Las Vegas: Exploring the Strip, Day 5
Today was a good day. You know how yesterday was our day "off"? Well, yesterday we got bored and did almost all of today's plans.
So today we did... almost nothing. We stayed entirely in the hotel. We slept in and lounged around until the early afternoon.
We had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe wherein we snarked a bit about the mix of animals. chiendarrendor noted that I was being nit-picky, but I noted that I had only snarked about the more obvious issues of putting elephants and parrots in the same rainforest. If I were going to be really picky, I'd analyze the leaves on the walls and complain that those plants aren't really tropical! Then he noticed that the shooting stars were going in various different directions, which never happens in meteor showers, where the source of meteors appears to be a single spot in the sky. HA! Seriously, though, Rainforest Cafe was a kick, and the food was pretty good, though I didn't have room for half my lunch.
Their store was kind of funny. Of course everything has their logo on it - to a degree even the casinos don't necessarily match. I found adorable animal puppets, and some snakes that were almost rainbow enough for me, but not quite. Chien's irony meter pegged when the plastic tree started lecturing us to have our parents be careful what kinds of things they buy, because it's not nice for the environment. Not that trees don't usually tell me that kind of thing, but they don't usually say it in English, while encouraging me to shop in a store filled with little plastic tchotchkes. Then I found an amazing garment I can only call a Sarong Upgrade. I had to have this garment. Chien looked a little stern, but but quickly agreed that I could have one.
We passed the Lion habitat on the way back. Today (as I expected) they had two lionesses. Lionesses are only slightly less lazy than lions. But one of them did get up and walk around for a while. BIG KITTIES! I did not succeed in convincing Chien that I need lion t-shirts and a beach towel, and a mug, and a hat, and and and and... *sigh* But that's okay, I'm worried about room in my baggage as it is.
Then we went to the spa. Now, I've had the occasional massage - usually from a skilled friend or boyfriend. Once or twice from a professional who happened to be a friend. But never from a stranger before. I've been in hot tubs, saunas, even yoga rooms in the past. But never a real spa. On some level I've assumed they're overrated, or that it'd be easy to get bored there, or that they'd overwhelm my senses - all of which are still potentially true.
However, today I was still feeling the sensory buildup from being on the Strip all week, and the Spa was the quietest place I'd been in quite some time. Unfortunately, right before I went in, I got an unexpected nosebleed, made a mess of my shirt, and ended up so horribly embarrassed and nervous that I must have looked like I was about to explode when I finally met my massage therapist. She was very sweet about it. She was an older, somewhat motherly woman who did a great job of calming me down and listening to my concerns. I'm hypersensitive, I just had a dehydration nosebleed, I've never done this before, my foot is injured, I've been walking the strip all week and my back hurts! (Oy! Sorry to complain.) I forgot how much a difference massage oil makes - my skin wasn't much bothered at all. She did have to cool down the hot towels for me, though. All in all, it was a very pleasant experience. If I had been more sure of myself, I'd have asked Chien to pick up our tickets without me while I used the quiet room to meditate for a while.
Going back out into the rest of the hotel was almost painful. When we walked past a loud club it I had to hold back tears, because I just wasn't ready for the noise again. We went back up to our room to chill for a while longer, before going to get our tickets to KA.
Ahhhh KA. It means "Fire" in some Asian language, and represents a particular set of spiritual concepts in Egyptian (which they interpreted as "twin" or "duality", but which I remembered as "soul"). This is indeed a spectacle. The crowd warm-ups were delightful. The set reminded me of something out of Myst III: Exile. The people were charming and in-character. And the stage was a giant empty space filled with mist that occasionally spit out a fireball or two.
We had front row seats, center! Wooo! Lemme tell you, those acrobats are not less pretty up close. The costumes were gorgeous, the stage made of seven independently mobile platforms was impressive, the lighting was dramatic, and the ensemble cast was lithe and beautiful. The live music was ethereal and fluid - yet another Cirque album I simply must own someday. Unfortunately, the acrobatics and martial arts just weren't quite what we've come to expect of Cirque.
See, KA has an actual story to tell. I mean, Quidam had kind of a story but it was more of a theme. The other shows are even more ambiguous. But KA has a plotline, it's not all that deep or complicated - a simple, sweet coming-of-age story for a pair of royal twins (male and female). The characterization was expectedly archetypal. But the focus on this somewhat thin story took just enough away from the acrobatics that they basically did both only passingly well. Were it not Cirque, had I not seen so many other Cirque shows first, perhaps I would be more impressed. But I know better - in experimenting with a new talent, they've allowed their greatest strength to wane too much, and I don't honestly think it was necessary. They could have had a plot that simple along different lines and still played to their strengths better. As Chien said: One's performers should not be upstaged by the stage itself.
Mildly disappointed, but mostly happy, we returned to our room for a quiet night in, and room service to discover that there was still one show left to see:
Lightning storms! An unobstructed view of the mountains from the 23rd story makes lightning pretty damned impressive to behold. We turned off the lights to see more clearly through the windows.
"I don't know," I joked, "Lightning is kind of a One Trick Pony."
Chien laughed.
"I mean, I can appreciate the artistry of that one strike at the end of the long road echoing the shape of the road itself, and the social commentary of life here at 'light speed', but I'm just not buying it. Most of these strikes aren't even aimed anywhere useful. How do I know that wasn't just a happy accident?
"Still, I have to admit - the theatre is damned impressive. It takes a lot of work to build mountains like that!"
