Hong Kong: Day 5

(Originally written down on paper then moved to blog)

I have such mixed feelings about today’s events. There were a lot of things that bugged me (video camera at all of the most awkward times/places), and lots of things I loved (The House of Dancing Water).

We woke up early to get to the Macau ferry on time to meet Hansen and Jeff. We were being rushed with the infamous daddy rush where he says, “Let’sgolet’sgolet’sgo!!!!!!!” as he rushes into the bathroom/grabs papers/changes shoes/etc.

We ate brekky then left for the docks. Getting a cab was an arduous task at best, but crossing the road soon fixed the problem. Once at the docks we met with Hansen. It’s been decades since I’ve seen him, but he looked exactly how I remembered him (if not a little more grey/healthily rotund). The things I love most about Hansen:

1) He knows more about our extended family’s lives than we do.
2) His love for “My Boy” (my brother Nate).
3) Talking is so easy (even if I can’t always understand)!
4) He reminded Katy and me of Russell from Up with his backpack =)

We waited in ridiculous lines to go through immigration then got on the boat. I had a feeling that I was going to be sick. Dad and Jeff both gave me the little bags for upset tummies. Luckily I only felt the urge to puke in the first two minutes. After that I just had to deal with my panic attacks. Drowning is my worst fear. To combat THAT issue, I just didn’t let my mind think about the ship and all the opportunities of death that awaited me.

We finally arrived in Macau only to stand in more immigration lines (which was torture), but I got another stamp in my passport!!

As we walked out into the sweltering heat of Macau, Jeff informed Katy and me that we would be walking everywhere because Macau was so small. No taxis. No buses. No A/C. I hated the idea of Macau instantly. We walked to some photo op places to take pictures of us sweating up a storm. It was at this point that I absolutely loathed Macau.

Luckily, Jeff is just a tease and after sweating it out, we grabbed a taxi to head over to St. Paul’s Cathedral. On the drive I loved looking down the streets and seeing the housing. I feel like Macau is a bit poorer than Hong Kong because the buildings look a little bit more run down, but every now and then you'll see a brightly colored Portuguese styled building. I tried to get a picture of the streets but I'm not sure any turned out.

Alright, the story of the cathedral: Apparently, when the Japanese were off dominating the world, they dropped bombs on the cathedral, which came crashing down all except for the front of the building. The people saw it as a miracle and many make the pilgrimage to come see it.

Before we hiked up the stairs in the ridiculous heat, we grabbed so boba tea!! Yum!! Taro <3!!! But my body needed something more solid and not sugary so I got a bit sick feeling. As with everything else, I sucked it up and pushed through.

Everything after that and before lunch is kind of a blur in my memory. We went to a fortress and then I remember an escalator ride down. Then finally! A blessed A/C’ed cab!!!! Dear friends and family, tropical areas are best avoided during the summer months (unless you like living in a sauna).

We arrived at our luncheon destination. I only got a photo of the shack next to the nice restaurant building so I don’t remember the restaurant name. It had something to do with Pinnochio. Yes, the Disney Pinnochio. We ate the world’s weirdest combo of things: Veggies (pan fried of course . . . nothing can be healthy here), prawn (size: behemoth), curried crab, spaghetti (yup you read that right), Portuguese Chicken, bread rolls, and PIGEON (guess who ate it! 1 2 3 me!). I’ve come to find that most meals here are a total mix up of the most random components. So weird.

After lunch and before arriving in an A/C’ed casino is also a blur of sweat and stick skin in my mind. We walked down an alley to grab some infamous “dessert.” Little did Katy and I know that we were like lambs being lead to the slaughter of our taste buds. We arrived at a stand that smelled somewhat foul. They were giving out pudding and ice cream to several people. The mango and coconut ice creams sounded divine, but Jeff and Hansen highly recommended getting the world’s WORST fruit.

Durian.

Blech.

Jeff had a good laugh when I ate it and gave a sour face. I decided then and there that Jeff was never to be trusted again.

We walked to a park that was really pretty, minus the ridiculous heat. I loved all the lotus in the lake? Ocean? Giant puddle? (picture to come)

I also really liked the juxtaposition of old and new, but it also kind of depressed me thinking of how much culture is being lost to “westernization.”

We headed over to the Venetian to get Katy some replacement pants. I felt terrible. The day was supposed to be her birthday celebration, since Saturday is Ada’s wedding, but so many things went wrong for her! Lots of things went wrong with her pants specifically but ZARA was having a sale so we grabbed some shorts for her and headed to another hotel/casino for her birthday show. Katy felt a bit better in new shorts and A/C, so I felt better as well.

The House of Dancing Water was AMAZING!!!!!!! If I could underline, bold, and put exclamation marks to high heaven the word “amazing” it still wouldn’t express my feelings for the show. I think about 75% was the music and the rest was the amazing skills of the performers. Some of the best parts of the show? Besides, everything, Hansen and Jeff recorded the show, completely illegally. Ah. Chinese bootleg!

After the show ere didn’t feel hungry but we didn’t have anything else to do (and Katy and I didn’t want to go outside ever again) so we just headed back to the Venetian to eat dinner at a buffet.

Dad was in heaven. The food was good! But I was excited for dessert!!! Katy and I sampled several of the selections. None of them were super sweet, which was perfect. We didn’t finish all of our samples because we have to keep our womanly figures, but we DID see a porky kid take about 7 don tarts to eat. Ah. Porky Asian kids <3.

I was dreading the lines for our boat ride back to Hong Kong. Luckily enough the lines were short! Yay!!! No ridiculous line waiting!!!

We’re on the boat now and I’m going in and out of consciousness so I think it’s time to take a nap. We’ll see if immigration lines on HK side are ridiculous.

Hong Kong side:
Alright, Hong Kong has a TON of people. If you’re going to put an escalator in, give us some room to move at the top of them. Man!! Riding up those things was like a death wish. Once at the top, people bottlenecked to get on to the next one. Add people with huge luggage and it was like a train wreck! The lines for immigration were tolerable and we got back to Hong Kong, took a taxi to our hotel, got ready for bed, and passed out.

What a crazy day. Good times and bad times, but I’m loving my stay here. I do miss my bed some days, and sometimes I miss the lack of people surrounding me, but I am so happy that I am finally getting to submerse myself in the other side of my culture.
Hope you’re all doing well!

Loves,
Becks.