Seize The Moment — Jun Baniqued Images

“There are only two times: NOW and TOO Late.” - Andh Do

Sometime in January while having breakfast with Menchu and Marlon, she came up with the idea that she wanted to go to Vegas on her birthday in March. When Menchu said that, I didn’t think twice. For someone like her, time is of the essence. After Marlon and I fixed some glitches with our schedules, we booked our tickets. Fast forward to last week, all the fun happened.

Top Photo: L-R Meeting Dondon at the airport; seeing Chef Janjie at Island Pacific;
Bottom Photo: L-R: meeting with Lisa; dinner with Miguel’s family

Menchu and I arrived earlier on Thursday. We travelled early that morning from Orlando, and made a connecting flight in LA. On our way, we met unexpectedly one of our Deland friends, Earl, who was heading to the Philippines (we parted ways in LA). We had a bit of a delay in our flight to Las Vegas, so by the time we got there, when Ryan (our friend based in Vegas) picked us up at the airport, we were hungry and we went straight to Island Pacific- a Filipino grocery shop that has ready-to-go food. My childhood friend Janjie happened to be the chef on duty there that time, (that I learned when I phoned him while waiting to board our flight in LA), so he got us free dinner while catching up. After that we headed to the hotel to check in. The Mirage was our home for the next few days, I am glad that Menchu booked our room facing the strip so we got a good view. While waiting for Marlon to arrive (who took a later flight from us), Menchu chose to rest, it’s a bonus that it was blue hour so I took some photos of the casinos and hotels from our window. By the time Marlon came it was late, and instead of heading out, we decided to call it a night to rest since we all travelled earlier that day.

On day two, we woke up on east coast time. It was early, and we started to get up and ready; then took an uber to have breakfast at Chowking- a Filipino food chain that serves Filipino breakfast meal- longganisa (chorizo), bangus (milkfish), siomai (dimsum), and chicken noodle were the ones we ordered. Las Vegas is home to many Filipinos and this is one of the cities in the US that you can enjoy authentic Filipino food. We were like kids in the candy store literally. Once done, we took another Uber to the Venetian and strolled inside. We walked around its shopping mall, enjoyed the people riding the gondolas while the gondoliers sing to them. Of course, we took pictures too! Bob told me on the phone that we were inside this hotel when we were here years ago, but I couldn’t recall it. Nonetheless, it was enjoyable to experience a Venice-like ambiance here at the Venetian. When we were tired, we headed back up to the hotel and rested.

Shortly after, Ryan came and took us to some 25-minute trip to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. This is such a beautiful place! A total contrast from the hustle and bustle of the strip. There were trails and hikers that we saw; I wish we had hiked, but we decided not to since some of us were not prepared and we were sort of time constraint since we have a show to catch later that day. Instead, our sight-seeing was consumed by taking a lot of photos as we stopped so much from point to point while driving the scenic loop of the park.

Top: Menchu, Marlon and I before we watched the live show; Menchu and I at the street of Vegas;
Bottom: Menchu, Ryan and I enjoying a fine dining at Heritage Steakhouse;

Since we scratched the original plan to drive and stay to Zion National Park in Utah, we decided to book a Las Vegas Show instead. When we returned from our sight-seeing trip from the canyon, we refreshed and headed down to our hotel theater and watched “LOVE” by Cirque du Soleil. It is a Beatles-themed live show full of choreographed dancing and acrobatic performances that revolve around a trip through the band’s psychedelic era while rendering their popular and hit songs. It was an hour and a half of totally entertaining show.

The musical fountain show at the Bellagio.

We headed to the strip after the show and ended at Margaritaville to have dinner. Then walked again. We made a stop at the Bellagio to watch the famous musical fountain show. I could no longer recall most of the things Bob and I did in the strip when we were there the last time, but I was mesmerized by this tourist attraction then, so seeing it once again brought back the excitement. It was nice to see the smiles from my friends’ face as well. All of us, I should say, enjoyed the dancing fountain. We went to see the inside of the hotel too; I didn’t realize that the theme inside changes. It was like a fantasy and fairy tale theme (something I couldn’t remember from the last time) and that was an added treat for all of us. Then we headed back to our hotel.

We have a slow start on Saturday our 3rd day. Tired from the previous day’s busy schedule, we got up and readied around 9ish. My friend and former colleague Lisa, will be picking us up around 10 for a Hawaiian dish brunch at Zippy’s. Food aside, I haven’t seen Liza for so long! So it was a treat both literally and figuratively that we have spent time together. Our brunch went well. We never had a Hawaiian meal before, and I must say- they tasted like Filipino food. We were stuffed when we left.

Enjoying the scenic loop of the Red Rocks Canyon and the strip on Friday night.

We headed back to Lisa’s place when we finished brunch to spend more time catching up. Then in the afternoon, we went back to the hotel, dropped Menchu off since she had to meet her aunt for their dinner while we headed to the Seven Magic Mountains for a brief photoshoot. This is a new popular “must-see” within the 30-mile range outside the strip. Personally, this is another one hyped by the social media influencers. I could compare this from the stacks of streetlights I saw in LACMA while in Los Angeles two years ago. After a few photo shots, we went to Miguel’s (another friend who is based in Vegas) house and met his family. We stayed for dinner and shared some stories. Then off we went to Freemont Street- the old Vegas strip. Here they have live entertainment, and people were zip lining above us. It was action packed. By the time we finished we were so tired and decided to go back to the hotel and waited for Menchu to return and decided if we still wanted to go walk to the strip again. But the day’s heat combined with jet lag beat us, and little that we know- we all fell asleep with vague recollection of what time Menchu came back.

On Sunday our fourth day, Marlon left early to meet his friends. He will go to the airport right after that so we said our goodbyes. Menchu, Ryan and I went to Seafood City once again for our Filipino brunch for the nth time😂 (I am now beginning to have withdrawal LOL). And then off to Tule Springs Fossil Beds- a national monument off the strip of Las Vegas too. There was a hiking trail again I see, but like at Red Rocks, we were not prepared to do hiking- it was noon and hot. Also, it wasn’t as scenic like the Red Rocks Canyon but worth checking out. Shortly after, we headed back to the hotel and rested. Around 5pm we went down the hotel and have a fine dining at the Heritage Steakhouse- a restaurant owned by chef Tom Cholicchio (if you watch Top Chef, he is the resident judge- the stocky, bald one!😂)- to celebrate Menchu’s birthday. Vegas, in my opinion, next to New York- is home of the best chefs around the world because of the Casinos and entertainment. This was the kind of dining I was hoping for since we arrived on day one! Though the food we had so far were also great. The best part of all these dining experiences were the company of each other❤️🙃. After our luscious dinner, We walked inside the Palazzio, Venetian (again) and Cesar’s Palace to window shop and did some sight-seeing for the last time. It was around nine when we decided to go back to our room.

The following day, was our time to say goodbye to Vegas. Ours wasn’t a “what happened in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” kind of trip; it was a brief, spontaneously planned, seizing the moment kind as we say. But all three of us, in that four short days, were able to meet old friends and relatives, and caught up with them, entertained by the strip, and got to see some nature too. But most importantly, Menchu had a great time.