There is a lot to say about the new Mandarin Las Vegas. But I am not going to. I am just going to say… Picture that you are at a luxury resort and spa, all is quiet and peaceful, the service is superb, the décor elegant, the food excellent, the rooms large and well-appointed. You are relaxed, pampered. But, although you can’t quite put your finger on it, something strange is going on. As you are sipping on your margarita in a cabana by the pool, you notice that there appear to be many tall buildings in the area that could be the skyline of some major metropolitan city. Is it New York? Paris? Something seems different. So you go back inside your serene getaway, throw on some street clothes, walk out the front door of your hotel, past the bamboo grove and…. You’re in the new City Center on Las Vegas Strip. And for those who know Vegas-- need I say more?

The Mandarin folks were kind enough to treat us to their hospitality with some great meals, a trip out to Red Rock Park to see the “other Vegas” (worth the trip), and a helicopter ride at night over and around the Strip. I suspect that after I told them that I get very funny after a couple of drinks, they were conspiring to get me drunk. I don’t think it worked, but you’ll have to ask them.

The Las Vegas Strip, and all it stands for, is not quite a part of the physical world we normally live in. The lower astral plane, maybe. The Mandarin Las Vegas is grounded in the best of the physical but floating in the etheric. If you want to “do Vegas,” but also want to feel that you can retreat into a beautiful, quiet and protected bubble simultaneously in the middle of, yet far from, the madding crowd check out the Mandarin Las Vegas. It’s my kind of place.

For pitures of this breathtaking new resort, visit our Fan Page at www.facebook.com/thecramercollection and click on photos.