Columbia Lambdas in Las Vegas

Early in October, Conrad emailed the Lambdas telling us that he has a suite in the Bellagio and that we are invited to hang out in Vegas with him. Seeing as I am close and it was only for a few days, I jumped on a flight to meet up with a few Columbia Lambdas and Yi-Chung.

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The flight was extremely short. Before I even got comfortable with my drink and book, we were already descending to our destination. After arriving, I met up with everyone at the Bellagio. We all explored around a bit and looked for a place to eat.

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Look what I spotted on the way!

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I tried taking a self portrait from the hotel, but failed.

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We had a suite in the Spa Tower with a view of the Rio, where Penn and Teller have their show.

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I didn’t take too many photos of the suite, but I did get a few. Here we are about to leave for lunch after a night clubbing.

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We took a walk around the strip to find lunch.

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The pictures can’t capture the weather. It was sweltering. I’m glad the bay area doesn’t get this hot.

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Eventually, we found a nice Italian place to eat at, the Trattoria Reggiano. Surprisingly, the food was good and the prices were reasonable too. Who would have thought?

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In the evening, we attended the Taste of Tao event at the Tao Beach club.

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The Lucky Beer was not very good, but I loved the bottle enough to bring one home with me.

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The event featured all you can eat Asian hor d’oeuvres and food and all you can drink cocktails and beer. The food wasn’t exactly authentic, but it was delicious.

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The club is nestled beneath the Venetian.

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The Japan section was my favorite and always had the longest line.

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I ate quite a few of the thai bass skewers.

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They had plenty of refreshing Taotinis to go around.

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The entertainment was exciting, but to me, the food still took the center stage.

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There was an artist doing spray tattoos. Jin got one. Though, I’m pretty sure he just wanted a reason to take his shirt off.

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Yi-Chung got a much more conservative tattoo.

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I spy another dragon!

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We all had a great time and went home satisfied.

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Andy even filled up the bento box from his goodie bag on the way out.

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The next day, we tried out the Bellagio’s buffet for breakfast.

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The food was decent, but not particularly memorable.

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On the last day, while the others were either at the spa or gambling, Yi-Chung and I explored the City Center mall.

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Once I saw the shape of the building and the design of the windows and holes for lighting, I knew that we were in a Daniel Libeskind designed building.

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The mall was very bright and spacious, but peculiarly empty o.O. Maybe it is too high-end for the average Las Vegas visitor.

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Ice sculptures in the mall.

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Although the trip was short, I had a lot of fun. It was mostly due to who I was with. I’m not sure I really like Las Vegas. It seems a bit too artificial and extravagant for my liking. I’d go again, but only if in good company like this trip.

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