Day 15: Cheap Clothing is a Lie! T_T

Auntie went out to do something and I was bored out of my mind at home, so I decided to go out on my own because I still need more clothing (mommy wouldn't let me pack so much!). It was awkward at first because I felt like I couldn't blend in into the crowd. But then again, I always felt like shopping alone was boring and retarded. :x

I first went out for food. I went to Yoshinoya again, but got noodles this time. ^_^ Also really yummy! And pretty cheap! Hehe~

After eating, I went to SOGO shopping center. It's kind of like a mall in the US, except this shopping center is 20 floors! There's floors for jewelries, electronics, furniture, house appliances, men clothing, women clothing, sports clothing, etc. everything you need! Except everything is really expensive. :( A regular t-shirt is HK$300+ and button up shirts are HK$500+... The business suits are $7000+... I got scared of the prices and left and went to Bossini instead. I've been to that store the last time I went to HK and their clothing are okay price and their style is moderate.

The thing I don't like about shopping in HK/China is that the salespeople pester you and follow you the whole time you're shopping. I think it's a cultural thing, but I find it annoying that they have to follow you around the whole time you're shopping and keep recommending things or asking what size you need until you tell them to stop or ask to try something on.

I ended up getting a button up short sleeve shirt for HK$150 (HK$30 off). That's US$20 which is about the same price. Now that I think about it, cheap clothing can't be good clothing lol... Cheap clothing in China might be really bad quality. I guess I shouldn't expect any cheap clothing though the way my mom said it, it sounded like US$5 per shirt or something.

I went back home and auntie got back already. She cooked up the rice and we headed out to visit cou gong. Came back, ate dinner and packed for Guangzhou~ ^_^ I honestly didn't know what to pack other than clothing... I guess that's fine as long as I got the necessary stuff. Good night! :)

Day 14: Getting Ready For Guangzhou!

Weather: Sunny as nice as always ^^;

Happy IPv6! ^_^

Auntie brought me out to get my USD exchanged for RMB. She originally thought that money exchange kiosks gives the best rate and banks gives the worse because they charge a lot of fees. When we went to the kiosk nearby, the exchange rate for USD-->HKD was 7.06! O_O I was like woah! That can't be right! Last I checked, USD/HKD was 7.706... So I recommended that we go check out a bank before we do any exchanging...
So she decided to bring me to eat lunch before going to the bank. She brought me to Yoshinoya. I had the best beef rice dish ever! They flavored the beef so well! Auntie also ordered oden, but it wasn't even close to being as good as the one that Victoria's uncle makes. The miso soup that came with my rice wasn't that good either. xP But the rice plate was the best! Made up for all imperfectness. And it was pretty cheap too! HK$70!
Afterwards, we went to Heng Seng Bank to check out the exchange rate. This bank was one of the banks that people online recommended; the other place being Chungking Mansion. The exchange rate at Heng Seng Bank was 7.622! Haha... They would not do USD-->RMB, so they did USD-->HKD-->RMB. I ended up exchanging US$500 for RMB3100.00 and HKD$86.20 from the remaining $$ since they only have RMB100 bills. And since auntie has a bank account with that bank, they didn't charge any processing fee. I lost out on RMB20 comparing to the real price of the market, but that was better than the kiosks on the street... I'd be losing HKD$.60 for every dollar...
After exchanging money, we went to the market to get groceries and then went to visit cou gong. He got surgery to remove the puss from his infected area inside his body. He's doing okay now. It was just auntie and I though. Edward's always OTing and Wendy has been busy lately too due to the summer starting = more people traveling.
That's all I guess. :) Night night

The really good beef rice bowl! Yoshi Beef Bowl

Day 13: Ehhh...

It was gonna be a complaining post, but I changed my mine. :) A regular resting day. Auntie complained that I walk to slow, so she didn't let me go grocery shopping with her. She came back, cooked the rice and we went to see cou gong. He's doing fine. :) Came back, dinner, sleep.

Day 12: ~_~Zzzz...

Weather: Sunny and a bit Windy

Resting day after yesterday... My arms are extremely sore and my feet still ache a bit... I found a Chinese dubbed version of Great Teacher Onizuka! I've been trying to find this for a long time~ I still couldn't find a torrent for it though... All the torrents are abandoned and no more seeders. :( I watched a couple of episodes before going out with auntie to grocery shopping. I'm starting to find her really annoying. :( Today whole day, she wouldn't stop asking me what I want for lunch. ._." I keep telling her that I'll see when we go out for lunch, but she keeps asking me... I just stopped answering after a while, but I felt bad so I just nod my head... Not only this, but even though she knows that I'm full she still make me eat stuff. She use the excuse that it's not going to taste good if it gets cold or not going to taste good the next day... At Macau, everyone made me finish whatever were leftover when we went to restaurants. I was stuffed to the max, but when they bought me the pork chop bun, auntie kept telling me to eat it immediately. After that, she did it again with the egg tarts. ._." She also kept complaining about how I'm walking so slow and not used to Hong Kong rush yet. I walk show for her... I began walking in front of her now.
We were going to visit cou gong again today, but she got lazy and said we'll go tomorrow. I took out my Nintendo DSi and started playing on it, but I just don't feel the fun in games as I used to anymore. :( I don't know what's happening to me! I don't find games fun anymore. O_O At least the ones I'm playing.... Oh well, good night for now. :P

