Interruption

My room from living area

I had planned on finishing part two of my Vietnam blog post, but I a LOT of important things happened this week, so I thought I'd take a brief interruption in your regularly scheduled programming to introduce you to my new apartment!

 I moved in to my apartment on Monday, and can say that although I was excited, I was also dreading yet another transition.  Though I knew my arrangement at my host family's house was temporary, I still became attached to it.  It was incredibly sad to pack nearly everything I own for the second time in just a few short months and head off into something unknown. But, the good news is that I do love my new flat, it is incredibly convenient to anything I could need, and it is really, really affordable.  Yes, it is above a strip club, yes, the bass from the club is ever-present from about 10pm onward, but all in all, I really like it.  It is renovated, has two bathrooms, and affords nice natural light in my room.  It pretty much met all of the requirements I had for a place, and I am doubly blessed to be living with two other Christian girls.

Bed/Desk are built in

Thankfully, Hong Kong has an IKEA.  New bedding!

Taken from standing on my bed

View out my window.  Our kitchen window on the right

View from the front door

Bathroom

Kitchen in an open floor plan.  Really rare for HK

View from my roommates end of the living room

Okay.  So I know what you're thinking...
Isn't that room a bit tiny?  I mean, that's smaller than my closet in the US.

And the answer is that yes, my room is small, and is in fact smaller than my best friend and former roommate's closet in Houston.  But the reality is that when you cram millions of people into a very small area, you end up with a lot of small apartments, and especially small ones if you want them to be affordable.  So I'm living in my cozy room which I will no doubt decorate with all of my pictures and mementos from Houston that I brought with me as I make more trips to IKEA for big things like a bulletin board, bookshelf, etc.  Because when you don't have a car, you don't want to bring more than you can comfortably carry.  This is a lesson I learned the other day while carrying a duvet cover, comforter, two pillows, two towels, a laundry hamper, 30 hangers and bedsheets through the Hong Kong MTR (metro).  And let me say, that it was far from comfortable.

In any case, this neighborhood for all its quirks is starting to feel like home.  And today, I even found a grocery store.  It is amazing to me how much these small rituals matter.  I can be honest and say that I cried a little bit on the chip aisle.  Not because I was sad, but rather overwhelmed.  Shopping in Denmark was always a traumatic experience, especially at first, because none of the labels were in English. Whatsoever.  So when I spoke no Danish, it was a total nightmare (now that I think of it, probably a reason I learned Danish quickly).   I digress.  But here, blessedly, everything was in English at the grocery store.  It was one of the first things I've done here in Hong Kong that has been easier than expected.  And I was so overcome by the availability of Kraft Parmesan Cheese and Tilamook Cheddar and whole wheat bread and Jazz apples that I just had to shed a little tear.  On the chip aisle.  Which isn't actually called the chip aisle, rather the "crisp aisle".   When I got home and cooked my mom's Parmesan baked chicken with some mashed potatoes, I felt for a moment like I was at home.  And it was a VERY good feeling.  It's funny how these small things can make such a big difference.

I love these people!  Co-Director Julie and boss Wade

Another big event that happened this week was the election.  Believe it or not, the election and all its related fanfare made its way all the way to Hong Kong.  It was actually really cool being awake as

There are two Republicans in there somewhere

the results rolled in.  I definitely never made very much of an effort to stay awake for results in the US, but here it was inevitable.  My boss, Wade, even took my co-worker Julie and I over to the American Chamber of Commerce election watching party at one of the highrises here in Hong Kong.  It was CRAZY times!

As we arrived, we got to select our party affiliation buttons, and were treated to cheddar and caramel popcorn, Starbucks, and more TVs with CNN on than I could count.  I made my way over to the Starbucks counter and thanked the Chinese barista who excitedly told me that she felt very lucky to be working the Amcham event.  Apparently they fought over who got to go.  It made me realize that much more how American politics and our decisions really do interest and impact the rest of the world.