And then it began to rain.
--Ember--
So today we did... almost nothing. We stayed entirely in the hotel. We slept in and lounged around until the early afternoon.
We had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe wherein we snarked a bit about the mix of animals. chiendarrendor noted that I was being nit-picky, but I noted that I had only snarked about the more obvious issues of putting elephants and parrots in the same rainforest. If I were going to be really picky, I'd analyze the leaves on the walls and complain that those plants aren't really tropical! Then he noticed that the shooting stars were going in various different directions, which never happens in meteor showers, where the source of meteors appears to be a single spot in the sky. HA! Seriously, though, Rainforest Cafe was a kick, and the food was pretty good, though I didn't have room for half my lunch.
Their store was kind of funny. Of course everything has their logo on it - to a degree even the casinos don't necessarily match. I found adorable animal puppets, and some snakes that were almost rainbow enough for me, but not quite. Chien's irony meter pegged when the plastic tree started lecturing us to have our parents be careful what kinds of things they buy, because it's not nice for the environment. Not that trees don't usually tell me that kind of thing, but they don't usually say it in English, while encouraging me to shop in a store filled with little plastic tchotchkes. Then I found an amazing garment I can only call a Sarong Upgrade. I had to have this garment. Chien looked a little stern, but but quickly agreed that I could have one.
We passed the Lion habitat on the way back. Today (as I expected) they had two lionesses. Lionesses are only slightly less lazy than lions. But one of them did get up and walk around for a while. BIG KITTIES! I did not succeed in convincing Chien that I need lion t-shirts and a beach towel, and a mug, and a hat, and and and and... *sigh* But that's okay, I'm worried about room in my baggage as it is.
Then we went to the spa. Now, I've had the occasional massage - usually from a skilled friend or boyfriend. Once or twice from a professional who happened to be a friend. But never from a stranger before. I've been in hot tubs, saunas, even yoga rooms in the past. But never a real spa. On some level I've assumed they're overrated, or that it'd be easy to get bored there, or that they'd overwhelm my senses - all of which are still potentially true.
However, today I was still feeling the sensory buildup from being on the Strip all week, and the Spa was the quietest place I'd been in quite some time. Unfortunately, right before I went in, I got an unexpected nosebleed, made a mess of my shirt, and ended up so horribly embarrassed and nervous that I must have looked like I was about to explode when I finally met my massage therapist. She was very sweet about it. She was an older, somewhat motherly woman who did a great job of calming me down and listening to my concerns. I'm hypersensitive, I just had a dehydration nosebleed, I've never done this before, my foot is injured, I've been walking the strip all week and my back hurts! (Oy! Sorry to complain.) I forgot how much a difference massage oil makes - my skin wasn't much bothered at all. She did have to cool down the hot towels for me, though. All in all, it was a very pleasant experience. If I had been more sure of myself, I'd have asked Chien to pick up our tickets without me while I used the quiet room to meditate for a while.
Going back out into the rest of the hotel was almost painful. When we walked past a loud club it I had to hold back tears, because I just wasn't ready for the noise again. We went back up to our room to chill for a while longer, before going to get our tickets to KA.
Ahhhh KA. It means "Fire" in some Asian language, and represents a particular set of spiritual concepts in Egyptian (which they interpreted as "twin" or "duality", but which I remembered as "soul"). This is indeed a spectacle. The crowd warm-ups were delightful. The set reminded me of something out of Myst III: Exile. The people were charming and in-character. And the stage was a giant empty space filled with mist that occasionally spit out a fireball or two.
We had front row seats, center! Wooo! Lemme tell you, those acrobats are not less pretty up close. The costumes were gorgeous, the stage made of seven independently mobile platforms was impressive, the lighting was dramatic, and the ensemble cast was lithe and beautiful. The live music was ethereal and fluid - yet another Cirque album I simply must own someday. Unfortunately, the acrobatics and martial arts just weren't quite what we've come to expect of Cirque.
See, KA has an actual story to tell. I mean, Quidam had kind of a story but it was more of a theme. The other shows are even more ambiguous. But KA has a plotline, it's not all that deep or complicated - a simple, sweet coming-of-age story for a pair of royal twins (male and female). The characterization was expectedly archetypal. But the focus on this somewhat thin story took just enough away from the acrobatics that they basically did both only passingly well. Were it not Cirque, had I not seen so many other Cirque shows first, perhaps I would be more impressed. But I know better - in experimenting with a new talent, they've allowed their greatest strength to wane too much, and I don't honestly think it was necessary. They could have had a plot that simple along different lines and still played to their strengths better. As Chien said: One's performers should not be upstaged by the stage itself.
Mildly disappointed, but mostly happy, we returned to our room for a quiet night in, and room service to discover that there was still one show left to see:
Lightning storms! An unobstructed view of the mountains from the 23rd story makes lightning pretty damned impressive to behold. We turned off the lights to see more clearly through the windows.
"I don't know," I joked, "Lightning is kind of a One Trick Pony."
Chien laughed.
"I mean, I can appreciate the artistry of that one strike at the end of the long road echoing the shape of the road itself, and the social commentary of life here at 'light speed', but I'm just not buying it. Most of these strikes aren't even aimed anywhere useful. How do I know that wasn't just a happy accident?
"Still, I have to admit - the theatre is damned impressive. It takes a lot of work to build mountains like that!"
And then it began to rain.
--Ember--