If you ever want to develop a good loathing for mankind, stay in Las Vegas for a while. Where people aren't smoking, they're wearing too much aftershave or just reeking of smoke or whatever they could manage at such short notice. And don't bother going inside to get away from them, that just makes it worse.

The weather forces everyone inside as much as possible, (it's like 90 at 2 am) jostling around and elbowing eachother, smelling eachother's bad breath, and walking as slowly as possible, especially if you're in a hurry. (like say if your appendix just exploded, killing several people) When the people do go outside, they stay confined to a very narrow pathway, or jump into expensive cabs and crowd the streets to prevent others from straying from the path. For those carrying heavy loads across the bridge over the streets, escalators are provided, but turned off.

All the hotels are merged with overblown replicas of tourist attractions, which might even be amusing if not for the constant flashing lights and incessant bweeping of the slot machines, begging for donations. (not to mention the nasty smell, which has been commented on) Above many of the games is a sign advertising an ever-increasing payoff, yet just to confound logic, there's always someone beneath it as if to say, "All right, 60,000 to 1!! I LIKE those odds!!"

Any sort of casual meal is apparently outlawed. Where I was (Paris hotel), all the food was given strange (not to say they weren't accurate) french names and made as fancy as possible. The building was carefully constructed to prevent the use of cell phones and the payphones were strategically located in the most vile smelling, evil, remote part of the hotel/casino/mall/whatever then heck you'd call it, just to reinforce the sense of dispair and isolation. "You and your money are here. Only one of you may leave. Don't bother calling for help."

I just spent a weekend there on business. Hopefully someone here will learn from my mistake.