Listening: Without your sweet kiss, my soul is lost, my friend. Now tell me how do I begin again?
What's my problem? Re-entry depression has hit again.
Eventually, I plan on having a big summary entry. You know, a lot of top fives and such. For now, I'm just getting accustomed to the American life being lived around me. I got off the plane at around half past two, two days ago. It took me an hour or so to get my luggage and get through customs. I stated on my custom forms that I had foreign food with me. When they asked, I just said I had candy. I totally forgot that I had a bottle of Thai Red Bull (stronger than the American stuff) for Pies. I also forgot about the Caba seed that I got from my trek in Chiang Mai that has been sitting in my backpack since then. Not really legal to bring foreign seeds into the States... But oh well. The way they were going, I could have probably smuggled in a live tiger... on a leash... with big flashing neon blinking lights that pointed to the tiger saying, "Tiger, motherfuckers!" and it still would have gotten through. All they did was ask me what I did for a living and what kind of food I was bringing in. Don't they know that all chefs are vagabonds? Silly border control, Trix are for kids.
My final days in Hong Kong were a little surreal. I could feel my trip coming to an end, tying me up in ropes and squeezing. I was tired though. My trip was largely spent with me on the run from city to city. Aside from my time in Chiang Mai and Koh Samui, I never spent more than a week anywhere. Even in those two places, I went on treks out of Chiang Mai for three days apiece, and in Koh Samui, I spent four of the days in Koh Tao, really and one day in Koh Phangan. So, I was always on the move. I wasn't like Julia, who just spent three weeks in Nha Trang working as a promoter for Red Apple Bar. Next time... no schedule, and I'm going to work along the way. No commitments for when I'm going home and no timelines. I'll come home when I'm, as they say, goddamn good and ready.
Anyway, Hong Kong was a crazy place. When I was staying in Kowloon, I was in a room a foot wider than a twin bed with a one square meter bathroom that had a sink, a toilet AND a shower, and a square meter that allowed the door to the room to open. That's EXACTLY how big it was. It was tiny. It was so tiny, that it was almost comical. Junko said that it sounds like a Japanese capsule hotel, and it very well might have been, but I think that a capsule hotel would have been a little bit nicer, at least the furnishings.
My time in Hong Kong was spent trying to get the lay of the land, for the most part. I walked around quite a bit, all through Kowloon and on Hong Kong Island as well. For two days, I had Candy and Simon guiding me around. They were so stressed out trying to figure out where to take me. Apparently, they don't go out very much, because everything is so expensive and the crowds are huge.
The first day I met up with them, we started by having dim sum in Times Square near the Causeway Bay station on the MRT. This was unlike any dim sum that I have ever had. There were no carts. There was only a menu. Two days prior when I went to go search out dim sum on my own, Candy texted me and said, "Ummm, I don't think you'll be able to order." I didn't believe her. Apparently, though, nowadays in Hong Kong at least, there are very few places that do the cart thing. It's all order a la carte. This dim sum, though, was something different. It felt much more high end, and the presentation of the dishes were really quite amazing. To top it all off, it was delicious. I think that my favorite thing that I had that morning was the Lo Bak Go, or turnip cake. It was cut into cubes and then fried and topped with this really great spicy sauce. I'm so used to the turnip cake just fried on a griddle and slapped on a plate with some sweet sauce, but, no. This was presented in a puffed basket of some sort. I had no clue what it was made of. I think it was something that could have been presented in a fine dining restaurant as an appetizer.
From there, we walked through Wan Chai, the financial district with all of their crazy buildings, and then to the midlands where Simon wanted me to try these king prawn wontons. Two words: fucking amazing, They were huge too. They were so good that I went back on my second to last night in Asia. They were perfectly seasoned with huge pieces of prawn in them. From there, I was taken to a VERY popular Hong Kong milk tea place, where I had, probably, the best milk tea that I've ever had in my life. I went back there on my second to last night as well.
I was already stuffed at that point. It really made no sense, but I was. I could have totally missed another meal in there, because the food coma from dim sum already had me reeling. I was totally waddling as if I had a food baby. We decided that we needed to walk it off a bit, so we took the ferry back across to Kowloon where we went to a bunch of the night markets.
When you travel in southeast Asia, you find out what the local night markets have. By this, I mean, you see the first five stalls, and it's the same for the rest of the eight blocks of markets. It's all, as they say, " Same same, but different." In Bangkok, you see the same cheesecloth shirts, the same table runners and placemats, the same wine bottle holders, and the same kitschy tees. In Luang Prabang, it was parasols, pants, skirts, scarves, coffee, and, of course, tees. In Hong Kong, it was Chinese dresses, Buddha figurines, Hello Kitty knockoffs, watch knockoffs, and bags. It was all same, same, but different.
We walked around for a long time. We started at Tsim Sha Tsui, which is at the bottom tip of Kowloon (actually the stop where my room was located), and walked up past the Mong Kok station, which is three stations away. I think the equivalent for the Bostonians out there would be if I walked from Porter to Kendall on the red line without diverting from the path of the train. It was a long ways. After a long bout of walking and shopping, where we actually bought very little, we ended up having sushi near Mong Kok. It was one of those conveyer belt sushi places, but we were actually in a booth away from the conveyer belt. The sushi was pretty good, and kind of avante garde. I had a seared foie gras sushi with gold leaf. Strangely enough, it only cost the equivalent of five US dollars. It tasted fine. And really, who can say no to duck fat? I also had a silverfish sushi, which is a lot like the salmon roe sushi, but instead of little red beads on top of the cylinder of rice and nori, it was a pile of little white fish with tiny black eyes. It was interesting, and surprisingly good.
By the time we had finished eating, and by eating, I mean for the night, it was ten o'clock. They went home and I went to sleep. Deep sleep. Coma sleep. Food coma sleep. I had done a lot of eating, but I think it was training for that last big night of eating on the town.
The next day, I met Candy and Simon at Central Station, where we went and had breakfast at a Hong Kong version of Denny's. Well, like Denny's as in it's a chain, but not like Denny's as in the food is actually edible. I had some noodles in soup for breakfast. I figured eggs are easy to come by in the States. Noodle soup is less easy to come by. Especially on the island. From there, we went to the Big Buddha out on Lantau Island. It's the biggest outdoor, seated, bronze Buddha in he world, but not the biggest outdoor, biggest seated or biggest bronze Buddha. I found that to be an amusing little factoid from my guidebook.
