Trip to Macau

This weekend Matt and I took a trip to Macau. Macau is a former Portuguese colony, and now it is sort of like the Vegas of China. It was recently returned to the Chinese government, and is now a Special Administrative Region of China. We stayed at the Grandview Hotel on Taipa Island and it was quite nice, although the hotel staff acted like they had never seen gwielos before and the taxi drivers seemed to have no clue how to get to it. On Saturday we ordered room service and then headed out for a day of sight seeing. We saw the ruins of the Church of St. Paul which was interesting cause I am not sure how just the front of the church stayed so perfectly intact, while the rest of the church was obliterated. There was a tomb underneath with stacks of bones. Then we did some shopping in the gajillion furniture stores that are in Macau. The furniture was gorgeous, all made of dark wood and it was very inexpensive. We talked to a shop keeper and she said that they could custom make any furniture that we wanted. If Matt and I ever live in an apartment here that is unfurnished, we should definitely shop in Macau rather than Ikea.

After some more browsing, we headed back to our hotel and I had a Wonderful massage. I love the Chinese style massages because the women aren't afraid to climb up on top of the massage table and straddle you to get better leverage. Also, they tend to use much firmer pressure, which is what I like. It was one of the best massages I have ever had. After that, I was so relaxed I didn't want to go out for dinner, but I am so glad we did. We went to a restaurant called Ristorante Litoral, and it was so yummy. It had Macanese cuisine, which is a mixture of Portuguese and Chinese food. We had clams, African chicken, and chocolate mousse for dessert. They say you aren't supposed to eat shellfish here, but it is so good that I can't resist.

After that we went to the Casino Lisboa, which is very much NOT like the casinos in Las Vegas. There weren't many slot machines, mainly table games, but there didn't seem to be enough tables. Huge crowds of people stood around each table, and I guess the people in the crowds were betting on the people sitting at the table's hands. We moved over to the Greyhound Race betting area and that seemed to be the hangout for the "working girls". We were the only non-Chinese there as far as I could tell. I don't think the girls liked me very much; I got alot of stares and one walk-by shove in the back. For some reason whores categorically hate me. I am fascinated by them, and I try not to let it show, but obviously it doesn't work. I was looking around at their potential clients and I felt really bad for them, cause 90% of the men there had mouths full of black teeth. The girls looked so young and pretty, while the men looked disgusting. I guess that is one of the downsides of that profession, you can't choose your clients.



Ruins of the Church of St. Paul