Macau - Day 1, Part 1

"I believe in making the world safe for our children, but not our children's children, because I don't think children should be having sex." - Jack Handy

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Macau
Day 1 - 26th February - Macau by Night (Part 1)

My flight to Macau was at 6am, so I got to go to the Budget Terminal in the wee hours of the night. Queuing up to check in, I found a lot of PRCs with me in what (thanks to them) passed for a queue, so it was not a very pleasant experience.

After I had gotten to the gate and when a few of us had already had our boarding passes scanned, we were suddenly told that our flight had been delayed by an hour. With insufficient seating space at the gate area, I just sat on the floor and got forty winks.

I got to catch up on even more sleep, since we spent a few hours flying around above Macau; there was lots of fog and it was preventing them from getting a clear view of the runway. In the end, after two aborted descents, we were diverted to Hong Kong.

There, we found out that they had also stopped the Hong Kong-Macau ferry. So even if they had let us off the plane in Hong Kong (Hong Kong immigration was not allowing this to happen, possibly because there were a lot of PRCs on the plane), we would not have been able to get to Macau anyway (there's probably a land route through China, but I don't think anyone takes it).


Hong Kong International Airport - the last time I was there, it was in happier circumstances. Hopefully the next time I am there it will similarly be in happier times.

Our situation was complicated when many of the Mandarin speaking passengers (mostly PRCs but with a couple of Singaporeans as well) got into their heads the strange idea that Tiger Airways was going to send us to our dooms by crashing through the fog into the runway in Macau. They started shouting excitedly in Mandarin, "我们的生命也是宝贵的！" ("Our lives are precious too!" - even a boy who could not have been more than 10 got to shouting this) and demanded to be let off the plane (not heeding the fact that Hong Kong Immigration would sooner deport them to China than let them into Hong Kong). They then spent some time walking on the tarmac and sitting in an airport runway bus that was not going anywhere.


Causing trouble for everyone

While the Mandarin speaking passengers were being unreasonable, the lack of communication from the Tiger Airways staff did not help. There had been no announcement in Mandarin about the diversion to Hong Kong - only a message in English from the Captain. Also, on hearing the commotion, they should've explained the situation - and the fact that safety procedures (not to mention a healthy concern for their own lives) would not allow them to send us to our dooms. Even more annoyingly, some of them kept entering and then leaving the plane, leading some other passengers to advocate closing the airplane doors to keep them out.

One ang moh, instead of shouting, talked to the Station Manager in Hong Kong to complain about the "very bad decision making" on this flight. Half an hour too late, the Station Manager made an exhaustive announcement to reassure the passengers.

Tiger Airways was unable to persuade some of the passengers who'd gotten off back onto the plane, so we wasted some time selectively unloading their baggage (some of them refused to give their details either, possibly due to Immigration worries, making it even harder to offload their baggage). In all, the additional delay due to the trouble they caused was about 1-1.5 hours.

Although we had landed in Hong Kong at noon, they only fed us a bun at 2:40pm (previously they had been selling food). Wonderful: Tiger Airways.

Finally, at 3:50pm, we landed in Macau.

While waiting for the bus to the mainland (Macau's airport is on one of its islands), I saw a girl in hot shorts and calf high boots. I would've gotten a record of this horrible fashion statement, but I knew my priorites and puzzled over which bus to take while she got on another. Then again, the next bus is predictable, but fashion follies not so.


First view of Peninsular Macau

The fog was so bad that while my bus was on the bridge to the mainland, I saw some buildings which only had their tops visible through the fog.


Fisherman's Wharf. This looked like a theme park - it was probably one of the hotels/casinos.

Given that the temperature was in the mid-20s, I saw a lot of women in boots - but none in hot shorts.

Despite the temperature, I was the only one on the minibus to open my window all the way, since I found the breeze (it didn't qualify as a chill) invigorating. Luckily this was not Germany, or people would scold me.


Slum. Most of the housing looked like this. From the looks of it, Macau makes Hong Kong housing look luxurious.

I realised that my skills of taking buses in strange lands had eroded, when I was unceremoniously dumped at:


Border Gate with Zhuhai (China), final stop

I had imagined that I would have been able to identify the old buildings near which I would've had to get off, but apparently they were too well-hidden (or the bus didn't go that near them), and I only saw slums everywhere. Then again, it was not as if I had much to do anyway, having been landed in Macau so late (6 hours later than my original arrival time of 9:40am, to be exact).


