Macau

So first I wanted to expand upon my angry post. I still think about this nearly every day because can’t help but wonder who is behind the rule and what the heck they were thinking.

(Heather, I blame you for this conversation)

So the basic gist-

Apparently, the rules normally applied to just carryons were transferred to apply to checked luggage as well. Which we didn’t know. So we were checking our luggage, I seemed to be ok, luggage went through scanners, got my ticket, walked away, when I heard my name being called. I walked back to the desk and was told that they needed to get into my suitcase. It was locked (with an international TSA lock- as an international airport, they should have had the key, but it’s China, so…). So I went an unlocked it.

This was the conversation:

Lady: you have hairspray?

Me: no

L: you have hairspray

M: no, I don’t

L: you have hairspray

M: I think I would know if I had hairspray, and I don’t. I do not have hairspray

she rifles through my dirty laundry, poor thing, until she reaches my insect kit that was VERY expensive and bought from Passport Health. She pulls out the repellant, reads the label.

She then produces a lighter, sprays the bottle, and lights the spray on fire using the lighter, and says:

L: you can’t bring this. Sorry.

M: it’s in my checked bag, of course I can bring it.

L: no, it’s flammable.

M: When you set something on fire with a lighter, it will catch fire, yes. But it’s in my checked bag, where it won’t be accessed by anyone carrying a lighter, so it’s allowed.

L: no, sorry. (and holds up the lighter)

M: so I can’t bring it because you set it on fire with a lighter? (she nods). What kind of logic is that? If you set my shirt on fire with that lighter, it will produce a flame too, should I take it off? (she laughs). If you set my hair on fire, it will produce a flame too. Should I shave my head? (she didn’t laugh at that one. a manager has walked over, and heard me talking about the lady setting my shirt and hair on fire, and they converse briefly in Chinese).

Guy: sorry, you can’t take it on. It’s flammable.

M: yes, anything you set on fire with a lighter is flammable. (he stares at me, she stares at me). Sir, look at my legs, my arms, my face. I didn’t wear that for one day and look what happened. I need that. (blank stare). I’m leaving the country. Whats the big deal? (blank stare). Ok, if you can pay me for it, or provide me with something that you deem acceptable, then you can have it.

Blank stare. Now a company staff member walks over and asks whats going on. They turn around and get the rule book and begin to say something about April 14, I believe. I don’t remember the exact conversation from here on because now I’m angry that this ridiculous rule exists and that I’m actually fighting these people over a lack of common sense. I learn that the rule about “flammables” not being allowed in checked baggage either took effect april 14. I remember mentioning to the staff having left China, entered the US, left the US, entered Canada, left Canada, entered China, and flew several times within China with it, all after April 14, so why enforce the rule now that I am leaving the country with no intentions to come back? By then, I felt bad because I knew I was holding up the line, and our staff member was growing impatient with me, so I ended up leaving it, and am still quite angry by this ridiculous rule that makes no sense whatsoever.

I mean, hello! Anything that you set on fire with a lighter should be considered flammable. So don’t set it on fire. Duh! Common sense. Plain old common sense. I mean, by that logic, only robots or people wearing fireman uniforms should be allowed on planes, without bags. I mean, really.

I wasn’t trying to cause a problem, but I get upset when people lack common sense. If she had simply said aerosol sprays are not allowed, I would have been angry because I needed my spray, but would have accepted it. But instead, she said that the reason I couldn’t bring it on was because she could set it on fire with a lighter. Where’s the logic in that? Really? Where’s the logic?

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So we are in Macau. Yes. We are staying in a very touristy area. The streets are empty because everyone is gambling. We walk around and go “Where are all the people?“ It’s surreal, really. Fishermans Wharf is across the street and is like a scene from Epcott, complete with several cities and continents worth of varying architecture. This area is kind of boring, to be honest. Most of the Macau research I have found say that the books and most tourist websites inflate the spectacle of the local sights, that the history is interesting, but that the sights aren’t impressive at all. http://www.banoffeepie.com/alan/mg/

We haven’t found any real grocery stores, some small mom and pops around that have a few things

We have ventured several times to Senado Square. And here we have the answer to the question above: The people are at Senado Square! Without the glitz, it’s like walking through Times Square, it’s so packed. You can sample slabs of meat from almost every vendor in the meat market section. They each have about 20 different types of meat presented in squares that resemble jerky. Pork, beef, veal, chicken… And they cut it using scissors. I am convinced that people hang around on the street and get samples from every vendor, therefore getting lunch free hehe It’s funny! I tried the garlic chicken. It was greasy, and weird-ish, but I tried it!

In the main square, they have also set up a jumbotron that is broadcasting the Olympics and chairs are set out under a tarp so people can watch. There’s a starbucks, McDonalds, watsons, etc.