We were there at a particularly exciting time as CNN was beginning to project states for the different candidates.  I will say that in both my experience here and in Denmark that expats tend to be Democrats.  I don't know if it has something to do with the type of personality required to live abroad, or the worldview provided by having an international experience, but nonetheless, that's the

Calling it for Obama

fact.  So, every time Obama would win a state, there would be a raucous cheer, and each time Romney won, one or two lone enthusiasts would clap excitedly.  It was actually pretty funny to observe.  We were going to leave, but for some reason hung around and were there to hear CNN call the election for Obama.  The energy in the room was crazy with people high-fiving each other and merriment all around.  (Except the two Republicans, of course).





Anyway, this week has been really exciting and new and overwhelming, but I am starting to feel more and more like I actually live here instead of just being on an extended holiday where I happen to go to work.  It's a good feeling.

Til next time,

The Adventurer

Vietnam 1

This is called Vietnam 1 because I'm very sure that I will not be able to fit everything I want to say into one blog post.  First, let me say that I write this blog post almost guiltily.  I remember so vividly living in Phoenix and nannying for a family one summer.  They were young and cool, and I loved the wife.  They were also doubly cool in my eyes because there were abundant pictures of them traveling throughout Southeast Asia.  I can remember talking with her about this with a longing in my voice.  I remember asking her how this kind of life was possible.  (It turns out her dad was high up in a corporation based in Jakarta and that she and her new husband moved out to SE Asia for a year and based out of her parents' house while traveling and occasionally working).  I came to a realization at that moment that my life would probably never be as awesome as hers and went on with my life.

So I realize now, more than ever, that the life I lead is one that people can only dream about.  I don't say this in a bragging way, but conversely, in a blessed way.  It hit me during my trip that even a few short months ago, I didn't even have a dream of vising Asia, much less moving here.  Vietnam seemed as far away a palace as any.  But, here I am, and I'm constantly blown away at this opportunity, and cognizant that not everyone has the opportunities afforded me.

Okay.  Onto the details!  I'll try to put as much of our itinerary in so that if you ever get inspired to visit Vietnam, you can see what we did.

First and foremost, we didn't decide to book this trip until about 2 weeks before we were supposed to leave, so the flights there were a bit more expensive than they would probably have been otherwise, but still reasonable (comparable to a round trip flight in the US).  The flights we selected were about $50USD cheaper than the next cheapest option, but that left us leaving at truly heinous times of the day and night.  United Airlines was far and away the cheapest, so I booked a flight leaving Hong Kong at 10:50pm.  My friend Lillian had left the day before because she wanted to join the Ho Chi Minh swing dancing group that met on Sunday nights, and I needed to stay for church on Sunday.  But we'll get to that later.

Arriving at the airport, nothing made me feel like more of a rockstar than to used my newly acquired Hong Kong ID to breeze through immigration.  It is truly a wonder to me why other Western countries (hello, US) haven't implemented a procedure like this.  Possibly because lots of people don't ever travel outside the US?  In any case, instead of waiting in the lines with everyone who is not a HK resident, you get to bypass and head to the HK resident counter.  Where they scan your ID and send you on your merry way.  No passport, no stamping, no fuss.  So I was happy to take advantage of this!

After making my way to my gate, buying a coffee, and finally boarding, I finally got excited!  It hadn't felt like I was really leaving up until I boarded.  Arriving on the plane, blanket and pillow in hand, I expected to sleep the whole way.  That is until... announcement one letting us know that due to mechanical problems we were delayed "10-15 minutes".  Let me tell you that if an airline tells you this, they're probably lying.  Around an hour and a half later, we finally left the gate, "mechanical problems" all sorted out.  Instead of arriving in HCMC at 12:30, we now arrived at 1:30am.  This was by far the most terrifying part of the trip for me, really because I didn't know what to expect.

