Being intoxicated in a place like this is a level of Hell Danté himself couldn't have dreamed up. Imagine someone combining a night club, shopping mall, and arcade. Now imagine that everyone's a self-centered half-drunk tourist who's franticly running around from "hot machine" to "cold machine." ...or possibly trying to shake off an unlucky streak.
The sound inside is deafening. I was talking to Meg about it, and the only words I can use to describe it is "A never-ending ELO finale." You know, the one where the keyboard player leaves his hands depressed, and his head dangling. The lead singer is in a half split stage front with one hand pointed towards the heavens, and the drummer is making short work of no less than a half dozen bass drums. Except it just doesn't stop.
Everywhere you go, you feel like someone is trying to cheat you...or at least looking for a healthy tip. If you'd like to leave your hotel, you can't hail a cab. There's someone outside who asks you where you want to go. He, in turns, blows a whistle, and tells the cab driver where you'd like to go. Then, of course, looks at you for a tip.
I recently learned how to whistle very loud. I keep wondering how well I would fare as a taxi hailer out here. After all, I am able to both make an obnoxiously loud noise, and repeat words said to me.
The more of this silly money-throwing you see, the more you think you see. For example, while walking through a casino floor, I was noticing that some of the chairs have legs:
And some are bolted to the floor:
I began to try and figure out what kind of bullshit they were pulling with that one. I mean, it has to be something, right? They must have teams of scientists working late in the lab figuring this kind of shit out. Being around so much scandal makes you see it even where it's not. Well, maybe not. This is where you eat:
Well, if nothing else. We figured we might as well be as flamboyant as everyone else. But, as we didn't have hundred dollar bills to throw at anyone who makes noise, we just drank booze and jumped on the beds for a while.
