We got up at a good time and took advantage of the free breakfast offered at Starworld. It was pretty good, buffet style. The rest of the day we grinded the tables online and also visited the hotel gym. It was impressive, with new equipment and a trainer guy who was there to assist anyone in the gym. I was looking forward to having a swim in the outdoor pool, but it was closed because of thunderstorms. It might be a good view from the pool, if the smog/fog ever lifts.

In the evening we went to another strange chinese restaurant on the 2nd floor. It was a weird experience, almost the opposite of the night before. It was packed, and after sitting us down in a back corner, the waitresses didnt seem to have any interest in us whatsoever. After more language difficulties I ordered the pidgeon. It was okish, kinda hard to eat with chopsticks and not a whole lot of meat on it. Andy got lemon chicken and we also had rice with crocodile meat to share. Andys food took ages and none of it was that great. No tip for them.

After dinner we visited to local poker room (on the 2nd floor also), and played the 10/20 game. The poker room was less than impressive compared to Lisboa the night before. It only had 2 or 3 tables running, and it was very dull. The drinks are free just like in Vegas, but you wouldnt know it. In Vegas the waitresses are constantly asking players if they want drinks, but you practically have to beg to get one here. The poker was dull, again its a different type of game than vegas, no crazy players, just passive/boring players who love to see flops but dont really put in any more money unless they have a big hand. We definetly have a massive edge in the game but its very slow. 95% of the game involves being patient and waiting for a hand, which isnt a lot of fun when the rest of the table is chatting to each other in Cantonese. Anyway we played for a few hours and then headed back to the room for sleep.

After the cricket game, we pretty much headed straight to the airport. I spent the half hour on the way there madly sms’ing goodbyes to friends. We had an hour or so wait at the airport so we both played a quick online poker session.

The plane ride was long, I didnt sleep for more than an hour or so, I just spent most of it watching Quantam of Solace followed by Family Guy and Simpsons episodes. A girl called Mizu was sitting next to Andy, took a fancy to him and gave him her phone number. We arrived at Hong Kong airport at about 6am and went to the train terminal which we took to Kowloon station. The train was really good, fast and clean. The views of the city were great too. I originally thought it was just a foggy early morning but then realised it was just the pollution.

After getting off the train we had some communication difficulties with some locals but eventually figured out we had to get a bus to the China ferry terminal to get the ferry to macau. During the quick bus ride we saw alot of people who were working on the street wearing face masks. The driving seems to be slightly more aggressive than Sydney city, but no where near as crazy as Bangkok. They drive on the left hand side which has made it alot less confusing than our Vegas trip.

We arrived to the multi storey ferry terminal, and after many more communication difficulties realised we had to buy tickets, and take our own luggage on the ferry. It was very busy even though it was only 7am. I struggled to stay awake waiting the 20 minutes for the ferry and during the 1 hour ferry trip. It was tough to negotiate the language barrier all morning after not sleeping the night before and trying to find out hotel.

After getting to Macau we got a taxi to the Galaxy Star World casino and dropped our luggage off. It is a very nice casino, the lobby and outdoor parts are spectacular, the rooms are 5 star and it has 35+ floors with a bank/gym/VIP areas. Our room wasnt going to be ready for a few hours so we rocked out in the lobby and ordered a Ham and Cheese toasted sandwich. To our surprise it was served with a side of corn chips? I drank 2 cappucinnos which gave me a temporary lift. We still had a couple of hours before our rooms were going to be ready so we walked around the streets, we saw the Wynn casino, the MGM, a statue thing over the water and some fountains which I nearly got caught in. We took some photos and played on an outdoor gym. We made it back around 1pm and thankfully our room was ready.

After getting the lappys set up in our room, I had a quick sleep before we headed out for dinner which was an interesting adventure. We went into the Grand Lisboa casino, which was an absolute maze. We talked to 10 or more security guards asking where the restuarants/buffet was but none of them seemed to speak any english. Somehow we ended up at the door of a chinese restaurant and we were too hungry to look for anywhere else. We walked in and we were the only people there, although there were at least 8 waiters/waitresses who were talking to each other in chinese and giggling at us.

We picked out our things on the menu and Andy attempted to order a coke. They didnt understand at all, none of them could speak any english at all (apart from 1 or 2 who could speak a few broken words) and the conversation went something like…

Andy: Can we have some coke?
Head waitress: wat?
Andy: Coke…
Head waitress: *Points to another waitress* Do you think she is beutiful? *giggles*
Andy: Um, dont worry about it
Me: ….?

It was very weird but somehow we ended up getting cokes when another waitress came out and knew what we were talking about. As our food came out it was given to us by 2 of them, while another one gave us our drinks, while another one rearranged our plates, while another was bringing out knives and forks for us. The remaining 4 or 5 just stood around our table, still giggling.

The service and food was very good though, I got the Pork + noodles and it was massive. They continually filled up our drinks after we had taken a few sips and it was a fun and interesting experience.

After dinner we headed to another part of the casino and played about 2 hours live poker, before we made our way home via the supermarket to get some late night groceries + ice creams.