We had read on lots of blogs about the rampant scamming of tourists, specifically in taxis.  Either they would get way overcharged, the taxi would claim that the hotel they had booked had recently burned down and try and take them to another hotel, or they would drive off with your luggage in the back.  So obviously, this made me nervous, being a single female arriving in the middle of the night.  We had been advised to take Vinasun or Mai Linh taxis as they were much more reputable, and advised further to buy a taxi ticket inside the arrival hall in order to make sure we weren't cheated.  Because it was so late, however, the taxi office was closed, so I emerged into a feeding frenzy of taxis trying to get people inside.  I was probably asked 100 times if I needed a taxi, where was I going, etc.  I headed down to the end of the taxi stand where a cluster of Vinasun taxis were and was finally able to get a taxi.

Fortunately, the owner of the hostel we were staying at gave us printed directions in Vietnamese to give to the driver, down to where exactly to drop us off and the number to call when we got there so she could come and get us.  This really was above and beyond, and set my mind at ease.  It was crazy going through HCMC in the middle of the night, exhausted and having no idea whether the driver was taking me to my hostel or to the middle of nowhere.  But it turned out alright.  When we arrived at the place, he claimed his phone didn't work (though in the printed directions it said I'd pay him 10,000 Vietnamese Dong for making the call).  Finally his phone worked and out came the daughter of the hostel owner.  It is a good thing she picked me up, because I would never have found the place.

Long Hostel is not anything fancy, but at almost 3:00am, I had never been happier to see something!  Ms. Long's daughter walked me up to our first floor room, and after some knocking, Lillian woke up and let me in.  I pretty much crashed after that!  the next morning, we awoke to a great breakfast.  And I had my first Vietnamese coffee.  And then the heavens opened up.  Okay, kidding, but I loved loved loved it.  I'm pretty sure I drank about a gallon of Vietnamese coffee on this trip.

We started off our day by taking a city bus that cost us an impressive 4,000VND (Vietnamese Dong).  The equivalent of this in USD is about 20 cents, so it was insanely cheap.  We had almost no idea where we were going, except to visit the area around Reunification Palace.  After about 30 minutes on the bus, we realized that we had really no idea where to get off, or what landmarks to look for.  So Lillian approached the driver with our map in hand.  All he said was "20 minutes", so we waited.  One of the strangest things about being in Vietnam is the lack of English speakers.  I think it's probably the least English speaking place I've ever been, but the difference is really noticeable in the little things.  Even in areas I've traveled where peoples' English was limited, at least there was some minimum of communication.  But here it was pretty much all gesturing and pointing.  Please don't take this as a complaint - you probably wouldn't find a stronger advocate for learning languages than me - just a simple observation.  And my Vietnamese doesn't exist.  In fact, I can say one thing in Vietnamese and that is Beef Noodles.  So, also not incredibly useful. 

The other thing about Vietnam that really stuck out to me right away is the craziness of it all.  Ho Chi Minh city is the largest city in Vietnam, and the density and pace of things blew me away.  Literally right before leaving, the wife of the family I'm staying with in HK told me about her experience crossing the street.  As I stood unbelieving, she told me that crosswalks, traffic lights, etc, were mere suggestions and that if I wanted to cross the street, I should just walk out into oncoming traffic with a steady measured step, and that that the cars and motorbikes would simply go around me.  Don't stop under any circumstances, even if it looks like you're going to get careened into, she said.  Right, I thought, I'll tuck that away in my mind and see how it really is.  But how right she was.  That was the precise method for crossing the street and it is strange, exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.  People truly will go all around you.  On more than one occasion, seeing a motorbike flying towards me, I wanted to stop, but I pressed on and safely made it to the other side!

 One of the other surprises of HCMC is that road markings seem to only be a suggestion.  And there is a pecking order.  Basically, whoever is biggest gets to go first.  So being in a bus was actually quite a safe time.  I saw motorbikes driving on the sidewalk, cars taking their lane out of the middle of two lanes, and bicyclists just trying to make it in the midst of the din.



