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For some sorta business deal me & my colleague, shals were invited for a business trip to the Macau, together with our tauke(s). Of course this trip is purely on IT deals, gamblin’ or any other activities at own expenses.
** This would be a rather long post as I’ll talk ’bout all aspects of this trip, includin’ my own experience and some introduction of the city. I broken down the entire post into outlines listed below, for those lazy reader you may click on a specific topics 
Introduction to Macau
1st Day (Thu)
2nd Day (Fri)
3rd Day (Sat)
4th Day (Sun)
The entire city comprises of 2 small islands aligned along the longitude, linked by a couple of bridges in between. A city previously “colonized” (or administered) by the Portuguese, was returned to China as Special Administrative Region on 20th December 1999. Quite interestin’ though, Macau is the name of the city, however it’s further broken down into northern island which known as Macau downtown, whilst the southern island is segmented into northern part, Taipa (氹仔) and the southern part Coloane (路環).
Day 1
We decided to go for a walk around Macau downtown, since it was the first day and we dun have any task yet. Got out from bus at the city centre and walk around, before we head for lunch. All I can see was fancy signboard hanging all around the buildings. These buildings look even dramatic at night, where all the flashy and shimmery neon lights comes into scene. See the different between left and right photo, no doubt both are different casino but the outlook of both casinos look quite alike. Down the road we walked, my eyes could never escape from seein’ casinos. No matter which direction I face, there’s at least one casino in sight. Those names are quite funny though, I remember one of it called Fortune Casino (財神娛樂場). This is not surprising at all, as most of the occupation of their citizen rely on casino business. See a dealer inside the photo? I can include a dealer into my photo easily. They’re everywhere on the street.
In Taipa, there isn’t even a SINGLE traffic light. The cars will automatically slow down or stop for the pedestrian to cross. The drivers there are courteous. So what’s the second famous aspect of Macau after gambling or casino? Pawn? Nope, pawn is somethin’ to do with gamblin’, so yet it still falls under the “casino” category. Yes, porn. Along the street there’re a lot of lady standin’ there tend to give out flyers. Looked at ‘em for more than half a second, it was then she’ll approach you recommendin’ all the pretty gals. Yucks…It’s awful.
Since we skipped our breakfast, we’re actually observin’ for an eye-catchin’ restaurant. We ordered mostly local cuisine. Not bad though, I appreciate the wooden barrel rice (木桶饭), it’s kinda unique and the taste is not bad at all.
While eatin’ some incident suddenly crossed my mind. Ok, imagine this: when you’re given an empty plate and an empty bowl (Chinese food), as a Malaysian, subconsciously we tend to put the dishes onto the plate, leavin’ the bowl untouched except fillin’ it up with soup. But in the China region their culture is different. That’s what crossed my mind; last time when I been to China, I did the same thing and my friend advised me. So this time I’m smarter, I follow their style 
But my colleague and the tauke(s) were not. So bein’ kind enough I tell ‘em the story…
| Me : |
In fact the people here put their dishes in bowl instead of plate. They usually put those bones onto the plate. |
| (they were like half-believe but kept on eatin’) |
| Me : |
Ermmm, some people in China, they’d use the plate as ashtray sometimes. |
| (then i hear chokin’ sound, they scrutinized their plate to make sure it’s clean, but still kept on eatin’. It’s hard to believe that peoply will actually do that in a classy restaurant) |
| Me : |
And last time my friend told me that, some people even spit onto the plate…… |
Juz a blink of an eye, I see all their food “migrated” to the bowl, in less than a second. Then my tauke questioned me, “Really? That’s terrible…” 
Hahaha…funny to see ‘em react like that. But I’m not makin’ fun of ‘em. That’s what I was told and I do believe, after observin’ their ethos. So dear Malaysian reader, do keep that in mind…
After fulfillin’ our physiological needs, what’s next? Of course concern ’bout the main substance in wallet. So we visited one of the most prestige & magnificent casino, Wynn. I discovered somethin’ interestin’ ’bout the casinos. Like Wynn, as the owner is mat salleh, they followed the Western style within the casino. Okay for example, they have non-smokin’ area, the dealers look professional and they act professionally, the chips are more modernize and etc. Even the Blackjack game, the dealer will open the card for the players. On the other hand, the typical Macau-style casino, you can see 80% of the people are smokin’ in there, air is badly contaminated. They have colourful yet gaudy chips. For all games, the dealer won’t reveal any card, they let the player to open themselves. So there’s all sorts of funny funny action, like flippin’ the card carefully, shoutin’ the number they want and some even rub the card, as if they can transform it to another card . Okay, stop laughin’ at people, I’ll do that too if I’m in the game.
