Macau

We arrived back to Hong Kong about four days ago.  The next day we went to Macau.  It was humid, not crazy humid, but fairly humid for someone not uses to humidity.  The culture is very interesting.  Parts of it feels like Las Vegas and other parts is definitely China.  The Portugese influence is pretty amazing. 

We took the TurboJet over, taking about an hour of travel time.  We were able to hit up all of the major touristy sites by 13:00.  The boat ride to, was definitely a boat ride where you can feel the waves.  The ride back was on one of the actual faster boats where in concept it's a hoover type craft on a ski, that allows it to go faster.  It was smoother, but a lot louder inside.

The Portugeses influence in food, culture and architecture is really interesting.  There's tile work everywhere.  I don't know why I didn't think to look at any shops for tiles to try to take back.  Maybe this calls for a trip to Portugal or Spain.  It was amazing to see these old buildings still standing.  It's interesting to see the little 'convenient' type stores that have a couple bottles of waters to sell.  The motor bikes over there are insane.  We took a bus, taxie and walked to see a lot of the bigger sites.  

The amount of portable ac units that everyone has is a big amount.  That is definitely something of a mandatory over here for everyone.  Must have ac.  I know it is nice to have that luxury with the heat and humidity. It is just everywhere you look there. are these big ac units that are turning black and cables running everywhere off of/ through it.  It is just off the hook in the abundance.  I am sure there is something I am missing here as into why ac wall units are used over here.

Despite the crowds of Asian tourist that have no concept of your personal bubble, it was a very interesting place to see and experience.  

You can't definitely feel the difference between Macau and Hong Kong.   When we wre on our way here and we spent a couple of hours in the Beijing airport, there was this odd feeling.  That something was off or not right.  That same feeling was apparent in Macau.  It's a beautiful place once you get away from the casinos.  The buildings, the tiles, the people and the daily life.  Trying to describe all of this is going to take time. 

As for this post of just words, more thoughts later.

Penang, Malaysia

Hubs and I have been waiting for this trip for a while.  When his parents and brother first said that they would be going we said no we couldn't go because we are trying to save to get the house ready.  We looked at our finances later on and in my old savings account we had enough to make the trip happen and we also didn't know when the next time we would be able to go to Hong Kong with his family and see where his parents use to live and all the family history.  So we made it happened.

We arrived in Hong Kong and were to head to Malaysia a couple days after.  However we had to delay for a day to get a new passport for Hubs since his expired at the end of the year and Malaysia is one of those countries that require a valid passport for at least six months.  So we went to the embassy that Monday since it was closed for the weekend.  Luckily while we were exploring we are across the embassy and saw a lady going in, told her our situation and she told us what to do.  It helped a lot and we were able to make our rescheduled flight that Monday afternoon.

Malaysia, Penang (the state), Georgetown (the city) was real.  It really gave me a realization of how blessed we are to live in America.  Life there is so different.  In ways it's very simple in other ways it's not.  I can appreciate the hawka centers that are the 'food centers'.  Where all the vendors set up around the perimeter of the outside center.  The people who run the court sit you at the table that is numbered.  You then go to all the food, drinks and dessert vendors place your order and they the venders bring whatever you ordered to you.  The ocean views, the mixed cultures that have all come together, the amount of fresh fish and what seems like the concept of just making things work are all something that is appreciated. Some things that I could definitely appreciate about the U.S. would be clean air to breath, regulation on automobiles in the amount of exhaust that is omitted and the cleanliness that everyone can seem to value to an extent.  When first arriving and throughout the main trip I kept coming to this comparison that Georgetown in ways is similar to Tijuana or Rosarito in this feeling.  

Can I tell you about the rain and the humidity.  It is unreal. You never know when it is going to rain.  It will start to sprinkle then down pour as if there were no tomorrow.  Everyone carries an umbrella for moments like these.  Along with when it happens people just pull off to the side of the road and seek cover and wait the 30 minutes for the rain to stop.  There's also those that continue on as if it is not raining.  You still see everyone riding around on their motorbike rain or shine.

People work for whatever they can do.  There are some stores that have practically nothing to sell except for a couple bags of chips or bottles of soda.  It is interesting to find some first world country concepts taken, but it seems like it's not really understood as to why it's being done.

The U.S. dollar goes far in the Malaysian Ringets.  Typically we would go to hawkas centers and order each a plate that is slightly bigger the a tapas plate usually costing about 4-12RGK (divide by 3 to get the U.S. dollars). 

Some of the sites we saw were the Khoo House (which Anna and the King was filmed at), the Chew Jetty, the outskirts of the city which was more beach resort feel and just exploring the downtown center.