Uggs and shorts - ugh. These weren't as hot as the shorts I'd seen in the airport, but they had to do.


The old border gate


The disgusting blob that is the Shanghai Expo 2010 mascot. I saw it again in Vivocity this past weekend.


Advertisement for Resorts World Sentosa HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA


Statistics on the number of people passing through.

Humidity was 85% (i.e. unbearable), though the temperature was 23-24 degrees (I knew this thanks to the temperature/humidity sensor on the bus - I think only relatively humid places report the humidity). It might have been due to the ocean, but Japan had been around this temperature but much less humid. Maybe it was the monsoons?


"Spitting, littering rubbish and cigarretes are liable to a fixed fine of Mop 600"
Macau to PRCs: "Stop dirtying our city!"
This sign was notable by its absence at the airport.

I then took another bus from the border gate, making sure to ask the bus driver to inform me of the correct stop.

Amusingly, though Portuguese and Chinese are the official languages of Macau, I saw some signs aimed at locals in English, like "Don't get a pet on impulse".


Cute sign animation. I like the way the strokes of the Chinese characters are animated.

I saw a sign: "Hong Kong Employment Company"; Hong Kong and Macau have the same relationship as Australia and New Zealand (respectively).

Somehow, shorts, leggings and boots are not as dumb as shorts and boots. Somehow, leggings are a minor concession made to the weather - one can (barely) make a respectible case about the vagaries of the weather, which is nicer than the choice of garment being due to a misguided fashion sense.

While I was pondering the above, I also had cause to wonder which is more stupid fur-trimmed boots or heeled leather boots. Ah, judgment calls!

I saw a sign for a "health centre". There was a red cross on it. I think they meant "clinic".

I got off at the other end of the Macau peninsula, near the Grand Lisboa hotel.


Grand Lisboa hotel. There is only one way to describe it: Damn Ugly. Vegas has camp, but Macau is just plain vulgar.


Wynn hotel


Casino Lisboa - preceding the Grand Lisboa



The Grand Lisboa in its full ugliness

My hostel - Augusters Lodge - was possibly the worst hostel (facilities/lodging wise, anyway) I'd ever stayed in. Even the cramped Khaosan Annex in Tokyo had been better. But then there hadn't been many alternatives - Macau is not a place for budget lodging (at least Osaka, has cheap budget hotels).


View through the window in the stairwell of the hostel

Recuperating in the hostel, I mentioned the Lisboa's Shark Pit to the owner but he didn't know what I was talking about. He told me that before the market had been opened to competition, there had been no free shuttle buses and no free drinks and dim sum in the casinos. Ah, competition!

I then went to walk around Macau at night.


Huge LCD screen for Grand Emperor.


Macau Street


Hong Kong Steamboat on a Stick

I'd gone before the 14 days of Chinese New Year were up, so unfortunately there were Chinese New Year decorations disfiguring the World Heritage Sites.


Senado Square (Largo do Senado), with CNY Decorations. The building in the centre now houses the Tourist Office. And Watson's.


Municipal Hall (former Leal Senado - Legislative Assembly), with CNY Decorations


Travessa do Roquete


Further on in the square


Santa Casa Da Misericordia


Industrial Gao Laak Making Machine


Alley


Colonial Era Pharmacy. Okay, "Colonial Era" is not the best term, given that it ended less than 11 years ago, but "Strolling in Macau" assures me that it is "old".


Travessa da Misericordia


Bust at end of the Alley


Alley from the other end

There were quite a few stray dogs.

I had run out of AA batteries at home (for my camera) so I popped into Watson's to buy some more.


Leopard Prints Baggage. Wth.


Traditional Chinese Medicine Counter

They had Black Sesame Almond Cakes with Pork Jerky inside. Err.


Jackie Chan's more important than their founder


St Dominic's Church


Coconut Flesh Milk Tea I had, which was nothing special. The flesh was a bit tough.


The bubble tea shop


Pork Chop Bun shop


Pork Chop Bun I had. It was... alright. The bread was crusty, unlike at the place where I've tried it in Singapore, but otherwise it was unspectacular.


Lots of Bak Kwa. I never knew so many varieties existed. Among others: Wild Boar, Jeans Cow (?!) Cowboy Beef, Ostrich, Pig's Head. The nice guy gave me some Ostrich. It was very tender.


Bak Kwa


Luckily there was a shop with English translations (though you can tell you're not getting the full picture): (Normal) Pork, Beef, Spicy Beef Fillet, Garlic Chicken, Spicy Veal, Veal, Spicy Piglet, Piglet, Fillet of Beef, Wild Boar.


