What a weekend!

Wow, not sure where to start, but I'd say chronologically will be the best bet. Saturday started off with breakfast at a place down the street, which was very crowded. This is always a good indicator of a local place to eat. So I went in and sat at a six person table

from a woman eating alone and next to a couple at the other end. The menu was entirely in chinese and had no pictures, which I usually use to order. This being the case, the soup the lady across from me was eating looked good and the drink the gentleman at the end of the table was drinking looked good as well...so when it came time to order I just pointed at her dish and his drink, not really sure what I was getting myself into.

The drink I had ordered had a light brown color, with ice cubes in a tall glass...very similar to coffee with cream and sugar, so I guessed it was iced coffee. I was certainly wrong with guess, it did not turn out to be anything crazy, it was just tea with milk and sugar, but I was absolutely not expecting that flavor and it caught me off guard. I once I changed my frame of mind, from coffee to tea, I enjoyed it much more. The soup had noodles, beef and an egg and was very good. All of my table mates had finished and left and a new group came and joined me. I will be getting that again for sure. I kept my receipt so I can just show it to them and say I want this. I am trying to learn some words, so maybe I will be able to order soon.

My next mission was to find the climbing wall in hopes of meeting some climbers that would like to take a weekend trip to Yangshuo. The wall had been moved from it's original location to a new one. Tom, one of the English teachers I had met on Friday, said he had seen it near the military barracks in Taipa. He thought it may have been moved inside of the barracks but was not sure as he had only seen it from a distance. So I took a bus that dropped me off near the barracks, and headed that way. I could see the wall on the far side from where I was approaching and I was excited, however, it did appear to be on the base. (Ha! I was wrong) As I continued to walk toward the tower I came upon the front gate with two armed guards. I approached one and he motioned me to the small window on the side of the building which I had missed. I went to the window and the guard spoke little to no English. I asked him if the climbing wall was open to the public at any times? He just stared at me. I tried to rephrase the question and he just shook his head at me, said no and flipped his wrist at me as if shoeing a fly away. This was not cool, but whatever, I asked him if he knew of anywhere the public could climb and he did the same thing shoeing me away. Obviously he had no clue what I was saying, so I just gave up. I continued to walk around the compound hoping to get a better look at the wall through the fence. Much to my excitement (and embarrassment, Hahaha!) it turned out the wall was in a public recreation center right next to the base, so I went through all that for nothing.

Anyways the wall is sick, this thing is legit! It is a 15 meter (49.2 feet) competition-standard sport climbing wall. It was modeled after the wall used in the 1996 World Climbing Championships in France. Notice the spectator seating from which I took the pictures. Unfortunately no one was around climbing at the time I found it. I looked around to find out some info but could find nothing. It was open and I could have bouldered for a bit, but I was going to wait until I had someone there with me, because that would not have been smart to do on my own.

I then walked across the street to check out the City of Dreams Casino/event center. It was cool, the highlight was watching "The Dragon's Treasure" (for free!) inside of the bubble, a 100 foot wide dome shaped movie screen. It was a 20 minute fantasy movie with no story line or words, just really sweet imagery and special effects.

The rest of Saturday was spent wandering around the main island of Macao trying to get my bearing some more. I checked a couple more world heritage sites, watched a Chinese lion dance (see pic below) and people watched. Highlight of the day was the girl in one of the parks whose shoes had squeakers in them like a doggy toy...so every step she took it went squeak, squeak, squeak (btw, squeak is a funny word to write/type). I wanted to wanted to follow her with the flip cam so I could post some video, but I felt that was a little too creepy. I'm not too sure what the mom was thinking because I imagine it was driving her crazy, but as a spectator it was awesome and I hope to find a pair for myself.

Well...I had intended on including everything I did on Sunday in this post as well, but I had a little situation arise this morning. I went out of my room and closed the door in order to keep the cold air inside. Upon my return I found that it was locked. Well crap! Apparently it can somehow be set to automatically be locked from the inside and I somehow managed to do this. FYI my room is within my apartment, so I was still in my apartment, just locked out of my personal room. So, I called the Pousada, or main housing office, and they informed me that I would have to come to the main campus to get a new key. It is only a five minute walk from my apartment, so that would not be a big deal, except for the fact that my wallet, clothes (I was only in my boxers) and shoes were all still in my room. Luckily I had some short dry from doing laundry, my roommate had some shirts hanging out and I wore one of there sandals as well. I looked funny, but I made it to the Pousada and got my key and was good to go.

I must be off to work now, but more updates to ensue on Sundays happenings. Went sailing, met a ton of people, huge rain storm, clothes shopping. Stay posted.

Brent