into the inlet gates

i just returned home from my journey to the east, and i am just so exhausted.

it's ironic how relaxing work is nowadays, and days on travel is far more hectic. i rushed flight departure time more frequent than boss' assignments dealines. i felt like working is actually my new weekend.

on the recent long deepavali weekend, we did the amazing race across macau, hong kong and shenzhen, rushing from spot to spot checking out local scenes and products. at the end of the day, we didn't win any money of course, heck we even got fake money in the process, but at least, we have gigas of photos and sunburn lines to tell our tales.

oh and impaired smell sense too due to over-exposed to that stinking tofu.

hereby, i'm gonna call this trip, the oriental express.



oriental express travellogue : part 1

of all the budget airlines i've taken, and this year has been A LOT, this recent trip must be the longest one. the journey i mean.

still, i was really convinced the airlines put in enough fuel inside and they were NOT comprimising anything in the safety department. hey budget airlines have flown all the way to london, right? compared to that, this trip must be just like visiting the neighbours.


we touched down at macau international airport on time at 3.30pm. the weather was clowdy. that weather bitch lady the day before must be lying on our faces when she said it would be thunderstorm.

we were greeted by the sight of a ferries-wheel on top of the building.

what a funny place to build that at huh?


we only stayed one night in macau, and it was at this grandview hotel. taxi fare from the airport was 20MOP, which we paid by HKD. HKD is only slightly bigger than MOP, so I guess it was an excepted transcation islandwide. after all, they gain, you lose.

i booked this hotel via latestays.com for only 80 SGD per night, which is cheap for a 4-star hotel in macau.

pretty nice place, although not exceptionally what you called 'grand'. only that it is in taipa island, but macau islands are small anyway, so moving around should be a breeze.


plus, our plan was just to visit casinos for that night, and what's better place to start other than the venetian macau at the nearby cotai strip?


venetian macau is very prominent on that cotai-strip. it looks exactly the same as the one in las vegas, so i wasn't really head over heel over the sight.

i don't even have a proper photo shot of the building, so i substituted with the one with me inside it. someone said BOF, that korean show, had a scene here. hah, no wonder people stare at me, they must have thought i was one of the actor....

the venetian macau

the grand canal was on the higher floor, and unlike the one in vegas, this one has very less people. it was easy to snap photos without people walking passed by in front of your camera making you wanted to strangle them alive. made me wonder, how could these shops here survived? the nasi lemak auntie in front of my block back home have more customers...

from the venetian, we hopped on the shuttle bus to get to the sands in macau island. you see, all these casino hotels each have their own shuttle buses, mainly to the ferry terminal. the venetian for example, have extra shuttles to the sands and the airport.

they are free, and the deal is, they won't ask you any question when to take them. so it all screamed 'let's abuse the system', like we did when we took the the shuttle bus to the sands when we actually wanted to go to the Wynn and MGM grand just beside it.

left:casinos at cotai strip, right:nearby wynn at macau island

after the grand canal at venetian, the insides of other casinos looked less impressive. we just briskly passed through the gambling dens then moved to others. MGM Grand was not bad with fake pandas scattered all over the hall. MGM = Panda? I don't see the connection. lion, yes, but never panda. whatever..

we returned to our hotel using our hotel's shuttle bus from the ferry terminal close to midnight, and then turned in for the night. god knows how our beds going to be in subsequent nights, so we better cherished the comfortable grandview beds. we got to wake up early to catch the early ferry to hong kong the next day. there were places left to venture in macau but we were going to do that when we returned to macau on our last day before flying back.

sounds like a plan?

...ed

quo vadis

i have cough. i have flu, and till few days ago, i got a bit of fever.

urghh...

i don't mind getting sick you know, as it's just flu, not life-threatening (unless it's H1Ni but somehow i don't think that's what this is) and i can use a bit of rest at home too (whilst playing my new virtua tennis xbox 360 game that i just bought last week).

but i already took 2 days mc last week because of gastric pain, the week after my one week hari raya break, and getting one this week doesn't look too good from the eyes of the boss and HR no matter how you look at it. plus, i'm going on leave tomorrow till next week.

the timing is just all wrong lahh.. my body chose such an inconvenient time to fall apart. last friday night, we went to zirca pub in clarke quay. my friend asked me to go along since he could get us into the guest list.

you see, it was a mr singapore final event that night, and his friend is actually mr bukit timah. how he got a friend like that, i don't know, but i just wanted to go out and chill.

but then, my nose started running the moment i stepped inside. it was like a curse or retribution or something. i tell you, it doesn't make you feel good to be all wet and drippy while looking at those perfectly healthy bodies on the stage. i felt like such a reject.

and now, it's less than 24 hours till my flight to macau, and i'm not even sure i don't have fever yet. at least, i think i don't. this should be just the normal warm blooded heat. still, i must find a way to cool down the body today, be it by gulping liters of barley drink or wearing ice patch all over. it's just common sense to be prepared, or like the singaporeans say, be kiasu a bit.

i guess eating ice cream is good too, right? i already started coughing anyway, so it's not like it's a big deal. the company thinks it is though, because they think it's appropriate to reward us for getting through the pay freeze and retrenchment and zero OT through this difficult economic downturn by giving us ice creams.

yes ice cream. 2 cones of it. they even elected representatives from each department to decide whether their respective departments will get cones or scoops of ice creams. when other companies get bonuses or even outside outings, we get 2 cones of ice creams, and it's not even haagen daas, or one of those premium brand. i mean, what kind of brand is dairy farm??

well i guess at the very least, all those middle age men and women could flashback their childhood memory, to the excitement when their kindergarten class teacher treated the whole class ice creams to get them to cheer up. after all, this is what it's all about, the company tryring to cheer you up for 2 seconds despite all the shortcomings.

so, good job company x, keep it up! i almost forgot my pay is stagnant already.

the newspaper can say what they want, like today's headline proclaims that singapore is already out of recession, but for me, until we are feeling the benefits, it's all just empty words.

people say, until you walk the talk, you're just talking cock. if the company is doing better, then how come i still cannot claim medical expenses? if i go to work and spread H1N1 to the whole department then it's really not my problem.

when our friends will get married is also not my problem. well most of the times, but when your good friend suddenly announced he's getting married in few months time, it does send shock waves to the richter scale. i felt just like susan meyer suddenly being told that her daughter is pregnant by her neighbour lynette scavo in season 6.

the only difference is, nobody is in life support machine here. well, except PAS that just got whacked left and right after the malaysian state bagan pinang by-election last sunday. they deserved it though. my point is, what's up with endless islamic or secular state, canning or not canning, drinking or not drinking, covered up or not covered up debates? can we just concentrate on how to improve the quality of life of common folks?

but what do i know? i'm just a stagnant-paid employee of a company that rewards ice creams, with drippy nose and unstoppable coughing, and kept in the dark when his best friend was getting married.

quo vadis, ed??


...ed