Macau, Baby, Macau!

Our one-night return to Koh San Road (Bangkok) was all we dreamed it would be, complete with a street cart feast, cheap pitchers of beer, and a long conversation with a French drug researcher who told us about the time he went to Amsterdam and took so many mushrooms that he thought he was in a labratory being experimented on by giant mice. C'est magnifique!

Early the next morning we were off to Macau, a province of China lovingly referred to as "The Asian Vegas." As soon as we got on the plane, we started dealing out hands of 3-card poker to decide our fate. Within the first 30 minutes, our imaginary dealer delt himself a straight flush. We cursed fate and decided to play Carribean Stud instead. We landed with the energy of a 15-man bachelor party, grabbed our bags, headed for the door, and stopped.

Dan: "OK, where are we going?"

Don: "What do you mean? I thought you researched this place."

Dan: "I thought you did!"
Don: "Well, we have to get money, we have to find a way into the city, and we have to find a hotel. Do you know anything about Macau?"

Dan: "I think it's an island."

It is not an island. But after searching the airport for an English speaker and paying our cab driver an extra $2.00 for a "put baggage in trunk" charge, we were in a wonderful guest house that we've dubbed "Shawshank." Our $5/night accomodations come complete with: a chamber pot, wooden mattresses, and steel barred windows. Unfortunately, we do not have: a bathroom, a rotating fan, or a ceiling. Here, Don contemplates where he can get a rock hammer and a poster of Rita Hayworth.

Outside of our prison walls, however, the world of Macau mocks us with riches. We spent the night combing the crowded streets finding everything from miles of unidentified, possibly uncooked meat patties we've named "Suicide Meat" to a street corner shrine that I accidentally knocked over with my foot. (I'm not sure of the karmic reprocussuions of this but man, once you've spent a night in Shawshank, there's not much more they can do to you.) Operation "Avoid The Casino for As Long as Possible" continued into Day 2, where we got lost inside a temple/park area where gangs of suprisingly in-shape eldery people gave us "get off our turf" looks while we gawked at the view.

Our non-casino options are running thin, the only thing saving us at the moment being the fact that Don forgot his ATM pin and I'm afraid to play Blackjack because of the math involved. But soon, enough we will find ourselves inside one of these:

Here's to hoping we leave it looking like this: