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Sunday Sunset at South Beach |
Welcome to my first official long weekend post, and happy Labour Day to all the folks back home! I say "first official long weekend post" for several reasons. First, back at home, it is in fact the long weekend. Second, EVERY weekend in Hong Kong is my long weekend thanks to my top-heavy, travel-happy schedule this term at HKU which has me capping off my school week on wednesday evening just in time to watch regular folk struggle through the hump day grind. Third, if this past weekend is any indication of what's in store for the rest of the term, then Monday seems like a fairly opportune time to sit down and do a little recap of the week's events.
Macau: Early Thursday afternoon we gathered passports, rallied the troops (18 of the law students on exchange from Canada, the US and Israel) and hopped a ferry to Macau, a former Portuguese colony on the western side of the Pearl River Delta. Although Macau has been appreciated for years for its unique mixture of Chinese and Portuguese (Macanese) culture, it appears on the travel radar today primarily as a mecca for gambling and shopping.
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Insert "bus full of lawyers" joke here: |
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Hard Rock Casino, Cotai |
Macau has been dubbed the Las Vegas of South East Asia and it doesn't take long to see why. A cruise down the central strip reveals block upon block of casinos and luxury brand mini-malls, each more ostentatious than the last, A short trip across the harbour to Taipa will land you on the Cotai strip where recognizable American imports such as the Venetian and the Hard Rock dominate the skyline.
To give you an idea of the sheer size of these monstrous complexes, the
Galaxy Resort, set to open in 2011, will take over an impressive 550,000 square-meters of prime real estate in Cotai and will consist of more than 2,200 guest rooms, 50 food and beverage outlets, 52,000 square meters of oasis gardens and the world's largest sky wave pool (4,000 square meters) complete with its own 350 ton white sand beach.
The Venetian, located right next door, boasts similar statistics and is currently listed as the world's largest casino.
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Overview of Galaxy Macau, opening 2011 |
If all of this seems absurd, rest assured that the space is all being put to good use. We surveyed the scene mid-afternoon (on a weekday mind you) only to find that most of the casinos were already bustling, mostly with visitors from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the Mainland (where gambling is currently illegal).
After exploring the casinos, we regrouped for dinner at
Fernando's: a delightful Portuguese spot off the beaten path on Hac Sa Beach. The fish was fresh, the sangria was plentiful and the company was lively. After negotiating a ride back to the strip with a local, we hit up the Hard Rock to take advantage of some free champagne and then jumped a cab to D2 for some more drinks and dancing. In true vegas style, the DJ was spinning a rousing mix of house and top 40 and the (female) entertainment was provocative to say the least. Around 3 a.m. there was a noticeable shift in the room's demographic as a large cohort of Russian girls began to work the crowd, watched closely by some serious looking dudes who stayed in booths enjoying bottle service.
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Dinner at Fernando's |
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The Ladies: Rodan, Nicole, Kelly, Kora, Me, Nathalie, Noeme and Noa |
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Leaving Hard Rock |
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Joel and Jesse enjoying the scenery |
Of course there is plenty to do in Macau even once you tire of all the gambling, shopping and drinking (read: once this town has swallowed your wallet). The historic centre of Macau was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005 thanks to its culturally significant temples, churches, fortresses and monuments. A walk around town would have been splendid had we not arrived just in time to catch the tail end of a typhoon passing through. The sheets of rain quickly ruled out the other activity I had planned for Macau: a death-defying leap off of Macau Tower which plays home to the
world's tallest bungy. Fortunately for me and unfortunately for my coffers there are lots of weekends left in the term to explore this sexy SAR.
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Lippo Towers from Hong Kong Park |
Back in the City: Friday was uneventful as I spent most of the evening recovering upon my return to HK. I spent Saturday morning at the gym and spent the afternoon wandering around Hong Kong Park and Admiralty. Notwithstanding the groups of tourists the park is a peaceful sanctuary juxtaposed against the bustling city.
After a long day of walking around, I joined Jesse, Nicole and Mikey for some authentic cantonese noodles at a local spot just outside of Causeway Bay in Tin Hau. The food was delicious thanks to Mike's ability to order everything in Cantonese! We let dinner digest as we walked around Causeway Bay and stopped for a quick dessert at a local Chinese dessert spot in the World Trade Centre. We avoided all
durian-based dishes (a stinky melon considered to be a delicacy here for reasons beyond my comprehension) and selected delicious mango, banana and ice cream treats. We capped the night off at a sweet shisha bar in LKF called Alhambra which overlooks D'Aguilar, the main street in LKF.
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LKF from above |
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Kiwi Martinis and Mint/Grape Shisha |
Wakeboarding in Tai Tam: To cap the weekend off, on Sunday I joined Kora and our friends Doug (from Queen's), Tomo (from Japan) and Mitch (from Sidney) for an awesome day of sun and surf in Tai Tam on the south side of the island.
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Makeshift Dock |
No one ever told me that Hong Kong was known for its wakeboarding, but it is apparently wildly popular, at least among expats, and the guys seemed to have a great hook up with the boat owners in the area. The water was warm and incredibly calm compared to Victoria harbour, although I still struggled with the waves which turned my legs and arms to jell-o after about the third run.
On the way home we stopped for a late lunch and a swim at South Beach. The spot is popular with locals and so we dined on burgers and caprese salad before plopping down on the sand surrounded by families speaking French, Dutch and English.
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Driver Extraordinaire |
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Mitch Jumps the Wake |
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Doug Gets Some Air |
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Wakeboard Virgin Gets Up!! Very Impressive with this boat |
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Tomo Works the Waves |
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My Comparatively Unimpressive Moves
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Me and Kora at South Beach |
By 8:30 we were feeling peckish again and so we met up for dinner at the Clay Oven- an Indian food restaurant in Kennedy Town. We were joined by Mike Atlas, another law student from Queen's, Nicole, Jesse and Amy, a Texan who now works as a trader in town. The food was fantastic and abundant, as were the drinks. No one was quite ready to call it a night so we finished the weekend off at a British Pub where we ordered beer towers and played some pool before crashing for the night.
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Nicole Working the Table |
Overall, an unforgettable weekend. Can't wait to do it all again in two days!!
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