Oops! We're in Macao...

After our wonderful time in Cambodia and Vietnam, we headed off to conference. We boarded a train to Nanning to try to make it to our VIA-China conference in Hong Kong without being too late. The problem was that the conference was hitting us right in the middle of our break and really wound up costing us a lot to get there. So, I was a little pissed about all of that. Granted I should have been more vocal about the timing of conference and less accommodating, but I wasn't but, I still felt like I wanted to be a little late just to be a twerp.

So, well, um, we took a little side trip to Macao. We arrived in the evening and right away set out to find a nice guesthouse. The first problem was getting a cab. None of the cab drivers were very helpful. We even found some people to try to help us, but they didn't have much luck with the cabbies either.

Eventually we just flagged one down, loaded all of our stuff in the cab and then told him where we wanted to go. This was more successful - didn't give him a chance to say "no" and drive off. Eventually we found the guesthouse we wanted him to take us to. I went out to scope out the rooms only to find that they were positively the dingiest little cells that I had encountered on the trip thus far! Horrible! So those little rat-traps were a big N-O. So off to try to find the mysterious Villa Universal.

We wound up asking some kids on the corner for some directions and they tried to help us. One of the problems we found was that all of the information in the guidebook about Macao was in Portuguese and did not list the Chinese for the places so sometimes getting around with the LP was challenging. Eventually, a older lady flagged us down and waved some business cards at us. Low and behold, Villa Universal! Thank goodness she was working the corner (to strum us hotel business) or we would probably not have found it.

The rooms were pretty nice and they were clean! Also had hot water and private bathroom for a fairly reasonable price. So, we crashed there for the night. I was feeling pretty grimy and didn't want to go out, but Matt went out to find something to eat. When he got back he brought with him some fantastic cookies! Kind of like fortune cookies, but filled with crushed almond and sugar. Delicious!

The next day we set out to see a few of the sights. We went to one of the old cathedral ruins sites and then went to the old fort which has since been built to house a museum. I can't even begin to tell you how cool the museum was! They had lots of interactive sections as well as different kinds of media (could choose from 4 different languages) throughout the entire museum. It was really spectacular!

After, we went for some lunch - a Portuguese lunch. Matt really enjoyed his shrimp and coconut curry, I was less certain about my pork and tamarind, but it filled us up and got us ready for the Maritime museum! Another spectacular museum! Had a lot of fun there and even got to play pretend captain for a little while to boot!

Oh, I almost forgot!

...Ummm, my internet timed out right after I wrote that and I have since forgotten. Shit. I hate when that happens. But if I think of the missing tidbit, I will be sure to record it in a completely random post (not to worry).

We also got to look at the outside of a few of the casinos. They had dress codes and a couple of scummy lookin' backpackers weren't going to make the velvet rope cut, so we just peaked around the frosted glass as much as we could and saw chandeliers, but that was about it. BUT we did get to walk around the maze of hallways of expensive stuff (small box of Ricola - $20 Pataca!) to keep you in the realm and got to see some prostitutes tailing some old men who were guests at the $1000+ USD a night hotel/casino/fun palace.

I thoroughly enjoyed my 20 or so hours in the former Portuguese colony. But we had a conference to get to so we set out on the jetboat to the old British colony. Yup. Jet. Boat. Jetboat. Looks like a jet when you enter, but, surprise! Boat. It was a quick trip, but I still managed to get motion sickness, but not enough to use my "air" discomfort bag. Instead, I was distracted by a taped collection of favorite moments from an odd but cool Japanese game show.

The Japanese do have a certain way about their game shows, don't they? This game show involved people creating scenes with bodies. Like a rhythmic gymnast doing a routine, but instead of a ball, it is some dude's head playing the role of the ball. Some of the shorts/scenes were just downright wacky. But a good distraction from said sickness. At least I didn't fall into a toilet.

Pataca. That is one of the coolest currency names.

Macao/Macau. Too short on time, but gald we dropped by for a quick visit!