In Bangkok Limbo

The other times I've been to Bangkok, it's a taxi from the airport to Kao San Rd. Not so this time. This week I have the pleasure of working in the Bang Na district of the city, which is a good 20 - 30km outside the center of the city. It's a lot like being in the suburbs of most large American cities. Not a lot to see and not a lot of places a pedestrian can easily get to. Unfortunately I probably won't be able to make it to a hash this week because work pretty much goes until 6:30 or 7. All I want to do after is get something to eat and take it easy. Unfortunatly, none of the restaurants in the hotel I am staying in offers Thai cuisine and there isn't much to walk to.

Oh yeah, and youtube is blocked anywhere in Thailand. Apparently, folks were posting videos denigrating the King, and well, that's a no no.

And as I sit in Bangkok, the Venetian Macao is officially opening today. Here are some snippets:

AP story
CNN Video

Hong Kong from a Doubledecker Bus

With not much else to do today, I walked down to the Hung Hom Ferry pier and got on a random doubledecker bus. I had no idea where it was going, but was gonna ride it til the end, then check out that place. It first snaked through Kowloon, then headed north over the bridge into the New Territories. Finally, it arrived in Yuen Long, a smaller suburb located near the mainland border. I walked around a bit, checked out a Pagoda/birdhouse in Yuen Long Park, then got on the train for the return trip.

During the ride, I took a few shots from the top deck of the bus. Here are a couple I like, then here are the rest.

The Price of Travel

Packing up and moving to a new country or taking off on the road for an extended vacation is naturally tough on the body. Could be the drastic change in the time zones, changes in the diet, new experiences, the stress of living out of a suitcase, the environment, or even not being around the people you enjoy spending time with. I'm currently in the midst of a wicked cold, perhaps brought on by any of the above. I am not complaining though. Work requires longer hours and is quite challenging so far. I've been mostly eating Chinese food, but have recently switched it up with some Japanese and Portuguese here in Macao. The average American burger is a long way from here, and I am delighted. Once I kick this cold, I'll be once again enjoying life in Asia no doubt.

One amazing fact that I learned recently: For all gambling revenue in Las Vegas, the US government taxes 7%. In Macao, the Chinese government will be taxing 40%!!! Recently, Macao overtook Vegas in Casino revenue (gambling only). Macao-8 billion, Vegas-7 billion. Scary to think that the largest Casinos here have yet to open or still exist only on the architect's drawing board. Quite a long way from the Indiana State Fair.

The Bountiful Concrete Gardens

The gardens around Hong Kong continue to bear marvelous fruit. A massive complex rises in the Hung Hom Bay area on Kowloon. (Check out the full size image to see the massive scale.)

Bookmobile Macao

Here is your typical bookmobile in Macao. Forget walking into the back of a trailer to browse for books. Just walk up to the side of the truck and grab one.

1,800,000,000 > 535,000,000

The price of the brand new Venetian Macao is over three times the amount the state of Missouri is spending on totally revamping highway 40 in metro St. Louis. This actually provides a bit more perspective to the scale of what they are doing here, especially if you are familiar with what a big project highway 40 is. While the materials they are building with at the Venetian (marble, glasswork, paintings, tile, etc.) are the finest money can buy, the labor is quite cheap relatively speaking. So basically this project in the states or Europe would likely be even more.

Not only do they expect to draw massive amounts of people from mainland China, this is also where they are pulling most of the labor from. I've heard anywhere from 12,000 to 20,000 employees when operating at full capacity. And I venture to think how many years it will take for the Venetian to move into the black on the entire project. My guess? Not long. Scary.

The Venetian Macau

A couple more from the Venetian. Click for the full size. Grand Opening is August 28th.

The Venetian Macau, A Sneak Peek

Some random dude from the internet put up some photos of the yet to be opened Venetian Casino Macau. Just incredible. Here is one. It looks like it's the corridor from the lobby onto the Casino floor. I will check back to see if he posts any more the next few days...

Typhoon Arrival

I arrived in Hong Kong on Friday night in the midst of a mild typhoon. Just a bit of rain is all, not too bad. No delays on the flights, but I had to wait an hour for a taxi in Tsim Sha Tsui. Saturday I did a bit of exploring and shopping. It wasn't a very good day for taking pictures, but here's looking across the harbor into Central.


There was no jet lag that I could feel, so I took a long walk in the drizzle from Wachai to Central up in the hills, then the Star Ferry back to Hung Hom.

Sunday I woke up with one purpose, and that was to get to the Wanchai Hash starting at 4pm in the Pok Fu Lam area. I left around 2:30 with plenty of time to get to Central, locate the correct bus to take and find the start. After walking around Central for a good half hour and looking in vain for an information booth or map or bus schedule or anything, I was almost gonna give it up and go back. All of a sudden, I look up and see an older caucasian gentleman dressed in shorts and running shoes getting on a mini-bus. I looked at the bus and it was heading to one of the roads listed on the directions. When I got on, I asked him is he was a hasher by chance and why yes, he was. So I followed him to the start. It turned out to be a super long hash (compared to the average Wednesday night in St. Louis). We went up into the foggy hills, running through rain and looking for small piles of rice that are a lot more water resistant that flour. Up hundreds of stairs, then straight back down a path, back up into the hills, across slippery steep rocks then finally almost back down to sea level and the finish. We had circle under a bridge and I was awarded a down down along with my buddy from the bus for our teamwork in finding the place. I tried to speak some english to the random Korean tour group on the way back. A great workout and today i'm a little sore.

Another oddity is the crazy light show that takes place on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront every night. Dozens of buildings in the HK skyline are rigged with all kinds of lights and lasers that are perfectly coordinated to corny Chinese music that's piped in. It is incredibly tacky, but interesting how they managed to coordinate so many things going on at once. I will hope to record the spectacle on video one day.

Here is the result of my Saturday morning shopping binge. Mostly food and home items, of course I managed to find a Japanese Home store for the essentials. And once again, i'm ecstatic to be in a country that has Dragonfruit readily available.

Today was my first day at the Venetian in Macau. Just an overwhelming experience to say the least. I'll be here for 10 straight weeks, so much more to come on this monstrosity.