The (Two) Day-Trip to Macau

Macau - Las Vegas Without the Entertainment
After a fairly uneventful Thursday and Friday nights, I went to bed early in order to prepare for my 7am wakeup to get ready for my journey to Macau. Macau has always been on my “to-see list” while here, and I have only known little bits and pieces about it. Like Hong Kong, it is considered a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China, so it is definitely Chinese, but also has some limited freedoms in regards to its governance, including its own customs (no visa for me thankfully) and currency the Macanese Pacata (more on this later). It was under Portuguese influence as a trading post since the 1500’s and an official colony following the Opium War from 1887-1999, when sovereignty was transferred back to China.

To get to Macau, Alex, myself and my Swedish friend Niclas left around 8:30am to meet up with our two friends Christine (from Brooklyn) and Cathy (from California) who had spent the night in Central. We figured out our way to the ferry terminal and got our tickets, as the ferry workers hurry everyone onboard. The ferries leave every 15 minutes on the hour-long journey. Even that doesn’t let you fathom the amount that the Chinese people LOVE to gamble.  Mind you, at 10am on a Saturday, the boat was packed, probably with 300+ people on it. Every fifteen minutes. Knowing that, it didn’t surprise me that Macau is bigger than Vegas in basically all things related to gambling – tables, revenues etc, as well as having the single largest casino in the world – the Venetian.

The original plan was to bungy jump first, tour around the city, gamble, relax and then party the night away and take a 5am ferry back so that we’d be able to take the MTR home from Central. Most of that went to plan except for the going home part – we decided spending the night would be better, and I can’t disagree with that.

Humans Are Not Supposed to Do This

After breezing through customs, as HK resident thanks to our student visas, we got in taxis and headed for Macau Tower. The first thing I noticed when I got out was the fog. I had hoped that it would subside as the morning progressed, but no help so far. We couldn’t even see the Tower until we were pretty close to it, as it was completely immersed in fog. I was praying that they would still let us jump.

Macau Tower is, as it is famed to be, 233m tall, and shaped like the Space Needle in Seattle. Basically, in my understanding, it serves as a money-making machine. There is a mall inside, restaurants, bars, an observation deck, and the AJ Hackett floor. AJ Hackett is the famous bungy jumper who jumped off of the Eifel Tower like 20 years ago, and now has a company that runs these operations around the world.

(Lobby)

(Not sure what these were pictures of, but you need to pay to see them)

Very easily, we paid and made our way up the elevator to the 61^st floor and got prepped. They give you a t-shirt to wear as a way of proving that you did it, so you can return to the top floor (you normally need a ticket of sorts to do so) to get your video and other belongings. We were getting our shirts, when we were told that we should get larger sizes, because these were “Asian Sizes”. The XL fits snugly. I couldn’t help but laugh.

(Going up!)

(Pre-jump - Alex was easily the most scared)

So, I lucked out into going first – which I wasn’t too upset about. Leading up to this I had become less and less scared and more excited about doing this jump. I knew it would be amazing, it was just the in-between time that was nerve-wracking.

(One of the few times I signed a waiver like this and actually thought about it...)

(Pure excitement)

What you can’t tell from the video is what it was like to stand up on that ledge. With the bungy attached to your bound feet, standing on a two-foot wide ledge out over the ground 750 feet in the air, the wind blowing, the fog obscuring sight in front of you, it was absolutely crazy. I turned around and just said “we are way too high up”. All I could think about was what that first feeling was going to be like – falling down is not something you tend to do on purpose, let alone off of a building, many people’s primal fear. I considered how audacious we humans are – defying gravity and nature for mere thrills – what would the ancient’s think? Have we manipulated our world too much? Are humans really supposed to be doing this kind of stuff? My initial response is absolutely not.

(At this point, they let the full weight of the cord down below me, and I was startled to be pulled down just a tiny bit by the weight)

Then the countdown started. I was expecting to feel very anxious and scared, but as it went from 5 to 4, I only felt a few butterflies. Then 3, people started screaming, I started to smile. Two, one – bliss. Like a blanket, this feeling of absolute calm came over me. Of course, you wouldn’t believe me given how much I was screaming in the initial seconds – but I assure you, I didn’t know I was screaming until I saw the replay – it was a purely human moment – instincts kick in and make you think you are falling to your death, but I was reassured that I would survive.