In order to get to the Buddha, you have to either take a bus, a taxi or the cable car. We opted for the cable car, because it was the most novel of all of the methods. That, and they had just started this thing called the Crystal Cabin, which is a cable car with a glass bottom. That was what we wanted to take. When we got in line, the wait said ninety minutes. Yeesh. Ninety minutes. But we did it. It was ninety minutes to get to the ticket counter. Then, at the ticket counter, we were told that to get a Crystal Cabin, we had to wait another two hours. We opted out. So we took a regular cable car.
The cable car was nice though. After being in the cable car, I actually thought that I would have been pissed if I had gotten the Crystal Cabin knowing what I knew then. The regular cable car gave a fine view, and bubbled out a bit so if you put your forehead against the window, you could look straight down as if there was a glass bottom to the car.
At the top of the cable car, it was like a giant tourist trap all of the way up to the Big Buddha. Since we had been queued up for the past three and a half hours or so, we were hungry. We ended up at a pretty crappy restaurant. It came with mediocre expectations and delivered what would have been considered lower. I had fried rice and it wasn't all that good. I feel like we should have gone to the noodles in soup shop instead. Oh well. Hindsight.
The Big Buddha itself was pretty cool. On the steps up to the Buddha, I took some pictures. I actually took a picture of me making a funny face behind this older woman and Candy was in there doing the typical Asian pose. If you don't know what that is, well, you need to go watch more Asian tourists. I realize it was a bit juvenile, but it was funny at the time. Simon was laughing so hard that he could barely keep the camera still enough to take the shot. I have to say that it's one of the more amusing photos that was taken on my trip.
After we spent more time getting to the Big Buddha than actually AT the Big Buddha, we headed back into town to a crab spot in Causeway Bay. The meal started off pretty slow with some sauteed morning glory, but soon the fireworks began. Razor clams in garlic and black bean sauce made its way to the table. They were perfectly tender and wonderfully flavored. It was the exact way that I love eating clams, but these razor clams were so much more tender and delicious. There was absolutely no rubbery-ness. The razor clams were followed by some snails in a spicy sauce which were good, but were a bit on the rubbery side, as snails can get. However the pinnacle of the night was the typhoon-shelter crab. HOLY. FUCKING. SHIT! I had the best prawns of my life in Bangkok, Thailand, the best Lobster in Nha Trang, Vietnam, and the best crab of my life in Hong Kong and it blew the prawns and the lobster out of the water.
****Continued Day 81****
That night, after I said my goodbyes to Candy and Simon, I headed off to the night market on Temple Street. I planned on buying more trinkets for people, but nothing really struck me. I did, however, end up going to a fortune teller. I know that I don't really believe much in this stuff, but I thought it would be fun to see what an old Chinese man could tell me about my life by looking at my hands and my face.
He started off by telling me that I use my imagination for work, that I deal in ideas so to speak. He said that I'm very good at getting others excited about my ideas and that I'm very good at getting others to do things for me. Then he asked me what I did for work. I told him that I was a chef. He said that that made sense. He then proceeded to tell me how the features of my hand were telling him that I would live a long life, more than ninety years, and that I shouldn't marry until later in life. I asked him what later meant. He said, definitely not in my twenties (good thing I dodged that bullet), and that now would be okay, but it would be better to wait. He said that I will do very well financially for the next twenty years, but that in my fifty-first and fifty-second year, that someone would try to take my wealth. He said that I would do financially well over the next twenty years if I don't gamble, specifically in casinos. He then proceeded to tell me why certain features of my face meant that I would have a good life. For example I have a strong nose, which I guess means that I will be lucky with money. He said things about my chin and my ears which I don't remember so well, but were all very positive things. I was hoping to hear a balance of positive and negative, but it was ninety percent positive. He also told me not to marry anyone born in the year of the rat and that my most compatible friends would be born in the years of the tiger, goat, and dog.
All in all, I'd like to believe that this is all true. The one thing that I was told not to do was gamble, so I think I can handle that without too much trouble. But when I think about wanting to believe the fortune teller, I have Ethan Hawke's voice in my head spouting the line from "Before Sunrise" saying, "Yeah, of course you do, you know. You pay your money, you get to hear something that makes you feel good about yourself. If you want, maybe there's a seedy section of Vienna, we can go buy a hit of crack, you know. Would you like that? Yeah?" Then, I think, it was merely some good entertainment. I mean the reading did last about a half an hour or so.
The next morning, I packed all of my stuff and headed to Hong Kong Disneyland. I took the MRT all of the way there, and on the special Disnelyand Line, the cars are much more plush with velvety benches and bronze statues of Disney characters, not to mentioned the Mickey shaped rings for the people who were standing to hold onto and the Mickey shaped windows. When you get to the Disneyland stop, the train instructs you to have a "magical" day.
Hong Kong Disneyland was altogether a bit disappointing. Everything was much smaller than what they have at Disney World in Florida. Well, if you think about it, a "land" should be a lot smaller than a "world," no? Regardless, I went in with higher expectations and, well, they were not met. I really could have seen EVERYTHING in Disney in less than five hours, given proper conditions and timing. There weren't many things that I was impressed with. I think that the thing that I was the most impressed with was the fact that they gave out individually packaged chopsticks and Chinese soup spoons with all of the meals. I thought that was kind of spiffy. It came in a neat little sealed package too. I'll post a picture later.
The other thing that I thought was really cool was the fact that they dealt very well with the multi-lingual-ness of the clientele. For instance, when you go to the Jungle Cruise, there are three lines, one for Cantonese, one for Mandarin, and one for English speaking "jungle guides." At the Stitch Encounter, there were different times for different languages, one hour for each of the languages. In the Festival of the Lion King show, it was done in English, but there two monkeys who spoke in Cantonese, telling people what was happening. And also in the High School Musical show, there were two people talking in English, and one in Cantonese.
