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Published: October 7th 2010
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Well I'm going to skip some things because I'm slightly behind on my blogging, ok really behind. After I left Changsha I went to the border city of China and Hong Kong. They are really the same country, or sort of, to people in China it is all one, but to those in Hong Kong it is a separate place. Judging by what I saw of China and Hong Kong they are two different worlds. My time in the border city of Shenzhen, I felt like they tried to play up the fact that it was so close to Hong Kong, that it really was Hong Kong. In reality was just as sad as someone saying they are from Chicago, but they really live in The Region, it's just not true. My decision to stay in Shenzhen was about money, I was going to Hong Kong to pick up some visas for traveling in South East Asia and I was told that was the place that I should go. I had to get a hotel in Shenzhen and it took me over an hour to check into the place because I made the mistake of booking online and then assuming that
they would get the reservation. Oh I did email them and made a phone call to the hotel before arriving, they still didn't have my reservation. I tried to get into an internet cafe to print off the proof of the reservation and how much I paid and all that, but China doesn't allow foreigners to use internet on the street. You have to have a Chinese government issued card that has some special number on it so when you are looking up how to take down a communist regime they know who to go after. I finally made my way into Hong Kong, I thought it would be difficult to get there, but I just went to the train station and followed the signs until I walked across the border and into the immigration line.
I stayed on Hong Kong Island in a hostel that was illegally residing in an apartment complex. The room was actually cheaper than the hotel back in China, so staying there to save money didn't work out so well. I did save money on food and drinks though. Needless to say Hong Kong is very expensive when it comes to doing... well anything.
It was the first place that I felt I should be wearing better clothes just to walk down the street. No one was looking at me or trying to sell me crap. It was great, I really liked the city. I walked around the city and found the horse racing track. In China you are not allowed to gamble, although I saw plenty of it going on in the streets and trains. It is one of those as long as you break the law and it doesn't threaten the government it's ok. However in Hong Kong and Macau it is under two different systems. I saw a special on horse racing in another part of China on CCTV and I knew I would be coming back at night. During the day I settled for seeing the museum, I was the only person in there. It was just the like the TV program saying how the Jockey Club, as it is called, gives away so many millions of dollars every year for charity. The museum kind of sucked. When I went back to the Jockey Club you had three types of people there. Those that were wearing designer clothes betting with
colorful bills that I didn't even know existed, casual betters asking for help on how to fill in the ticket, and the people who had holes in their pants hoping to hit it big. While I knew how to fill in the ticket, but I stuck to picking the winner and a horse to place. I didn't win one time. I picked horses because of their names, because of the odds, which one peed right before the race. I came to the conclusion that it is all luck otherwise I'm sure I would be a millionaire. This did not discourage me though, because China has another two systems one country area and that is Macau.
When I got my passport back from the Vietnam consulate I made my way by boat to Macau. This is suppose to be the Vegas of Asia or the next Vegas. I don't really know, I didn't see much of it to tell you the truth. I had all these great ambitious desires to see some of the island, but when I got off the boat there were buses ready to take me to the casino. It was hot, so I went with them.
First though I stopped at the ATM, Macau has different money than Hong Kong which is also different than China. I got out plenty of Macau dollars or whatever they're called to make sure everyone knew that I'm not some backpacker. I wanted to go to the Wynn, but the bus wasn't there. Instead the Wynn employee put me on The Sands' bus. I just thought that the casinos were either right next to each other or owned by the same person. Well they weren't next to each other and I don't think they are owned by the same person. When I get into the casino I sat down at a table and give them my Macau dollars, the dealer points to a sign saying they only accept Hong Kong dollars. I realized that I have to exchange the money now into Hong Kong Dollars and will eventually have to change those into some other type of money. I was mad and made some comments about this not being a real country which I don't think anyone understood, and then thought to myself that it really wasn't a country. I accepted defeat and I went to the desk to change
my money and asked if the restaurants in the casino take Hong Kong Dollars or if I should leave some unchanged. I don't think the guy understood what I asked, because I sure didn't understand his response and I decided to exchange it all. I didn't do so well playing blackjack, well I played statistically perfect, it was the other people at the table that screwed things up. I decided to eat some lunch. The first place I go has a sign saying Macau Dollars only, I wanted to scream. I decided instead of eating I'd go play some craps. Things go much better and I left up and went to get some food, thankfully I found a place that accepted Hong Kong Dollars, an overpriced buffet. I tried to eat all I could, but living on a meager diet for five months, I disappointed myself with how much I ate, not feeling like I got my money worth, but couldn't put one more bite into my mouth. I go back to the craps table since it was so good to me the first time and I felt that I was going to throw up from how much I ate.
Things continued to go downhill and the only good thing was that I didn't need to exchange any money after leaving.
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