(Beautiful form - 10's across the board except for the Russian judge)

Seven seconds is a really long time, I promise you. The feeling of weightlessness as I quickly hit terminal velocity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_velocity) was indescribably. I felt completely out of the world. That I was doing something that defied all things, but that I was still around to see, hear and feel it. It felt like I was falling forever, and I was so conscious of everything happening around me. Being completely face down, diving, was just as surreal, because my body had never been like that for so long.

(The purest feeling ever)

Then, one very powerful g-force on the face as I approached the tension point of the bungy and was brought back up on the rebound. I wasn’t expecting the rebound to be as uneventful as it was – I thought I was going to feel my stomach-in-my-throat feeling, but it didn’t happen. I had a quick moment of “WTF” when I tried to release the latch that would let me sit upright, and then it was fine, and an easy, beautiful, adrenaline filled relaxing ride to the bottom where I landed on softly on a cushy air mattress-thing.

The only things I can say after that are: 1) That was the most amazing thing I have ever done in my entire life, and 2) I cannot wait to go back and do my second one against a clear night sky (hey, the 2nd and 3rd jumps are 1/3 of the price, and the 4th is free – for lifetime).

The last important thing to mention was the celebrity treatment we received from the plethora of Chinese tourists as we waited at the bottom to go back up, and as we exited the elevator with our t-shirts on, and their tour guide explained that we jumped off. Just getting in and out of the elevator I think we took about six separate pictures with groups of Chinese girls. I’ve realized that this is unfair…if I’m going to be stared at like a commodity, I at least will ask the picture-taker to use my camera as well, and keep a funny album strictly with these photos. Next time, I promise.

(View from the bottom)

(I think we were all smiling for about 30 minutes straight after the jump)

(Cathy and Christine on our mini-bus into town)

Euro-Asian Fusion

That’s the best way to describe old-town Macau. Because of the Portuguese influence, all of the old part of town had the strange mix of European, small-town, facades of buildings matched with the bustle, trigger-happy tourists (myself included) and bright, character-emblazed neon signs of Asia. I would call it a mix between a poorer version of Sevilla and Mong Kok.

(First impressions from the mini-bus)

(Already it felt a lot less "Chinese" with the wide, tree-lined boulevards)

(Niclas, Cathy, Alex & Christine)

(The fusion begins...)

(Am I really in China??)

The first stop was a small Macanese restaurant. Note, that the country is trilingual – with signs in English, Chinese and Portuguese. This was cool in and of itself to see, and I took pictures to that effect. A really big addition to the trip was that Christine speaks fluent Cantonese, which made ordering our food, riding in taxis, and all sorts of other things extremely easy and seamless. Props to her. Anyway, the lunch was pretty tasty and cheap, and I tried fried frog. And yes, as they say, it tasted like chicken, pretty good.

(First taste of trilinguality)

(This is a typical Chinese noodle-in-soup dish that is a staple in my diet - today, add dumplings)

(Frog - a little annoying to eat with the bone and cartilage, but pretty tasty)

One of the most interesting things I found about Macau was that it’s the only place I’ve ever heard of, let alone been, where two currencies are 1) widely accepted, and 2) interchangeable, as 1 HKD = 1.03 MOP. So at the end of every meal and taxi ride, I would always notice an amalgam of Hong Kong and Macanese coins and bills, which of course, looked quite similar in color and feel.

After lunch, we walked around the old city, encountering a main street of food vendors, shops and thousands of people. The main sites are the main square, the ruined church (burned down three times, and only the façade remains) and the fort.

(Main square)

(Mong Kok?)

(This screams Spain)

(Note how the McDonald's blends in seamlessly)

(Shops galore)

(More evidence of Asia - I was very confused)

(It's a duck! I'll save that occasion for the famous Beijing kaoya)

(They were selling lots of dried meat at what seemed like every second shop)

(Super Asian touristy - this is roughly where people began to take pictures with us again)

(Taking a rest)

(Who would I be if I didn't find the local treat - Portuguese egg tart - basically a caramelized custard that fills in a croissant crust - mmmmmm)

(Reminds me a bit of the library at Ephesus)

(Also on my list of things to do this week is get a haircut, it's getting flat)

(I wish it weren't always so foggy in this part of the world)

(Casino Lisboa - just a crazy cool-looking building)

(Cannon at the fortress)

(Baller)

(Finally found a green flower to go along with my rainbow collection)

(Cool hanging pots with flowers all over the city)

Then, exhausted, we took a taxi to the Venetian – the granddaddy of them all. I don’t know any statistics about how many tables, or how much money they make, but it’s huge. It has presence without even being inside it. We each played a few hands of Blackjack and I went down about $25 on the weekend, as I realized at this point, while I would like to play, I don’t have enough money to play long enough to enjoy it and have a chance at winning. Needless to say, after a couple trips to Vegas, I was used to the insane largess and fakeness of a casino, but this took it to a whole new level.  Coolest thing I saw there were the interactive, touch screen maps at each intersection that allowed you to search for things in the casino by type, location etc, and then the machine would show you how to get there. Pretty sweet.