Probably one of the most amusing things that I saw in Hong Kong Disneyland was the Muppet Mobile Lab with Dr. Bunsen & Beaker. Everyone knows them from the Muppets. For the Mobile Lab, they cruise around the park interacting with guests. Now if you can imagine them interacting with guests in English, imagine them doing it in Cantonese. It's perhaps one of the funniest things I have ever seen or heard. I didn't understand a single word that Bunsen said, but I was rollin'. I took a couple of videos that I'll post later.
Finally, the most impressive thing that I saw at Hong Kong Disneyland were the women. Jeezus were some of the girls who worked/danced in the park hot. I couldn't believe it. I mean, I really can't say anymore about it. There were just some attractive girls employed there.
But anyhow, I'm in Los Angeles now. I've been here for the past five days. It's been a bit of an adjustment coming back. Everyone speaks fantastic English, it's a dry heat instead of a humid, muggy heat and... well, those are the only good things I can see about being back in the States now. Everything here costs more. There are no more street vendors, or if there are, they're expensive, or they're selling something that's tortilla based (which I can't eat). I miss the cheap-cheap nature of southeast Asia. To top it all off, I'm still quite lagged. I hope I can shake it off by the time I have to be in Brian's wedding. Well, I'm actually going to go to sleep now. I have to be on a plane tomorrow. Click my heels three times.... Too bad I won't be there for long. I'll write more about Los Angeles in the next few days.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Day 74: What Has Two Thumbs And Is A Big Fucking Pig?
Listening: Well, if you are what you eat, in my case, I'll be sweet so come and get some. I'm so over it.
What's my problem? I could get used to this.
This guy!
I'm back on the MRT, on my way back to Disney. Since my last post at around five o'clock, I have had a bowl of noodles with king prawn wontons and beef, a Hong Kong style milk tea, some takoyaki, an assortment of tastes from a high end Asian grocery store in the basement of the Sogo department store, and some dried vegetable and pork chop congee. In my bag, I have a sakura mochi, which I intended to eat on my trip back to the hotel until I realized that I'm not allowed to eat anything on the MRT, and a Beard Papa sakura cream puff, which I intended on eating back in the room. I have a cinnamon bun and a coffee cake for breakfast tomorrow as well. Yeah. I'm a pig. I guess I'm just getting my fill before I head back to the States. Fucking America. Why can't we do food right? Well, we can do some food right, and even better than the original countries could, but we're getting the shit end of the stick when it comes to Asian foods. Can't I just get 'round the world delivery?
What's my problem? I could get used to this.
This guy!
I'm back on the MRT, on my way back to Disney. Since my last post at around five o'clock, I have had a bowl of noodles with king prawn wontons and beef, a Hong Kong style milk tea, some takoyaki, an assortment of tastes from a high end Asian grocery store in the basement of the Sogo department store, and some dried vegetable and pork chop congee. In my bag, I have a sakura mochi, which I intended to eat on my trip back to the hotel until I realized that I'm not allowed to eat anything on the MRT, and a Beard Papa sakura cream puff, which I intended on eating back in the room. I have a cinnamon bun and a coffee cake for breakfast tomorrow as well. Yeah. I'm a pig. I guess I'm just getting my fill before I head back to the States. Fucking America. Why can't we do food right? Well, we can do some food right, and even better than the original countries could, but we're getting the shit end of the stick when it comes to Asian foods. Can't I just get 'round the world delivery?
Day 74: Kinda Short For A Stormtrooper
Listening: But it's not forever. But it's just tonight. Oh, we're still the greatest.
What's my problem? I have one full day left in Asia.
So, I've been busy the past two days. I've been hanging out with Candy and Simon. I have found out a very important thing about Hong Kong. There are two things to do here. Eat and shop. There are very few cultural places to go see, not that I made a huge effort. I'll save it for the next time. But, the three of us ate our faces off. The first day we hung out, it was dim sum, wontons, milk tea, and sushi. I feel like there was more in there than I'm remembering. Yesterday, it was noodles, fried rice, typhoon-shelter crab, razorclams, snails, morning glory, and some Chinese coffee milk dessert. Yeah. There was a lot of eating.
I'm at the MRT Station blogging, because I haven't had time or a place to blog over the past two days. I'm back in Hong Kong after checking into the Disneyland Hotel just to get some more quality food before I head back to the States. I checked out the park for a few hours and saw a few shows. The funny thing about Hong Kong Disneyland is that everything seems shorter. The castle is DEFINTITELY shorter than any other Disney castle that I've seen. I'll have to look closer tomorrow.
Anyhow, I have to go. My 15 minutes of webtime is almost up. Next post may be from the airport. Who knows?
What's my problem? I have one full day left in Asia.
So, I've been busy the past two days. I've been hanging out with Candy and Simon. I have found out a very important thing about Hong Kong. There are two things to do here. Eat and shop. There are very few cultural places to go see, not that I made a huge effort. I'll save it for the next time. But, the three of us ate our faces off. The first day we hung out, it was dim sum, wontons, milk tea, and sushi. I feel like there was more in there than I'm remembering. Yesterday, it was noodles, fried rice, typhoon-shelter crab, razorclams, snails, morning glory, and some Chinese coffee milk dessert. Yeah. There was a lot of eating.
I'm at the MRT Station blogging, because I haven't had time or a place to blog over the past two days. I'm back in Hong Kong after checking into the Disneyland Hotel just to get some more quality food before I head back to the States. I checked out the park for a few hours and saw a few shows. The funny thing about Hong Kong Disneyland is that everything seems shorter. The castle is DEFINTITELY shorter than any other Disney castle that I've seen. I'll have to look closer tomorrow.
Anyhow, I have to go. My 15 minutes of webtime is almost up. Next post may be from the airport. Who knows?
Friday, April 10, 2009
Day 71: I Was Tripled Up At A Hundred Dollar Minimum Blackjack Table
Listening: Drown me in the crimson sky and Utopian disease. The chaos of heavens die and will fall into the seas.
What's my problem? I could have left well enough alone.
Today was my first foray into Macau and into the world of gambling. I set my alarm for half six, so that I could catch the first ferry and really spend my time checking out the town. My alarm went off at the right time, but I decided to keep sleeping. I ended up getting up around half seven, being out the door at eight, and it was half eight by the time i got to the ferry docks.