Another crazy thing I noticed is that people will literally load down their motorbikes to a level that I couldn't even believe.  I have absolutely no idea how this guy was operating his bike!  Look at that! It's like the entire produce section of HEB crammed onto a motorbike.  While I was seriously questioning this guy's judgement, I as also internally applauding him.  I guess when a motorbike is your method of transportation, you make it work.  I also saw 5 people crammed on a bike - 3 adults and two kids, but wasn't fast enough to get a picture.  The sad part of that was that most of the kids don't wear helmets.  The adults cover themselves head to toe to avoid sun exposure, and wear facemasks in most cases, but the kids don't, for the most part, wear helmets.  I saw on several occasions tiny tots clinging to mom or dad, or standing between the legs of their parents as they zipped through traffic.  I can imagine that lots of tragic accidents happen this way.  I did find a picture from this website: http://ferenc.biz/570-motorbikes-traffic-air-pollution-pictures-saigon-vietnam.html.  This guy has a lot of pictures that really do capture the craziness of HCMC.

 After finally finding our stop, eating at a disappointingly mediocre place for lunch, and walking around some more, we finally found our way to Reunification Palace.  This was the site of the South Vietnamese government, and was the place where the South Vietnamese President surrendered to the North.  It was interesting to see the history of the building, and to see that strangely, all of the furnishings from the 60's and 70's were all still in use, despite this place being an actual site for events and meetings as well as a museum.  The personal highlight for me was the rousing video at the end of our tour that used the world "American Imperialists" about 4,237 times.  It is always the case that views on things are different.



I did find it very interesting and strangely sobering to be in Vietnam knowing our history there.  Somehow, knowing that almost 60,000 US Soldiers died there made the trip take on a new spin.  It is of course hard to imagine what things would have been like almost 40 years ago in Vietnam, especially spending the majority of our time in the city.  But the history is definitely under the surface.  It was strange to see Ho Chi Minh everywhere - from statues to currency to pictures in peoples' living rooms.  He is everywhere.  There is undoubtedly a huge cult of personality going on there, and I've read that it is illegal to write anything negative about him.  Many families apparently also worship him as a God-like entity.  We did get into a more lengthy conversation with some people at our Bungalow in Phu Quoc, but I'll save that for later...

After an afternoon of sightseeing, we decided to take a little break and pop into a coffee shop for some spring rolls and what else, Vietnamese Coffee.  We were both pretty tired, since I had only had a few hours sleep, and had awoken Lillian in the middle of the night with my entry, so we decided to head back to our hostel.  We took some time to relax, and then started looking for a dinner place. Lillian really wanted  French food, so finding one close to the hostel, we set out.  Unfortunately, when we arrived, the restaurant looked extremely dodgy and was lit by only red lights, which didn't seem to be a good omen.  We turned back and asked the hostel owners for some recommendations, and they found a great little place about a 15 minute cab ride away called Le Jardin de Sao Mai.  It was located on a quiet alley inside an old, cute yellow house.  And the food was incredible.  I mean, seriously incredible.  I had the best Blue Cheese salad I have ever tasted, followed by a great Beef Roquefort, all accompanied by a great French Cabernet.  It was truly spectacular.  Lilian and I sat there for over two hours just chatting and hanging out.  It was one of those moments where I felt like I was truly taking a breath from the busyness of life, and simply enjoying.  I'd definitely recommend anyone visiting HCMC to try them!

The next morning, our trend of disturbingly early flights continued with a 7:05am flight to Phu Quoc.  Talked out of a 5am departure by our hostel owner, we arranged a cab at 5:30am, since our flight was domestic, we didn't need to be at the airport 2 hours early, she said.  We packed up our stuff, walked out to the street, passing the market which was already fired up (no pun intended) and into our awaiting cab.  We made it to the airport in plenty of time, approached the check in counter, and Lillian realized that she left her passport in the safe.  At the hostel.

