Shortly after the Hoover Dam we arrived at Las Vegas to check into our hotel. What a contrast from the arid deserts and mountain forests of the last few days! Las Vegas can only be described as a city in the middle of the desert. And an amazing city it is too. We stayed at the MGM Grand Hotel - which is the largest hotel in the world!

The MGM Grand Hotel - on one end of the Las Vegas "Strip" - which is where all the largest and popular hotels and casinos are located. Every hotel there is MASSIVE - but ours was the biggest of them all - 5000 rooms and a multi-storey car-park that is the biggest I have ever seen!

This is the picture of the hotel lobby - notice the huge display screen in the background behind the row of reception desks! Just walking around this hotel and the never-ending casino was tiring.

After spending the day walking down the famous Las Vegas "Strip" (which is the name given to that part of Las Vegas Boulevard where most of the hotels and casinos are) we headed down into the heart of downtown to a place called Fremont Street. This is the "old" (and therefore the original) heart of Las Vegas' casino land. A few years ago - the local business community decided to spruce the place up and they did so by creating a massive lighting structure that covers the whole street!

Fremont Street in the early evening. You can see the lighting structure that covers the street. Throughout the day, the street is home not only to the casinos but also to street performers and gift shop stalls - in a Covent Garden sort of way - but not as big and definitely not as "arty".

As darkness falls Fremont Street starts to get busier and the neon casino lights start to flicker and glare.

Jaspal and Ami posing in front of the Horseshoe casino in Fremont Street. We were getting rather bored and impatient waiting for the light show to start by now!

When it finally started it was fantastic! It only lasted 10 minutes or so but it was well worth waiting for. Only in America could they put on an audio-visual show like this! Only in Las Vegas!

We cruised the Strip as we drove back to our hotel from Fremont Street. This is a picture of a hotel & casino called New York New York right opposite our hotel. Amazing.

Too many pictures to put up here - but here is another one taken from the car as we cruised past yet another hotel casino called Paris - they have recreated a smaller version of the famous Eiffel Tower here!

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