First time for me goin’ into Macau’s casino, a bit worry ’bout the security will be strict. So I dumped all my gadgets (camera, pda…) into shals handbag and get her to deposit her handbag at the counter. Needless to say, there will be a security check before goin’ in. So when I approached the lady guard, I pressed on my pocket to indicate I brought nothin’ in. Well, she’s not interested at all, but instead, she said somethin’ that made me real astonished.
| Guard |
: |
唔该，我想睇下你张身份证
(Excuse me, I’d like to take a look at your I/C)
|
| Me |
: |
(Began to panic, she suspected me an illegal immigrant or something? Hesitated for awhile…)
嗯，其实我係外地嚟嘅，护照得唔得？
(Ermm, actually I’m not local, can I show you my passport?)
|
| Guard |
: |
得，我净係想睇下你够唔够十八岁啫...
(Sure, I juz wanna check whether you’re over eighteen)
|
| Me |
: |
(I still dunno what’s happenin, took out my passport and show her my year of birth)
|
| Guard |
: |
好，唔该哂啊...
(Ok, thanks a lot)
|
So as I walked in, shals smiled at me and shook her head slightly. I was still revisin’ what she said…Oh, she actually wanna check whether I’m under age. Yeah, of course I’m over 21……hmmm…Nope! She never mentioned 21, she said 18. Huh? She suspected I’m under 18? HAHAHA……what a joke? I look so young, do I? I was so happy that I jumped around, almost shouted, “Auntie, belanja you makan aiskrim…”
Day 2
Basically we were busy for work on the 2nd day, but there’s a cocktail reception at night. Ok, so what’s it all ’bout? Networking Session. Givin’ people get to know each other in the reception and show off their company’s product. Alright, I’m quite anti social the community is against me. I dun socialize well. To me, the term networkin’ refers to UTP cable, TCP/IP, load balancer blah blah blah. Somehow I still need to stand there and pretend. I dress well that night, with my full suit on. So at a first glance people thought that I’m some sort of Sales Consultant; but the moment we exchanged business card, I can see the disappointment in their eyes. No doubt they smile at me, but I know what they’re thinkin’…
What is this fella doin’ here? We speak human language and you don’t! You speak .NET, Java which no one on earth would understand. Get back to Mars and stop wastin’ my time.
I can understand their feelin’, as the people I met there is either CEO, COO, Director, and the lowest post I can see is Assistant General Manager. To them, my post is juz a level higher than the toilet cleaner 
. Fine, I’ve said earlier, the community is against me. I rather focus on the titbits on the table.
Right after the networkin’ (ostracism) session, all the Malaysian form a rombongan (group) and start our “expedition” to Macau downtown, huntin’ for dinner. One of ‘em showed off that he’s so familiar with Macau, as he came here so often (obviously Genting is no fun for him), so he lead the way, and I named him as the tour guide. Accordin’ to him, Macau downtown is so small that you can walk from East coast to West coast in 1 hour. We went for congee that night, in one of the famous porridge shop. Before that we round the Macau city for at least ½ hour, not havin’ a tour but askin’ for directions. So, what’s the tour guide for? 
