Portuguese architecture in Macau...
Free tickets to the USA vs. Lithuania exhibition game before the Olympics!
Lindsay and I at the game... so close!
The Famous Casino Lisboa...
Hac Sa Beach (aka 'Black Sand Beach')...
Sneaking into the Westin Resort Pool..
*YAY pics finally!*
After the first session Lindsay and I spent our break in Macau. I think it has been our favorite experience in China so far. We just had a lot of fun!
Macau is known as the "Vegas of Asia." It was once owned by Portugal and was handed back to China in the late 90’s. It is changing rapidly with new casinos and resorts. Right now the Venetian Macau is the biggest casino in the world - three times the size of the one in Vegas! There is a Wynn and MGM Grand as well. We stayed in a hotel with out a casino and it was really nice for 630 Hong Kong Dollars (about $80 USD). We were just happy to have a soft bed with two pillows! It was also a short distance to a lot of the main attractions in Macau. The first night we walked around the main island of Macau. We passed through the famous Hotel and Casino Lisboa and the Wynn. Both VERY nice!! Didn't do any gambling though. We opted for a nice dinner - something NOT served on a metal tray like at camp lol. We got this REALLY good Portuguese steak and some chicken. We were stuffed by the end. We called it and early night so we could do as much as we could the next day. We were excited to sleep in our comfy beds anyways :)
The next day was one of the most eventful days we'd have in China so far. We woke up and got some breakfast at a place down the street from the hotel. We then headed to Hac Sa Beach on Colone Island. Hac Sa means "Black Sand." It's about a 20 minute bus ride from Macau City. It wasn't the nicest beach, but it was a beach and we were happy. We layed out and put our feet in the water. It's not a very big beach and we walked down the coast to the Westin Resort. We were originally going to just walk around, maybe grab some food. We ended up at the pool! It was sooooo nice and relaxing. I couldn't relax at first because all I could think of was getting kicked out but it all worked out. The British Olympic team was actually staying there and we saw some of the athletes, that was kinda cool :)
Then we headed back to the bus and spent the say going to the Macau Wine Museum (for the free wine at the end, but only one sample so that kinda sucked); ruins of the St. Paul Cathedral; roaming the old streets; shopping; eating egg tarts; getting lost and then finding our way back. We did ALOT of walking that day! We went back in the early evening to rest up for the night. We were going to go "all out."
After a good power nap, a few beers, we got all glammed up for the night. Who knew where the night would take us. We decided we wanted to see the Venetian - right now the biggest casino resort in the world I believe. Four times the size the one in Vegas. When we finally found our way in, we headed straight to the bar (who'd have guessed that?). We had planned to have only one drink then go check out the shops... plans changed. Turns out the USA Men's basketball team was staying at the Venitian playing a few exhibition games before the Olympics. A few of the sponsors who set up the gym equipment for them were chillin at the bar after the game. We ended up chatting for a few hours and got a few free rounds of drinks (lemon drop shots) and free tickets to the USA vs. Lithuania game the next night! Nice guys who really made our trip just over the top. Well we somehow stumbled our way back to our hotel and passed out.
We stayed at our hotel until we had to checkout the next day at noon. The hotel held our bags for us for the whole day. We spent the afternoon finishing up shopping and wandering. In the afternoon we headed back to the Venetian for the game. Turns out the tickets they gave us included a reception by invitation only, and we got to go! It was for all the sponsors. They had lots of pretty food and sushi! We were quite excited :-) Then we headed to the game, it was sold out. Had a great time cheering for team USA!! By the end of the game it was around 10pm, and we had to get back to the border to get back to Zhuhai by midnight. We figured a taxi would be easy....so did everyone else! The taxi line was insane! We had to walk out of the Venetian a few blocks down the road and we finally got one. We got back to our hotel, grabbed our bags and headed to the border. We made it in time (but we secretly would not have minded if we 'accidentally' didn't make it back in time hehe).
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