Macau - They have a Vegas here?!

Macau - another SAR of China. Just an hour ferry ride SW of Hong Kong. It's the Las Vegas of China so to speak. It doesn't have quite the party scene of Vegas and is more targeted toward gamblers. We played some interesting games. They actually have the card game "War" as a casino game. I thought that was amazing! Finally, a game I can play. They also have a shrimp, crab, pig dice game that is very popular. Chris tried to play Baccarat which is a very popular game for the Chinese. The cards are weighted at different values and basically if the dealer or person playing has the most points wins. It's customary for the player to bend and destroy the cards dealt to him. I thought the person playing just had a really bad temper, but I guess that's the norm. Macau is also home to the Venetian hotel/casino/etc which is the largest building in the world (not the tallest). The design is very similar to the one in the U.S.

We visited during the Chinese New Year and were able to buy and set off our own fireworks. Chris was pretty excited since we can't do such activities in HK and also because they had some fireworks that would have been considered illegal in the states. He was like a kid in a candy store!

Shenzhen = Shopping Mecca

We have taken a couple trips to Shenzhen on the mainland. It's about an hour MTR ride from where we live and has an overwhelming amount of shopping. Once you're on the train you don't even have to go outside to hit up the shopping. The mall is connected to the Chinese immigration area. You can get a "copy" of anything you want, cheap massages, and Cold Stone Creamery ice cream! (we don't have anything like that in HK). We got 1 hour foot massages and 2 hour body massages for about $50 USD total. It's a pretty nice facility with friendly people, but no one speaks English. We have a funny "lost in translation story", but it's too complicated to write about here. Another time, maybe?

A shout out to the sisters!

Congratulations to our sisters! Chris' sister, Stephanie, got engaged to Ryan Gore around Christmas time and they are getting married on New Years Eve of 2009. My sister, Kari, got engaged to Jeff Sanders and they were married on Valentines Day this year. We love you both and would like to welcome 2 new brothers to our families! Congrats!

Stephanie & Ryan

Kari & Jeff