Part 1: Venetian Vacation
After a week of being stuck in Grace Tien Hall (swine flu haven), we were excited to get out of Hong Kong and do a bit of gambling, drinking, and shenanigans! We booked a room at the Venetian, bought tickets for a 5 pm Cirque du Soleil, and got ready to go. After a bit of a rough 4th of July night (for some), we had a late start leaving campus, and the campus bus was of course not running on a Sunday, so we waited an hour, got to the subway and took an hour subway ride to Kowloon, bought a ticket for a 3:30 ferry, went through customs, and were FINALLY on the ferry to Macau! When we finally go to Macau, it was 4:58 - did you forget we had a 5 PM show to get to? Oh, and the Venetian is a 15 minute bus ride from the ferry...
(The "strip" of Macau)
Needless to say, we looked ridiculous running through the Venetian lobby in our flip flops and duffel bags, but Cirque du Soleil was phenomenal! ( I wish I had pictures to show, but the guards were standing in every aisle yelling at photographers.)
(The "honeymoon" suite - big enough for 7!)
After the show, Kyle and I checked in to our "honeymoon" sweet, and were on our way with the other 5 to check out our stellar room. To recap the rest of the night - Katie slept from the minute we got there until the minute we left, the boys and Brittany left the Venetian in search of Poker and ended up losing $300 (US) each, Kyle wandered the Venetian, and I was bored with slots, so I enjoyed a bath, shopping, and sleeping!
Part 2: Macau is NOT just an Asian Vegas
The next day everyone went back to school, but Kyle and I decided to stick around Macau and explore. We found a woman at the ferry station who offered to take us on a tour. Little did we know, she was the tour guide in her family van! Regardless of the sketchy-ness of the situation, she was so sweet and the tour was amazing. Macau was "handed over" to the Chinese government by Portugal in 1999. So, much like Hong Kong it still has a heavy European influence from the Portuguese.
(The library is in the white dome, and I forget the name of this statue.)
(The temple, which had many fishing boats and sailing things since it was for the protection of fishermen.)
(A view of mainland China from inside the temple.)
(A Catholic church on top of the mountain overlooking Macau.)
(Another Catholic church in the center of Macau.)
(Inside the church - it was very simple, but beautiful.)
(A fountain in front of the government house, and cobblestone roads.)
( I feel like this could be the streets of a European city, minus the signs in Chinese.)
(St. John's church ruins. This church has burned down 3 times, and the last time it burned, there were Japanese refugees living inside.)
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