"Affordable Luxury"
Confused Haagen-Dazs branding


Street


I saw a lot of schoolgirls walking around but very few schoolboys. This begged the usual question: where were the boys?! Furthermore, ponytail was a very popular minimum hair length - I saw a low single digit number of girls with hair shorter than that length, a mid-single digit number of schoolboys, but a good 3 digit number of other schoolgirls.

Macau only has 500,000 people. With the population density you'd think it'd be a lot more.

Cowardice and Bravery

"What is cowardice, but the body's wisdom of its weakness?

What is bravery, but the body's wisdom of its strength?

The coward and the hero march together within every man. So to call one man a coward and another brave merely serves to indicate the possibilities of their achieving the opposite."

Links - 21st March 2010

"In journalism, there has always been a tension between getting it first and getting it right." - Ellen Goodman

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NCBI ROFL: Best materials and methods ever. - "Response of brown tree snakes (Boiga irregularis) to human blood. “Ten specimens of Boiga irregularis were presented with clean or bloody tampons. The latter were used by women during menses"

Google Answers: Penis length among different races
There's a lot of material from different sources referenced here. Interestingly, some of the stuff also led me to the next 2 links

race/history/evolution notes: Racial differences in vaginal dimensions: strike one more against Rushton - "Full vinyl polysiloxane casts of the vagina were obtained from 23 Afro-American, 39 Caucasian and 15 Hispanic women in lying, sitting and standing positions. A new shape, the pumpkin seed, was found in 40% of Afro-American women, but not in Caucasians or Hispanics. Analyses of cast and introital measurements revealed: (1) posterior cast length is significantly longer, anterior cast length is significantly shorter and cast width is significantly larger in Hispanics than in the other two groups and (2) the Caucasian introitus is significantly greater than that of the Afro-American subject."

Comfort for the large in size - This is amusing for this comment: "Oh gee thanks, I'm going to try this out and stick a cucumber up my vagina. Hey, did you know that cucumbers come in different sizes? But you know what? The cucumber sizes don't depend on the colour of the cucumbers because that would just be silly.
While you are shoving a cucumber up your dirty vagina, a 250 million children in Africa are dieing of starvation.
Your article is not cute. It's not even informative, it's a fucking disgrace to Imprint and this University."

Monkeys learn more from females - "The animals were better able to learn a task when it was demonstrated by a female"
Men like women, women like women, and monkeys like females also.

Super-sized mother determined to become world's fattest woman in two years - "The 42-year-old from New Jersey, U.S, is set on reaching the 1,000lb mark (71st) in just two years. Remarkably she insists she is healthy, despite now needing a mobility scooter when she goes shopping... 'I'd love to be 1,000lb,' she said. 'It might be hard though. Running after my daughter keeps my weight down'... You might expect her long-term partner Philippe, 49, to advise her to slim down, but instead he encourages her to eat more. He met Donna on a dating site for plus-size people and is a self-confessed fat admirer... 'I think he'd like it if I was bigger,' said Donna... To achieve her goal, Donna says she will need to eat up to 12,000 calories a day (the average woman should consume only 2,000.) To fund the massive $750 weekly food shop, she runs a website where men pay her to watch her eat fast food."

Johann Hari: The Pope, the Prophet, and the religious support for evil - "Some... regard people accused of the attempted murders of the Mohamed cartoonists as victims, and to demand "respect" for the Pope, when he should be in a police station being quizzed about his role in covering up and thereby enabling the rape of children... Drawing a cartoon is not an act of aggression. Trying to kill somebody with an axe is. There is no moral equivalence between peacefully expressing your disagreement with an idea – any idea – and trying to kill somebody for it. Yet we have to say this because we have allowed religious people to claim their ideas belong to a different, exalted category, and it is abusive or violent merely to verbally question them. Nobody says I should "respect" conservatism or communism and keep my opposition to them to myself – but that's exactly what is routinely said about Islam or Christianity or Buddhism. What's the difference?... everyone has ideas they hold precious. Only you, the religious, demand to be protected from debate or scrutiny that might discomfort you"