At this point, I went into full problem solving mode.  Lillian asked if there was a phone in the area since neither one of us had International Roaming, and the check-in lady graciously lent Lillian her cell phone.  I, on the other hand, went to the customer service counter and asked how much it would cost to change our flights to a later time, just in case.  Armed with that information, Lillian told me that she had begged someone from the hostel to run her passport out to the airport, but that they said they were pretty busy, and would have to call back in 15 minutes. I thought to myself that of course they weren't going to bring it - and in fact, I was dubious that her passport would even still be there when we got back.

As we waited, it became more and more clear that we were not going to make the 30 minute advanced check in window, so I bought us tickets on the next flight out (because Lillian had also left her wallet with the passport).  Just as we conceded that we'd have to go back to the Hostel to get the items, Lillian called the hostel one more time.  One of the employees was on a motor bike bringing the stuff out to the airport.  I told Lillian to wait by the curb outside since we had no idea where she would be coming from while I went in to the customer service counter yet again to see what would happen if miraculously, Lillian's passport arrived before the 30 minute window closed. They assured me that I could get a full refund, but that the latest we could check in was 6:40.  As the minutes ticked by, we saw the girl from the hostel sprinting with Lillian's stuff at about 6:46.  All of Lillian's things were wrapped tight in saran wrap, and nothing was missing, including money and her iPod touch.  It blew me away.  As Lillian tried to give the girl some money to thank her, she wouldn't accept it.

It was one of those moments where I realized that there are good people in the world.  We didn't make our flight, though we had checked in and were in the terminal for our later flight before our original flight was supposed to leave, but no matter.  I got to have another Vietnamese Coffee while we waited, which was a pretty good consolation prize. All in all, a minor hiccup!

Next time, I'll write about our time in Phu Quoc which was for lack of a better word, Magical.

Til next time,

The Adventurer

Funny Vietnamese of the Day:

National Day = Holiday

 A couple of weeks ago, we had two days of holiday. One was for the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the other was for China's National Day (think 4th of July).  I had planned to go camping with some friends, but upon arriving to the MTR (metro) station where I was supposed to catch a bus, I found literally about 500 people in line for a 16 person bus.  After waiting for about an hour, I decided to not go with the group.  Looking back, I probably should have waited and sucked it up, but hey, hindsight is 20/20!


 Instead, I had about 48 hours to be completely alone - which was really good and somewhat sad, too.  Lots of people were out with their families and it made me realize how much I miss my family and friends in the US.  This is an inevitable part of living abroad, but generally speaking, I don't think I notice it as much.  I usually encounter people during the workday where these family relationships aren't so obvious.  This might be a good time to also mention that my family is going through some tough stuff.  I found out about 2 weeks after I got here that my mom has a tumor on her Thyroid.  We waited patiently to schedule the biopsy an then for the actual procedure, at which time we thought we'd have some answers. Upon hearing the results, we have had more waiting to do.  She has what's called a follicular tumor - the place where they biopsied the tumor appears to be benign, but apparently, in these tumors, you can have cancerous cells right next to benign ones.  It has been surreal to be here while all of this is going on.  Actually, in less than 12 hours, she'll have surgery to have the tumor removed, and we'll know for once and for all if the tumor is cancerous or not.

Flame-shooting burners

In the midst of all of this, I was feeling homesick and was home alone one night, so I decided to cook.  This would normally be a pretty straightforward experience, but living here with my host family it was quite an adventure.  I scoured the kitchen to see what there might be in the way of ingredients.  It was especially challenging because the family I live with are raw vegans!  I found lots of things in the fridge I couldn't pronounce, vegetables in the crisper I had never seen before (and had no idea how to cook), and couldn't find even a knife to save my life!

Getting my cook on

Thankfully, I finally found some pasta and some cheese in the fridge, so I thought, hey, comfort food!  Mac and Cheese was on the menu.  The only problem here is that there was no milk, so I had to substitute with Soy Milk.  And there was no garlic/onion powder, so I had to make due with fresh garlic (not an issue).  It is always awkward using someone else's kitchen, and this kitchen is no exception.  I kid you not, I looked for 15 minutes for a sharp knife and came up with nothing.  So, I cut the cheese into tiny squares (also couldn't find a grater) with a butter knife.  Yep.  It certainly wasn't the fastest cooking experience I've ever had, but everything actually turned out pretty decent.  The soy milk wasn't a desirable addition, but hey, desperate times call for desperate measures!  Oh, and I did almost singe my eyebrows off with the insane fire that leaps out when turning on the burner.  All's well that ends well though.