I knew that being a public holiday, it would be crowded. Candy warned me. When I got to the ferry, the next economy class ticket would put me on the ferry at a quarter past eleven, putting me in Macau at a quarter past noon. Hmm. A little later than I would have liked, seeing as the last ferry back to Kowloon was at ten thirty. I could buy a deluxe class ticket on the nine o'clock for about a hundred Hong Kong dollars more ($14.28), so I opted for that. It came with a free drink and a big bowl of crappy ramen.
It was a nice easy ride that was over before I realized that it started and I was in the ferry terminal in Macau at ten on the dot. The first thing I did there was go to visitor information. I found a couple of really crappy maps that were way too big for Macau being a seemingly small place. I asked about John Legend tickets too. He was playing at the Venetian tonight, and if I planned on staying overnight there or if I had won tons of money, I would have gone to see him.
I tried to get my return ticket to Kowloon, which I should have bought in the first place in Kowloon, but I was a moron. Their computer was down so they couldn't ticket me, which kind of worried me, but I pushed on.
At that point, I had no clue how far distances in Macau really were. As I walked out the doors, there were people handing out special offers from casinos, and there were free shuttles to the casinos. I looked at a bunch of the offers and looked at the locales of the casinos, and decided that the Wynn had the best location and the best offer. They were offering 100HKD ($14.28) in free player's credit on your player's card. The catch was that you could only access it unless you put up your own actual stake as well.
So, I walk into the Wynn. In the lobby of the casino, there is a rotunda. In the ceiling of this pretty sizable rotunda, there's a big brass relief sculpture of all of the different Chinese zodiac animals. And as I'm getting my player's card from the desk, all of a sudden the lights in the rotunda dim, music plays loudly, and then there's smoke. The brass dome on the floor directly below the brass relief sculpture in the rotunda starts to open and a giant brass dragon rises and breathes smoke everywhere. This happens every half hour. I was totally caught off guard.
I figured that since I was already in the Wynn, I would check out the casino. I put up a stake of twenty HKD (just under $3) so I could access the hundred HKD that I had on my player's card and played some slots. Let me just say that the slot machines today confuse the fuck out of me. There are too many buttons and spinny things. There are WAY too many variables. I lost a bunch of my stake and my bonus money before I found a single set of machines that only had three spinny things (which were video like every other one) and actually had an arm to pull on to spin them. It was a one HKD slot machine, which was the second most expensive ones that I had seen there. But I kept playing and playing until all of my free bonus credit was gone, but my original stake of twenty HKD turned into forty HKD. I thought it was a good time to cash out of my slots money, so I did.
From there, I looked around and checked out the poker room and some of the high stakes tables. Most of the games being played were Baccarat, Bai So (a dice game), and Carribean Stud. I found two roulette tables, two craps tables and a little bit of blackjack here and there.
On the boat, I decided that I could afford to bet and lose 500HKD ($71.43). So I strolled up to the blackjack table with a cool five hundie HKD in my hot little fist. I have never, ever wished that my brother was with me this much in my life. It was my first time in a casino and I was intimidated.
I was lucky to have sat down at the table that I sat down at. There were two Japanese guys, a Cantonese guy, a Cantonese woman and me. Once we got rolling, we were all having a good time. The reason I sat down there was because the table was almost full, and it was the lowest minimum bet, being a hundred HKD. I knew that the more cards I saw, the better chance I would have as far as being able to guess whether the upcoming card would more likely be a higher card or a lower card. I tried to do the things that my brother talked about when he talked about counting cards, but I couldn't keep the count in my head. All I did was generally guess how many high cards and how many low cards I had seen in the recent past.
I fully expected to be standing up in five hands, off to see the rest of Macau guilt free and unabashed. I sat down at around eleven. I didn't get up until four. I was only playing the minimum bet, but I kept winning for the most part. Or, at least I wasn't losing. My five hundie became a cool thou. Once that happened, the original five hundie went in my pocket so I was only playing with my winnings. I just kept playing and playing with my winnings. When that five hundie became another cool thou, again, five hundie went in my pocket. I put and extra hundred in my pocket so that I could bring the chip to my brother. At half three, I told everyone at the table that I would play until the five hundie I had on the table was gone, but when four rolled around and I was at five fifty, I decided that I needed to see some of the town. So, I bounced and cashed out the sixteen hundred and fifty Hong Kong Dollars minus a hundred dollar and a twenty five dollar chip.
So, with it being four o'clock, it limited where I could go. I ended up going to see the Museum of Wine and the Grand Prix Museum, which were conveniently located in the same building. The Museum of Wine was interesting. It was mainly focused on Portuguese wines and the history of winemaking in general. I got a taste of a Portuguese red that wasn't half bad. It would be a nice table wine.
The Grand Prix Museum was pretty cool too. There were a number of vintage cars and motorcycles that had all raced in the Macau Grand Prix. It told the stories of some legendary racers and some racing pioneers. I had no clue that Filipinos were such good racers.
From there, I kicked it over to Fisherman's Wharf. It's not like the Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. It's like a ghetto, cheesy version of EPCOT without all of the great educational information. It was actually quite amusing. Part of it looked like Tang Dynasty China, then right next to it was a big mountain of some sort, then Egyptian pyramids and an Aladdin themed area, a place that looked like the Roman Colluseum, something that looked turn of the century Europe, and I think there may have been a couple of other themes. It was funny though. There were a couple of amusement attractions, some shopping and some restaurants.
By the time I got through there, I was famished, so I headed to the Sands to get some food. The Sands wasn't nearly as nice as the Wynn. They did have a stage with girls doing a kind of hip hop show though. I got a player's card there, so I could get ten percent off of dinner. I ended up eating some Shanghai soup dumplings, rice in soup with duck leg, and a milk tea all while reading my new book, Slumdog Millionaire.
By the time dinner was over, it was half seven. I decided that I didn't actually want to play at all at the Sands. I just couldn't be bothered to learn where everything was at that point. I had my ferry at ten, and I figured that I should give myself at least a half hour to get onto the ferry. So, I went back to the Wynn and bought five hundie more of chips.