Sceptic challenges guru to kill him live on TV - "Exposing such tricks can be risky. A guru called Balti (Bucket) Baba once smashed a burning hot clay pot in Mr Edamaruku’s face after he revealed that the holy man was using a heat resistant pad to pick it up. The chief rationalist was almost arrested by the government of Kerala for revealing that it was behind an annual apparition of flames in the night sky — in fact, several state officials lighting bonfires on a nearby hill — which attracted millions of pilgrims. Despite his efforts, he admits that people still go to the festival and continue to revere self-styled holy men... When the guru’s initial efforts failed, he accused Mr Edamaruku of praying to gods to protect him. “No, I’m an atheist,” came the response. The holy man then said he needed to conduct a ritual that could only be done at night, outdoors, and after he had slept with a woman, drunk alcohol and rubbed himself in ash"

S'poreans eyeing New Zealand - "Singaporeans are thought of as "diligent", "efficient", "well-trained" and have a good command of English... Between 2008 and 2009, 2,703 of Australia's 171,318 immigrants were Singaporeans... Management trainee Geline Lim, 21, is one who intends to pursue her postgraduate studies in New Zealand. She said it is "less stressful" there, and there is "more freedom and time" to pursue things outside of study. Her parents have already migrated there because of the "more laid-back lifestyle, better air, scenery and government welfare schemes", she added"

E-mails from an Asshole - "This is a collection of e-mails I have sent to people who post classified ads. My goal is to mess with them, confuse them, and/or piss them off."

Exhilaration - Paintball Tank | Tank Paintballing - "Tankballing - it's like paintballing but with tanks! Driving a tank is fantastic fun but imagine actually taking part in a tank battle? Now's your chance - not with live ammunition, but with unique paintball technology. We believe this is the only site in the world to offer this experience, not even the yanks have it yet!"
It's only £89.00!

YouTube - ものまねオールスターズ＊オールスターズ（We are The World） - "ものまねオールスターズ＊オールスターズ（We are The World）
parody we are the world japanese style"
Damn Japs

Picture Perfect: Phony wildlife photography in magazines, books, calendars, and posters is giving people a warped view of nature - ""The wild isn’t pretty. I’d rather see it real than all gussied up. When I see a poster of a big, beautiful air-blown lion with a mane that looks better than my hair galloping toward me, I feel cheated"... Why are lies anathema in all journalism save photo journalism? If a picture is worth a thousand words, is not a film, book, magazine, calendar, or poster containing photographic lies... objectionable?"

Grammar Myths - "There's the objection to nouns being used as verbs. These days, impact comes in for especial condemnation... that means you also don't 'like' the use of view, silence, worship, copy, outlaw, and countless other words that started as nouns and are now also verbs. Nor do many people shudder at the use of fax as a verb... English is shot through with things that don't really follow... Aren't I? is thoroughly illogical-and yet if you decided to start saying amn't all the time, you would lose most of your friends and never get promotions. Except, actually, in parts of Scotland and Ireland where people actually do say amn't--in which case the rest of us think of them as 'quaint' rather than correct!"

Odds Are, It's Wrong - "Science was seduced by statistics... in practice, widespread misuse of statistical methods makes science more like a crapshoot... “Replication is vital,” says statistician Juliet Shaffer... in medicine, she says, the need for replication is widely recognized. “But in the social sciences and behavioral sciences, replication is not common,” she noted... “This is a sad situation”... Most critics of standard statistics advocate the Bayesian approach"

How going green may make you mean - "When people feel they have been morally virtuous by saving the planet through their purchases of organic baby food, for example, it leads to the "licensing [of] selfish and morally questionable behaviour", otherwise known as "moral balancing" or "compensatory ethics". Do Green Products Make Us Better People is published in the latest edition of the journal Psychological Science... those in their study who bought green products appeared less willing to share with others a set amount of money than those who bought conventional products"
Surely this explains why self-righteous people are not very nice?
Keywords: morality consuming green makes people more likely to, green consumption compensation moral

9GAG - Best cosplay ever! (nsfw)

Contestants turn torturers in French TV experiment - "Game show contestants turn torturers in a new psychological experiment for French television, zapping a man with electricity until he cries for mercy -- then zapping him again until he seems to drop dead... "We were amazed to find that 81 percent of the participants obeyed" the sadistic orders of the television presenter"
It seems Milgram's finding were valid.

