Las Vegas.
Jewel of the Desert.
You either love it or hate it.
But you will never be bored with it.

Friday 1pm: I planned on arriving in Las Vegas in style and with attitude. Instead, I found myself limping into town, deflated as a flat tyre. Which, four hours earlier, had been the case. Stranded in the dusty ghost town of Chloride, well off the main road, getting to Las Vegas seemed an impossible dream. But luckily, not all the locals were ghosts. Fireman Dale appeared from nowhere, removed the two inch nail, conjured up a can of tyre cement, and reinflated the both the tyre and my dreams of getting to Vegas.

Friday 2.30 pm: The view from my room at the Flamingo Hotel & Casino is picture perfect. I have both the Eiffel Tower and the Bellagio fountains in sight. Every afternoon and evening, the 1,000 feet long fountains burst into a flurry of activity half hourly. Choreographed to songs like ‘Hey Big Spender’ , ‘Con Te Partiro’ and ‘Singing in the Rain’, the show is spectacular. I could order room service, sit by the huge panel window and be entertained. Why even leave the room?

But leave I must. It’s almost 3pm which means feeding time downstairs at the Flamingo Wildlife Habitat. Built where Bugsy Siegel’s private suite once stood, the Wildlife habitat offers 15 acres of waterfalls, fountains, and birds from around the world. The Chilean flamingos are beautiful, but the African penguins steal the show.

Show over, I wander the gardens on the off chance that Bugsy might be around - rumour has it that the ghost of the ‘gangster with movie star looks’ haunts this area of the Flamingo Hotel. But he’s a no show. So I head back inside to the Tropical Breeze café for some old fashioned diner food - grilled cheese sandwich and fries.

Friday 6pm: Feed and watered, I head out of the hotel onto Las Vegas Boulevard (aka The Strip) in search of ‘The Deuce‘. This always crowded double-decker bus is a great way to get downtown to the Fremont Street Experience. Lady Luck is on my side and I grab the last empty seat on the upper deck. Traffic is bumper to bumper. But I’m in no rush. I sit back and enjoy the view.

Crowds are already gathering as we arrive for the nightly Light and Sound show. It starts with sudden darkness and loud music. I hang onto my handbag and look up. The overhead canopy comes alive with neon artwork.

Walking down Fremont Street, I wave to Vegas Vic, the towering neon cowpoke that has greeted visitors to Las Vegas for over half a century. He hasn’t aged a day. You couldn’t say the same about the casinos. Unlike their rich cousins uptown, they show signs of wear and tear. But true gamblers say the machines here are ‘looser’ and you have more chance of winning. Shame I don’t have time to check that out.

Saturday 9am: I put on my walking shoes. There’s shopping to be done. I head to the Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian. I want to be serenaded by handsome gondoliers in stripped shirts and ribboned hats while wandering through shops like Ann Taylor, Burberry, and Jimmy Choo. Shops I can’t afford even on sale day.

The prices leave me breathless. But fear not. I spy an oxygen bar in the distance. Aptly named Breathe, it provides pure oxygen hits filtered through scented water. Tempting as it was, I decide instead to grab a chai latte and a muffin from the nearby Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf café. Time to relax and watch the world go by.

Saturday 1pm: Tired of walking, I catch the monorail and somehow end up at the Las Vegas Convention Center surrounded by cowboys of all shapes and sizes. Apparently the National Rodeo Championships are on. I’d love to say that the Marlboro man was there, but alas no. Still, it was fun looking.

Saturday 4pm: Some major music awards are being hosted at MGM Grand this weekend. I find a prime people watching spot at the Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill on the floor of the casino. By my second glass of Lindauer (yes, they sell New Zealand wine), everyone is famous. Wasn’t that Eminem? Or was it? Maybe I need a coffee.

Saturday 7pm: I trek from continent to continent on my way back to my hotel room. One minute I am in a Morrocan souk (Desert Passage Mall at the Aladdin) and the next strolling through the Rue de las Paix in Paris. Life really is strange in Las Vegas.

Sunday 8am: In great need of fresh air and a reality check, I book a half day tour with Pink Jeep Tours to Red Rock Canyon. Situated only 20 minutes away from Las Vegas Boulevard, the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is a favourite with hikers, climbers, and cyclists. It’s easy to see why. Nature beats anything man could ever create. Wish I’d packed hiking boots.

Sunday 2pm: It’s time to find the car and drive away. But one more stop before I go. I need to take something truly Las Vegas home with me. The Rainbow Feather Company has just the thing - a feather boa just like the showgirls have.

(notes from my Nov/Dec 2005 Southwest Road Trip)

Want to visit China’s Forbidden City but have neither the time nor the money to get there?

Not to worry.

Thanks to IBM and the Palace Museum in Beijing,  a 3-dimensional Virtual Forbidden City has been created and it’s only a mouse click away.

Three years in the creation, the virtual Forbidden City appears as it was in during the Qing dynasty (1644 to 1912), making this not only virtual travel but also time travel at it’s best. From the minute you enter the gates of the Forbidden City, you are transported into another time and culture.