Day 11: Blehhh~ =3=

Weather: Sunny and Beautiful
Party: Auntie, Wendy, Cherry, Mun Yi, Florence, Me
Location: Last Day in Macau~

Woke up at 10am to get ready to go out and go sight seeing! Mun Yi brought us out to a cafe nearby to grab some breakfast. The menu was all in Chinese, so Wendy read me most of the sandwich on the menu. 咖喱鱼片包 sounded like a good sandwich to have so I picked that one along with a lemon ice tea that came with it. Thought that it was gonna be an excitement turns out to be not so much. :< The sandwich legit have 3 slices of fish slice that we usually buy in packets and cook for dinner, a couple droplet of curry and two buns to hold it together... I was expecting to have like a special way of making these fish slices and have some tomato and lettuce, but nope, just fish slices, curry and buns. o_o The lemon ice tea was regular Chinese tea with ice and a slice of lemon. If they make the sandwich as to what I thought it would be, I think they'd make a fortune! Haha, I'm so full of myself...
After that, we took the bus to 大炮台 Fortaleza do Monte Mount Fortress. This is the place where all the churches, the wars, historical sites, etc. are located. This place has tons of history and all the architectures are really pretty. The churches are beautiful and all the building that was not torn down from the early centuries were amazing. :) There's also this one church that only has the front door left after being burn down three times yet the front entrance still stands. Next to this was the Museum of Macau. Not much is in there besides a bit artifacts and the area where all the cannons are located; where Macau used to fight their wars. After that, we went to this Portugese restaurant that was really expensive! O_O There were dishes that was $350 each... Overall, I had a lot of fun on the first part of the day.
After that, Florence bought me a pork chop bun; a really popular sandwich that's big in Macau and Hong Kong right now. Auntie was trying to force me to eat it right away saying it's not going to be good when it cools down regardless of how full I was after lunch... I ended up eating half of it before I couldn't eat anymore.
Florence had to go and Mun Yi has to get home to correct exams so we departed. We took the bus for a good hour to get to a place where they sell famous egg tarts... Hong Kong sells them too but they said the main chef works here and it's different here; taste better I guess. Once again, auntie try to make me eat one saying it's not so good afterwards. I couldn't eat anymore so I denied until she shopped. When I thought we were ready to go, they had to go back to buy 2 more half a dozen of them to bring back for Mun Yi and friends in HK so auntie and I waited outside.
After that, we took the bus back to Venetian hotel. Wendy wanted to go to this old Taipa Village place to buy famous cookies and egg rolls. Wendy and auntie got on the bus to get there, but not enough seats for Cherry and I. We decided to walk over because the next bus was in 10 minutes. We forgot to have them take the tarts onto the bus, so we walked over while carrying them.
Wendy and auntie bought some cookies and egg rolls and wanted to go back to Venetian. Once again, there were not enough seats again, so Cherry and I walked back over but this time, we had them take the bags.
After we got back, we went to the Galaxy hotel instead which is connected to the Venetian. We just browsed around and just watched people gamble. Wendy and auntie lost another HK$100 lol :( We just browsed around until we had to go back to Mun Yi's place to pick up stuff and catch the boat back to HK.
When we got back to Mun Yi's place, it was really late and we were trying to catch the 9:30 ferry, so we took the taxi to the terminal. I was looking at the timepiece and I was like O_O The price went up like $2 like every meter! Such a money maker! In a 10min ride, it already cost $37.
We got there really early cuz there wasn't a line in the passport holder line so I got in quickly. We took the ferry back and got back at 11. Everyone was tired, so we just all passed out. :)

Day 10: Macau!

Weather: Sunny and Beautiful
Party: Auntie, Wendy, Cherry, Mun Yi, Florence, Me
Location: Macau!