Credit goes to Lawrence for this photo

 On Tuesday, (thankfully out of my funk), I was invited by a friend to go hiking out near Shek O (the beach I blogged about when I first got here).  Neither one of us had a very clear idea of where we were going, so after cutting through a roped off trail, hiking 200+ stairs, and taking a wrong turn, we finally found the actual trail.  It was great to be out and about though, and luckily the actual hike part was entirely downhill.  It was crazy to be in the middle of the cemetery, looking down the rows upon rows of graves! But hey, it's handy if you just cant make it to the top - they can just roll ya right into a grave plot.  I kid. But seriously, I did feel like I was going to die at a couple of points.

Big Wave Beach

At the bottom of the hike, we emerged in a cute little village and proceeded to the beach.  It was a nearly perfect day, weather-wise with lots of big waves.  (Perhaps why it's called Big Wave Bay?) There were tons of surfers taking advantage of the waves, though I did hear from my boss who was at a neighboring beach that there were really bad riptides that day and several people drowned.  Nonetheless, I enjoyed the afternoon reading a book and drinking an Apple Soda from Pret (my new favorite beverage) and had a relaxing afternoon.  There were also a lot of domestic helpers out enjoying their holidays.  It was in a way strange but incredibly good to see them just out enjoying life, because they don't have a lot of time for leisure, in general.

Fishing Boats, once upon a time?

The best part of my holiday was getting to see the fireworks from our 23rd floor balcony.  I knew that I'd probably never have another chance as good as this one to see the fireworks from this angle, so I read up on my new Nikon and set out to take some pictures.  I think they turned out alright for my first try!  It was really incredible to see the fireworks behind this crazy city of mine.  Definitely one of those moments where I thought to myself, "I live here?!?"

I've decided to do a new part of each blog: Cultural Findings.  I observe all of these random moments that I find unusual or interesting, but never know where to put them in my blog.  So I've decided to sandwich them here, right above the Chinglish o' the Day. 

So, the Cultural Finding for this week is: Most Hong Kongers don't use car seats.  And after riding on various means of transportation, this shocks me.  Because it's not like the reason is that Hong Kong drivers have driving superpowers.  In fact, I've feared for my life on several occasions (mostly in taxis).  Now bear in mind, I haven't heard any shocking statistics on kids getting killed in car accidents since I've been here, but I can't imagine how people avoid accidents with the sheer amount of traffic I see here.  Just today I saw a family out with a baby that was maybe 3 months old.  Dad took the stroller, stuffed it in the back of a cab, and they all climbed in, mom with the baby in her arms.  I just think back to the PSAs in the US when I was growing up about how much force it takes to keep a baby in your arms if your car comes to an abrupt stop! Eek!

Funny Chinglish o' the Week:

At first I didn't notice the finger pointing.  I was like, should put on? What the heck does that mean?!  It seems as though many sign-making companies want to avoid English altogether, because I see a lot of symbols.  I love this sign - I laugh every time I pass by it! I specifically love the hard hat one.  What is the arrow on top of the hard hat?  Like, something will bounce off of your hard hat?  No idea!

Until next time,

-The Adventurer

Macau

Legit. And loving my København stamp next to HK.

