feels like rubber

The last time I was in Ocean Park was more than 20 years ago. It has a special place in my heart because it was one of those rare times that I and my co-spawn, a.k.a. "Siblings", went on a trip together.
This time, it was just Pop and me. I had an appointment with a dolphin.
In the email from Ocean Park, I was told to be there before 9AM or get left behind. Naturally, Pop and I were there at 8:10AM. The other participants were all almost an hour late. I hated them on sight, but then I hate all children anyway.
Finally, I met Molly the dolphin. Molly's a boy.

Who's the biggest kid in the pool?

Afterwards, we walked around. Ocean Park is still very nice, although hilly and humid. Some people say that it's better than Hong Kong Disneyland.
When Pop got tired-- I woke him up at 7AM that day-- we took the toy cable cars back to the main entrance. Aren't they cute?

Back on the ground, and looking forward to air-conditioning.

to be a tourist in hong kong

The trouble with traveling to Hong Kong is that everyone in my family has been there dozens of times-- including my travel companions on this trip, my parents. You won't believe how easy it is for us to get to Hong Kong. And it can be quite cheap. It's even cheaper than touring our own country.

So, when we got to Hong Kong, my parents tried to take over the itinerary that I had meticulously planned. They lost.

I wanted to go to Victoria's Peak, ride the Peak Tram and look at the Hong Kong skyline. Oops, forgot it was a holiday. There were hordes of people.


We got to the top at around sunset.


I decided that we should eat at Cafe Deco. To this day, Pop remembers it as one of the most unexpectedly expensive restaurants we've ever been to.

If there's lamb on the menu, I will order it.


If there's sea bass on the menu, Ma will order it.


Before we left Victoria Peak, we watched the fireworks and just enjoyed the skyline.

leaving las vegas

On our last day in Macau, I took a walk alone and visited the Cathedral, which is actually the church closest to our hotel. It was lovely and peaceful.

 

There was absolutely no way Ma would have wanted to go there, because you have to climb some stairs to reach it. Alternatively, you can go behind Largo de Senado and climb the hill to get to it. I didn't mind the alone time, though.

This delightful yellow building beside the Cathedral is the Bishop's Palace.

At noon, we went to the ferry terminal and caught the Turbo Jet to Hong Kong. As usual, Pop made sure that the boat did not leave us behind.

I am definitely going back to Macau someday. And I'm going to take some really fly pictures. Count on it.

o sole mio!

I believe that Ma's favorite part of the Macau trip was visiting the Venetian.

The Venetian Macau is humongous, and it seems to be divided into equal parts hotel, casino, and-- you guessed it-- a shopping mall.

The fake sky was nice... if you don't mind seeing the rivets. At first, I thought they were fake birds painted on the ceiling. But the marks were all perfectly round and placed at regular intervals.

So I just stopped looking up.

We went on a fabulously expensive gondola ride. Our gondolier was cute and very friendly. Sang very well, too.

All in all, we enjoyed the Venetian, but I don't mind not staying there. Now, if it were offered for free, though...

a place called vertigo

The next day, Ma gave up on the sightseeing. So only Pop and I went to the stupendous 338-meter high Macau Tower. I don't like the building's shape so much, though. Come on! What's it supposed to be? Here in Asia, we have towers that look like bamboo, skyscrapers with holes in them, and phallic symbols galore. There's a serious lack of imagination here.


There's a Lamborghini in the basement. Very nice.


When we got to the first observation deck, I noticed that I could see through the floor!


That's when Pop had to sit down for a while.


I had wanted to try to bungy jump, but I was afraid that Pop would freak out. So I decided to try the Skywalk X.


You get a 360 view while walking along the outside of the tower. On a somewhat clear day, you can see Hong Kong and the China mainland, as well as the landmarks of Macau.