Late April, Sarah and Jessica, Hong Kong and Macau

Hello. I have been out of HK and away from a steady internet connection for over 6 weeks now, so here is the first of many catch-up posts.

So. In late April, after I finally finished my first year as a university teacher (that's me in the back of a group photo on the top right, after the end of my last class with a bunch of students), two of my oldest and bestest buddies Sarah and Jessica came to visit in Hong Kong. We also somehow got hooked-up to stay at the newly-completed (actually still-under-construction) and super-swank Sands Casino in Macau, so we hydro-jetted over there and checked in for two nights of VIP luxury and weird adventures. Our room had three flat-screen TVs (including one visible from the tub) and two bathrooms, both of which included motion-sensor toilets (they could tell when you walked near and considerately raised the toilet lid for you). And this was one of the more "modest" of the Sands' 51 high-roller suites. We wrecked our be-flip-flopped-feet on Macau's charming Iberian cobblestone streets, gorged on traditional sesame candy (the shop-ladies kept pressing free samples on us), and strolled the steps of the Ruinas de Sao Paolo (looks even more beautiful lit up by night) before exploring the truly bizarre local nightlife (think casino lobby Portugese/Filipino cover bands, feathered and sequined British dancing girls, adoration from Colombian and West African businessmen, Russian ladies-of-the-night). The next day we cabbed it to Coloane's Hac Sa (black sand) beach and laid under cloudy skies until we got hungry and headed to the famous Fernando's for unbelievable garlic shrimp, paella rice, roast chicken and pitchers of sangria. Our last night we took turns in the jacuzzi tub (alright, alright, we all got in together but in our bathing suits) while watching MTV Southeast Asia (which is in English, strangely enough-- I guess it would be too much to have individual broadcasts in Bahasa, Tagalog, Malay, and the dialects of whoever else is tuning in). Back in HK, we did the usual--
-vodka shots in the "snow room" at Russian restaurant Ivan the Kossack (that's why we're wearing the fur coats and hats)
-taking the antique tram through Wanchai
-an art opening at Para/site
-the launch party for Map-Office's new book HK Lab 2, which I had reviewed for the South China Morning Post
-the opening of "My Moleskine" project, to which I had contributed a Moleskine filled with my sketches and weird lists (and then covered in the latest issue of SHIFT)
-the much-hyped (and slightly disappointing) opening of Get It Louder in Shenzhen (which I also wrote up for June SHIFT) and then trying to find a restaurant in the housing projects/bridal shop/freeway nexus Lily and I found ourselves in...
-a last day with Jessica in Tai O, among the crumbling ancestral halls, houses on stilts, plastic peacocks, cheap seafood and adorable puppies (that one was named "Bibih-jai", or "Little Baby")