Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Las Vegas

You know you've crossed one too many time zones, consumed a few too many comped drinks, cigars, rich food, and gone without sleep, when you wake up with your head in the toilet and a fever. Either that or you're just another Vegas statistic and you can be confident that the Batchelor Party you organized for your Brother was a resounding success. Six Fellas flew to Vegas and I stepped off a 14 hour flight from Tokyo and didn't sleep for the next three days. Viva Las Vegas!
Below the Eiffel Tower, we celebrated the death of Alden's bachelorhood on the Vegas Strip. We revisited many of the far flung locals of our round the world trip, including the canals of Venice and the Pyramids of Giza. After dinner at Paris' Eiffel Tower Restaurant, we smoked "Canadian" cigars and drank Russian Brandy while the Bellagio's fountains lit up the night:
We had plenty of interesting people around to chat with.And an endless array of activities planned on our extensive three day itinerary.
We also spent some time walking around in the stifling desert heat.
But mostly we just enjoyed the sights.
After the stag festivities, when I went and met up with Sierra at a local Youth Hostel, I finally found out where the bulk of the TV show "Cops" is shot—in the seediest neighborhood in the USA: Freemont Street, Las Vegas—where we got to see how the other half live.
Amid a cloud of desert heat, evaporating alcohol, stolen hundred dollar bills, crazy Christian Evangelists, and bikini mud-wrestling, we somehow made it out of Sin City alive and are now safely on the eastern seaboard.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Turning Japanese

It seems slightly counter intuitive that the last five days of a five month trip would turn out to be the best, but for some reason Tokyo was just an insanely fun place to finish off.

We toured the many neighborhoods and walked for many delightful hours through the streets:Ate some truly incredible food (Sierra, after consuming copious amounts of Sake, eats a giant snail):
Rode the subways endlessly:
Hung out with very some strange people:
Ate more incredible food:
Drank more:
And stumbled home late at night with the rest of the large population of nocturnal Japanese boozers: