting.

Even the chain restaurants seem to put a bit of extra effort to stay ahead of the competition. I have always wanted to try one of B. B. King's Barbecue restaurants, and we found one in the Mirage Hotel & Casino. We went to listen to a Blues group that was going to be playing, but the NCAA basketball tournament seemed to be more important to most patrons, so we had to wait for the game to finish, but the wait was worth it, and the ribs I had were almost as good as my own, and the music was very entertaining. Regis reports that her chicken burger was also excellent.

There are so many restaurants it is hard to choose. We often based our choices on discounts and coupons we had, but sometimes we found places just by wandering around. One day while looking for tickets to a show, we found that the restaurant we were aiming for was VERY busy, but next door was a very interesting Italian place where we found that I actually had a choice of two pizzas I could eat (Not an easy thing when you are lactose intolerant). This restaurant, Lombardi"s Romagna Mia had friendly staff, and the pizza was excellent.

Great Place downtown at Freemont St. 

Although there are plenty of places to eat right on the strip, there are also some excellent places requiring a bit of a walk away from the neon world of the casinos and resorts. One example is the Alexis Gardens Restaurant in the Alexis Park Hotel. This is a small resort hotel a couple of blocks off the strip that we had an Entertainment Book coupon for. It was definitely worth the walk, the food was excellent, and the atmosphere was wonderful. It was nice to be away from the crowds and lights of the big casinos and enjoy a nice quiet meal. I had a Blackened Texas Redfish that was amazing.

Now you do have to check the reviews of the restaurants, and my famous “Trip Planner” is great for this. She really wanted to try one of Emeril Lagasee's restaurants. We dropped into his Stadium Sports Bar for lunch one day and enjoyed it, so we made reservations at his Seafood Restaurant next door in the MGM Grand. When we read the reviews however we had second thoughts, There was not one good review. Everyone agreed that the service was good, but the food just was not up to standards. Then when we met a gentleman who actually worked at MGM and agreed that we should go elsewhere, we decide to cancel that meal.

$9.00 Beer at a Bar?

So the good news is that you will probably enjoy any meal you have in Las Vegas. We found that everything was delicious, and the service was always friendly and helpful. The bad news is that if you eat on the strip it is going to be expensive. Main courses can be as high as $60 to $70 at most “good” restaurants in the casinos on the strip. Oh, BTW, you may have to pay extra for sides. Even when you find a place with decent prices on the food, don't be surprised by the price of the things you don't think about. Often the juice or coffee to go with your bargain breakfast will cost a couple of dollars more than you are used to. Don't expect to get a beer for under $7.00 at most casino bars or eateries unless you have a “Big Spender” card. I paid as much as $9.00 for a beer at one place. Don't expect to always see the prices either. If the beer prices are not on the menu, ask, or you may be surprised when the bill comes. Many restaurants and bars have “Happy Hours”, where prices on food and drinks are much better, but a beer will still usually cost you $5.00.

So when in Las Vegas, expect to eat very well. You can get anything you want, and it will probably be very good, but if you eat on the strip, expect to take a hit on the credit card.

Gambling? Yes it does go on in Vegas.

They're Giving Me $200.00?

My Blogs on this Las Vegas trip really would not be complete without writing something about gambling. It is after all what Las Vegas is really all about. Make no mistake about it, you can come to Las Vegas and have a great time without throwing away a quarter on gambling, but the town was built on gambling, and gambling continues to support its growth. The dream of hitting it lucky is alive and well.

We have spent exactly five $1 bills in the “Machines”, and for two of those it took us a while to loose all of it. We could have walked away with almost $1.75, but we insisted on playing on until it was all gone. We have met others with the same attitude, but we have also overheard quite a few discussions about how much was lost. Funny how I never heard any about how much was won?

You are certainly encouraged to spend your money on gambling. It is hard to miss the huge sign outside the Tropicana Resort telling you that “The First $200.00 is on us.” If you sign up for the 'Trop Plus Player's Club” the casino will give you back the first $200.00 you lose. Here's how it works. You give them $200.00 and they give you a Trop Plus Card worth $200.00 that you can use to play any game in the casino. When you lose your first $200.00 they will refill you card with another $200.00. There was always a lineup to sing up for this deal. I wonder how many people lose that first $200, realize 'Oh, perhaps playing the slots is not the way to get rich', and then take their refilled card and cash out? As you walk through the many casinos, you do hear people cheering when they win, but I've only seen one person yell “YEAAAAA!!!!”, and then push that “Cash Out” button, the normal reaction is to leave the winning in the machine and just keep playing.

