M(a)cAu

I was feeling a bit tired in the last few weeks. I either caught a cold in Tiger Leaping Gorge or got hit with some bad allergies, but my head was stuffed and a bit foggy for a few days. And after that, I got a bit tired of travelling, but my spirits have turned during our journey to Macau. The weather definitely became tropical and it feels like a whole other country again, especially here in Macau with it's Portugeuse flair. I must say I underestimated Macau. I thought for sure that it would be some nasty version of Vegas (which I already find fairly nasty). But the gambling aspect is limited to a small section of town and there is a definite European quaintness to the region.

McTaro

So my next trip to McDonald's might not be just to determine the price of a Big Mac. I must admit I'm really intrigued by some new products that McDonald's has rolled out here in China. The first is their traditional deep fried pie, which comes in apple, pineapple and taro!!! Taro, people! The second is they've got this new burger and from what I can make out, instead of a regular bun you can get two deep fried rice patties instead. I kid you not. I am really quite curious about the taro pie that I'm almost willing to try it. Ugh! Torn between my curiousity and my staunch believe in not supporting something as evil as McDonalds. The moral dilemmas of a Californian. In their defense, they've got some of the cleanest bathrooms in all of China (which has clearly sucked me into some tempting waters). I haven't fallen yet, but I will let you know if I do.

Roger That!

So over the last few days I've found that I can understand people more and more and in Macau, it's definitely quite heavenly. I still don't quite trust my language skills entirely and I've definitely made a few mistakes here and there, but for what it's worth, most people understand me when I talk. The trouble is when they respond in a way I'm not expecting and yammer away in Cantonese and then all is lost. But it's nice to be able to ask basic questions and not feel like you've just got to suck it up. I can semi order, but I realize my vocabulary is lacking in the oddest places. For instance, Simon wanted a curry beef sandwich for lunch. I can say curry beef, but have no idea what's the word for sandwich in Chinese. We've always just said sandwich in my house.

Whitening Solutions

So we spent two days at Silver Beach in Behai. (FYI it's a decent beach with some pretty warm waters. It's not the nicest beach by any stretch, but if you're hankering for a bit of ocean and a stretch of sand while you're in China it will defintely do). And when we got there, there was no one lying on the sand, in fact people were only sitting in chairs at tables with umbrellas. My first reaction was that there might be something wrong with the sand or water(some locals did say, yes, it should be okay to swim there this time of year...). But after a few hours of being there, Simon realized it was because people didn't want to get tan.

So there is an appalling market being generated here in China for skin whitening products a la Michael Jackson. There are advertisements all over television for them and special displays in the supermarkets and stores. Drives me bananas. Especially when I just want some kind of plain lotion and half of the lotions have some kind of whitening brew mixed in.

Engaging Englishmen

So we just learned that an English couple, Curtis and Louise, that we did most of the Annapurna trek with in Nepal, got engaged at the Taj Mahal a few weeks ago. Curtis is now the second Englishman we know to have people the question at one of the seven wonders of the world. (Alan proposed to Janine at Macchu Pichu). What is it that inspires the English at the UNESCO sites? Well, I guess it doesn't matter if it works. Cheers!