Las Vegas, the glitzy town of Andre Agassi, the effervescent
tennis player, never sleeps at all, says Payal Choudhry

Where night life glows
brighter than stars

WELL, if you are asked to name one place that has the most animated "night life" in the world, the first city that comes to mind is Las Vegas. Yes, believe it or not, this glitzy town of Andre Agassi, the effervescent tennis player, never sleeps at all.

The dusk of an evening in this special American city lights up thousands of casinos, cabarets and gambling dens with such bright neon lights that even the starry nights pale into insignificance. And the sight of millions of dollars exchanging hands at the drop of a hat every night simply drives you crazy.

The Las Vegan hotels also are self-contained theme entertainment centres, and they exacerbate the city’s reputation of even taking the business of having fun most seriously. Fremont street experience is a perfect example of the joie de vivre that the city exudes. The experience is an ongoing live street festival, encompassing five building blocks in downtown Vegas. It is a joint venture between private organisations and the city of Las Vegas, to convert downtown Vegas into a tourist attraction.

The 70-million-dollar project has converted Fremont street into a giant pedestrian plaza, with shops, kiosks, outdoor cafes and entertainment areas. The road is a shimmering cityscape that’s lit with runway lights.

There’s a giant space arch, which encompasses most of the experience and is used to project spectacular special effects and shows, right above your head. So, one moment you’re strolling along merrily and the next, there are cowboys galloping out of the sky at you!

The experience has many shows which have wowed visitors from around the world for their technical slickness and showmanship. One such astounding show is at Odyssey in which an illuminating journey takes you on the virtual ride of your life. You begin in outer space and end up in the rain forests of South America. Heavy transporter doors close. The music envelopes you. Exciting images come to life on the giant screen... and you pinch yourself to make sure it’s not a dream.

Las Vegas lives in its thematic hotels, most of which are in a small area called The Strip. Each resort is like a mini township, catering to the needs of everyone, from the first-timer to the well-heeled business barons who would think nothing of spending $ 7,500 on a suite! The most fascinating thing about The Strip is that every resort has its own persona, based on a theme. So, whether it’s a little bit of Mississippi, The Orient, The Amazon Jungles or a Tropical Paradise, there’s a resort that’ll transport you into another world. In Vegas, the money’s made at the gaming tables and spent on unabashed luxurious living.

If in the downtown city money talks, in the resorts at Vegas, it screams. Check into ‘Caesar’s Palace’, and you’ll feel like you’ve gone back in time as Roman gladiators welcome you through lavish entrances graced with Roman fountains, temples and arches. ‘Circus Circus’ hotel has the honour of having the world’s largest permanent circus with a 123-foot high clown to welcome you in.

The Las Vegas Hilton, on the other hand, exudes an aura of south western charm and hospitality, and the theme is carried through its rooms, restaurants and casinos or you could escape to a tropical paradise, at The Mirage, with its waterfalls, erupting volcanoes and live white tigers and bottle-nosed dolphins! They are no ordinary eruptions of volcanoes. When they burst, the noise is deafening and the city is virtually on fire, quite symbolic of the basic lifestyles in Las Vegas.

The Treasure Island has a very realistic show every evening at intervals of half-an-hour of a mock battle between a prirate ship and an English ship, the "Royal Britannica", with one-eyed pirates swinging from the masts. The flash of canon and gunpowder seem realistic enough and light up the heavens around.

Las Vegas owes the origin of its name from the meadows (vega means meadows), an area of grassland.

Had there been no meadows and artesian wells in south-eastern Nevada, the city would not have come into existence. The Mormons would not have settled here in 1855, though they went on to abandon it after a couple of years, leaving it in the possession of the US Army. It was decades later, in 1905, that rail links with other cities were established. Till then, not much was known about it. But after the construction of the Hoover Dam in 1930, Las Vegas became a popular tourist centre and a round-the-year desert resort.

The rich, and the not-so-rich, the dreamers and hopefuls, drive up to Las Vegas everyday.

One group of American women in particular comes here almost daily to while away time and money at the casinos. For them it is a pilgrimage to the temples of temptation, an addiction that has taken complete control over their sensibilities and cannot be shaken away.