...so here's my number, Macau me maybe

Yesterday, we took a day trip to Macau. Let me first explain a little about the history of Macau, because I didn't know anything about it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macau . There.

Statue of Guanyin

Moving on, we took an hour long boat ride to get there. Because Macau and Hong Kong are still considered separate entities from China, even though they're technically a part of it (this is confusing...), we had to go through customs, etc., entering Macau and returning to Hong Kong. It was kind of tedious, because you have to fill out forms, but I did get more stamps on my passport which is nifty. We visited a few pretty interesting historical sites in Macau. The statue of Guanyin is a blending of Buddhism and Christianity (and Taoism too); there is a small museum underneath the statue which took us literally three minutes to walk through - best museum ever...just kidding. Next, we went to A-Ma Temple, which was really crowded. As temples go, it was relatively small, but it did have the largest incense stick I have ever seen. The third place we visited was the Ruins of St. Paul's. The Ruins refers to the facade of St. Paul's cathedral, which burned down three times (糟糕), hence the facade and not the whole cathedral, but I thought that the adjacent fortress was way cooler. It had a nice garden on top, and great views of the city. Casinos and gambling are a huge part of Macau (it has 35 casinos!). We went to two: the Grand Lisboa, which is older style, and the Venetian Macau, which is a replica of the Venetian in Las Vegas. There are signs in front of the doors to the casino saying you must be 18 or older to enter, but everyone just kind of walks in. Everyone was smoking, so it was really smoky (duh). We walked around and watched some table games (Sic bo, Baccarat, Blackjack) which I had/have no idea how to play. So instead I played the slot machines twice, and lost twice. But hey it was only $4 so I'm not complaining. The Venetian Macau is ridiculous; in addition to the casino, it has a shopping mall on the third floor with a river that you can take a gondola ride on. It may seem silly, but it was definitely popular with the mall-goers. 

check out the incense on the left - its HUGE

view of Grand Lisboa from the top of the fortress

look, Mom, a topiary!

Dad, cannon, me

Facade from above

Facade from below

 For dinner last night, we went to a seafood restaurant pretty close to the hotel. You have the option there of picking a fish out of the tank and having them cook it for you, but we just went with the normal menu. We got a shrimp dish and singapore noodles, good stuff. The dialect spoken in Hong Kong is Cantonese, which is pretty much completely different from Mandarin, so I couldn't understand the waitress at all (I'm not saying that I would have been able to understand her if she was speaking in Mandarin). But I did understand one word: watermelon! Glad I remembered that rather obscure vocab word because it was delicious, highlight of the meal for sure. 

Lobby of the Venetian

One of 35 casinos

This morning we took the Star Ferry from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island and then back. The ferry ride is about 5 minutes, and the fare is $.33, definitely worth it. The views from the ferry were really good. We flew from Hong Kong to Guilin this afternoon. The flight was only an hour! What a relief after that 15 hour marathon...and more passport stamps! Guilin is definitely smaller than Hong Kong, but still a bustling city of 6 million people. Tomorrow we'll take a scenic boat ride, I'll take a book. Then on to a new hotel tomorrow night!

View from the Star Ferry

Goodbye Hong Kong...