Those chips were gone in a hurry. I sat down around eight, and by a quarter past, I was down to fifty HKD. Minimum bet was a hundred, so I couldn't really play. I could have played Roulette, Craps, or Bai So, but I didn't really just want to throw the money away. Instead I walked around the casino for an hour watching other people play. I tended to watch the hot chicks play. I also had kind of a crush on one of the pit bosses. She just had something about her. When I got tired of oogling the gamers, I stepped outside onto the entrance steps of the casino and watched the ridiculously hot hookers trying to pick up their Johns across the street. It was fifteen minutes of quality entertainment seeing the reactions of the men and seeing if they would even stop to chat. These girls were hot though. One was, as I call it, burning magnesium. So hot that you can't look directly at it without burning your retnas.
I got on the shuttle bus from the Wynn to the ferry docks at a quarter past nine and was through customs and on the boat by ten to ten. An hour of sleepily listening to my iPod, and now I'm back in Kowloon. I'm gonna try to sleep early tonight (oops... it's twenty to one). Tomorrow, I'm supposed to meet up with Candy and Simon. I'm psyched. Oh... One quick thing... Here's a breakdown of my finances for today.
Expenditures
$254 - First class ferry to Macau
$20 - Admission to two museums
$88 - Dinner after 10% discount
$450 - Gambling
$155 - Economy seat on ferry to Kowloon
----------------------------------------
$957 total
Gains
$20 - Slots
$1050 - Blackjack
-----------------
$1070 total
Non-Monetary Gains
1 Coke
1 Beer
3 Waters
The Net
$1070
-$957
-----
$113 + 1 Coke, 1 Beer & 3 Waters.
I think that's a pretty good net expenditure for a day on vacation. I think that my brother would be proud of me for winning like I did, and my dad would be proud of me for stopping when I stopped. It was good day today. I wish I got to see more of Macau though... and maybe John Legend too.
What's my problem? I could have left well enough alone.
Today was my first foray into Macau and into the world of gambling. I set my alarm for half six, so that I could catch the first ferry and really spend my time checking out the town. My alarm went off at the right time, but I decided to keep sleeping. I ended up getting up around half seven, being out the door at eight, and it was half eight by the time i got to the ferry docks.
I knew that being a public holiday, it would be crowded. Candy warned me. When I got to the ferry, the next economy class ticket would put me on the ferry at a quarter past eleven, putting me in Macau at a quarter past noon. Hmm. A little later than I would have liked, seeing as the last ferry back to Kowloon was at ten thirty. I could buy a deluxe class ticket on the nine o'clock for about a hundred Hong Kong dollars more ($14.28), so I opted for that. It came with a free drink and a big bowl of crappy ramen.
It was a nice easy ride that was over before I realized that it started and I was in the ferry terminal in Macau at ten on the dot. The first thing I did there was go to visitor information. I found a couple of really crappy maps that were way too big for Macau being a seemingly small place. I asked about John Legend tickets too. He was playing at the Venetian tonight, and if I planned on staying overnight there or if I had won tons of money, I would have gone to see him.
I tried to get my return ticket to Kowloon, which I should have bought in the first place in Kowloon, but I was a moron. Their computer was down so they couldn't ticket me, which kind of worried me, but I pushed on.
At that point, I had no clue how far distances in Macau really were. As I walked out the doors, there were people handing out special offers from casinos, and there were free shuttles to the casinos. I looked at a bunch of the offers and looked at the locales of the casinos, and decided that the Wynn had the best location and the best offer. They were offering 100HKD ($14.28) in free player's credit on your player's card. The catch was that you could only access it unless you put up your own actual stake as well.
So, I walk into the Wynn. In the lobby of the casino, there is a rotunda. In the ceiling of this pretty sizable rotunda, there's a big brass relief sculpture of all of the different Chinese zodiac animals. And as I'm getting my player's card from the desk, all of a sudden the lights in the rotunda dim, music plays loudly, and then there's smoke. The brass dome on the floor directly below the brass relief sculpture in the rotunda starts to open and a giant brass dragon rises and breathes smoke everywhere. This happens every half hour. I was totally caught off guard.
I figured that since I was already in the Wynn, I would check out the casino. I put up a stake of twenty HKD (just under $3) so I could access the hundred HKD that I had on my player's card and played some slots. Let me just say that the slot machines today confuse the fuck out of me. There are too many buttons and spinny things. There are WAY too many variables. I lost a bunch of my stake and my bonus money before I found a single set of machines that only had three spinny things (which were video like every other one) and actually had an arm to pull on to spin them. It was a one HKD slot machine, which was the second most expensive ones that I had seen there. But I kept playing and playing until all of my free bonus credit was gone, but my original stake of twenty HKD turned into forty HKD. I thought it was a good time to cash out of my slots money, so I did.
From there, I looked around and checked out the poker room and some of the high stakes tables. Most of the games being played were Baccarat, Bai So (a dice game), and Carribean Stud. I found two roulette tables, two craps tables and a little bit of blackjack here and there.
On the boat, I decided that I could afford to bet and lose 500HKD ($71.43). So I strolled up to the blackjack table with a cool five hundie HKD in my hot little fist. I have never, ever wished that my brother was with me this much in my life. It was my first time in a casino and I was intimidated.
I was lucky to have sat down at the table that I sat down at. There were two Japanese guys, a Cantonese guy, a Cantonese woman and me. Once we got rolling, we were all having a good time. The reason I sat down there was because the table was almost full, and it was the lowest minimum bet, being a hundred HKD. I knew that the more cards I saw, the better chance I would have as far as being able to guess whether the upcoming card would more likely be a higher card or a lower card. I tried to do the things that my brother talked about when he talked about counting cards, but I couldn't keep the count in my head. All I did was generally guess how many high cards and how many low cards I had seen in the recent past.
I fully expected to be standing up in five hands, off to see the rest of Macau guilt free and unabashed. I sat down at around eleven. I didn't get up until four. I was only playing the minimum bet, but I kept winning for the most part. Or, at least I wasn't losing. My five hundie became a cool thou. Once that happened, the original five hundie went in my pocket so I was only playing with my winnings. I just kept playing and playing with my winnings. When that five hundie became another cool thou, again, five hundie went in my pocket. I put and extra hundred in my pocket so that I could bring the chip to my brother. At half three, I told everyone at the table that I would play until the five hundie I had on the table was gone, but when four rolled around and I was at five fifty, I decided that I needed to see some of the town. So, I bounced and cashed out the sixteen hundred and fifty Hong Kong Dollars minus a hundred dollar and a twenty five dollar chip.
So, with it being four o'clock, it limited where I could go. I ended up going to see the Museum of Wine and the Grand Prix Museum, which were conveniently located in the same building. The Museum of Wine was interesting. It was mainly focused on Portuguese wines and the history of winemaking in general. I got a taste of a Portuguese red that wasn't half bad. It would be a nice table wine.
The Grand Prix Museum was pretty cool too. There were a number of vintage cars and motorcycles that had all raced in the Macau Grand Prix. It told the stories of some legendary racers and some racing pioneers. I had no clue that Filipinos were such good racers.
From there, I kicked it over to Fisherman's Wharf. It's not like the Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. It's like a ghetto, cheesy version of EPCOT without all of the great educational information. It was actually quite amusing. Part of it looked like Tang Dynasty China, then right next to it was a big mountain of some sort, then Egyptian pyramids and an Aladdin themed area, a place that looked like the Roman Colluseum, something that looked turn of the century Europe, and I think there may have been a couple of other themes. It was funny though. There were a couple of amusement attractions, some shopping and some restaurants.
By the time I got through there, I was famished, so I headed to the Sands to get some food. The Sands wasn't nearly as nice as the Wynn. They did have a stage with girls doing a kind of hip hop show though. I got a player's card there, so I could get ten percent off of dinner. I ended up eating some Shanghai soup dumplings, rice in soup with duck leg, and a milk tea all while reading my new book, Slumdog Millionaire.
By the time dinner was over, it was half seven. I decided that I didn't actually want to play at all at the Sands. I just couldn't be bothered to learn where everything was at that point. I had my ferry at ten, and I figured that I should give myself at least a half hour to get onto the ferry. So, I went back to the Wynn and bought five hundie more of chips.
Those chips were gone in a hurry. I sat down around eight, and by a quarter past, I was down to fifty HKD. Minimum bet was a hundred, so I couldn't really play. I could have played Roulette, Craps, or Bai So, but I didn't really just want to throw the money away. Instead I walked around the casino for an hour watching other people play. I tended to watch the hot chicks play. I also had kind of a crush on one of the pit bosses. She just had something about her. When I got tired of oogling the gamers, I stepped outside onto the entrance steps of the casino and watched the ridiculously hot hookers trying to pick up their Johns across the street. It was fifteen minutes of quality entertainment seeing the reactions of the men and seeing if they would even stop to chat. These girls were hot though. One was, as I call it, burning magnesium. So hot that you can't look directly at it without burning your retnas.
I got on the shuttle bus from the Wynn to the ferry docks at a quarter past nine and was through customs and on the boat by ten to ten. An hour of sleepily listening to my iPod, and now I'm back in Kowloon. I'm gonna try to sleep early tonight (oops... it's twenty to one). Tomorrow, I'm supposed to meet up with Candy and Simon. I'm psyched. Oh... One quick thing... Here's a breakdown of my finances for today.
Expenditures
$254 - First class ferry to Macau
$20 - Admission to two museums
$88 - Dinner after 10% discount
$450 - Gambling
$155 - Economy seat on ferry to Kowloon
----------------------------------------
$957 total
Gains
$20 - Slots
$1050 - Blackjack
-----------------
$1070 total
Non-Monetary Gains
1 Coke
1 Beer
3 Waters
The Net
$1070
-$957
-----
$113 + 1 Coke, 1 Beer & 3 Waters.
I think that's a pretty good net expenditure for a day on vacation. I think that my brother would be proud of me for winning like I did, and my dad would be proud of me for stopping when I stopped. It was good day today. I wish I got to see more of Macau though... and maybe John Legend too.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Day 70: One Red Paperclip
Listening: Got no deeds to do, no promises to keep. I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep. Let the morning time drop all its petals on me. Life, I love you. All is groovy.
What's my problem? Queen's Pier has been demolished.
It's seven in the evening here in Hong Kong. I've been in the same place for the past three and a half hours, curled into an easy chair at Pacific Coffee Company in The Peak Tower at Victoria Peak staring out the window over the skyline of Hong Kong reading Kyle Macdonald's One Red Paperclip.
The rest of the day, I wandered around Hong Kong Island, not really finding what I wanted to find. I yearned to just sort of chill out, but I felt like I had to keep on moving.
I heard of a junk ship that I could get on for free from my Fodor's which kind of struck my fancy. It took off from Queen's Pier at three and five o'clock according to my Fodor's, and would take me back to Kowloon which is where my room is. When I read this, I was in a Shanghaiese restaurant in Times Square eating soup dumplings and "hot pockets" as my pal Jon calls them. Originally, I was looking for the best dim sum in Hong Kong Island, but I found out that it was too far from the subway to walk to, so I scrapped it.
Anyhow, I was psyched to go on this junk ship until I got to Queen's Pier. Well, until I got to what was Queen's Pier, an endless construction site. I ended up going to the Star Ferry ticketing place, because that's where you could catch the junk on the other side. They hadn't even heard of this junk ship. By teh way, this junk ship is called "Duk Ling." I laughed.
So, I decided to head to the closest Tourist Information Center, which happened to be at The Peak Piazza, between The Peak Tower and The Peak Gallery on Victoria Peak. I didn't know that the said Peak stuff was actually on the Peak itself. I thought that it was at the base where the funicular brought you up to the peak. I was wrong.
I figure that since I was there anyways, I'd go up and check it out. And when I got here, I found out that the Duk Ling was now sailing out of Pier 9 and you needed advanced reservations. BASTARDS! Oh well. So I went back into the tower and briefly entertained the idea of going to the top where you had to pay twenty HKD ($3) to get there. I opted out. Instead, I felt like I needed to have a coffee fix, which was when I permanently affixed my ass to the bright red velvet armchair and read One Red Paperclip.
I started the book two days ago, but didn't read it one of those days (yesterday, obviously). Now, I'm a mere twenty pages from the end and I am absolutely loving it. The book makes me so happy. When I get home, I'm going to give this book to my best friend, Carlos, because I think he needs to read it. I'm not only going to give him this book, but I'm going to give him this copy of this book.
