Ok, last weekend plan was to take a little expedition to Macao island, which is nearby Hong Kong. We met just outside in the halls at ten in the Sat morning. There was around ten of us mainly Finnish people but some international co-operation also by Frenchmen David and Nico and some local influence also offered by Mountain. We (I, Nico, David) were supposed to meet Mountain in subway station next to ferry terminals, but others Finns were taking some 'shortcut' in there and decided to took ferry instead of MTR (subway). Anyway we met Mountain in the station and headed to ferry terminal. Apparently there were lots of other people also going to Macao to loose all their money. So the 1st ferry were we could have tickets on was departing 12.30. We decided to go to queue to take 11.20 ferry, if there would be seats for us anyway. Queuing was worth it and we got in the earlier ferry. In that point I decided to call to the other Finns and ask them if they already arrived to Macao. I found out that their were still in Hong Kong island trying to find ferry terminal, so that's it for their shortcut. Ferry ride took only about a hour and cost 150HK$ one-way. Thought the ferry was waving side-to-side at first it calmed down when quite quickly. That was good new for me, the guy who have grown up in the inland and tend to have sea sickness easily. I could catch few minutes sleep during the ferry ride..
Tourist stuff..Some old church, which destroyed by fire..dont ask more, ok? -Nico, I & Mountain-
After the passport control we took of the free coach ride to casino which was nearest to city centre. And of course we didn't get in to the casino, so we sneaked out quickly when the bus stopped. We decided to take little city tour, leading by Nico and his priceless guide book. The weather was pure killer, temperature was over 30°C and I think humidity was also around 85 or something.. I was sweating like a little pig, but that's nothing new, I guess. Fearlessly we decided to keep going on our city tour, which included path to the highest hill in the town to see the old fortress. There was a cable-car also which u could take to the peak, but surprise surprise it was out of order..
Heavy speculating before decision to climb up to the tophill fortress.
50 steps behinds, countless steps to go...
I think that the guys are really underestimating my orienteering skills.
After four / five hours city sigh-seeing we headed back to city centre to have something to eat. We all were kind of exhausted about walking, so we took the easiest choice of all…pizza hut…embarrassing, I know.. Anyway pizza is always good and after big dinner it was time to go and check out the casinos more closely. First mission was take over the casino called Grand Lisboa.
$ + € + £ in my mind, before entering the Grand Lisboa.
After the security check, which was like in airports, we realized that maybe these places are not suitable for student budget. The smallest possible Black Jack table what I could found was 200HK$, which means that one chip was worth of 20 €. So if u really wanted to play you need to place at minimum 2000HK$ (~200€) to table and probably u can play around 5 minutes with that. Not good… Only game which I recognize beside BJ was roulette and there minimum bet was around 500HK$ or something. In the other tables they played Baccarat, which was totally strange for me. I was watching couple of games, but still I didn't get the rules…but maybe I'm just simple or something. Besides that there was some electronic tables with some weird Chinese symbols and the people could bet 25 000HK$ in them…strange… In the I found myself to play some slots machines and man, I can tell that was maybe the most confusing one I've ever played. Normally you can find 1-5 winning lines to this 'one-handed' slots machines, but in this one there were 44 of those…44 winning lines… Try to sorted out there, when you are winning and when you are losing then. Not too easy task. Anyway I played around 100HK$ (~10€) and then get bored, coz the sirens didn't shout and lights didn't start to flash and there weren't any staff coming to me with this big cheque… GOD DAMN IT… well maybe next time then.
Almost like Vegas, huh...? (..says guy who never been there..)
Unfortunately, it was forbidden to take photos inside the casinos. Thought the all rules are there just for the people to brake those, quick look around me make some things clear to me…In my sight was around 10 gorilla size security man wandering around casinos corridors and waiting to some unlucky victim who was breaking the rules…That's why my camera stayed tightly in my pocket, but only because the casinos lights weren't too suitable for photo shooting… As u all guys know, I perfectionist and almost pro, when it's come to photo shooting u know… =P
David, Mountain and Nico, behind you can see the Grand Lisboa casino.
After Grand Lisboa we took new direction towards to seashore, coz it was time to Macao's Annual Fireworks competition. It's a competition where different nations compete who's has the mightiest fireworks and the whole competition lasts around two weeks or something. That Saturday it was UK's and South-Korean turn to show their best. These guys crackers were just a bit bigger, what I used to shoot myself in new years eve, when I was a kid. In the beginning I was really excited about every single puff's but after ten minutes, my neck started to get numb as I watched to the sky all the time. Both of the teams show lasted around 25 minutes, so after the shows my neck was quite sore and I didn't applause to every single cracker. In the end the shows were great, specially coz the carnival atmosphere, with the beer and fast food stands.
Fancy fireworks...
Half time in fireworks competition..I spent it with mr San Miguel..
After the firework shows we went back to the city centre to meet the other Finns. As they haven't check any casinos yet, we decided to go one of them called Wynns out. After a while everyone were clear with the fact that we didn't want to spend one month budget in there, just to play few games, so we went to 7-11 to buy something to drink. Unfortunately I didn't feel too good at that point and I even skipped the beers. I got some stomach problems from that trip and I still haven't get rid off those completely. After 7-11 some of the people wanted to eat and we went to small Chinese restaurant which our local reinforcement pick up. The restaurant seemed to be quite packed, but the owner guided us to upstairs. On our way in there we saw the kitchen and storage room and had quite good idea about restaurant business in whole..=). We were only upstairs customers in the beginning, so maybe it was some kind of VIP-lounge or something, which is right place for us, if u r thinking out status. The menus were already in the table, but it was hard to get off from the table as it was so sticky. Menu included many delicates, but my absolutely favourite one was pork liver porridge. Unfortunately, I need to skip all the foods and stay to Lucozade drink as I felt lil' bit ill with my stomach. Anyway, I've tried to find this delicate in our local supermarkets, as I'm sure that this shit will wake u up even at Monday mornings. I haven't found it yet, so if u see that, please inform me ok..
The famous sticky table and other VIP facilities.. Other Finns are also find their way to Macao. -Sofia, Sami, Niina, Juho, Milka, Anssi, I, David & Mountain-
After the late night munchies some of the people wanted to go find some night spots and party. Me, Nico, David and Mountain decided to take night ferry back to Hong Kong, coz we were quite exhausted from whole day expedition and in the end all joined us. Ferry trip back went smoothly and I went straight to sleep when I got back to halls around four in the morning. Some people still went to 7-11 to have some first aid for their dehydration.
In the end Macao was lil' bit disappointment for me, but some of the reasons might be that I didn't felt too good in the evening. Anyway we didn't check the newest and apparently the world biggest casino called Venetia in this trip, so maybe I need to go back again and check that and some nigh clubs out, who knows…I'll report from that if it'll happen some day.. So for the next time, take it easy guys…
PS.
Oh and for your info (specially Mr. Goodstuff) we have some nice local beers in here. Tsing Tao, Blue Ice beer, San Miguel you name it…And those are relatively cheap ones around 0,30-0,50€/ can (0,33-0,5l). So book your flights man and take Linda with you.
PPS.
I'll be delighted for some more comments also.. =)
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