North Korean man executed for calling a friend in South Korea on mobile phone

Monitor: The net generation, unplugged | The Economist - "There is also a feeling of superficiality about much online youth activism. Any teenager can choose to join a Facebook group supporting the opposition in Iran or the liberation of Tibet, but such engagement is likely to be shallow. A recent study by the Pew Research Center, an American think-tank, found that internet users aged 18-24 were the least likely of all age groups to e-mail a public official or make an online political donation. But when it came to using the web to share political news or join political causes on social networks, they were far ahead of everyone else. Rather than genuinely being more politically engaged, they may simply wish to broadcast their activism to their peers"

Imperfect, tractable data is better than subjective life histories

"Paradise is exactly like where you are right now... only much, much better." - Laurie Anderson

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On the limitations of data-gathering (on a Gifted Education Branch survey which mainly asks what awards you have won, what competitions you have taken part in, how patents you have registered, what organisations you belong to, etc.:


*many comments about how the survey doesn't measure the GEP's goals "to develop a strong social conscience and commitment to serve society and nation" and "to develop moral values and qualities for responsible leadership"*


A: to be fair though they do have a section for comm service. Also, there is no way for a survey to divine the individual's inner heart so no survey could ever tell [two otherwise identical scholars] apart...

The point of this survey is so that MOE can justify the crapton of taxpayer’s cash that it spent on us. Instead of, y’know, giving it to the poor or using it to build more one-room HDB apartments. In a sense, they’re covering our butts on why we once (wittingly or unwittingly) siphoned off a larger-than-fair share of the nation’s resources.

As a waffly English major and save-the-world type myself, I’m tired of the “it can’t be measured!” battle-cry that some (mostly in humanities, but others too) trot out as defensive apologia for their pursuits. I have sensed that some of these complainants feel as if they were special or felt it demeaning to be held accountable, therefore I eventually moved away from that line of argument so as to disassociate myself from that disingenuous sub-segment.

To me, it is unproductive to be defensive about one’s activities/achievements falling outside the color-blind spectrum of officialdom’s recognition. I’m sure that behind each of the faux self-deprecating comments we make about ourselves lies a life fully lived in unapologetic geeky pursuit of the things that make us come alive. (Some call this quality “integrity”, but they’re just being poetic.)

It is precisely that sort of unapologetic boundary-pushing that we need right now. I point out that there is an "other achievements" box on the survey that you can fill if you value your out-of-the-box "achievements" (define that word as broadly as possible). Yes it’s a small box, but write outside the box if you must, and briefly appreciate the metaphorical aptness as you do so.

In fact, I challenge each of us here to put something true but awesome in their "Other achievements" box for the survey. Something that would stop a reading civil servant in his tracks and force him – maybe, just maybe – to rethink what the hell an “achievement” is. Think of it as a protest ballot (because, hey, when will you ever get to cast one of those, realistically?).

What would each of us put? Some hypothetical ideas:

"Led Saffron Revolution rally on university campus to call for overthrow of Myanmar's military junta after the massacre of Buddhist monks."

"Illegally visited and produced film documentary on AIDS villages in China whose existence the government denies."

“Taught firstborn daughter to share her sweets with younger brother”

“Donated spare kidney to someone have never met before.”

“Convinced 15-year-old nephew not to commit suicide.”

C’mon, what else have we done that won’t fit neatly anywhere else on the survey? I'd like to see some suit have a fit over this.


B: I'd have written back if they'd asked for a (qualitative) retrospective of say 500 words on the program and my honest assessment of its effects. But that wouldn't have been useful for justifying taxpayer spending, and would be too troublesome to carry out, administratively.

Maybe we could draft a letter and get signatures from our batch. Or simply get signatures for [one already sent].


A on MOE's reply to feedback: It looks like they read your letter (well enough to quote bits of it). They do look like they're aware of the limitations of their mechanism and are trying to fill in the (qualitative) gaps.

B: They could totally call for a focus group of GEPpers to reflect and give feedback. That would be great.


C: i agree with A's general arc, but tend to err more on the side of pity for the oft-mocked survey designer, coming from the perspective of understaffed underpaid civil servant tasked to pursue a thankless job - if you have 24 hours in your day, it's much more efficient to sift through a few hundred quantifiable and generally accredited metrics and throw them into a couple of graphs, than to read a few hundred essays and uh, draw any form of trendable conclusion.

if anything, changing the survey to "pls write 500 words about ur life" fundamentally skews the results towards the [thread starter-s] of this world... of course, it is more "fair" to provide both options - but as i mentioned - this whole ballyhooed survey process is probably the product of 1 dude sitting in the "historical academic performance calibration" office, on alternate second mondays of every other month. what's he supposed to do when he looks at your result? feedback to his boss that approximately a dozen geps out of the thousands past are passionate, good at writing, and uh... free? :}

my pessimist view is that few other gep alums have the energy or free time to bother with the survey to begin with, let alone do a out-of-the-box write-in.