The Final Few Days

We made a brief pit stop back in Shenzhen before heading over to Hong Kong for the next few days.  Apparently the whole city of 9 million didn't even exist 50-60 years ago and now it's one of the most successful Special Economic Zones in all of China.  It seems the city has done well - it's built up with golf courses and clean buildings.  The pollution is contained only to the water, it seems, and the sky is so blue!  "If you drop a seed, it will grow."  As Na - my former TA and growing friend - was commenting, it's as if China keeps popping up these huge cities every few years and never failing to succeed.  "China can't afford to take any steps backwards.  It's too big to fail."

Meanwhile, back in Hong Kong, I was kind of surprised at how dark it is there.  I'm not sure if it was because I went out on the town mainly at night or if it had to do with the constant overcast sky and rain due to the summer weather.  Either way, it drips there.  Water (I'm assuming) falls from the corners of street signs and umbrellas over the stores to make a permanent dark mark on the sidewalks below that serve as your only warning before you feel something wet fall onto your shoulder or forehead and slide down your face in a slow motion-like movement that you wonder what consistency the liquid was really made up of...  That happens a lot, even when it's not raining.  And it's supremely annoying!
But on the more interesting side, it's lit up at night like Old Town Orlando!  The neon lights of Vegas combine with the walkways of New York and the streets of Beijing to create the most interesting city China has yet to offer.  The nightlife is pretty good.  Much better than anything Missouri has to offer, at least.  But like the rest of China, there's still a huge gap between the classes.  It really becomes obvious when you're walking down the streets with a McDonald's and Starbucks in a skyscraper on one side and a mom & pop shop inside a laundromat on the other.  We didn't have a lot of time to really get to explore the city - we were given one day to do what we wished.
So I hopped next door to: Macau!
The section of islands are really just Vegas surrounded by water.  Only bigger.  It's mainly hotels, casinos, beaches, and these wonderful custard egg tarts that are a Portuguese specialty (also mentioned previously).  Deciding to go check it out because I had nothing better to do with my time and I didn't need a visa to visit if I was there for less than 30 days, I took a ferry and headed on over to Macau.  Besides only being able to walk around and explore for 30 minutes, my only regret is not going at night.  It must be beautiful at night.  I can just imagine all the casinos and hotels lit up along the Cotai Strip.
I left my hotel around 11am and walked on over to the subway to get off at the southern tip of Kowloon.  After walking what seemed like an eternity, I made it to Hong Kong City and the ferry station... Only to find out the next available ferry was at 1pm.  2 and a half hours later, I stepped off the ferry, went through customs, got my passport stamped in a very pretty aquamarine color, and hopped onto a random bus for a free ride to the casino of my choice - The Venetian.

Now, I wish it had been to my knowledge where each of the major casinos were located because The Sands was right next to the ferry station.  The Venetian was not.  In fact, The Venetian happens to be on the farthest tip of the island farthest away from the ferry station!  25 minutes later, I was wondering if our bus driver was really a kidnapper or Oriental suicide bus-bomber in disguise who randomly chose our group of tourists to send flying off the top floor of some soon-to-be-famous skyscraper due to the international phenomenon he was about to create when we finally pulled up to the bus depot of the casino.  The bellhops open the double glass doors for you into the hotel and I was immediately surrounded by red carpets leading up to the casino floor and ceilings painted like that of the Wieskirche pilgrimage church with images of pastoral angels and rococo architecture.  The second floor contains a small river running through shops of Guess and Calvin Klein with Italian men giving rides on gondolas, singing songs under the "sky" painted onto the ceiling and smells of Italy that float through the air conditioning.  It's really quite something.  They went all out on this building - and for good reason.  The Venetian, I heard, happens to be the 5th largest building in the world (largest in Asia) as well as the largest casino in the world.  If you're going to have those kind of stats, you'd better live up to them, and The Venetian does not fail to disappoint.
After walking around the casino floor and musing through some shops, it was time to leave.  Jumping back on the bus, ferry ride across the pond, then reentering Hong Kong - I tried to find a short cut back to the subway to make it to my hotel in time for our final program dinner.  Well.... I found it.  But then I also happened to find something which I interpreted to mean "shortcut back to the original destination you were particularly looking for!"  It lied to me.  I ended up walking across Kowloon Park where the locals were playing basketball and football in some pretty shady, unwell lit areas.  About halfway through the park, I realized I was being followed by some guy in a red shirt since I left the ferry station, so I stopped under a gazebo where a few other people were laying out under the shade and waited for him to pass before continuing on my journey back to the hotel.  I managed to make it in just enough time to get ready and have a bit of girl time with Beth and Lindia before meeting the rest of our crew for dinner.

We took the subway to the restaurant and the elevator to the 14th floor for some serious views of Hong Kong at night.  Simply wonderful.  We said our formal goodbyes over some really good food and left at the end of the night with tickets to our plane rides waiting for us the next day.  But before actually going to bed and getting a good night's rest like we should do, we all decided to go out on the town one last time.  After wandering around meaningless streets for a bit, we ended up dancing until the sun came up and accompanied that with a McDonalds' breakfast a few hours later.
Jack, Mohsen, and I checked out of our rooms around noon and headed to the airport - saying goodbye to China for the last time.