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it's been almost a week since i've been to macau, and i've finally found the time to write about my overall impressions from my trip there. it's a very nice place, roughly an hour from hong kong by a jet powered cruiser boat. since it is its own special administrative region of china, you still have to go through immigration and customs as you enter and exit. if you have a hong kong id there is almost no line as they swipe you in, but if you hold a foreign passport it will take longer as they require you to fill out the usual form and stamp passport.

macau was a portuguese colony from the 16th century until handover to china in 1999, so many portuguese elements and some settlers remain in the area. all the street signs and storefronts have portuguese and chinese words will be romanticized if not translated. it also has a lot of the cool portuguese architecture and you can get some rather delicious portuguese food, snacks, and desserts.

also widely known for gambling, it has recently surpassed las vegas for most gambling revenue in the world. but as tempting as it is to compare the gambling strip to vegas, it is completely different. while vegas is known also for resorts, touristy shops, dance clubs, drinking, etc, macau has none of that. it does share the attraction of great food and buffets (although not quite as world class as vegas yet), a few shows (on the cirque du soleil scale of quality), and grand accommodations, though. however no showgirls, sexual displays (or services offered), and even the hostesses at the casinos are conservative.

basically, the gambling is high class and it takes itself seriously. the gambling areas are sectioned off with strict control. barriers are enforced to prevent minors and check big bags for potential cheating devices. i'd say the main floors of the big casinos (venetian, wynn, mgm, etc) are bigger than those of their vegas counterparts, and even expand to a second level. the shops at floor level are all usually high class (think lv, gucci, prada, ferrari, etc). hostesses on casino floor usually push carts of hot tea or bring bottled water or iced milk tea. i don't think booze inside or while playing is disallowed, but i didn't see anyone really do it. there is some smoking inside, though.

and of course, the gaming is different. baccarat is big, roulette, dice games, horse racing. there is also blackjack and caribbean three stud poker as far as card games, and many slot machines (in chinese). i think there was craps, too. many women (i'd guess bored or rich housewives) on the card tables as well as slots. it's common to see large groups formed, watching over various tables for a long time where in vegas usually they surround exciting craps tables and then quickly disperse.

macau was also very picturesque for me as a photographer. the streets are wide and are not extremely crowded. there is variety of what you would want to shoot - the natural green and plant life, unique architecture, historical buildings (think old churches and fortresses), fancy casinos, local flavor and culture, etc. there is easy access to great views of city skyline, as well. there is also a panda exhibit, but i'm not crazy about non red ones so i didn't spend my sparse time to visit it.

all in all i had a wonderful time and would recommend a day trip if anyone were in hong kong or southern china, it's worth a visit since it's so close and different from the rest of the area.

i'm back from my four day trip to taipei, taiwan. a very nice city to visit, and i'd recommend it to anyone interested in visiting a chinese city.

• the people are really friendly, nice, and orderly. pretty different than visiting the big cities on the mainland. people on the street looked happy, and they were down to earth interacting with them.
• the city is more run down than i had imagined. as in, lots of crumbling sidewalks and older buildings. technology and infrastructure wise it's rather modern but it doesn't have a million lit billboards and animated displays to distract you. when i took the bus to the outskirts, parts reminded me of how hong kong and shanghai looked like 30, 40 years ago. i guess what i'm saying is that it's no tokyo. :p
• street food culture is awesome. lots of carts, stands, hole in the wall joints, and of course the tons of night markets serving all sorts of foods, snacks, and desserts. there are also plenty of hip and fancy restaurants to choose from as well.
• i love the stationary and book stores. many are mulit-level and they carry many cute accessories and things.
• MILLIONS OF SCOOTERS! it feels like there are swarms of them, and they don't hesitate to ride on the sidewalk and pedestrian roads so you have to always be on the lookout for fear of them running you over. most are skilled riders since they'll weave out of your way but if you aren't used to it, it is quite scary. man, woman child, even dog (children and dogs as passengers with adult riders) are on scooters and you see all them lined the streets everywhere. vespas are rare, but i did spot a few on the streets. it's mostly dominated by many similar chinese models.
• take-out sushi places are rather decent and inexpensive (around 50cents USD for a piece). i certainly wish i had the option to just pick up a few pieces of sushi as a snack for less than few bucks. but then again, i'd also wish for the amount of family marts and 7 elevens actually stocked with yummy prepared and packaged asian snacks and drinks.
• the country is also really easy to navigate by in english. there are enough people with a decent command of english; and their metro (bus, subway, train) lines all have easy to read maps and english directions. also most street and road signs have english on them. while hong kong is definitely the easiest to get around as a visitor/expat in my opinion, taiwan i'd probably say taipei also ranks pretty well in that regard.

