One 4^th of July many moons ago, a much more intelligent person named Luke Dwyer mocked me for not knowing that Hong Kong is part of China. After seeing Hong Kong, I don’t feel so idiotic for my geopolitical ignorance. Hong Kong is to China as Puerto Rico is to the US. Hong Kong was held as a British territory for about one hundred years until China reclaimed it in 1997. Hong Kong is quite autonomous, it has its own; currency, language, traffic laws (they drive on the other side of the road and actually have regulations) and government. Facebook and Youtube are permitted. The Hong Kong flag is raised above the China flag. Chinese citizens are only allowed to enter Hong Kong once a year and need a visa to visit. Perhaps the best way to describe the geography is through geometry. Hong Kong residents are like squares (no they are not losers) and Chinese citizens are like rectangles, all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares. Hong Kong identifies itself with China but doesn’t consider China the same as Hong Kong.

Once we got out of the airport, we took a taxi to Shenzhen, an industrious city in mainland China. Chances are you are wearing or using something that was made/assembled in a Shenzhen factory right now. Our first day was mostly spent recooperating and meeting up with Raiko, another teacher from Bosnia, and our Chinese friend Maggie. The next day we got up at l8ish (maybe it was even 9) to go to Macau, the Las Vegas of China.

Our journey to Macau started a bit later than planned. We tried to take a ferry, but all the desirable tickets were sold out (they still had room on a boat leaving at 3:00 and returning at 4:00). We walked out of the ticket office looking like Charlie Brown when he’s down. At this point a shuttle driver swooped down upon us to ask us where we liked to go. Most of our group had it pretty ingrained into our heads not to climb into a stranger’s van. We figured that any solicition coming from outside the ticket office would be a CON. Luckily we had a huge PRO, Maggie, who actually asked the man how much it would be. Without her, we would have passed on the opportunity of a lifetime. The trip would take an hour longer to get there, but we could stay in Macau much longer and for half the price.

Macau

 

The only word I can remember from an art appreciation class is asetetic, and that’s the best word to describe Macau. Macau was once owned by the Portugese, so the city has a unique clash between Chinese and European archeture. Sometimes in cinematography or photography, a picture will be all black and white except for one object. The color really pops out against the dull background and that’s what Macau is like. All the portugese buildings are painted radiant colors that really standout against the surrounding grey apartments. It feels like you are in the movie “Pleasantville” at the point when half the town is in color.

The restaurant we dined at was particularly unique. The menu had a wide range of pricing from a $3 pork sandwich to a $800 delicacy.  Afterwards we went to the casinos. I have about a 1 for 15 record against casinos, the one time I did win was in Venezuela and I wasn’t quite sure how the game was played. It turns out I’m not bad in all casinos, just American ones. Kassy and I wheeled in the dough at roulette. The biggest gamble though was waiting until 11:30 to head back to Shenzhen. The Chinese border closes at midnight and if we missed it, we would have to spend the night in Macau. We ran like oiled gazelles, I was still panting like a dog in midsummer as I handed my passport to the border patrol at 11:57. Half of our winnings were paid in Hong Kong dollars and the other half in Macau dollars, rather than losing on the exchange rate, we spent all of our Macau dollars on throwing a party in the van on the way back. It was better than any ride at Six Flags and the perfect night cap to a wonderful day.