(Welcome to the biggest casino in the world)

(Money toilets as far as the eye can see)

(Really cool was that these were escalators on the sides that curved around - never seen that before)

(Welcome to Venice ...well sort of)

(The lighting makes it feel like 5:30 all day - very dangerous if you gamble)

(SOOO many tables)

Next thing was the decision of what to do for the next few hours after dinner (circa 7pm) and going out a few hours later. I was exhausted and wanted to nap. We rationalized that we should rent a hostel room, if only for the afternoon, because to store our bags (Niclas and I had a backpack) at a club would cost at least $5-6 US. For a little more we could easily find a place to relax, nap and store our bags for the night, as well as giving us the option to stay overnight.

Enter the San Va Hospedaria – serving customers since 1873. I would say after staying there, that it doesn’t seem like they’ve changed much since then. This is probably the worst hostel situation I’ve been in yet, but it is still pretty good I must say. We were in a room with two queen beds for four of us. The only big drawback was the lack of private bathroom (it was one floor down, not too convenient) and that there were no walls – proper ones that is. They were basically large cardboard dividers between rooms that didn’t reach the ceiling. This amounted to a lot of cross-traffic of conversation, which was quite funny, but also weird. Also, this was a situation where the hostel owners didn’t speak English and Christine’s Cantonese was invaluable. According to my Lonely Planet book, the homeless have been known to occupy some rooms, but hey, for under $8 US per person, this was well worth it.

We bought some drinks to pregame with and went out to one of the most famous clubs in Macau, called D2 Cubica, at around midnight. We arrived there and were absolutely shocked to see nobody inside aside from maybe five other people. This was so bizarre. We then found out that people don’t start partying until around 2-3am. I guess they need more time to gamble – the Chinese absolutely love to gamble. I never realized how big of a gambling game Mahjong is in China, but the fact that older women play it in the US doesn’t do it justice – everyone plays it here, men and women, old and young.

We went outside to drink more and get something to eat, and then went back around 2 – it was poppin’. Two clubs, many drinks (included in the cover price) and several hours later, we left the clubs exhausted and stumbled back (thankfully) to our hostel and passed out until around 1pm, when the hostel owner knocked on our door asking if we were staying another night, as checkout was supposed to be at noon. We jetted out of there pretty quick to avoid the extra charge. I apologize for not taking pictures, it was pretty interesting (with a random sink in the corner that was used incorrectly at one point) and that we left a pretty big mess (I felt a little bad about it) as we left.

We spent the afternoon walking around a little more, and heading to the MGM Grand to play a little Blackjack with lower minimum bets.  I have to say that, even after playing at some casinos outside of the US before (notably Puerto Rico and Mexico) there is something completely different about playing at a legit gambling venue like Vegas (I imagine) or more so, in Macau, where I think the gamblers are much more serious (read: degenerate) and the language barrier is high. I know the rules of the game very well, but just sitting there, so serious was the dealer, and so huge was the gambling area, that I felt like it was my first time playing – very strange, but I look forward to a trip in the future when I have some extra cash to burn.

Around 4pm, we took the ferry back home to Hong Kong. I feel a lot more comfortable saying “home” at this point. First, we go through customs as HK Residents (skipping the long visitors line) because of our student visa status. This helps to inculcate the wonderful feeling of returning to a place you feel more comfortable than from where you came. It is a great feeling returning to Hong Kong now, even after just a long day after leaving it. Bizarre, but interesting to think about how quickly we as humans can adapt to new places and feel comfortable.

Plans for The Week

-See Avatar in IMAX 3D Tuesday night with Winter and Niclas - (Update: check! And this was quite the amazing experience. I can't wait to see when sports starts to be in 3D at home)

-Meet up with Niclas and Alex to go to the Space Museum Wednesday day

-Reunite with Spanish Toni at the horse races in Happy Valley on Wednesday night

-Thursday – night off for an interview and to write a short paper

-Friday – relax, and go to see Condoleeza Rice speak on campus (I was one of the lucky few to wake up at the right time to claim a ticket last week) and hopefully finally get to dinner at Liat's house.

-Weekend – possible trip to Lamma or Lantau Island (Monatrice and Allison, I need some advice there por favor)