Adventurasia Community

Everyone doin’ OK at wherever y’all are? Anything new? Has B been getting himself into any excruciatingly abnormal situations, N?

Well, what can I say about Macau? It’s an old polluted island which has the same crazy drivers as Taipei (scooters on sidewalks, running red lights, fanatical attempts to run down pedestrians)…..hmmmm…….I think I’ll call it “Mini-Taipei“. The beef jerkey/egg roll vendors are also overly aggressive as they try to get your business. There’s practically a jerkey vendor on every block grabbing you off the sidewalk a shoving samples into your hand in the futile hope that you’ll buy! Nonetheless, I still had fun. I hired a rickshaw driver to show me the main tourist sites. Not sure if I got ripped off but he charged 150 $HK per hour. The storefront shopping there is about the same prices as HK.

Here’s a tip for anyone heading to Macau in the future. The turbojet ferry costs about 130 $HK (one way) but if you know at least 4 days in advance that you’ll be going you can get the ticket from a HK travel agent for half the price. On the way back, however, you’ll have to pay the full price……and don’t forget your passport.

I’ll be heading out to Beijing on Saturday and on to Dalian on Wednesday. I’ll be on the prowl for bargains and knock-off brand name items. Oh yeah!….and I guess I’ll check out that Wall “thing”, some city that you can’t enter, and maybe Ming’s graveyard.

Meanwhile, for the past week or so in HK I’ve been mainly checking out museums (History, Coastal Defence, and Culture), doing mucho window shopping (the “sales” haven’t reached the bargain level yet and there’s nothing particulary interesting at the Temple Street Night Market…..except I found it kinda funny with people haggling over sex toys…..”Will you take less for this dildo?”), and doing lots and lots of walking with my uncle, the health and fitness guru. I think my feet are about to fall off especially in this 25′C humid temperature (although it has dropped a few degrees recently). At least I’m getting to know how to get around the city by myself.

I’ve also been hanging out at Dai Pai Dongs (kinda like a run down bubble tea house). The good ones are outdoors which have seating on the sidewalks and are located near street markets off the beaten track. There’s this one in Tin Hau which the business is so good that the owner can afford to close each day at 6pm.

I nearly got into a situation which I didn’t think I’d ever get caught in. I was in Tai Koo Shing and “had to go” urgently so I ran into this public washroom. Afterwards, I discovered (to my horror) that the stalls didn’t have toilet paper. Since I didn’t have any kleenex I had to ask the fella in the next stall if he could “spare a square” (Mgoi! Nay yao mo see gee ma?) An old man replied muttering, “Hmmmph, sah gway!” (”Nincompoop!”) Fortunately, Sze-Mei’s law firm business card was still in my wallet (just kidding, S-M! ) It turns out that there was a tissue dispenser HIDDEN near the washroom entrance and some kind hearted person tossed into the stall a handful of tissue because he probably couldn’t stand hearing me speaking badly and butchering the Chinese language anymore:
“Anybody!….MGOI! Ngoh mo see gee! Ngoh seung yiu see gee! Cheng man see gee hai bin do a??? Ngoh mo see gee! Aiiiiiyahhhhhhh!”

Hey, B! There’s a website which rates bathrooms across the world. There goes your dream of creating your own book on worldwide public washrooms…..heh, heh! (www.thebathroomdiaries.com)

Anyhoo……gotta sing, gotta dance, gotta go!……to Beijing!

Kiss, kiss!

Simon

PS - Here’s another short story for y’all on proper enunciation of the English language.