Grand Emperor Macau Peninsula

... of China. So with my swine flu and the weather I spent a ...

... inside the hotel. The sky-like ceiling was also pretty amazing, as well as the indoor canals, gondolas ...

... would be since we were there on a weekend. Unfortunately the cheapest table was $10 US. Too rich for our blood. Plus they give no free drinks! The scene even in the nicest casinos like the Wynn was depressing not fun like Vegas. Everyone is chain smoking, very serious and playing baccarat. 75% of every casino was baccarat tables. What a boring game-you bet player or dealer, that's the end. <br ...

... took the free Venetian Shuttle to the Macau Ferry, and from there we scammed a Grand Lisboa Casino bus driver into letting us take his shuttle to our hotel. Apparently we were meeting my mom, who had been gambling all day long and let us go off and shop on our own. Glorious. We saved around 40 HKD, which pleased us, and so we wandered around the hotel and casino for a while (it was not nearly as cool as the venetian) so we went outside for some food. We found ...

... Macau, and in 2005, the temple became one of the designated sites of the Historic Center of Macau enlisted on the UNESCO World Heritage List. A-Ma Temple The name Macau is derived from this temple. It is reported that when the first Portuguese sailors landed at the coast just outside A-Ma Temple, they asked the name of the place, the natives replied "A-Ma ...

... a ton of casino's with familiar names like the MGM Grand, Wynn and Venetian. Looks like the game of choice here is baccarat, but I did manage to find a black jack table and sat down to play a little. I ended up winning $500 HKD which was how much my hotel room cost. So I decided to quit then. Which worked out super well since I had to spend an extra night.

... only lashed with a bungee and moved significantly with the rolls. There was no-one sitting either side of me, so fortunately I heard the inevitable eruption, rather than saw it, but there was no escaping the smell. Once in Macau, it was easy to find the centre of town, and not too much hassle to find a hostel, albeit a ****-hole. Hong Kong and Macau show the true stamp of civilised territories: tourist information centres. It's been a long time since I ...

... no big loss. I contemplated replacing it before I left as it was. The real bummer is that I of course lost a bunch of pictures and had also now lost this cool little plug to transfer pictures to my iPod. Oh well. I'll probably be able to find one those plugs around here, too. $400 later I have myself a wonderful little 7 megapixel Canon with a massive view screen and fits easily into my pocket. More on Guangzhou next.

... to sustain us. It sounded simple enough but little did we know what an ordeal it would be. The map quest went without a hitch as did the snacks (yogurt, nuts and a Snickers!) but the ATM machines just did not want to give us a dime. We asked again and again for an American Express machine but through the translation errors and the direction difficulties, we went around and around to many dead ends. Finally at ...

... t just lax-- it wasn't there. In Hong Kong, we fell back into complete anonyminity. I could have brought a nuclear warhead and a small Chinese child in my backpack and no one would have known. I found it to be a little disconcerting. I picked up some bargains at the border (Almost everything is a bargain in China) and we went out on the town. Hong Kong was clearly much more European than Guilin. Drinks were overpriced and the atmosphere was all very hip and stylish. We did manage ...