Ok, here comes the most notorious activity of Macau. What else could it be after dinner? This time we opt Lisboa casino, the very first casino in Macau. I heard some of ‘em snicker when they mentioned ’bout Human Horse in the casino. Well, whatever it is, I’m not interested but yet I’m still followin’ them into the casino.
Once inside the casino we split. As usual they went to the machine and try their HK$1 mil luck and some to the Blackjack table. After a few rounds of win and loss, they gave up and started to think ’bout somethin’ else. So one of ‘em suggested to see horse. Arr..what so special ’bout horse racing? But I found out that it’s not normal horse racing, it’s human horse. My curiosity drove me to follow ‘em, How can they have real human horse racing within a building? Interestin’…
We went down to the basement, then out of the casino. Right at the basement is another huge shoppin’ complex, with all the shops around sellin’ priceless jewellery. That doesn’t impress me, but the gals walkin’ around really caught my eyes. As we’re walkin’ in, I see beautiful gals walkin’ in and out, most of ‘em walkin’ alone. As we walk in further, I can see more and more chicks around. Dress up sexy and pretty faces, I’ve never seen such gorgeous chicks in Macau before. THIS IS HEAVEN~~!! Eventually I figure out this is not a heaven, but a sinful HELL. Guys lookin’ for carnalism are all here. Those chicks are so-called Human Horse, now I know. Anyone with MOP$800 is able to ride on this beautiful horse. The tour guide advised me that luckily I walked with shals and hence I’m safe, else I’d either ride on a horse or die in a stampede 
.
Day 3
We spent the whole day in the neighbouring province, ZhuHai (珠海). Besides, I do spent most (maybe all) of my Renmenbi there as well. As ZhuHai isn’t an Special Administrative Region by itself, we need a visa to get beyond the border, and it cost us HK$150 (equivalent to RM72). I’ve no idea for what reason there’re so many people at the immigration, that we reluctantly gotta follow the stampede. Look at the photo, people are movin’ fast, like some kind of evacuation. Ok, talk ’bout the photo, I dunno why everyone said I shook my hand while takin’ that. Scrutinized carefully, if I did shake, why certain parts are clear while others are not? The only explanation is, either those people are movin’ fast or they’re some sort of substance which is not able to be capture by a camera. Dunno.
What else can I say ’bout China? China is China. ZhuHai is not one of the advanced city in China. Nothing special to talk ’bout. But the good thing is, I got a good exchange rate for Renmibi. We been to “streets of shopping” and I lighten my wallet there. To me everythin’ is half price. Sometimes I didn’t even bother to bargain much, cuz a discount of 5 yuan is less than RM2.50. What’s the point? Be ostentatious 
.
Day 4
By the 4th day, we’re already familiarize ourselves there. So me and shals decided to go on an adventure – take a shuttle bus to Macau downtown. So instead of followin’ the taukes to casino, we went for sightseeing, which is much more meaningful. Opened up the map and try to get our way to those places of interest. Not scare of gettin’ lost at all, as east to west is just an hour of walk away, who cares?
Alright, I guess most of you tired in readin’ thousands of characters, so let the photo do the job…
- Ruins of St. Paul
- Senado Square
- Residential area
- Cathedral
- Street in Macau
- Mount Fortress
Everyone demands us to buy ‘em Portuguese egg tart, so along the way I do observe those bakery shops. Yes, found a couple of “biscuit shop”, sellin’ different types of local delicacy (which can be found in Malaysia too). The price of a single Portuguese egg tart is HK$6 (around RM2.88), so do you think worth it? So shals suggested, “why not we buy an empty box which printed made in Macau, then go back and fill it in with Portuguese egg tarts, say we bought it from Macau…hehe…“. What a brilliant idea ~~!! Too bad can’t find the box though…
. But on the other hand, so to speak, the camera actually costs more than my 1 month salary (there goes my 1 year savings). Guys, juz survey on G7’s market price and you’ll know my pay, I’m indeed a poor engineer 
.
…I can’t turn back, the payment for skate rental had been made, and it’s 8 bucks per hour (SGD not MYR).
.
