Macau is my favorite city in China

• Good deed for the day
• I’ve noticed that Chinese people don’t really help out people in need unless they have to in order to get them out of the way (they’re not the most charitable bunch)
• On my way from Hong Kong to Macau on the ferry I almost missed the ferry because I had to use the bathroom and I noticed on my run to the gate that there was this guy fast asleep near the gate
• He had his ipod earphones in so he must have never heard the announcement that the ferry was boarding (his mouth was gaping open that’s how asleep he was) and on one that boarded the ferry even so much as bothered to tap him on the shoulder
• I know this because I poked his foot with my umbrella just so I wouldn’t feel bad in case this guy was supposed to be on this ferry and sure enough he woke up, saw the ferry was boarding, and bolted for the gate 
• I think it’s just the city folks that don’t seem to really care about people in immediate need
• I do see some charity signs asking for donations to help people but when people are actually in need at the moment in front of people the Chinese don’t help them
• I remember this one woman in Beijing Central rail way station that was screaming her lungs out in the middle of the square and I was the only soul brazen enough to try to ask her what was wrong
• I didn’t help because I didn’t speak Chinese and she just started yelling at me but when I walked away still no one else was even curious as to what she wanted
• Ferry to Macau is fun
• It’s like a roller coaster so if you get motion sickness easy then this isn’t the ride for you

• • I did get the cheapest fare I could find at the China Ferry terminal in Hong Kong through First World ferry but the ferry was actually pretty nice with big screen tv’s showing commercials during the ride and nice seats that you could take a nap in
  • As you can see by the last picture, you definitely don't want to swim in this water unless you want some 19th century illness so don't swim from Hong Kong to Macau
• I love Macau
• Macau just seems like what Hong Kong wants to be as a city but they’re just way better at it
• I guess the Portuguese just know how to set up a city so suck on that England
• You avoid all of the Hong Kong problems
• There’s not a ton of people so there are some times where you’re walking around Macau like I did today and you feel like you have that entire spot of the island all to yourself
• I was in a few museums (and big ones too like the Macau Museum of Art) and even though it was a Tuesday afternoon so I understand it’s not that busy but I was the only person in there
• Plus it’s actually really easy to navigate in this city
• You’re not ducking through overpasses and underpasses trying to cross the street
• You know what you do if you want to cross the street? You just walk across the pavement! I think these Macanese are onto something that the rest of China and Hong Kong needs to adopt
• Plus you’re never lost
• If you’re trying to find a historical monument and you make the wrong turn, it’s not, “oh no, where in the world am I?” it’s “Oh look at this other museum/monument we’ve found, I guess we’ll just go to the other one a little bit later”
• There’s literally cool museums/monuments everywhere so you’re never bored
• That’s in contrast to Hong Kong where you have to walk for 30 minutes in hot and muggy weather just to find something besides an overpriced shop (by mainland Chinese standards)

• • It’s actually cheap here too
  • You actually get the feeling that:
  • You’re not being ripped off
  • It’s cheaper to buy it here than in America (not the case in Hong Kong)
  • This place still has Dolce & Gobbana and Louis Vutton if you’re into that too so why even go to Hong Kong?
  • Plus there’s no one here hawking you things
  • For the first time since I’ve been in Hohhot I have yet to be asked if I want a “massage”, a watch, a bag, a belt, marijuana, a tour of some monument, etc.
  • I LOVE MACAU!
• Macau food is awesome
• Beef jerky capital of the world
• They basically have markets everywhere with layer-upon-layer of different types of jerky that you can sample and when you find the one you want it’s like $10 a lb.
• I found this spicy pork one I liked and I got for what would have cost me $15 in America for $2 here in Macau

• • I could live off of egg tarts
  • They’re these little Portuguese treats that are really small but they’re a little bread bowl filled with egg and topped with cheese and they’re so good here