The first and most relevant/exciting part of this post is that I GOT MY WORKING VISA! Hallelujah.  This was a major source of anxiety for me because it was truly the last hurdle I had to go through to be totally legit.  And believe you me, I'm all about being legit.  I came into Hong Kong on a tourist visa and had to wait to do basically anything until I got my working visa.  The specs of this are really boring, but the moral here is that everything hinged on this, so it's a big deal that it's finally done!  As part of the agreement, however, I had to exit Hong Kong and come back in the country on my working visa. The most logical choice was Macau, since it's just about an hour away by Ferry Boat.  Of course, if the church had opted to send me to Cambodia or Japan, I wouldn't have objected! Ha!  Anyway, I decided to take a trip to Macau on my day off to do some exploring, and to validate my newly acquired working permit.  (Not shown in pictures because it has personal numbers, etc, and I'm just not fancy enough to photoshop them out).

Macau and PRC flags

The Macau ferry terminal is about a five minute walk away from my office, which is convenient since I left my visa at the office on Sunday!  After I swung by and picked it up, I headed to the terminal.  There were two ferries to pick between, but I chose Turbojet because it sounded fast.  I know, very scientific.  I waited in a boarding hall that was in complete disarray, but fortunately caught on to the fact that we all had to get our tickets stamped with a sticker for our seat assignment before boarding.  The poor chap next to me, however, didn't fare as well, and was left wondering what had happened when he was denied boarding.  I helped him out...us Westerners have got to look out for each other.  Speaking of Westerners, there were the three most obnoxious college girls from the US on my ferry.  They did nothing but complain about the lines once we got to Macau, and were in general not pleasant.  I wanted to apologize to everyone around me on behalf of the United States of America, but sadly, I'm sure this is the impression many people have of Americans.  Sigh.

Moving onward.  I had no real plans for my day in Macau except one thing: eat an egg custard.  This, I found from reading blogs, was a must-do.  I planned to otherwise wander the city until I found something interesting.  I did pick up a free map at the visitor's bureau (Macau has an excellent one right in the ferry terminal), and I started walking towards town.   I followed the harbor for a while, but there was literally nobody around.  It was almost eerie to go from congested Hong Kong at all hours of the day and night to a city where you could walk and not run into people every five feet.  While exploring, I came across this apartment complex (of which I'd see many more). On all the balconies there were bars.  Not kidding, it looked like a maximum security prison.  I can't imagine there are that many felons in Macau, however, so I'm assuming they're standard apartments. 

 One thing I DID love about Macau is all the open spaces.  Every few blocks, there were open spaces with gardens, parks, benches, etc.  It was a great touch and made the city feel a little more intimate.  Hong Kong does not have very many of these spaces, so I definitely enjoyed them!  It was also interesting to see the very European architecture bang in the middle of Asia.  If you didn't know, Macau was a Portuguese colony, similarly to how HK was a British one, and there are a lot of carryovers from this period.  In fact, the signs are all in Chinese and Portuguese, so I had to bust out my Spanish on one or two occasions to read things.  Directly across from the park where I stopped, there was this gorgeous Catholic school, and a sweet little girl heading back to school from lunch with her mom.  I couldn't resist snapping this picture as she headed up the many steps!

I loved walking around and looking at the funny juxtaposition of these very European looking things surrounded by Chinese signs and very modern buildings.  It was definitely interesting.  One of the other things I loved were the cobblestone sidewalks.  There were obviously some amazingly talented craftsmen who created them.  They put the cobblestones in Europe to shame!

 I wandered around a bit lost for some time, until I poked in a Baptist bookstore.  The ladies spoke no English whatsoever, so I gave them a choice of bad Mandarin or bad Spanish.  The shopkeeper chose Mandarin, and I asked her for some directions.  I decided during my walk that I'd try to see the facade of the old St. Paul's cathedral (the facade is all that's left).

 ...while I was listening to the directions, I heard go right instead of go left and ended up back at the street I'd just come from.  Serendipitously, I did stumble upon this large map, and what do you know, but Rua de Afonso de Albuquerque was there!  It was funny to see a little piece of my hometown so far away.  It made me strangely nostalgic.  I did, however, get several funny looks for taking pictures of the map instead of the sights.  Judge away, everyone!

Casino Lisboa from the top of the fort. 

