So after a really enjoyable first EVO finals experience, we return back to normal Vegas exploration and tourist fare, somewhat. We have a few main events today that I had scheduled so we had to be very mindful of our time and such, let’s see how that went down today.

We took a taxi from our hotel to the Wynn hotel to check out their brunch buffet, this buffet and the Bacchanal are widely considered to be among the best buffets on the Vegas strip but which one is the best most can’t fully agree upon so I want to see for myself.

We were early to the Buffet time for us so we gambled a bit. Proof of existence and first time playing auto roulette machine, I actually made money from this just by betting on Red like 5 or 6 times in a row from my initial $10 dollars.

You have to pre-pay online if you want to reserve a table here although they also welcome walk in, if you pre pay it will be much faster and less waiting in the line to get in. The buffet itself is smaller in scale and the amount of items available are considerably less than the Bacchanal but does it make up for it in quality or service? We’ll let’s find out what I ate.

As a brunch buffet they had a lot of breakfast focused items like steak and eggs, lobster sauce and cracker, bacon, eggs Benedict and etc. They also had some sushi too so I couldn’t resist picking up a few as well on my first round. Pretty good overall, finished this plate off pretty quick. The server also asked me what drinks I want which are also free, so from soft drinks and juice I got some coffee, orange and pineapple juice. Pretty good juice man, very fresh and cold.

For my second round I decided to focus on meats and their carving meat station, they had bbq brisket, waygu garlic infused steamship which is a lean kind of meat which honestly is not prime prime rib but still not bad. I also got more sushi and some dim sum because why not. They had a few baked fish items here which I also got but they were pretty shit, didn’t finish those. Got some chicharron too for change in texture.

Third round decided to try some tamales, they had pulled pork inside them but not really my thing, didn’t finish it, too much. Also tried some smoked mac and cheese which for some reason was very popular, they were always refilling it and it was also low or empty. Why do people fill up on mac and cheese at a buffet I will never know. Some asian black pepper thai green beans and beef, couple of dumplings, biscuit and gravy and more sushi because yea.

I ended off my brunch buffet meal with some ice cream and some other small dessert items like mini creme brule and berry cheesecake.

The Wynn Buffet has quite a variety of different seating areas with different vibes and color themes which is interesting, it’s definitely more old school feeling than the Bacchanal and it knows it wants to be seen that way which I kinda like.

Having said that, I can safely say that in my opinion I think the Wynn Buffet is largely superior to the Bacchanal in almost every category except variety of items and options. While Wynn has much less items than the former, the quality is far more consistent and leans more towards almost everything being good rather than at Bacchanal more things were hit or miss. The service I found was also better for delivering my morning juices and coffee and the selection wider in that regard which I like. But most importantly, the cost is only $60 per person for brunch and $75 for dinner in which they have more seafood and shellfish options, this is the biggest factor in why I think the Wynn is better; it’s just cheaper and the quality is overall higher than the Bacchanal which charges $90 for dinner which is way overpriced in my opinion. Wynn also gives you 2 hours to eat instead of 1.5 hours at Bacchanal and at least their dessert section isn’t totally shit. So yea, I like the Wynn better, if you ever had to make a choice, choose Wynn over Bacchanal.

After a large brunch buffet meal, we too another taxi cab to Area 15, a kind of entertainment complex filled with activities and stuff to see/do. It’s kind of hard to describe but once you get in, you kind of get the idea.

This was a Vegas attraction that my sister specifically requested so here we are, outside in the burning sun waiting to get a bag check to get inside. It’s super hot in Vegas and we decided to put on sun tan right then in there waiting in line, we burn easily.

As we enter Area 15, we are both greeted with neon lights and lazers everywhere once you get in, it’s really something like going into the Bladerunner world in many ways.

We gaze upon our primary destination, what has brought us out here to a place several miles away from the Vegas strip, Omega Mart.

It’s hard to describe Omega Mart, it’s part art installation, part experiential immersive experience and part narrative storytelling with escape room elements, except instead of escaping, you are trying to figure out the lore and background behind this fictional super market chain and why things are so weird in the store.

At first glance they seem like normal cereal items but a closer inspection you find that all of these items are really weird with word puns and strange ingredients/branding. Such as this cereal called “Oh Those”. It should be noted that almost everything not nailed down/glued down can actually be purchased, like these are actually usable products you can buy that are weird.

The meat section has tattooed chicken. Yea. They also sell a plushie version in the story you can buy too.

Going through a fridge brings you into a new area that looks like another world/dimension of weirdness.

Let’s just say after exploring the grocery storefront a bit more in detail, you are lead slowly to uncover the truth about Omega Mart and it’s lore.

Without going into details, it goes leaves visitors to explore places and read uncover info on what is going on. I myself didn’t fully figure anything out for sure in my mind but it involves, extra-multi dimensional travel, god-like guardian beings, isekai elements, similar FF7 life-stream concepts of a ‘life essence’ or ‘source’, science experiments, aliens, capitalism/American mono culture, corporate corruption; the list goes on.

I mean, there are rooms and art like installations like the above that further and expand on the lore the more you explore the space and learn. Whoa.

