Macau=My 30th Birthday Celebration

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Earlier in the week Elyse and I had switched our classes around so that we had Friday off. I made sure to let all of the teachers know that it was my birthday on the 27th. I figured they might get me some ridiculously large basket of fruit, chicken claws, or something uniquely Chinese. Yeah, but no; nothing at all is what I got. No "have a good birthday" or "have fun." I guess its pretty standard that most of the teachers at our school hardly acknowledge our presence nor even are concerned with us in the least bit. They pretty much suck.

On Thursday we headed to Martin and Stay's house since it was closer to the Shekou Ferry Terminal. The only catch was that the woman who owned the villa only accepted cash and her assistant would be leaving for the airport at noon on the day of our arrival. Oh and Yuan would not be accepted, only GBP or HKD.

Elyse and I had visited Shekou, the main Expat part of town, only one time before back in August. Since it took nearly 2 1/2 hours by bus once was enough for us. Departing from Martin and Stay's school at 7 am we made our way to the bus stop some 10 minuets down the road. It wasn't long until the bus pulled up. It was full but Elyse managed to get a seat while I had to stand. Each stop half a dozen more people got on the bus. After five stops and not even a quarter of the way there the bus was packed full shoulder to shoulder with people. Just when you think no more people can fit three more manage their way on. It isn't until its so full the bus doors can't close is it considered too full. Lucky for me I was immediately next to some guy that must have eaten a shit sandwich for breakfast. It was pretty bad.

Eventually the bus thinned out so that I managed to sit down. We were both nervous about missing our ferry and possibly losing out on the Villa. The ferry was scheduled to leave at 8:45 and closed the gates 10 minutes before departure. It was 8:30 and we made a dash for the terminal once we exited the bus. We got there just in the nick of time since we were the last ones let through the gates into customs. Since we were going to Macau we had to jump through all the same hoops as when we visit Hong Kong.

By the time we sat down in our seats we were feeling a lot better. The ferry didn't end up leaving until after 9am. I talked the snack shop into giving me some coffee for free since it was only offered to first class passengers. I considered it to be my first birthday gift. Macau customs was a lot longer than we had anticipated. After the one hour ferry ride and 45 minutes in custom lines we were on the street. Elyse was smart enough to ask the tourist information center the best/cheapest way to the Villa.

We jumped on a free Casino shuttle bus which dropped us off near a public bus terminal. From there we found our bus and were at the place within the hour. At this point we realized our phones would not work here and crossed our fingers that our 9 friends brought the directions.

We meet the woman at the apartment and got the 50 cent tour. It was much bigger than what I had expected. Three bedrooms and enough sofa space so that all 11 of us had a nice place to sleep. We freshened up and headed down to the water to get some lunch. We ate at an apparently famous restaurant called Fernando's. It was very good.

We had some time to kill and headed down the beach towards a fancy looking hotel, The Westin. I thought that we could buy a power cord since Macau outlets are different than in Hong Kong and China. We hopped on their free shuttle bus which took us into town. We found an adapter and stocked up on some food for breakfast.

A few hours after we returned the first wave of our friends arrived. Martin and Stacy, Jimmy and Cali, and Kris and Kelly. The three amigos, Will, Marty, and Riley decided to take a bus in lieu of the ferry to save money. By the time these guys showed up we had already eaten dinner and bought some beers. Kris and Kelly presented me with a red envelop full of ba (8) kuai. Its a lucky number. Also a small bottle of Myanmar Rum and a Cuban cigar. Jimmy and Cali got me a bottle of whiskey, a toy gun, and some flying toy.

Despite having all of the new bottles somehow one of the twenty or so half full bottles left by the home owner was opened. All the guys took shots of delicious Jameson's, while the girls took shots of the whiskey Jimmy and Cali bought.

Fast Forward till 4 am. A loud pounding on the front door of the villa. What the hell? Who would come home and make such a ruckus at this hour. Oh yea, it was me, accompanied by Riley, Will, and Marty. The others left at 3 am. It was a whirl of commotion as we entered the unit. Elyse told us to be quite as we headed into the kitchen. We found some dumplings and decided to cook them up. There was some oil and a wok so we got down to business. After several failed attempts the gas burner had finally lit. I had never seen a stove top like this before. There was a glass top above the gas burner.

I thought it was a fancy high tech stove. We were wrong. Elyse came out and yelled at us and asked why it smelled of gas. Apparently the glass was supposed to be lifted up and it was only there so that the kitchen had more counter space. Ohhh the group declared. This concept even alluded Will, an Ivy League graduate, at this hour in the morning.

The next day we got a late start on our site seeing. That morning we rehashed the events. Most notably Jimmy got up on stage during a singers performance and danced around. That day we saw some stuff and we did some things. It was good.

Then the Casino madness wrapped us all up and spit us out sometime around 4:30 in the morning. There was definitely some black jack and lots of booze. I think some one broke a glass. It was great fun until the next morning when we had to make our way back to our respective dwellings. Some closer than others. It was a good trip but it had to come to a close. In the end Macau took all of my money but I was one year wiser. I had turned 30 in the most unlikely of places if you had asked me a year ago, and with people that were mere strangers upon our arrival. Now I would consider each of them good friends and hope to celebrate with them in the future.

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Photos

Coloane-Black Sand beach
This is where our 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath villa was at.

Curved Escalators
Have you ever seen this?

Fun Drinks at the 50% off bar
our bartender was from Fresno, CA