Mistake #1: Leaving late. I got lazy when I woke up early today. Watched some YouTube at 6am but then fell asleep again until 9:30 and didn't leave the apartment until 11.... The ferry to Macau was about an hour away and then the ferry itself was another hour. I had to be home for dim sum dinner with James and Zoe so this limited my time I. Macau to about three hours.
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| Macau Tower |
Mistake #2: Thinking I could do a lot in 3 hours. Maybe go see that famous burned down church, browse around the casino area, gamble a bit, have some lunch. Not sure how I thought this possible in three hours, but I was feeling ambitious. Instead, I spent about 15 minutes trying to cross the road to where the hotel shuttles were, then the 10 minute ride there, and then wandered around feeling small and out-of-place. My sanuks and MEC backpack made me a little different than the other Vitton and Prada clad clientele. I gambled a bit, got lost trying to find the bathroom and then got lost trying to find where to get the shuttle back to the ferry.
Mistake #3: Gambling. I like slot machines, I get very optimistic and am not normally too sad when I lose. However, when one is in a foreign country one should pay closer attention to the machine she uses. There's a bit difference between a $10.00 machine and a $0.10 one. My $170 HK didn't last me very long. :(
However even though there were some blunders today, there were also some silver linings. Try to make the negatives into positives because regardless of everything, I'm still travelling Asia at the moment and not having to wake up to go to work.
Silver Lining #1: I saw the Vegas-of-the-East! It was pretty impressive and massive. A lot of the hotel/casino area was under construction but the areas that weren't were impressive. According to my guidebook circa 2009, the Venetian is the 5th largest building in the world with "enough space to comfortably fit 90 Boeing 747 jets". So getting lost there wasn't really something to be ashamed of. It even had a river and gondola rides throughout it similar to the one in Vegas.
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| The Venice Canal in the Venetian Macau |
Silver Lining #2: People watching. The Venetian was the perfect spot to watch how easterners interact on vacation. People were very helpful when I was lost and I'm pretty sure I only saw about 15 white people the whole time. I also saw some hilarious tour groups huddled together, old men playing card and dice games I could begin to understand, and children on leashes. Basically the same sort of things you'd see in Vegas, just without American accents.
Silver lining #3: Nata Tarts! Macau was colonized by the Portuguese and was only incorporated into China in '99. As a result, there are distinct Portuguese influences on the area, including their dessert. You can hear all about my love for Nata tarts in this old post from my time in Lisbon so I won't reiterate that ( http://topuptube.blogspot.hk/2011/05/dont-worry-mum-im-in-lisbon.html?m=1) Basically, I was just pretty please to be eating that while waiting for the ferry home. Desserts always make this grumpy Suse happy. :)
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| So, SO good |