After working out the directions and heading up the hundred or so stairs, I made it to the Monte Fort!  It was built on a hill in the middle of the city by the Jesuits in the 1600's to ward off any attacks, but apparently, it hasn't seen a lot of action.  Well, except once when the Dutch came to invade and an angry monk set a cannon off, accidentally hitting a Dutch gunpowder ship and blasting half the Dutch fleet to smithereens.  Lucky mistake! 

This was the best view I had in Macau.  From the top you could see in each direction, to the casinos in one direction and to tightly packed apartments upon apartments in the other direction.  It was a nice break to stroll around and look at the different sights.  I decided to ask a group of Chinese businessmen if they'd take my picture as they were the only other people around. After nearly dropping my Nikon (heart attack moment) and it taking three of them to figure out how to press the shutter button, they finally worked it out.  This picture was the outcome.  Not great, but hey, I can say I've got a picture with the ugliest building in the world!  Okay, okay, maybe except that really tall and creepy pyramid building in North Korea, it might win.

 Pleasantly, I discovered that the cathedral I wanted to see was just a few steps down from the fort.  It was crazy to see just this facade standing, but apparently the rest of the cathedral had been destroyed in a fire and/or typhoon? So they didn't rebuild it.  This picture was taken by an awesome Vietnamese lady who was also traveling alone.  Her Mandarin was excellent, though I was surprised that she came up to me and initially asked me to take her picture in Mandarin straight off.  I don't know what made her decide to use Mandarin instead of Vietnamese, because honestly, what is the chance that some random white girl speaks either of those languages? Nevertheless, we started chatting, and I told her I thought it was brave that she traveled alone.  She said she was headed to Hong Kong, so I told her a couple of my favorite places to eat!

 If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you will know that I make mention of how hot it is at least once per post, and I can say that I will not disappoint here.  By this time in the afternoon, I was definitely starting to overheat.  There was a great tea shop right at the bottom of the stairs leading to the cathedral, so I took a rest and had the BEST milk tea I've ever had.  Nom.  It was delicious.

I did finally discover where all the tourists were, and headed back with the crowd.  I wasn't excited about going down the stairs I'd come up, so I wandered through a shopping area and came across this gem.  Don't you want to buy your clothes from Ick?  Haha. 

I think I might have made mention about the Mid-Autumn festival in a previous post, but the main shopping area was decorated to the nines with lanterns.  It was awesome to see them against the cobblestones.  Hello, East meets West!  I loved this little shopping area, though it was a lot more crowded than the way I came up.  

Along the way, I also accomplished my one and only Macau objective, and that was to eat a Portuguese egg custard tart.  And it was delicious.  All 7,000 calories of it.  It was a golden puff pastry doused in butter filled with a sweet egg custard.  Nom.  That's a once a year kind of treat!

 But, all good things must come to an end, and I was exhausted from the 5+ miles of walking I had done, so I decided to head back to HK.  There is this incredibly large bridge that connects the island of Macau to the part of Macau actually connected to Mainland China.  We went right under it on our way in and out.  I was in a middle seat on the way, however, sandwiched between a too-friendly Chinese businessman and a couple that looked about 120 years old, so I wasn't going to bother them to get out and take a picture.  Fortunately, I had a window seat on the way back. 

 Let me tell you that heading back to HK was a GOOD decision.  As we got closer, the water started getting more and more choppy, and the clouds started to look ominously grey.  I can now say that I've experienced my first "red" rain.  Hong Kong classifies the rain it gets by color (or if it's a typhoon by a number T3, T8, etc).  Amber is the lowest, then Red, then Black.  I can't imagine what Black would be like, because red was intense.  Here's a progression of the storm out my bedroom window...

These last couple of pictures aren't great, but I think you get the idea.  All of the buildings in Central were completely obscured by the pouring rain for about two hours, coupled with crazy lightening and thunder.  It was glorious to go to sleep to.

Anyway, that's it for now.  Stay tuned for next time - Camping and somehow I missed the Mid-Autumn Festival.

-The Adventurer

And for the sign o' the day...

Duly noted.