I am quite sure most people exploring the inner guts of Omega Mart have no idea the lore reasons of the spaces they are exploring and I suppose that’s fine because at the end of the day, alot of these rooms and installations they put up just look really cool, like this proof of existence photo.

Outside of Omegamart and buying a number of souvenirs and weird items, Area 15 also has more traditional entertainment fare such as a old school arcade, bar, axe-throwing place, VR and some other stuff. Everything kind of plays off the Area 15 thing of not being Area 51, which is kind of funny/jokes.

After spending a consider about of time at Omega Mart, we take another cab north up to the Fremont Street Experience, which is much further north from the Strip. The cab/uber/driver we went with was not affiliated with anyone and wanted to be paid in cash. Kind of a bit sketchy but whatever, he was some Chinese guy so who am I to complain for him trying to make some money on the side, he charged a flat rate but I ended up giving him $5 more than he asked because I wanted to make sure he wouldn’t follow or tag us to kill us or whatever. Safeeeee I guess? As one can see, we made it there alive. Oh look, a cybertruck.

When we arrived at Fremont street most of the building lights were not yet lit but you can still see some street performers or such beginning to do their thing.

We killed some time before the lights came on at some gift shop. Used some kind cash for this native Indian robot to tell my sister’s fortune, sure. Jokes. I also did one except from some Russian-like robot. Noice and dumb.

They technically say they run shows from 6pm to 2am on the giant ceiling screen at the top of the hour but when the time came it was announced and nothing really changed that much. Sure it looked more cool but it wasn’t any different than it was before, it was still always lit throughout the day so I am not sure what is different if at all from normal time for this ‘show’ they say.

We saw a white castle on the street and my sister and I shared a combo one because why not and she wanted to try white castle burgers, the real ones.

All I can say is that, yea, they are a thing but the ones that we make at home are way better.

After our mini burger slider snack we went inside the 4 Queens casino to see if their shit was any different. They had some new stuff we hadn’t seen before like this Willy Wonka slot machine. As illustrated, my sister proudly displays her winnings; $0.31.

They also had some machines that were old arcade games like puzzle bobble which was supersizing. I played this for a bit and it just seemed the same, I couldn’t figure out how this could be gambling since it required skill, then my sister said every time you link 3 bubbles your earning go up or down. We couldn’t figure it why but when we paused the game, it said that the bet you make is completely random, it made you difference if you cleared the map or not, everything was random bullshit; it was basically just a very elaborate slot machine game that took longer to play because you were aiming balls, bullshit.

We left the 4 queens and saw this women walking around bare boob with just pasties on in the circle as a ‘performer’. There were a few other women in circles who were basically just topless with just nipple covers/pasties just like this one; Vegas I guess. Hmm.

Fremont street offers some questionable cheap food deals, so cheap that the quality is probably shit and small quantity. I’m sure someone loves this cheap shit however.

By now the Golden Nugget, one of the most famous and oldest casinos on Fremont street was lit up, noice.

Inside the Golden Nugget I did my part in securing a souvenir. Noice.

All in all, having spent roughly 2-3 hours at Fremont street, I can safely say now that it is not really worth visiting it. There is nothing here that isn’t available or way better than on the strip resorts and casinos. You come here for the old legacy casinos but most of them all have the same machines and shit but with far more dated decor and style, also much smaller and dank. There was little or no real performers other than some dance people and people in gorilla suits with the occasional near-topless women. Maybe because this is a Monday night but I was kind of expecting more activity and action, especially in the evening but yea, not impressed. Could totally skip in any Vegas trip to be honest, just not worth the time or travel to since it’s so far away from the strip.

As a soft goal, we also wanted to get Gelato at our home hotel/resort the Venetian so we quickly took a proper cab back to get this Gelato in the shoppes area, which is one of the main attractions in itself. The stores close at 9pm but we made it back before then and look how busy it was still at like 8:20pm-ish.

A sample spread of the various flavors, pretty nice.

Both cones, my sister got chocolate and peanut butter scoops, basically making a reese cup. I choose passion fruit and pomegranate, pretty good shit. Mission accomplished.

While we had a fancy big buffet brunch and ghetto white castle sliders hours ago, we wanted to have a proper dinner. For some reason or another, we were both fine in being cheap and ghetto by trying out the infamous Panda Express within the Venetian resort, tucked far away from the average visitor intentionally probably.

After a short interaction and very long walk back to our hotel room, even within the resort, here is our yield. My sister got shrimp and the famous orange chicken with fried rice. I got spicy orange chicken, shredded chicken and green beans and ‘Beijing beef’ which turned out to be just orange chicken but beef with more vegetables in the stir fry. Heh. I mean, what can I say? It’s westernized Chinese food like Boubon st Grill or Manchu Wok. It has it’s place. I found it interesting they gave my third item a separate container however, wow, what’s with that? Could they have not just put it on top of the rice to save on another container? Weird in my opinion. Overall taste not bad, as expected, nice ghetto meal is nice sometimes.

And that ends our third full day in Vegas, pretty good shit saw and experienced today but I think the tiredness is beginning to set in for me, my feet hurt more than usual and my voice is getting rough and course, most probably due to too much talking and shouting during EVO finals, my bad I guess. But in any regards, let’s see how things go for tomorrow, our last full day in Vegas before going home on Wednesday.