Interesting Facts

- Las Vegas has the distinction of being the home of the first neon sign appearing at the Boulder Club in 1954.

- None of the casinos in Las Vegas use round cornered dice.

- The favorite ink color of the Las Vegas Bingo players is supposed to be purple.

- According to a rough estimate, around $3 million worth of freebies are given away by Las Vegas casinos everyday.

- The first casino to hire female card dealers was the Silver Slipper in 1971.

- The beam light on top of the Luxor is built with 39 individual lamps, each lamp costing around $1,200. The electricity bill is for the beam is around $51 per hour.

- The highest number of unlisted phone numbers among all the US cities can be found in Las Vegas.

- The people of Las Vegas consume more than 60,000 pounds of shrimps every day. The amount is more than the shrimp consumption of the rest of the country combined. A total of 22 million pounds is consumed by Las Vegas every year.

- The first hotel to grace the Las Vegas Strip was the El Rancho Vegas, which opened in April 1941 at a cost of approx $425,000.

- Vegas Vic and Vegas Vicky, two 50-foot statues of a cowboy and a cowgirl, are an integral part of the city. Vegas Vic has been greeting visitors to the city since 1951.

II. Destinations And Sightseeing

A. Madame Tussaud's Interactive Wax Attraction

3355 S. Las Vegas Blvd.

Las Vegas, NV 89109

(702) 492-3960

The Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum has always been a center of attraction and manages to draw in thousands of tourists each year. The museum has a number of statues of famous personalities that have been carved to perfection. The figures are made to be as life-like as possible. The museum has statues of famous personalities like Don King, Julia Roberts, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, John F Kennedy, Frank Sinatra, Ben Affleck, George Clooney, Hugh Hefner, Tim McGraw etc.

Most of these statues are set up in such a way to depict a real life setting. People visiting the museum can get photographs clicked with the famous personalities.

Open: Daily, 10 a.m. - 11 p.m.

General Entry: (18yrs-59yrs): $22.95.

Seniors (60yrs and older) and students (13yrs-17yrs): $16.95.

Children (6yrs-12yrs): $12.95.

Children (5yrs and under): Free.

B. Wynn Las Vegas

3201 Las Vegas Boulevard South

Tel: (702) 770 7100 or 888 320 7123.

Fax: (702) 770 1571.

The huge and glamorous Wynn Las Vegas has been constructed on the spot where the legendary and reputed Desert Inn once stood. The property has been developed by Las Vegas casino tycoon Steve Wynn. It was inaugurated on April 28, 2005. The entire building is covered in a coppery bronze texture that reflects the desert sun. It is built on 192 acres of land and boasts of 42-storeys that have been constructed using a US$ 2.7 billion budget. It has a 10,000-sq-metre casino, a remarkable art gallery, a professionally built 18-hole golf course, and 2700 guest rooms. It is also famous for housing Las Vegas's sole and fully authorized Ferrari and Maserati dealership with a 10,000 square foot showroom.

The main source of attraction in the resort is a 150ft high mountain that has a 5-storey waterfall that gushes down into a man-made lake.

Website: www.wynnlasvegas.com

Transport: Bus 301 or Las Vegas Strip Trolley.

Open: Daily 24 hours.

Entry: Free (hotel and casino).

C. Las Vegas Natural History Museum

900 Las Vegas Boulevard North, Downtown

Tel: (702) 384 3466.

Fax: (702) 384 5343.

The Las Vegas Natural History Museum brings to life the natural world of the state of Nevada wildlife. The museum houses a wide collection of ancient dinosaurs, marine life and more, through exhibits, displays and live exhibitions. The museum's remarkable dinosaur exhibit features huge mechanical dinosaurs, including a 10-metre long Tyrannosaurus Rex. The museum also has an interesting exhibit that explains the detail the evolution of life from fish to dinosaurs.

The Wild Nevada Room also has a huge collection of replicas that indicate the surprising diversity of life from the states own Mojave Desert. These include burrowing rodents, bighorn sheep, desert tortoises and rattlesnakes. A separate section in the museum also houses a number of live animals such as a gopher snake, a tarantula, a boa constrictor and a variety of scorpions.

Website: www.lvnhm.org

Transport: Bus 301.

Open: Daily 9 am-4 pm.

Entry: US$6 (concessions available).

D. The Aquarium at the Silverton Hotel

3333 Blue Diamond Rd.

Las Vegas, NV 89139

(702) 263-7777

The Aquarium at the Silverton Hotel is situated within the cozy Silverton Hotel. It is a huge 117,000-gallon saltwater aquarium that provides a great deal of entertainment especially for children.

It is constructed within the Mermaid Restaurant & Lounge and is part of the casinos $150 million wide expansion program and is home to more than 5,000 exotic fish as well as colorful, breathtaking coral. Three species of stingrays and three species of sharks are also part of the aquariums huge collection of fishes.

A marine biologist carries out fish feeding sessions three times a day and also conducts interactive sessions with guests and answers any queries.

E. Adventure Canyon at Buffalo Bill's

31900 S. Las Vegas Blvd.

Primm, NV 89019-9119

(702) 679-RIDE

(800) FUN-STOP

The Adventure Canyon is unique and set apart from the other amusement park rides by being the first interactive log ride in the world. It starts of as basic water fall ride with a 35-foot drop. However, once the riders splash down they are treated to an interactive electronic shooting gallery. The riders are armed with pistols and are taken through a setting that depicts scenes of the Wild West complete with gold miners, outlaws and fugitives. Riders are required to shoot at the marked targets and at the end of the ride they are evaluated to ascertain the best marksman.

Open: Monday - Thursday, 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Friday, 11 am - 12 am

Saturday, 10 am - 12 am

Sunday, 10 am - 10 pm

Cost: $5, $30 for a full day or $22 for a half day passes.

Payment options: Cash, Visa, MasterCard, and American Express.

Height restrictions: You are required to be 46 inches tall to ride.

F. Exotic Cars at Caesars Forum Shops

3570 S. Las Vegas Blvd.

Las Vegas, NV 89109

(702) 735-7700

(800) CAESARS

The Exotic Cars showroom has on display more than 40 cars whose prices go over a million dollars. This showroom spread over an area of 34,000 square-feet attracts thousands of tourists each day. Although the cars and motorcycles are highly priced and out of reach for most people, visitors can always purchase a wide range of logo-adorned merchandise. For $20 you can even get yourself photographed behind the wheels of a Ferrari 360 Modena Spider or any of the other classics. The showroom also provides information on the various cars on display.

Open: Sunday-Thursday - 10 a.m.-11 p.m.

Friday and Saturday -10 a.m.-12 a.m.

Cost: $5

Payment options: Cash, credit card.

G. MGM Grand Lion Habitat

3799 S. Las Vegas Blvd.

Las Vegas, NV 89109

(702) 891-1111

(800) 646-7787

Situated at the heart of the MGM Grand Casino and Resort, only an inch and a half of glass separates man from the king of the jungle. Tourists and visitors can watch these majestic beasts in action in a set up of their natural habitat. When not put on display, the lions reside on an 8.5-acre ranch that is situated 12 miles from the MGM Grand.

The lions are regularly rotated in and out of the display throughout the day. The lions are kept in the artificially made habitat for only six hours at a time. Only a few lions will be kept on display at any point of time. In all there are 31 felines - twenty females and eleven males.

Open: Daily -11 am - 10 pm

Cost: Free.