I have found that I like giving and receiving read books. The books are loved. I think I really realized that I liked reading and giving read books when I got Chloe's copy of Eat, Pray, Love. It really tuned me into it. And it also made it important that I didn't just leave it on a hostel bookshelf. I needed to pass it onto someone, so that they would read it, and maybe pass it on. That's why I handed it off to Clover before she left Bangkok for Australia.
I realized that for a collector such as myself, it's hard to let go of objects. I figure if I like the book enough, I'll buy myself another copy and I'll read it again. I'll probably do that with both of the two afore-mentioned books.
But that's how I've chosen to spend my afternoon in Hong Kong, I realize that it's like my little airlock before I hit the States, just like L.A. will be an airlock before I reach home. I love being on vacation and traveling, because I can do what the fuck I want, when I want. Even read a book in a cafe for three and a half hours.
What's my problem? Queen's Pier has been demolished.
It's seven in the evening here in Hong Kong. I've been in the same place for the past three and a half hours, curled into an easy chair at Pacific Coffee Company in The Peak Tower at Victoria Peak staring out the window over the skyline of Hong Kong reading Kyle Macdonald's One Red Paperclip.
The rest of the day, I wandered around Hong Kong Island, not really finding what I wanted to find. I yearned to just sort of chill out, but I felt like I had to keep on moving.
I heard of a junk ship that I could get on for free from my Fodor's which kind of struck my fancy. It took off from Queen's Pier at three and five o'clock according to my Fodor's, and would take me back to Kowloon which is where my room is. When I read this, I was in a Shanghaiese restaurant in Times Square eating soup dumplings and "hot pockets" as my pal Jon calls them. Originally, I was looking for the best dim sum in Hong Kong Island, but I found out that it was too far from the subway to walk to, so I scrapped it.
Anyhow, I was psyched to go on this junk ship until I got to Queen's Pier. Well, until I got to what was Queen's Pier, an endless construction site. I ended up going to the Star Ferry ticketing place, because that's where you could catch the junk on the other side. They hadn't even heard of this junk ship. By teh way, this junk ship is called "Duk Ling." I laughed.
So, I decided to head to the closest Tourist Information Center, which happened to be at The Peak Piazza, between The Peak Tower and The Peak Gallery on Victoria Peak. I didn't know that the said Peak stuff was actually on the Peak itself. I thought that it was at the base where the funicular brought you up to the peak. I was wrong.
I figure that since I was there anyways, I'd go up and check it out. And when I got here, I found out that the Duk Ling was now sailing out of Pier 9 and you needed advanced reservations. BASTARDS! Oh well. So I went back into the tower and briefly entertained the idea of going to the top where you had to pay twenty HKD ($3) to get there. I opted out. Instead, I felt like I needed to have a coffee fix, which was when I permanently affixed my ass to the bright red velvet armchair and read One Red Paperclip.
I started the book two days ago, but didn't read it one of those days (yesterday, obviously). Now, I'm a mere twenty pages from the end and I am absolutely loving it. The book makes me so happy. When I get home, I'm going to give this book to my best friend, Carlos, because I think he needs to read it. I'm not only going to give him this book, but I'm going to give him this copy of this book.
I have found that I like giving and receiving read books. The books are loved. I think I really realized that I liked reading and giving read books when I got Chloe's copy of Eat, Pray, Love. It really tuned me into it. And it also made it important that I didn't just leave it on a hostel bookshelf. I needed to pass it onto someone, so that they would read it, and maybe pass it on. That's why I handed it off to Clover before she left Bangkok for Australia.
I realized that for a collector such as myself, it's hard to let go of objects. I figure if I like the book enough, I'll buy myself another copy and I'll read it again. I'll probably do that with both of the two afore-mentioned books.
But that's how I've chosen to spend my afternoon in Hong Kong, I realize that it's like my little airlock before I hit the States, just like L.A. will be an airlock before I reach home. I love being on vacation and traveling, because I can do what the fuck I want, when I want. Even read a book in a cafe for three and a half hours.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Day 70: You Wan Massa? You Wan Boom-Boom?
Listening: You're way too beautiful girl. That's why it will never work. You had me suicidal, suicidal when you say it's over.
What's my problem? I really WOULD like a massage, but I don't think they're REALLY offering.
It's like stepping out of the airport into a Wong Kar Wai film. The streets are crowded by faceless people rushing or meandering. There is a persistent flickering glow of neon everywhere, and it makes the city a character in and of itself. You can feel the metropolitan-ness of Hong Kong after five seconds of waiting to cross the streets, and can feel the seediness after walking a few blocks off of the main drags. In a lot of ways it's very different from all of the cities that I have been in throughout southeast Asia, however in some ways it's very much the same. As they say, it's "same-same, but different."
Maybe it's an Asian thing. Prior to last night I had chalked it up to being a southeast Asian thing. In every country, on every day at least once, I would hear in a hushed voice from a tuk-tuk driver or a guy on the street, "You wan massa? You wan boom-boom? Lady! You wan nice lady? Very pretty lady for massa!" In Laos, it was also followed with, "You wan opium?" And in Vietnam and Cambodia it was followed by, "You wan smoke? You wan skunk? Mara-juana?" But generally it was just the "massa," the "boom-boom" and the "lady" that was on offer.
I expected it to stop once I got to Hong Kong. It's not a third or second world country. It's not even a developing nation or an emerging market. The nation is already developed and the market emerged a long time ago. I'm just thoroughly surprised that the touts are just as frequent and just as obvious as they were in Bangkok. The only difference is that they don't grab your arm. Well, the guys hawking the tailors do, but those aren't the hawkers I'm talking about. Somehow I expected it to be different. Not so much.
Anyhow, last night, I went to the Avenue of Stars, where they honor all of the big Hong Kong movie people. There's a really kick ass statue of Bruce Lee. It's life size. If I had a statue garden, and if I could afford it, it would be the centerpiece.
Every night at eight o'clock, on Hong Kong Island, there is the Symphony of Lights. You can see and hear it from the Avenue of Stars, as it's actually the best place to see the show. It's a laser and light show set to music, where the buildings will light up in different patterns and it's pretty entertaining. It's got nothing on EPCOT's Illuminations, but it's entertaining.
