Day 6 - Returing to Hong Kong

We wake up a bit late - miss our free breakfast. When we catch up with the others, they report that we haven't missed much. Although Wei Yan is disappointed to have missed bacon. We head out to some square. Here we have double steamed milk pudding - delicious, hot & a little sweet. We have a sandwich that is made of a crispy bread (like a french roll) and a grilled pork cutlet - pretty yummy. We split a coconut bun and then are off to find something else for Wei Yan to eat. There is a street market that leads up to what remains of a church - it's just the face of the church since Eunice says that the rest burned in a fire. Wei Yan finds fried dumplings and I have a tea boiled egg. Then we are accosted by street vendors wanting us to try their almond cookies & jerky. Wei Yan of course obliges them. We decide not to buy anything just yet, since we'll have to carry everything around & our boat is reserved for midnight.

By the end of the road, before we get to the church, we've broken down & buy a bunch of stuff at Pastelaria Koi Kei. After the 4th jerky purchase, Eunice tells Wei Yan that he can't bring unlabelled meat to the US. If it doesn't state that it doesn't have beef with an official "Ingredients" section, then he won't be able to bring it in. So he stops and makes his purchase. The jerky is in individual bags that get sealed up after you make your pick, so he can't really put it back. We get some cookies and then take some pictures in front of the church. We also see a guy making something that seems like a crepe, until I realize that he is putting a slip of nori (seaweed) on it & some powdery cream-colored stuff & wrapping it up. Wei Yan buys 3 - and before I get to the middle of it, he tells me the powder stuff is meat. Odd, but not bad. I think it's probably an acquired taste, but it's actually not too bad. I get some fresh squeezed orange juice which is good because it's not too sweet.

Then we head back to our hotel to drop of our purchases. Then we head to this fisherman's wharf thing that is across the street. There is a huge fake volcano that Wei Yan & I can see from our hotel room. There is also some shops. I buy a coffee and we look at some of the shops. We see some girls dressed in some ethnic clothing & showing folks how to spin some toy - Wei Yan tried to take a picture, and we head off to a shop selling fake hello kitty stuffed animals. Wei Yan joins us and reports that he almost got run over by a cart that was carrying a tour group - some guy started talking to him and that's when he realized that they were stopped right next to him, honking at him while he was trying to get his picture.

We pass by some food, and Wei Yan spots some crispy skin pork. Eunice, Catherine & I are totally stuffed, so we're not sure how he can eat any more. He gets a container of crispy skin pork & roast pork and eventually we all give in & eat a little. We hear a guy talking in English on a cell phone and I decides that he is probably the most stereotypical gay sounding guy I've ever heard in person - not on TV or in a movie - but almost that stereotypical. We've seen a lot of feminine women and masculine men in Hong Kong, but this one is definitely the most out there. No purse though (we've seen a lot of guys carrying their woman's purse, but then also some that have their own). We head over to the Sands. Wei Yan & I head down to the non-smoking section & check out the Caribbean poker. He hits a good streak - even with the dealer informing him that he can surrender/fold. In the end he is up after last night's blackjack. He give the dealer a $50 HK tip - and we conclude that it was probably a bit much considering how surprised the dealer was. Then we find Dave & try our hand at Baccarat. We end up just following him. I guess there is a lot of superstition involved, because we can't really tell why this is interesting or exciting. You bet on either the dealer or the players hand. No decisions after that. We're up a little and before we meet everyone at 6:30, we decide to try the Caribbean poker again. We end up about even, up a few hundred and when I'm cashing out, I think I have $1,150 HK (about $125 US) - and the cashier gives me $1,050 - when I ask her, then end up counting everything in the drawer. After about 10 min, they conclude that no, they were right. Next time I won't ask. Finally we meet up with everyone else.

We hop in a taxi and head over to find some dinner. We end up walking down another alley of shops to a Portuguese/Macanese restaurant. We order some food - ribs, clams, curry chicken, fried chicken (like a fried, breadless rotisserie chicken), and garlic toast. I'm not really impressed with much - I think I only liked the African chicken - the rest of the food I can just not bother with next time. We head back to the hotel & grab out stuff. Now we have so many packages, we head to the docks and we're off on the 1st boat - we get on standby & forget about waiting until midnight.

Once back in the Apt, we put down all of our stuff & head out to find dessert, since I didn't eat much. It's super crowded since a lot of folks are at a fair at the park next to the Apt. Streets are already closed down, which makes it easier to navigate with all the people. We finally find the dessert place - and can't understand anything one the menu. We do see one has an English translation for Bird's nest (which is actually swallow spit) - so we look for something safe & after a bit are able to order. Wei Yan gets some curry fish balls & shu mai & we head back. It's pretty late now, since all of people made it difficult to navigate. When we return to the Apt, Dave is beat and head off to bed. Eunice stays & talks a while. The dessert is some mango & watermelon puree with slices of fruit & tiny mochis. Pretty good & a nice light way to end the evening. When Wei Yan gets to his shu mai, he's mystified - then Eunice tells him that the street vendors put a lot of flour in them dumplings. Wei Yan can't even tell there is any shrimp - it looks like a white dough with a slightly pink coloring! He finishes a few & then dumps the rest.

I spend a while blogging & trying to write down some of the stuff we've done in the last 2 days. Wei Yan is snoring within 5 minutes. He is so knocked out that me squeezing his cheeks does nothing but variate his snoring sounds. I'm done at around 2:30am and we sleep. The bed at the hotel in Macau was like sleeping on a board, so our bed at the Apt, though small is feeling like a cloud.