STUDENT Mathew Foxcroft is travelling across America by train. This is the latest in his series of reports from the USA.

SHIMMERING in the desert heat lies a city, a city like no other city, where fantasy becomes a reality and day and night blend into one.

The cool air conditioned casinos and constant supply of free drinks (if you are gambling, that is) draw in some 30 million people a year. Yes, that's right, 30 million, and if each one of these 30 million tourists loses just one dollar that's a modest $30 million for the casinos.

The majority of people we talked to were at least $100 down, but still in hope of hitting the jackpot. Vegas is a place where most of the time the casinos will inevitably win. Las Vegas is not the place for a budget traveller. To come to Vegas and have a good time, you need money and plenty of it.

Circus Circus is one of the more reasonably priced hotels to stay at -- only $59 a night (between the two of us), but these prices rise to $119 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The hotel has many facilities, more than the usual hotel -- it hosts an indoor theme park as well as having free circus acts.

Most of the action in Vegas takes place along the two-mile "strip", and it's not advisable to stray too far from this part of Vegas as there really isn't much else.

Due to 9/11 and the war in Iraq, Vegas is attracting even more American tourists who wish not to travel outside the USA.

Arriving in Las Vegas by plane from San Francisco, the journey was quick and efficient and without the usual train delays we have come accustomed to.

Once we had booked into the hotel we headed for the Strip. At first sight it really is overwhelming, especially when night falls.

As pirates do battle against sailors on a British frigate, only 100 yards away a mock volcano erupts and you have to pinch yourself to make sure this isn't some strange dream. These are the sights in Vegas. This mayhem outside the casinos is a way of attracting you inside the casino, and most casinos have some way of drawing you in.

The one-day trip which is well worth doing is the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon, not cheap at around $75, but well worth a visit.

The Hoover dam is impressive, designed to block the Colorado river, and is among the tallest dams ever built. Enough concrete was used to build a two-lane motorway from the West to the East coast of America.

Impressive as this may be, it is nothing like the vastness of the Grand Canyon.

At over 8,000ft high and 18 miles wide, the Canyon is an inconceivable abyss. The first sight of the Canyon is like that first sight of Wembely, well sort of -- the Canyon was a little more impressive.

But it is that first sight which can never be outdone, no casino, no magic act, no million dollar jackpot could ever take that first sight away.

Next week Sam Diego and Los Angeles -- and this might well be the end of the road!

There is little to do in Vegas during the day, but at night there is an abundance of shows and magician acts, including the famous Siegfried and Roy, but tickets are rather costly.

You may be thinking that it would be easy to get a room in Vegas, especially as it has 14 of the 15 largest hotels in the world. This may be so, but even at weekends most of the hotels get booked up.

But once you have seen these sights they soon grow old and the only casino which I was consistently drawn to was the Bellagio. Its water fountain display was a spectacular sight.