I ended up meeting a British girl, Emily, while watching the show. She's been on the go for the past week, and will head to southeast Asia tomorrow. She's really only planning to be in each country for a week, so I had to drop some knowledge on her. She's either going to feel like she hasn't seen anything on her travels, or she'll be traveling so much that half of her weeks will be spent in transit. She was nice. I might have dinner with her if she e-mails me tonight.
Today, I think I'm going to explore Hong Kong Island after getting some dim sum. Tomorrow, I'm off to Macau for the day. I figure I'll play a hand or two of blackjack, just to say that I did it. Man,I'm hungry. I guess that means it's time for dumplin's.
What's my problem? I really WOULD like a massage, but I don't think they're REALLY offering.
It's like stepping out of the airport into a Wong Kar Wai film. The streets are crowded by faceless people rushing or meandering. There is a persistent flickering glow of neon everywhere, and it makes the city a character in and of itself. You can feel the metropolitan-ness of Hong Kong after five seconds of waiting to cross the streets, and can feel the seediness after walking a few blocks off of the main drags. In a lot of ways it's very different from all of the cities that I have been in throughout southeast Asia, however in some ways it's very much the same. As they say, it's "same-same, but different."
Maybe it's an Asian thing. Prior to last night I had chalked it up to being a southeast Asian thing. In every country, on every day at least once, I would hear in a hushed voice from a tuk-tuk driver or a guy on the street, "You wan massa? You wan boom-boom? Lady! You wan nice lady? Very pretty lady for massa!" In Laos, it was also followed with, "You wan opium?" And in Vietnam and Cambodia it was followed by, "You wan smoke? You wan skunk? Mara-juana?" But generally it was just the "massa," the "boom-boom" and the "lady" that was on offer.
I expected it to stop once I got to Hong Kong. It's not a third or second world country. It's not even a developing nation or an emerging market. The nation is already developed and the market emerged a long time ago. I'm just thoroughly surprised that the touts are just as frequent and just as obvious as they were in Bangkok. The only difference is that they don't grab your arm. Well, the guys hawking the tailors do, but those aren't the hawkers I'm talking about. Somehow I expected it to be different. Not so much.
Anyhow, last night, I went to the Avenue of Stars, where they honor all of the big Hong Kong movie people. There's a really kick ass statue of Bruce Lee. It's life size. If I had a statue garden, and if I could afford it, it would be the centerpiece.
Every night at eight o'clock, on Hong Kong Island, there is the Symphony of Lights. You can see and hear it from the Avenue of Stars, as it's actually the best place to see the show. It's a laser and light show set to music, where the buildings will light up in different patterns and it's pretty entertaining. It's got nothing on EPCOT's Illuminations, but it's entertaining.
I ended up meeting a British girl, Emily, while watching the show. She's been on the go for the past week, and will head to southeast Asia tomorrow. She's really only planning to be in each country for a week, so I had to drop some knowledge on her. She's either going to feel like she hasn't seen anything on her travels, or she'll be traveling so much that half of her weeks will be spent in transit. She was nice. I might have dinner with her if she e-mails me tonight.
Today, I think I'm going to explore Hong Kong Island after getting some dim sum. Tomorrow, I'm off to Macau for the day. I figure I'll play a hand or two of blackjack, just to say that I did it. Man,I'm hungry. I guess that means it's time for dumplin's.
Day 69: Hong Kong Phooey
Listening: I never really gave up on breakin' out of this two-star town. I got the green light. I got a little fight. I'm gonna turn this thing around.
What's my problem? Paying double, but still sleeping single.
Well, I'm in Hong Kong now. I landed at half three and after spending an two and a half hours between immigration, customs, getting an Octopus Card (Hong Kong's Charlie Card), getting a SIM card, getting two char siu baos, catching the bus to Kowloon, and finding a guesthouse, I'm ready to get this party started.
So I'm paying 150HKD ($22) for my single room tonight. I could have picked the room with the window, which had a shared bathroom down the hall, or I could have picked the room with no window, but has an ensuite bathroom. Actually it's not much of a bathroom, more like a square meter (seriously) that houses a sink, a toilet, and a shower head. The room itself is tiny as well, but how much time do I really plan on spending in the room. They say if a dorm bed empties, I'll move over to a dorm bed for 60HKD (just under $10).
I have to say that I hate hawkers. I HATE them. I don't like being hassled or touched when I'm shopping or looking for a guest house. And that's exactly what happened when I tried to locate the place that I'm staying now. Luckily I took down the address before I left Bangkok, or else I would have been thrown to the wolves. When people I don't know touch me, I get violently angry. I gave a hawker a look of death when I was at the night market last night. I think he feared for his life for a second before he realized that he should let go of me.
Anyhow, I have to get settled. I need to call my friend Candy too. Time to get it going on.
What's my problem? Paying double, but still sleeping single.
Well, I'm in Hong Kong now. I landed at half three and after spending an two and a half hours between immigration, customs, getting an Octopus Card (Hong Kong's Charlie Card), getting a SIM card, getting two char siu baos, catching the bus to Kowloon, and finding a guesthouse, I'm ready to get this party started.
So I'm paying 150HKD ($22) for my single room tonight. I could have picked the room with the window, which had a shared bathroom down the hall, or I could have picked the room with no window, but has an ensuite bathroom. Actually it's not much of a bathroom, more like a square meter (seriously) that houses a sink, a toilet, and a shower head. The room itself is tiny as well, but how much time do I really plan on spending in the room. They say if a dorm bed empties, I'll move over to a dorm bed for 60HKD (just under $10).
I have to say that I hate hawkers. I HATE them. I don't like being hassled or touched when I'm shopping or looking for a guest house. And that's exactly what happened when I tried to locate the place that I'm staying now. Luckily I took down the address before I left Bangkok, or else I would have been thrown to the wolves. When people I don't know touch me, I get violently angry. I gave a hawker a look of death when I was at the night market last night. I think he feared for his life for a second before he realized that he should let go of me.
Anyhow, I have to get settled. I need to call my friend Candy too. Time to get it going on.
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