• • The pastries are pretty good/alright
  • They have these almond biscuits that they’re famous for and they’re alright but after 5 of them your mouth is so dry that you need water and by then you’ve had enough of them

• • Same for the phoenix rolls with pork in them
  • They actually taste a little bit like sushi because they’re wrapped in seaweed but unless you’re really hungry you’ll be good after 4 of them

• The specialty “African Chicken” is of course over-priced for tourists
• The cheapest I found it was for 88 MOP and even that’s a little outrageous for Macanese people
• I felt like splurging seeing that it was my last day travelling so I went to the oldest restaurant in Macau (Smiling Buddha near the San Va Hotel) and it was a pretty nice place with tablecloths and everything
• The African Chicken there cost 187 MOP after the service charge and even though it was ridiculously overpriced I’m glad I had it
• I felt bad for those guys cleaning up though because there’s no way they can re-use that white table cloth after I was done with it
• Because it was so expensive I made sure to eat every single shred of meat off that chicken that I could so at the end I grabbed it with my bare fingers and just made a mess out of my table because I bought the right to do that
• If it was 100 MOP I wouldn’t have done it but because it was so overpriced I felt like I should get something more out of it besides the chicken
• San Va Hostel – You get what you pay for
• So this hotel at first isn’t that bad because you’re paying less than 20 USD a night for a private room (even if you have to share a bathroom with the entire building of 60-70 units)
• Then you realize, “Oh wait, there’s no actual walls here”
• The partitions are probably 4 in. thick and they’re made of wood with large gaps on the top and bottom so you can hear everything 
• There’s also no wifi but that’s not too bad because the Macau government has a lot of free wi-fi spots
• I love how catholic this place is
• Even on Monte Fort when you’re walking up this fort built in the Renaissance you’re thinking you’re going to see some kind of military statue but as soon as you turn the corner *BAM* a statue of the Virgin Mary
• So many cool churches too
• I don’t know how I’d feel about going to a big church with over 1000 people with no air conditioning but still the cultural aspects of these places is remarkable
• Just about all of them have either a museum dedicated to sacred art or some cool feature like stained glass windows
• First ever gambling experience
• I realized that I will never gamble in my entire life
• Gambling is so expensive
• The first casino I went to was the Casino Lisboa which is “the place” in Macau and is basically synonymous with the entire city because everyone in Macau uses that landmark as a reference point (just go 3 km up from Casino Lisboa…)
• Well I thought I would try my luck at gambling and I budgeted 100 USD for that exact purpose
• The minimum bet in those places is 200 MOP ($30) so if I lost 3 straight times I would have been done that quick
• They had free coke and water which was nice but still, if I lost the shirt off of my back I don’t think that would have pacified me
• The only place I gambled with an actual person was at the Babylon Casino
• There I tried my hand at Baccarat and after I made the minimum bet I won $100
• I thought about how that could buy me a lot of beef jerky so I quit after one hand and went to the cashier to get my money
• I did find one computer game that had a small minimum bet
• At the Casino Babylon they had a virtual baccarat with a minimum bet of 10 HKD and I lost 30 HKD but I should have had 320 HKD 
• I made a bet that I would draw a 1-3 and the odds were 32:1 and I drew a 1 but the freaking computer automatically draws for you and I busted so I didn’t win anything when the computer shouldn’t have drawn so that I could have gotten my 320 HKD
• I was mad on a level I couldn’t even describe so that’s why I’m never gambling again
• However if I ever need an escort I know where to go
• In the tunnel between the Casino Lisboa and the Wynn Casino (also overpriced) the tunnel is lined with calling cards of women in bikinis or thongs with their legs wide open or slightly pulling off their underwear
• I took a picture of the least heinous one for proof but I don’t know how much business these girls are making because I would have no idea on how to call a Macanese phone number

• Although if you see these don’t laugh out loud
• When I first looked at them I laughed because I thought it was silly and that just gets you weird looks