Vegas of the East? More like Laughlin!

The orginal Lisboa Casino and Hotel
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So the cheap way out of China required a morning flight to Zhuhai as it's so much cheaper to fly within China than to fly to Macau or Hong Kong as those are considered international even though they are Chinese territories.  So little did we know what the immigration lines would be like crossing this border.  It wasn't so bad getting out of China as all the Chinese were in their national lines, but as soon as we cross to get into Macau, all the Chinese become tourists and the line pushing begins.  We were trying to get into a line but all the Chinese kept trying to push past us to get to the other side where the lines weren't much better; Bill tried to keep them from passing but finally gave up after cussing a few out and we walked that direction as well.  We ended up being further back than when we started.  These lines probably wouldn't have been so bad if we didn't have to carry all of our belongings with us.  But we finally made it to the other side and got a taxi to the Best Western which happened to be the cheapest hotel we could find, who knew?

The new Grand Lisboa Casino and Hotel
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Our first priority was food as we hadn't really eaten much that day and had no idea how long customs would take.  But once again it was becoming a little difficult to find food, so we ended up walking all the way to the big casinos and ate in one of their "coffee shops."  Except it was a coffee shop for Chinese so the food was a bit hard to choose but we took the safest way with a sandwich and some french toast.  We had walked so far and after finally eating, I got really sleepy so as I took a mid afternoon nap, Bill headed out once again.  He made it of to the old fort and the ruins of St. Paul. If you look at the picture carefully of the ruins, you can see that it's only the front facade left of the building and the rest is gone.

Guess we were the poor white American tourists here, so no casinos for us.

Bill in the Plaza
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After his adventures, he came back to get me and we headed out back towards the casinos to take a look.  We got in front of the Wynn casino just in time to see the fountain show.  And then we headed in to try to find food and tried to take a short cut through the casino, this is when we realized our mistake.  The guard looked at us and replied, "So sorry can't come in here with those."  We were wearing flip flops, and you must have proper shoes to enter, never would fly in Vegas.  Where would all the poor white trash go?  Guess we were the poor white American tourists here, so no casinos for us.  According to Lonely Planet, the starting bet here for a table is somewhere around $15 US dollars, explains why they make more money than Vegas.

The crowded pedistrian streets of Macau
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So we walked around the hotel and ran into a restaurant called TACOS.  So soon we were eating nachos, tacos and downing sangria, I couldn't complain.

The next morning we walked around the square, got some pastries, and took them to Starbucks for me to have some coffee before heading out to the ferry.  We got the ferry that takes you directly to the Hong Kong airport and checks your luggage all the way through, it's a great system.  The only problem was we looked at our ticket more closely and saw how long the line was and realized that we had to be checked in an 1 before for an international flight.  Bill finally got me to stand still and wait in line as he asked, and basically the woman told him not to worry as there isn't any flight from Hong Kong that isn't international, and just to get in line.  And so, we were all set and ready to make our way to New Zealand.

The haunting ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral
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Michelle