i'd love to visit the city again in the future, and to be honest i have more of an inclination to go back to taiwan than south korea. while i left seoul with intentions of visiting again, there are many things i missed and actually want to come back to taiwan for.

it's tough to put in words, the feelings about the loss of steve. it's equally as tough to envision a world without his innovations. changed my life, and millions of others around the world. not only in efficiency, but in ease of use -- he was able to entertain and connect us all in better ways. when ever has the world mourned over for a loss of a creative, a designer, a guy so obsessive over attention to detail, a tech nerd at that? it amplifies the sense of loss, especially for those of us in the programming and internet sectors -- a next box was used for the first www server, after all.

but what he truly left behind though, was a sense to one's self. follow your heart. don't try to become him or anyone else, but become yourself. despite his enormous wealth, he still lived an outwardly modest lifestyle. just dedication to his work and simplistic lifestyle, like his products. he lived, ate, and breathed what he believed in until the day he died. he even held doors open. his inspiration and passion will truly live on.

after four days in seoul, south korea, there were some things that stood out to me

• streets are clean, people are orderly, kind of like japan
• the city people are impeccable in look. clean faces (probably both the men and women alike wear makeup), stylish hair styles, great layered fashion sense
• ktown stereotypes are correct: lots of beer (lots of cass that i don't see in the states, but a lot of familiar hite love) and soju in the familiar green bottles. fried chicken and beer are popular late night snacks. nice to see a lot of like for the hoegaarden as well
• there are few trash cans, yet the city isn't filled with trash. seriously, there were moments in which i could not spot trash cans for a long time. yet to counterbalance this, there are clean accessible bathrooms everywhere
• lots of iphone usage spotted, but i didn't see any ipads. all the tablets in the wild were samsung tabs, and i even saw a few people make calls with them.
• all the taxi cab drivers i experienced were rude, and none of them knew english. either they don't know how to read even simple maps, they hate non-korean speaking asians, or a combination of both.
• like a friend had mentioned, it was very easy getting around in english. the ones that did understand english tended to have a very good command of the language, as opposed to japan. most all the restaurants also had person on staff that was fluent in mandarin chinese and japanese.
• late night fashion malls are open until 4:30am and open 10:30am. they take their clothes shopping very, very seriously.
• they also take their cabbage really seriously as well
• kbbq is different than in ktown, but the meat and vegetable quality is much, much better
• lotte is like the megalomart conglomerate++ of the country
• it's super easy to get around using the subway, but the busses are all korean only
• they are super fashionable, but dress conservatively skin wise. i didn't see any cleavage and only the occasional short skirt/dress despite the weather hovering around the 60~70s. versus socal, where most dress sloppily yet many show as much skin as they can get away with
• there was a complete aisle dedicated to different kinds of seaweed in the supermarket
• there was also one building i saw with like 3~4 different plastic/dental surgery offices, and subway spaces advertising various plastic services. they def have a body image problem
• spotted countless number of beer pubs and pc bangs, but disappointed i didn't see any allusion to starcraft anywhere

now i've been to hong kong countless number of times, but each time is still very exciting, refreshing, and fun for me. personally, i feel like it's the opposite of los angeles. it's an *actual* urban jungle -- humid, fast paced, tropical, competitive, and full of people everywhere you go.

culturally and socially, it's on a whole other level. which makes it refreshing since it's so different from what i usually experience back home. i won't necessarily say it's better or worse -- different being the key word. one of the reasons why i enjoy traveling so much, i get to experience something different. i like to experience a change of pace once in a while.

so while i'm not portland's biggest fan, i still appreciated and enjoyed my first stay there in september for djangocon. but hk will definitely be a place that i continue to visit and admire. next stop, korea. will be my first time and i can't wait to eat some legit kbbq for reals.