Macau and Hong Kong

On August 22, we flew to Macau. We figured we were so close, we had to go see what the all the fuss was about. I like to gamble from time to time and wanted to say that I've gambled in Macau. So, we booked a two nights at the Sheraton.

You know you're headed to Macau when these ladies (with oh so fashionable socks)
pull out the cash and deck of cards

Party bus! Actually, it was just the free shuttle to our hotel. 

The Venetian

The view from our room of the swamp

The next morning, we set off to visit the main attractions - the Senado Square and the Ruins of St. Paul. It was pretty crowded but I enjoyed the quick walk through the former Portuguese colony - the architecture and the color of the buildings made for some good pictures.

Senado Square (Senate Square)

St. Domingo's Church

Headed to St. Paul's

Paul loves swimming through the thick sea of people

The big thing here apparently is beef jerky - or any kind of jerky

They call these beef jerky stores, "pastelarias," so I guess beef jerky = pastry shop? 

Walking up toward the Ruins of St. Paul's

St. Paul's Church caught fire in 1835 after a violent typhoon hit Macau

St. Paul's Cathedral was also known as "Mater Dei" which means "Mother of God"

Juxtaposition - looking at where we walked from

Close up of the facade

Alvin

Simon

Theodore

Slinky shot

Homes next to the Ruins of St. Paul

Paul didn't feel like coming aboard the Ruins of St. Paul

From the back side

I found Paul's twin; I imagine the reunion would be a lot like the movie "Twins"
with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Devito

Macau Tower (of Power)

We headed back to the hotel to indulge in free access to the Sheraton Club Lounge. I was upset at the service we received in the morning so they pacified me by offering Club Lounge access which was filled with free food and wine (from 5-7pm). We arrived promptly at 5pm and stayed until 7pm. With full bellies and a little tipsy, we headed to the casino.

Free food + drink = Happy Lorias

Weird fact - we are in Macau so I naturally thought we would use Pataca (Macau's currency) but the casinos only take Hong Kong dollars! After huffing about the exchange rate they gave us, we headed to the tables. Paul and I can't gamble at the same table because we always mess each other up so we sat at different roulette tables. For those of you who know me, sometimes I get carried away with gambling. Sometimes. On occasion I get this dark twinkle in my eye and an obsession that grows and grows the more I lose or the more I win - it must be the oxygen they pump into those casinos. So, when I sat down at the table across from Paul in the "smoking" section because the only other "non-smoking" table across from the smoking section was full, I was hopeful as I put my HK$5 (US$0.64) chips down on my usual numbers. Hopeful that Paul would win and that I would leave the table without losing everything. After about 20 minutes, I was up about US$100 and I walked away. And at the exact same time, Paul did too. I asked how he did and handed me a bunch of (ok, 8) HK$1000 chips! Yay, us!

Paul was a big winner and we celebrated accordingly

When life imitates art

Celebrating our winnings the day before a 3 hour ferry ride to Hong Kong was not smart. But how often do we make smart decisions?

We woke up to this weather

Which meant a bumpy ride on the Cotai Water Jet to Hong Kong

We made it safely across to Hong Kong despite remnants of tropical storm Trami. We spent 3 days in Hong Kong doing laundry, eating salads, and spending Paul's winnings.

Double decker bus

Trying to get to the subway to go camera shopping

This is where I bought my new camera - Wing Shing Photo Supplies 

We then headed to Ozone, the highest bar in the world on top of the Ritz Carlton on the Kowloon side

Lovely view and a clear day! The Peak is in the distance with the clouds (kind of) covering the top.

Looking towards the Kowloon side

Looking towards the Hong Kong side

Another view of the Hong Kong side

Mariachi Romance margarita

Looking up at the Ritz as we headed towards the ferry

Taking the ferry across

Nice sunset

Looking towards the Hong Kong side

Amazing to be at the top of the Ritz and then on this ferry

Real Life Never Stops!

Thank you Paul for winning at roulette so I could buy a new camera

The next day we ran more errands and got haircuts.

Lots of fruit

I decided that the $7 haircut wasn't (pardon the pun) cutting it...I booked an appointment at the salon at the Mandarin Oriental to get my hair fixed

Paul and Capt'n also got their hair trimmed

We had a nice lunch in the Soho district - a place recommended by the hair stylist at
the Mandarin; we took a taxi to avoid the walking up all the stairs

Because the apartment we were staying at had a steep hill

After getting our fill of fresh vegetables and laundry done - we headed to Guangzhou via train on August 27.

We drove by Times Square - this was before I got yelled at by the taxi driver for not
understanding why we had to pay $20 more than what was on the meter - there are TOLLS!

We then found the counter to get our tickets (cash only by the way!) and waited in "line"

Did I mention it's frustrating to stand in "line" in China?