Woke up early just so others won't have to wait for me, but end up Wendy wouldn't get up until we really have to leave! We needed to get to the ferry terminal early because the passport holder immigration line are usually really long (people from China going there to gamble!). I thought I packed everything, but ended up forgetting the camera! Wendy ended up giving me her SLR camera to take pictures.
We got to the ferry terminal at 12:30 to meet up with Cherry (Wendy's friend). None of them ate yet, so they bought McDonald's. Their sandwiches are even smaller than the ones in the US lol... The quarter-pounder (supposedly a bigger patty) had the same size patty, 3 mini strings of onion, 2 small slices of pickles, one dot of ketchup, and a piece of cheese... It was sad, but turns out the ride to Macau had food even though it's only a 1hr ride! 6hr ride from MA to CA doesn't serve food...
Wendy got employee discount on a package for ferry ride and tickets to the show Dancing Waters. We even got premium seating -- front seat and prior service. :] Our ride was at 2:30 and we got there at 3:30 but took me an hour to check into Macau through the immigration department~ =3=
Macau is so empty compare to Hong Kong! Macau is like, still in heavy development. There's tons of empty land. Auntie kept saying Macau is a lot prettier than Las Vegas even though she been to Las Vegas. I feel that Las Vegas is a lot more beautiful, just because all the casinos are packed together so it really illuminates brighter. But yeah, the main part of Macau is like Las Vegas, except the casinos are more spread out. The other part of Macau is like historical things.
When we got off the ferry, there were immediately free bus shuttles to casinos lol. That's like really different because where ever I go in Hong Kong, even parking is not free even if you're going to that restaurant to eat.
We took the bus to Venetian casino~ Looks exactly like the one in Las Vegas, but auntie still continue to brag that it's better looking. :P Here lies the one and only Victoria's Secret in the whole Macau and Hong Kong (There's no Victoria's Secret in HK!). I stress that because Wendy had me buy her Victoria's Secret lotion from the US because the only one in Venetian sells them for US$32 per bottle while I can get them in the US 5 for $30... lol. I also bought a really cute bag for Victoria; Japanese brand; really cute. :3
After shopping for a little bit, we went into the casino. Really bad ventilation and smoking is allowed. It's the grossiest smell ever! :( Wendy gave HK$100 to her mom to try her luck on slot machines. She won HK$7 on the first try, but eventually lost everything haha... Wendy cashed out a HK$1 check as a souvenir for me. :) Cherry tried HK$20 and I tried HK$20 and eventually lost it all. No such thing as winning when gambling.  If people win so often, then the casino owners wouldn't have so much money to keep opening new ones. After that, we just walked around, watched a couple of free performances and waited until our main event of the night.
Dancing Water! ^_^ http://thehouseofdancingwater.com/en/
A HK$2Billion production! Our tickets were HK$860 per person (with discount. If not, $1310) and it wasn't even the best seat. :x It was a really awesome performance about an evil queen kidnapping this girl to prevent the pirate and the girl from getting together because they love each other haha. The whole performance was on stuns, acrobats, and acting on top of a pool of water with rising platforms whenever needed. It was really awesome, but it was annoying at the same time. You know how you're not supposed to record performances at some place because they don't want to lose profit? Usually, there's only a sign and that's about it. But here, they had workers hover over all the audience throughout the whole show and they'd go around everytime they suspect someone recording. They were blocking the view a lot of the time. ._. One of them even yelled at me three times because she thought I was recording. Wendy's camera was running out of battery, so there was a red blinking light on the screen. Also, I try to focus before taking pictures, so there's a red light on the camera that lights up when it's focused. The woman kept telling me to stop recording, so I got mad and just stopped taking pictures for the rest of the performance. They were doing through every aisle every time a flashy scene comes on and they start suspecting everyone recording. But yeah, it was a good performance.
Afterwards, we took the free bus back to Wendy's friend "Mun Yi"'s (only know her Chinese name) house. We met up with Florence and her boyfriend for dinner. Dinner was okay, just regular "dai pai dong." I THOUGHT we took the bus to her house, but after dinner, we walked for a good hour before getting to her house haha... She lived at 青洲坊 (Bairro da Ilha Verde); northern part of Macau. We got back, took a shower and went to sleep. The water is so dirty here they have to install sodium fluoride filters at every faucet. :s Mun Yi is a teacher at a middle school and her brother lives with her. I didn't really get to meet her brother, but he seemed cool. :P The usual now a days asian hair do~ That's all for today! Mun Yi didn't know her internet password, so I just posted something random as a place holder to post this now! ^^; *acting like I don't know what happened the next day*

Day 9: ^_^

Productive and unproductive at the same time~ Auntie said we'll wait until 5pm to go visit cou gong, so we didn't go out until 5pm. I kind of wanted to cloth shopping, but I guess I'll have to wait until next week.
cou gong's doing fine. His fever went down and he's taking medications. I'm glad he's fine now. :)
We visit him for about an hour, but he was trying to get us to leave the whole time cuz he felt bad for having us to visit him; being a burden. :( We stayed until the nurses gave him his medication. Now I understand the need for nurses here haha... 16 patients being taken care of by 2 nurses. O_O That's like a high need for nurses... Victoria!! Haha. But the pay still can't compete with the US. :P
Auntie and I went back home and Wendy went out to eat with friends. I thought my night was over, but then Wendy called at 11pm to see if I wanted to go to the Arcade with her and her friend Becky... Apparently, they go a lot and Becky is really good at claw crane games lol. For the past two days, Wendy was complaining about losing a keychain. She wanted to go to the arcade to get that teddy keychain back lol. The arcade was right down the street. Their claw crane machines are so different from ours; it only had two claws... It took Becky a couple of tries before getting the teddy keychain and they traded in a coupon that's win one get one free. They were supposed to give the ticket before they play so if you lose, then you lose that coupon lol. But Wendy knew one of the worker there, so that employee let us get another one. Becky and Wendy go to the arcade so much, they just became friends with the employees. They had the employee help them win 2 more haha. Wendy was so happy she got the keychain back haha~ She gave Becky one and gave me one. We were playing a video game until the arcade turned off the power at 12am to kick us out. :'( We want our $6 back! I wasn't finished with the game!

Haha, Wendy likes to edit her photos, but yeah, this is the teddy keychain~