Within walking distance, there’s also a few tourist sites. One is the St Paul ruins. Its cool to see from far away, and to read the history of it, but it’s not much to see up close. Behind it is a tomb of one of the religious leaders, and there are shelves with bones in view. I can’t explain this well, you’ll have to see the pictures later.

Then we climbed the mountain to see the fortress. The research was right on this one too. Nothing really to see, just some old bricks. I heard the museum (which you pay for) was quite interesting, so I may go back and do that at some point. The view was pretty nice, I got some pictures of Macau from above.

We tried to find the historical cemetery (members of the Proctor family - Salem witch trials- are buried there), but the maps of the area are not accurate, and the cemetery turns out to be quite a distance away, so we did not go on that outing.

I have not been gambling, but I have been out doing other things. We went to the Venecian and wandered around. We actually went to buy Cirque du Soleil tickets. We are in the cheap seats in the back, but I’ve never seen a cirque show live, so for the $45US, money well spent. I’ll post about that later. We ate in the food court, Mexican. Limited menu (it is a food court, afterall) so I got nachos. Bad, I know, but they were ground beef nachos, and actually pretty decent. No worse for you healthwise than anything else on the menu. Then the girls and guys split up. Girls went window shopping, we walked around, oggled some diamonds jealously, tried on some dresses, looked at shoes, and listened to some Vegas performers singing opera. The venetian, I hear, is just like the one in Vegas (which I’ve never been to).

One night for dinner, a group of us traveled to the IFT (I think, it’s a hospitality training school for all areas of hospitality). We got gourmet food (I got African-spiced chicken with couscous and courgettes) for very reasonable prices. I split dessert, which was a rhubarb and blueberry pastry thing, yum! Spent 80MOP ($10US) on this wonderful food.

We celebrated two cast members birthdays (same day), which was fun. There were 16 of us, or so, so we had to split into 4 cabs. Unfortunately, we all got separated. Two cabs were following each other, so they both got lost, and our cab, the last one, caught up with the first cab. We had one birthday boy with us, so we hoped the other two cabs caught up so they could have one birthday boy too (of course we later learned they did). We learned this neighborhood that was supposed to have an eclectic mix of restaurants was full of wedding stores, and no food. We finally found a place and it had some pretty decent food, I got beef noodles with pepper sauce (basically spaghetti, peppers, and beef).

The shows have been great! We’ve been pretty much sold out, and the audiences are great! Quiet, attentive, reactive, they laugh a LOT, it’s been excellent! And finally, I have a decent dresser. She messes up the order of my costumes and sometimes piles an entire act worth of costumes on my chair, I guess not thinking that my costumes were made to only be able to wear one at a time, and since I can only be one person at a time, I only need the one on my body and the one on my chair for my next change. I feel bad because I’ve become so accustomed to bad dressers that I’ve become self sufficient, so I’m not used to being helped by someone who is always there and ready to help.

Today a group of us are going to see the new Cirque du Soleil show at the Venetian. I’m so excited!! I’ve never seen one live!

And tomorrow, a very small group of us are going to Hong Kong Disney, which I may be even more excited about.

And FINALLY my friend Ryan and I are going to be catching up here in Macau. He should actually be here in about 2 hours.

And I’m finally feeling the crunch of not having my credit card. Ugh… I feel naked without my drivers license, credit card, and cell phone. I feel a piece of me is missing, it’s weird!

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Ryan finally got here this morning. It only took several tries and crossing the border, but we FINALLY got together. I feel bad because his flight got changed fairly last minute to a really busy couple of days for me, but in a stroke of coolness, our peeps have been really cool with him, so at least when I can’t be around, he’s met people and has someone to hang with.

Today the group traveled to the Venetian, and we talked Ryan into seeing the Cirque show. I can’t imagine that there’s a bad seat in the house, we were in the last couple of rows in the cheap seats. While my glasses were foggy a bit (someone remind me to get a good cleaning cloth from the US, these Chinese cleaning cloths aren’t cutting it), I could still see everything! The show, “Zaia”, is in previews, but honestly, I’d never seen a Cirque show live. Some of the acts were just incredible, exactly what I would imagine it would be live, having seen some tv produced productions of Cirque.

My only disappointment, and several agreed, several disagreed, was that it seemed oddly more focused on the “circus” aspect than the acrobatics that have come to be known with Cirque productions. It’s hard to explain. The talent was just incredible, and it was visually stunning to see, with tons of aerial work, but the story through line was gone in this one. (I think it’s about a young girl who travels from a big city to space, or something, which we got at the beginning, but then lost somewhere in the middle). It just felt oddly “circus” instead of Cirque du Soleil. But I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

Then a few of us went to the food court at the Sands, and I got some kind of Indian dish, mostly bread and a dip. They are ALWAYS sold out of the other Indian dish (they have four options, how do they sell out of it all?).

(can't find the rest of the blog, more later)