Macau - Between East and West

Been to Macau and Hong Kong like a month ago, but because I knew that it is a long entry with lots of pictures, I kept postponing it. And then I had time today, but still too lazy to write in one piece, so I write now only about Macau.

The best way to Macau is to take a ferry from Hong Kong, however you can take a direct cheap flight from Singapore as well. This city is a combination of everything. It is very small, but it has many different parts.

Why I wanted to go to Macau is to see the old Portuguese centre and feel a bit close to Europe. And indeed, that square in the centre of Macau is a bit of home:):):) It is very small but very nice. And the church ruins are very impressive and the small fortress. I wish Singapore would have a square preserved like that. It is interesting that wherever you go in Asia, you find a piece of Europe, from Macau to Hanoi, to Malaysia. My image of Macau was more like a Singapore style city with lots of casinos and fancy buildings, but the fact is that most of the city looks quite poor and the houses and everything looks more like the suburbs of Bangkok or Hanoi. So yeah, Macau is not only hard core cash and posh life.
The modern part of the city includes the Macau tower which is very cool place to go to. It has also the highest bungee jumping facility (232 meters). Unfortunately I was on Monday and it was closed the bungee jumping. I really wanted to do it, because this is the coolest in the world. So at least now I have a reason to go back in a weekend sometimes soon I guess :):):) What is different in this tower compared to the rest of the TV towers is that a part of the floor is glass and basically if you look down you see the ground. Feels like walking in the sky. Quite scary if you look down. You can also do some walk outside of the tower at 232 meters high. So if you are an adrenalin junkie, then it is a must go and try place!!!
And of course Macau is the biggest casino city in Asia and I guess in terms of casino revenue already took over Las Vegas, or something like that. The casinos were just as I imagined, fancy buildings with dark windows and lots of lights outside and hookers all around it:):):) Lots of people come to Macau to play and get some girls, which is quite sad I guess. I find it a bit the devil's place. But it is not worse then Bangkok or any other major city in Asia I guess in this aspect.
Actually this is a vulcano during the night:

If you happen to travel to China or Macau, then I advise you not to miss Macau, it is a good place:):):) Here is a floating chinese casino:

Breakfasts and Water Polo

I had the very unhealthy habit of skipping breakfast. In best case I ate one yoghurt or an apple and that was it. And used to have huge dinners late night. But not anymore. I am having breakfast every morning in the office. Though I pay quite a high price for it as mostly I eat at Delifrance or Subway, I think it is still better to have it then skip it. And in the evening I eat only a light dinner and I do not eat most of the time after 10 pm.

I am happy of this achievement, because I did not do it for several years and it is not good. Now my next personal challenge is to eat at home before I go to office and cut the cost of the breakfasts as Delifrance is damn expensive. Or get a salary raise :)

Yesterday I just discovered the best workout men can get: Water Polo. I went with one of the Hungarian dudes who is pro in this. I have to admit that I was tired after the warm up, even though I did not follow the usual training these guys did. And then played a bit and then I was dead. I hardly could move and I was totally without energy, I though I will never reach home and get into my bed. It is a very tough game but it is very exciting. I am looking forward to go again and build up my stamina to be able to play a full game :):):) It moves all your muscles:):):) I like to try new sports and new things. :):):)

Weird decisions in life

I had a very strange situation in the weekend. I was out in the town and I have found a Nokia N73 mobile phone on the floor. Immediately the question came, should I keep it or should I return it to the rightful owner?

If somebody would have asked me this question without having the phone in the hand, then I would have automatically responded that the good thing to do is to give it back. But having a crappy phone myself and holding a bloody expensive (more then 300 EURO) phone in my hand, made me to think about. At the end we live in a crappy world and nobody cares about this kind of things, why should I be the one who is good and having high morals? And then again the question: if I am not good, then who? How can I expect others to be good if I am not? It is strange how the fact that I had the phone in my hand had altered my way of thinking and made me to have this debate with myself for a while.

At the end I have decided to give it back to the owner. Decided like this because I felt bad having this internal debate and probably my education and religious belief pushed me to do so. After that I felt very OK with the decision. When I have decided I have asked the question from few of my friends what their opinion is and got very diverse responses. What is your opinion? Should I have kept it or give it back? If you would find a wallet on the floor with a huge amount of money, would you keep it or give it back to the owner?

Give Me Novocaine

I discovered a very cool song from Green Day and I am listening it for the past few days. It is called Give Me Novocaine and you can find it on their American Idiot album. It is one of the most genuine songs I have heard in a long time and maybe it just fits my current mood so well. It is one of those songs which awakens the desire in me to fly. I will fly soon for a diving holiday I guess :):):)

Yeah, it seems quite random this post, but i just wanted to share that I am happy to listen to this song :)

JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge

Thoughts before the run:
It is my first running competition and I must admit I am very excited about it but in the same time I feel very unprepared. I run several times and managed to run under 30 minutes last Friday (this is my target for the run), however I guess it is very different at the day of the run. I will run at a totally unknown route, so not sure how to pace out myself the best.

I had a bit of injury a week ago, so last week was wasted, I could hardly walk. No I feel better, but due to the weekend trip in HK I could not run. Hopefully will achieve my goal and will run a very good time :):):):) A funny feeling I have is that no matter how good I will run, I will be a bit disappointed because I will not win (as I am not a professional runner). This winning attitude is somehow in me. Impossible is Nothing! (yeah I also got full Adidas running gear just to motivate myself to move my ass faster, except my Asics shoes which protect my fucked up knees).

Thoughts after the run:
00:28:59 that is!!! I achieved my target and it was a good run at the end of the day. From our company I finished on the 2nd place, after the all mighty Luis (AI guys ruled the competition, haha). Not sure what is my place from the 11.000+ runners. A bit disappointed with how it was organized. Basically the first 2 km was very bad because there were too many people and if you waned to run for a good time, you had to stumble over all the leisure runners and lazy bastards. I wasted a minute or so just to get to the starting point as there were too many people and was quite in the back.

It is a good feeling of satisfaction to set a target, prepare a bit for it and then achieve it. Definitely looking forward to the marathon in December here in Singapore :):):) Until then…. Party tonight :):):):)

Here is a photo with half of the running team in our company( 41 people run in total from the company)!