Plastic Venice: Jazz's Old Digs

Good Morning from the Paradise Hill Hotel in Zhuhai! This place at some point in time was 5 star luxuary. Now it's just kind of sad. But the room is larger than some (most) of the units I have lived in. Just don't try getting into the pool without a bathing cap or someone will scream at you in Chinese until you slink away to the kiddies pool and look confused until they leave you alone. Just ask Jazz.

On Easter Sunday we left Shanghai. We traveled for a full 24 hours, by train, bus and ferry and ended up in Macao. Macoa is like the Vegas of Asia. It is wall to wall casinos, bright lights and smells like the sort of regret that comes from not only gambling away your life savings, but the life savings of three generations of your offspring. But dang it was fun!

You may remember that we booked the Royale suite at the Venetian Hotel in Macao. Wow. wow. It is like a city. They give you a map so you can get around. We've decided we will return there one day and live there for a week and see if it's possible not to have to leave for any reason. We're sure it can be done. The room was amazing, everything about it was amazing. A bit of a change from being stuck in a train booth with two strange Chinese men continuously farting throughout the night. We had a little flutter on the pokies - they even had the old ones where you pull the handle. But we lost spectacularly. Dinner was at Mortons Steakhouse. It looked pricey but we thought we'd give it a look see anyway. Our suspiciions were right - It was so pricey they don't even show you the menu. Instead they bring out a massive tray of meat and go through all the cuts with you - demonstrate with the vegies how you can have them cooked, and then introduce you to the live lobster that could be yours for just 400yaun a pound. He had his pinchers tied tight which was a relief because the look in his stalky eyes was one of murderous rage - "You wanta eat meee? Bring it!!!"  We settled on a New York strip steak and Fillet Mingon. It has ruined meat for me forever. sigh. After dinner we went for a gondola ride. Yes the Venitian - with a plastic Venice, has canals with real life gondolas and real life gondalers who sing in Italian for you while you float lazily under the beautiful sky painted on the roof. Whilst it may sound somewhat tacky, it was pretty cool.

We did manage to tear ourselves away from the casino and make it into Macao itself. It has a very clear Porteguese influence and is really quite pretty when you get away from the bright lights of the casinos and the crowded and noisy streets. The square and church front were really lovely - and the egg tarts to die for!  In the morning we decided to try the breakfast buffet. Big mistake. We officially cannot be trusted with a buffet, especially not one that has a 200 metre long buffet of breakfast treats. *Drools*

We managed to haul our fat asses accross the border to Zhuhai. It's the first time I've ever walked accross a border. Pretty cool. Zhuhai is gorgeous. It reminds me a bit of Canberra. The streets are tree lined, the traffic doesn't seem as bad and there is much less pollution. But it does only have a population of 1.3 million compared to Beijings 13 million.

Today we're off to see more Zhuhai.