One High-Flying Week: Part 3: Electric Boogaloo

Well, it is a little after 1 AM here in Shanghai. I am still awake. I cannot sleep. And you readers get to benefit from this. I don't think that was in my contract. Anyway, if something looks really stupid on here, textwise, it is probably because I have not been sleeping (well) due to projects and papers. You know, the usual end of the semester stuff. Don't worry though, my sanity is the only thing that is being diminished.

Anyway, picking up from where I left off last post, after the bungee jumping, I had a small-ish adrenaline rush for the day, and in the area which can be considered the Asian version of Las Vegas (Macau), this could be a really, really bad thing. Especially when you get a tour of the Venetian Hotel/Casino before you get turned loose for the night. We got more of a behind the scenes tour, seeing where the employees worked and basically lived their lives, as well as some of the major operations of the casino. On the whole, it was an interesting experience, especially for someone who has never really had a major look at the gambling world.

So, that night, we had a free night to do what we wanted, and you can guess what basically everyone in the group did. That's right, gambled away their money. I am not going to say that everyone lost money, but I can say that I was in the red for the night. I hit the poker table, lost the money I had set aside for that purpose, and basically called it a night. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

Stupid straight flush on the river...

Any, I realized that I did not take a lot of pictures in Macau, apart from everything on top of the tower. I do not think I was as impressed with Macau as other people. I loved Hong Kong, and I have liked other places I have been to, but not Macau for some reason. I mean, it is a great place, but I feel like it is trying too hard to be like Las Vegas, and that detracts from the experience.

Not the Venetian, but I did go to this casino later on in the evening.

The next day, we did some slight sightseeing before we caught our long, arduous, five minute ferry ride across the river to Chinese soil. Once we hit land, we took a bus to our hotel/resort in Zhuhai. Good god, was that place fuuuuun. It was just a great place to sit back, relax, and just enjoy yourself; I know we all did at some point. And, yes, there were hot spring at the resort. Yes, they were very hot.

We spent the night here and had an amazing time. The next day, though, was the last day of our trip. It had been a great trip, but I think some of us were itching to get back to campus.

We had a few more sights to see before our flight out, though. First was the Deng Xiaoping Memorial Park, which honors when Xiaoping, then 79 years old, made his way up the mountain, saying "There is no turning back now." Going up that mountain, in what felt like at least 85 degree, 99.99% humidity, I could see what he meant. If you tried to go back, you would have been dead. That, and I realized I have nothing on a 79 year old guy. I was basically dead on the way down anyway.

Looks innocent enough at the beginning...

Me and Deng at the top. It was taking most of my energy to keep standing.

After that wake-up call, we went down to the coast, where there is a statue out on a rock in the water. On the whole it is a pretty basic view, but still nice to see.

Our last stop was Shijingshan Park, which is basically a big sightseeing point. You take a cable car to get up to the top, which is fun enough, but getting down is so much more fun.

The view going up

The view from the top.

We all were playing one of those rigged fair games. I played once, and lost badly. Oh well.

To get down, we could either take the cable car down, or ride on little carts down what basically looked like a roller coaster track. Which do you think I did?

Convincing Muhdi to do this was like pulling teeth. He was still freaking out the whole time.

After that, the trip came to an end, as we made our way to the airport and our flight. I had a little scare there, as everyone was looking at my passport with a lot of scrutiny. I made it through, though, and we eventually got back to the campus.

On the whole, I really enjoyed the trip. It was a great experience, and there are a few places I would love to go back to (OK, basically Hong Kong). if you get a chance to do anything like this, do not hesitate.

Until next time, kiddies...