Blog part 2 - HK, Macau, Xian

Once we arrived in Hong Kong airport, Jo & I headed off to catch the ferry to Macau. Only one doesn’t clear immigration. Ferry tickets to Macau, Shenzhen and Zhuhai are sold in the “in transit” area of the airport. Simply hand over your luggage tag and your luggage is collected from baggage claim & routed to the ferry. Now remember - this is the 1 airport in the world - so it works!!! The only catch is that they need 1 hour or more to retrieve the luggage. One serious plus: ferries have been added to the schedule - so you can catch one an hour later most of the time. One serious negative:  there’s no bar but (serious maybe) there is a Starbucks in the waiting area.

Jo had a minor situation with her airline luggage tag - Matt had it and was already though immigration (something about Jo trying to upgrade on the flight from Xi’an). To make a long story short, she was able to procure her luggage tag from Matt in the nick of time, but it did create a bit of an adrenaline rush. (hence the negative on no bar in the waiting area…)

Lastly - and how clever is this - you can check to make sure your luggage has been successfully re-routed before boarding the ferry! All you do is waive the claim check bar code under a reader and it tells you the status of your luggage.

The ferry ride was smooth and quick. We were met outside of Immigration & Customs by a Venetian rep that escorted us to a taxi and away we went. As you may know, I’ve been to Macau several times now - and darn it if their skyline doesn’t change each time! Talk about growth! The newest addition is an IE Pei-designed landmark in the bay - it’s either a new welcome center or monument celebrating something.

It really is a lovely sight driving over one of the 3 bridges between Macau central and the Kotai Strip, where the Venetian is located. I noticed that the “City of Dreams” a 3 tower complex with a Hyatt and a Hard Rock Hotel across the street had opened - but we never made it over there for a visit.

The Venetian in Macau looks like the one in Las Vegas, but has a casino 2.5 times larger. I thought it was 4x, but our friend Wolfram Diener who works there said it’s 2.5, so I’ll go with the expert’s figures! They have over 65,500 guests though the facility weekdays, over 100,000 on weekends and 92,500 on Sundays. Not including special events - exhibitions, conferences, or concerts!

After a quick shower to get some of the Xi’an grime off, headed out to meet another friend, Michael McCarty for drinks and dinner. Mike also works at the Venetian, but kindly met us at his place of work on a Sunday nite…had drinks at McSorely’s Pub followed by Tepanyaki at Edo, a Japanese place in the Canal Shops area (like Vegas!), then a bit of a dance at the casino’s club.

The club was an interesting mix of Australians, other Westerners, some HK Chinese and the occasional hooker (prostitution is mostly legal in Macau) and had a rockin’ Aussie band.

The next morning (yes, morning), I had a 9am business meeting on the other side of town. Fortunately, Macau also wakes up late! No traffic! When I arrived to the office for the meeting, a woman in a security uniform walked up and pointed this instrument at my left eyeball. She was reading my temperature as it turned out. (Silly me thought - why are they scanning my retina? OK - no more spy novels for Steph!!!)

Meeting went well and made it back in time to join Jo and Wolfram for a fantastic Italian lunch. YUM YUM. Risotto with truffle oil! Steamed mussels! Antipasti!!! It was a memorable meal not only for the food, but also for the company! After lunch, Jo & I gave the blackjack table a try. It’s played a bit differently there - the dealer takes one card only during the first deal, and then completes his hand once the table has taken their turn playing. After doubling our $$$ in 1/2 hour - it was time to WALK AWAY.

After a couple of drinks back at the pub (free wireless and facebook postings galore), it was time for Jo to pack, grab a cab and take the ferry to the HK airport to return to Sydney. I decided Morton’ Steak House sounded good - found the restaurant, sat down and after some quick calculations realized the smallest steak was going to set me back $70 USD. That’s right, $70. Not including drinks, appetizer, or extras (like baked potato or French fries). I left.

Ended up at a Tapas place in the Canal area of the hotel for dinner - then went back to chill out for part of the night and watched the Golden Globes while packing. It was nice to watch anything that wasn’t CNN, BBC or sports (Aussie Rugby!).

Got up again early, packed and was the last person to board the 9am Ferry to Hong Kong. Made it to the InfoSalons office in time to drop my luggage, say hi to everyone and grab a cab to the U.S. Commercial Service office across from the U.S. Consulate. They have a nice view from the conference room - see?
                               
After another couple of meetings (including a FAB pub lunch with Ian), all of a sudden it was 6pm! Dropped my luggage at Ian’s flat, changed into jeans and away we went to meet up with Cat (another fabulous Aussie who works for InfoSalons & had just returned from “holiday”). Off we went to Ian’s “local” pub - the White Stag. What a great pub! Killer people, bartenders and the owner Michelle (yet another Aussie) are fantastic. I plan to go there again.  Remember the White Stag in the Wan Chai area of Hong Kong. Tell them Stephanie from LA sent ya!
 

Hong Kong stays up LATE. Even during the week, it was easy to get dinner somewhere around midnight. Slept in Ian’s lovely guest suite one last night - got up early and was on my way to the Airport Express station (again!) by 8am.

The flight from HK to Tokyo on Cathay Pacific was nice - much newer plane - and was thankfully able to procure an upgrade from Tokyo to LAX to business class. Arrived almost 1.5 hours early to a very soggy but green LA. And FINALLY slept in the next morning!