What happens in Vegas stays in...

Elvis called it bright light city. Gonna set my soul on fire.

Nothing you could possibly say or write about Las Vegas, Nevada, USA has not been said or written before. There are no superlatives big enough to cover this strange city in the desert. As a shop attendant in a glamorous spacey, white shop told me in perfect understatement, "Whatever you say about Vegas, it's a crazy town".

The strip is surreal, lit up but still not as alive as it used to be. But it's getting back there.

Casinos filled with cigarette smoke. Men sitting in patisseries smoking cigars, old ladies puffing away as they pull at poker machines. It's about as non PC as you can get.

OK, there's the history...and don't let's forget the nuclear testing not so far away in the 1950s, the Rat Pack, the mafia, the music, the shows, the gambling, the economic crisis....Where else in the world are there poker machines in the baggage area of an airport?

But still women in tight as arse dresses they pull up as they cross the street, old ladies in track suits dragging their suitcases up to the lifts to save a few bucks in tips, squads of young black men in oversized t- shirts, jean-clad 40 somethings carrying their cocktails in plastic cups....they're all here to party.

At a slightly more upscale restaurant with a degustation menu a woman in a dress so tight it could be her second skin tells the waiter she's a vegetarian. He suggests the salmon.

Australian dancers and performers shine here. One tells me the Vegas air is so dry they need to drink gallons of water to be able to sing here. I think about Elvis...did he drink water?

All you needs a strong heart and a nerve of steel... Viva Las Vegas!