Playing the Tables

I watched a guy playing on the Roulette wheel. He had a stack of probably 20 chips on “red”, and red hit so he doubled his chips. He didn't even take those chips back to the stack he had in front of him, he just distributed them around the table. That seems to be the predominant strategy in play; you always use your winnings to try to win more. He didn't, in fact in short order he was back to pulling chips from the stack in front of him.

We came up in the elevator one evening and overheard two women talking. One said “Oh, I really don't know how much I've lost. I know I had $900.00. I'm assuming that “I had” means she doesn't have it any more, so if her math skills are so weak that 900 – 900 = 0 is not the answer, then $900.00 was only a fraction of what she actually lost.

We are not on a very strict schedule normally, so we sleep until we wake up, normally around 8:00 or 8:30, but the day of the Sprint Cup race we wanted to be there early, so we were up at 6:00, and were on the bus by 7:00 to get to the track. As we came through the casino (You always have to go through the casino to get anywhere), there were already people up putting money into the machines. Now I say they got up early to play, but it is Las Vegas . . . . . they may have been there since the night previous.

Sports Betting Area

I've seen the video gambling machines in taverns and other places, I've been to the casinos on cruise ships, and I've visited casinos in other places, but I have not seen the sports betting before. Every casino has an area where they have huge TV screens playing any important sporting event 24 hours a day, and banks of betting stations where you can place bets.There are always people in these parts of the casino, but when a major sporting event hits, they are crowded. We discovered that this area was a good shortcut to get out of the hotel and onto the strip, but when a major College basketball tournament started, the area was suddenly so crowded you had to pick your way through; they were even sitting on the steps leading to the exit. There were guys sitting everywhere with tablets full of stats, handwritten notes and newspaper clippings. There was a lot of serious gambling going on.

This week, Las Vegas is crazier than usual. It is Spring Break for a large group of American universities, and although I thought that Florida was the big Spring Break destination, it is obvious that Las Vegas is also a popular spot. The streets and the casinos are flooded with young people here for a good time. I notice that most casinos have special Spring Break promotions running just to entertain the college students. The Tropicana for example features a March Mania Mega Stack Poker Tournament. I wonder who this is aimed at? I hope it is only the students here on their “Family Money”, but I suspect that some hard earned, student minimum wage university savings or even some student loan money gets gambled away over the week.

As for us, we are not really doing our share of the expected gambling.

A Town that runs on Service

Las Vegas is a town that runs on service. People go there to have fun, and the city is built around finding as many ways to have fun as possible. In just one of the many guides available I found:

     - you want big production shows, there’s  14 of them.



     - you want comedy, you have 16 choices.

     - you want magic, 11 different shows.

     - there are 14 concert and tribute shows.

     - into the more ’adult’ entertainment, you can choose from 14.

Everyone wants to get you into their show, restaurant, hotel or casino, and there is lots of competition, all within reasonable walking distance.

As a result, providing good service is important, and we have been amazed at the level of service we have found. Everyone was friendly, cheerful, knowledgeable, and helpful. Every person waiting on us was excellent. They were all so pleasant, and seemed to be genuinely happy to be waiting on us. It really was very nice service every time.

We were walking around the Luxor, and decided to stop form a drink at the Starbucks. I bought a bottled pop, and asked if I could have a plastic glass so we could share it. “Would you like me to put ice in the glass for you?” I was asked. And then I was offered a top for the glass. And, this was all with a smile.

I came out from the room yesterday, and someone had trashed the lobby area outside our room. Tables were turned over and chairs were all thrown around; obviously someone was upset about their losings, or perhaps the amount of shopping bags that came back after they were losing money. Someone was mad. I stopped a hotel staff wearing an extensive tool belt, and he said he would go right up to look at it. Then later in the evening, the same staff member was walking by, and he stopped and thanked me again. Now that is service with a smile!

The wait staff in restaurants have been amazing, I really have never had service like we have had here in Las Vegas. Now, we are certainly paying for service, but that is not always the case. I have often had bad service at premium prices, but not in Vegas . . . .

Let's hope it continues . . .

Back To Las Vegas

 

Welcome to Vegas

Las Vegas was never a place I really wanted to visit. I just figured that we are not gamblers so why go to Vegas?