Real life visitors don’t have it this good.

Traveling the Forbidden City virtually allows you to dress up in a historic costume and become part of the huge imperial entourage. A truly interactive experience, you can practice archery with the help of a courtesan, feed crickets blood-fattened mosquites and then train them as fighters, and watch the Qing dynasty emperor feast at dinner. You can even interact with other virtual visitors.

Well, got to go. I’m late for my dinner with the Emperor. Who knows, I might even see you there… 

Check out this book review and giveaway of Lonely Planet’s book Volunteer, A Traveler’s Guide to Making a Difference Around the World.

Entries close 17th October 2008…

One of the things I love about living in Christchurch is that you never know what you’ll run across when you head into the city center. Sometimes it’s festivals. Other times unique works of art.

Yesterday’s trip into Cathedral Square was no exception. I was looking for coffee but found, instead, a giant purple sperm  sprawled out in front of the Cathedral.

Turns out it’s part of the 2008 SCAPE Christchurch Biennial of Art in Public Space, an outdoor art exhibition that features the work of 25 artists from 15 countries. The giant purple sperm, known as Darwin,  is the work of Joep van Lieshout, and apparently is meant to imply power, status, expansion, and reproduction, reflecting ideas of survival in all aspects of life, both biological and corporate.  It’s positioning in Cathedral Square, the so-called ‘heart of the city’ is a statement about new life and regeneration of the city center.  I’m not sure, however, that kids see it the same way. They just seem to see it as one more thing to walk and roll all over. 

SCAPE art is scattered around the city, often making you do a double take when you walk past.

Not quite sure of what you are seeing, you stop and contemplate.

And then, suddenly, you’ll notice the red SCAPE sign that explains the who, what, and why of the exhibition that you’ve stumbled across.

With only an hour to kill, I didn’t have time to check out all the exhibits. But luckily, SCAPE is running until 2 November 2008, giving me a great reason to return for more coffee and art in the central city.

Welcome to the latest edition of the Green Travel Carnival. 

Travel Rants starts the Green Travel Carnival off with some general tips on How to travel green, stressing the importance of getting the right balance.

Graham’s Travel Blog adds to these general suggestions with a list of 11 Usable Tips for Greener Traveling. It’s all simple things like ‘turning your lights and AC off before you leave’ and bringing a ‘travel mug’ to save on using the disposals at Starbucks. Small things really do make a difference.

Sherry from Geeky Traveller then introduces us to Whole Travel, a new website that lets you Book your travel with Green in mind.

And Liz (that’s me) from Traveling the Green Way looks at a new way to find green rental cars in the United States in Vroom, Vroom, Vroom Your Way Around.

And once you’ve hired your eco-friendly car, Cars for Girls tells us 10 Ways to Save On Gas and Improve Mileage.

Of course, traveling ‘green’ is not just about looking after the environment. It’s also about emersing yourself in the environment and community wherever you go. Go Green Travel Green gives us 10 Free Ways to Learn a Language, so that you can speak the lingo before you arrive at your destination.

As for sleeping green, Marilyn Terrell from Intelligent Travel suggests that if you are in Sweden, you could try Sleeping on Planes: The Jumbo Hostel, a newly opened jumbo jet that has been recycled as a hostel near the Stockholm airport.

And Ross Dulmaine from The Alternative Consumer reviews the Triton Hotel - In the Heart of San Francisco, saying, “This green hotel makes it a priority not to compromise the environment for luxury.”

Meanwhile, VikramKir from Thoughtfully Vikram… lists the Best Ten Holiday Destinations as chosen by the World Tourism Organisation.

Karen Bryan from Europe A La Carte Blog hits a roadblock when she tries to get more information about the inaugural World Travel Green Awards to be held later this month.

Chris from new folding bikes tells us about the UK Cycle to Work Scheme, a scheme which is aimed at encouraging more people to commute to work on a bicycle. Under this scheme an employee can apply for up to a £1000 voucher to purchase a bike and accessories and use it at a participating bike shop

Shane Sakata from The Tokyo Traveler reports on the Tokyo International Film Festival, saying, “The 2008 Tokyo International Film Festival has a green theme this year with a slogan of “Action! for Earth”. In keeping with the theme, the event will offer special screenings of films on the subject of ecological awareness.”

Susan Forshner from transient travels writes about how sustainable, whale-tourism gets profitable, saying, “In addition to highlighting the efforts of the Whale Center of New England, this post points out the NRDC’s fight to protect whales from the Navy’s deadly sonar system in Southern California and the campaign is headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.”

And to sum it all up, Jennifer Moore Stahlkrantz from Galavanting Online Women’s Travel Magazine gives us the Green Checklist, a list of 20 simple travel suggestions that won’t hamper your trip, but will make you and the planet healthier.

That’s it for this edition of the Green Travel Carnival

The next one will be back at Traveling the Green Way in two weeks time.

Look forward to seeing you there.

And don’t forget, you can submit your own ‘green travel article to the next Green Travel Carnival by simply using this carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: a green travel carnival, blog carnival.