Thrice and Vegas!

Whooo hoooo! Back in Orange County after a week of summer camp and Vegas. Been a blast. Will update on camp soon but first here is the story of my trip to Vegas. Its possibly (entertainment wise) one of the best things and worst things I have ever done all rolled into one. This is what happened.... (if this feels a little disjointed thats because it is, its really late but excited to tell you guys about it)

I always thought the Greyhound bus was a nice clean family bus but turns out its the long distance transportation of choice for all sorts of people... crazy old people, crack heads, ex-convicts (sat next to a guy on the way back that had just been released after 5 years of maximum security prison. I was one of the first people he talked to after getting out) so I was certain that the 6 hour trip to Vegas would be entertaining.

This pic shows the beautiful scenery to Vegas. I was worried this would end and I would see trees and parks and cities and rivers... but thankfully I got to enjoy this all the way to Vegas.... the whole six hours of the trip!

Finally after a very long, hot drive we entered Vegas. It was super hot there (42 degrees) and there was a pumping wind that literally made it deadly. I planned to walk from the bus stop to the Casino but after 30min of walking (while ducking in and out of stores to cool down under the aircon) I decided to come up with an alternative plan. I eventually figured out how the bus system worked and snapped this pic as I entered Las Vegas Boulevard (The Strip).

This is the hotel that I saw the Thrice show in - Mandalay Bay. The best hotel in Vegas in my opinion. The club that Thrice played in "The House Of Blues" is inside.

The show was so good. The support bands were all brilliant and because it was the last night of the tour, for the last song of each support band, Thrice came out dressed up in some funny way and joined in. The Thrice show was insane and the actual sound of the songs live is incredible! I wasn't allowed to take my camera in but found someone else's pic that that pretty much shows the perspective of where I was standing.

They played about 16 songs but it felt like it was over in 10 minutes. I was hoping to get to speak to them after the show but they have clearly gotten to the stage where this isn't possible anymore (as could be seen by the intense security all around the club). Only disappointments - it felt so short (even though they played for more than an hour) no "deadbolt" (they said after 11 years the are retiring the song) no "come all you weary".

Thats not the end of the story though. After walking through Mandalay bay for about 30 min checking it out I left the hotel and started walking towards the next casino called Luxor. As I got to the end of Mandalay bay I noticed an open gate with what looked like a huge band tour bus parked inside. To cut a long story short, after a while I realised that this must be their tour bus and ended up walking back (this time with no security at the entrance). I walked around the bus but no one was there. I decided to wait 5 min to see if anyone would show up and low and behold 2 min later more than half the band rocked up.

I ended up hanging out with Teppei and Eddie for about 10 min. They are super nice guys and they recognised my accent as South African (which is a miracle in America as most people think its Australian or British). Got to chat to them about the tour and also told them about how many people like them in SA. They were really surprised and very sincerely said that it would be cool to come play a show in SA. Was really struck by how genuine they are (Ed ended up stopping his conversation with someone else to say bye to me when I left). Really stoked I got to meet them after all the years of listening to their music.

Some more Vegas pics.

Mandalay Bay men and women bathroom sign - the place is bling.

More Mandalay bay

On the whole the trip was awesome. I ended up walking around the rest of the night waiting for my bus to summer camp at 7:30 am. Was a long night and Vegas gets really bad after 9pm. Got so tired of seeing adverts for strip clubs and getting hit on by prostitutes. The streets are literally littered with porn and the whole place makes you feel pretty dirty. Was really glad to leave when my bus finally arrived.

Here are a few shots from my flight and first day in LA. Been a crazy few days! Dont think I have slept for more than an average of 3 hours a night..... for about 4 nights running now. Been a ton of fun though. Here is the story so far.

This was my plane from SA through to Abu Dhabi. I was a little nervous to fly with them but they are actually really good and I had some tasty food on the flight.

Abu Dhabi airport waiting for my connection. That bench is as uncomfortable as it looks. Slept there for about 4 hours!

The entrance to Jono and Simone's apartment. Its like living in a hotel 365 days a year.

The inside of their apartment. Really nice place!

My ride for the first day. Road it into town which is only a 15min ride but its so hot here that is almost deadly! Went in search of my favourite American fast food - Panda Express.

It may not look that good on screen but this is a little piece of heaven. $6.

Richard and Jonathan, this is just for you. Some random sticker art/propaganda at the local park where I ate my food.

They have this awesome free balloon ride in the "Great Park". Its apparently really hard to get a ride so I was surprised to only wait an hour.

Jonathan and Simone were shooting a wedding for the day so their friend Melissa took me out in the evening (to the balloon ride) and this mall called Spectrum. Its entirely outdoors, really cool vibe.

Off to Vegas in about 1 hour (still keeping my no sleep record up) and then summer camp for the rest of the week. Will be back with updates of that in a few days. Peace