New York?

During our RV trip this summer we wanted to see the Grand Canyon and this put Las Vegas conveniently on the route, so we booked a campsite at Circus Circus, and had an overnight in Vegas. It was a bit of a rush, but if you read the blog entry on Las Vegas you will remember that although it was a rushed visit, we enjoyed ourselves and decided that a return visit to “Sin City” might be in order.

Kurt Bush is in Town

My wonderful “Travel Planner” decided that it was time that I finally actually got to see a NASCAR race and since Las Vegas hosts both the Nationwide and the Sprint Cup races in March, we could see Las Vegas at a more leisurely pace and I could get to spend a weekend watching NASCAR in person instead of just on the TV. She found a fabulous deal on flight and two weeks at the Tropicana for less than the cheapest rates for the flights or the resort, and we were booked for a March Break in Las Vegas.

We arrived late in the evening, so decided to let others braver soles enjoy the Las Vegas Night Life, and waited until we had a good night sleep to start exploring. The Tropicana is at one end of the famous Las Vegas Strip. You look out one side of the hotel and see the airport and the desert beyond, but the other side (Our room faced this way) looked out onto Las Vegas Blvd. So we were able to see something of what we could expect. There was a resort that looked like a giant castle on one side, the MGM Grand was shining in green chrome on the other, and straight ahead was the Statue of Liberty with New York; New York behind it.

It was cold cloudy and windy when we arrived, but the morning dawned with clearing skies, but once outside the hotel it was still cold and windy, and we retreated to don extra layers – so much for escaping the cold up north.

We walked down one side of the 'Strip” and back the other, just getting he feel of the place. We will go back later to really explore some of the casinos and resorts. The newer casinos are at this end of the boulevard, and the further you go towards “Downtown” the older the hotels get. The problem is though, they can't go much further this way, because the airport is here, but you can see how huge tracks of land have been cleared of buildings back down the other end and are waiting for bigger and fancier places to go up. You can't help wonder however, how far can it go. How many gigantic hotel complexes can they build before they reach the saturation point. There is one huge new building down the other end that looks like construction has stopped, and rust is forming on the steel. Perhaps the tipping point has already been reached.

China - An Initial Impression

China was not a location I had dreamed of visiting, but when the opportunity arose to go over with all my expenses paid, it was something I couldn't turn down. Someone felt that my 30 years experience in the education system was worth funding my trip in order for me to provide some training for teachers learning to teach English to Chinese children.

This initial post will deal with my first impressions of the country and it's people. I was not going in completely blind, as my wife had visited the country on another educational excursion, and a friend had spent a month doing much the job I was doing. I'm afraid as well I was guilty of a bit of racial stereotyping of a very general nature, as I was expecting something similar to Japan where I had a very enjoyable trip last year. I shouldn't have done that, because all they really have in common is the Asian continent, but I still was basing my expectation on my Japanese experience.

My very first impressions of the Chinese people was on the plane from Toronto to Shanghai. The majority of the passengers were Chinese, and I have never been on a plane where so many people ignored the rules. Now to be fair, I couldn't really tell the native Chinese returning from a visit to Canada, and the Chinese-Canadians going on a trip to the homeland. They made announcements in English, French and Chinese about sitting down,  putting on your seat-belts, putting seat backs straight, and tray-tables up, but the crew had to make more than one trip up and down the aisle reminding people, yet even after flight crew were settled for landing, people were getting up and moving around. I also had one of the “Little Emperor”Children sitting beside me, who was never told to sit still, or behave. He wasn't bad, he just did whatever he wanted, which included trying to change my video monitor, and laying down with his feet on me – hard to get any sleep during the flight with him sitting next to me.

I arrived in Shanghai tired and starting to get get sick with a cold on a cold damp dreary afternoon – not exactly the best way to start a trip after just getting back from Mexico and sun and 30C every day. We drove from Shanghai on a crowded bus through fog (or is it the famous China smog), so I couldn't even see much. Needless to say, my initial impressions of China were not positive.

I hardly noticed the next day, waking from sleep on the hardest bed I have ever experienced, with a splitting headache, a definite head cold, and a fever. My flat mate was not home, but I found some bread, peanut butter and juice, had breakfast and went right back to bed to sleep most of the day. I seem to recall looking out to another dreary wet cold day.

Being an eternal optimist I'm hopefull things will improve soon!