Macau lies just south of Zhuhai and is connected with the mainland by a bridge and on that bridge two checkpoints are placed. One in Zhuhai called Gongbei and the other one in Macau called Portas Do Cerco. Between those two there is Noman’s land where you can buy tax free alcohol which is very expensive in Zhuhai.

The Zhuhai checkpoint is extremely organized and is very clean and high tech. There is almost never a long queue so there is no worry of standing a long time (unless its the Chinese new year season when its crowded).

When one comes to Macau checkpoint everything is written in …. Portugese and Traditional Chinese. And one starts to wonder why is it so?

Well Macau was once Portugese and belonged to them for 300 years I think. The people in Macau however do not understand the language and everyone speaks Cantonese.  I asked the taxi driver if he could get me to “Portas Do Cerco” on my way home and he didnt understand anything. The first thing that came to my mind is that this colony was certainly a failure….

Underneath Portas Do Cerco there is a Bus terminal and I advise you to take the bus because its a lot cheaper than taxi. A ride from Portas do Cerco to Largo Do Senado which is the main square will cost you 2.50 patacas (23 Eurocents). Macau is very different from rest of China and it has a European character. The buildings have a baroque Spanish/Portugese style especially in the “Old Town”. The streets are very small just like in France and Spain. People usually get through town using their Mopeds reminds you of Italy.

The Pedestrian areas lack for example fancy neon lights which is so typical for Asian Cities but instead have a more European setting with small signs and pitoresque small streets which are almost never straight and turn a lot.

The main attraction of Macau is of course what the place is most famous for. Its the Casinos. Here you can find the MGM Grand from Las Vegas as well as the Venetian. The biggest casino in Macau is Grand Lisboa which is shaped like a Giant Lotus flower.

Due to the fact that Gambling is prohibited in mainland China, lots of rich Chinese come here to search for their luck.

If you are in a search of perfumes, cosmetics and alcohol then Macau is the right place. Here you can find all the famous brands like Armani, Gucci etc for a lower price than back home. Everything is cheaper than in Europe, America and mainland China.

The place to go shopping for luxury items is New Yaohan a Japanese Department store which is not different from Printemps. New Yaohan is situated in south Macau just behind the Sea Terminal.

And before you go to Macau make always sure that you bring Patacas the local currency. Patacas can be exchanged at best rate at the Black market (thats where I changed my yuan to Patacas). Banks will give you a worser rate so I advise you to go to a black market instead but there is a risk that they will ripp you off though.

The major advantage with buying a Wii in China is, after you buy the chipped console, future games will more or less be free. Pirated games go for only 4 or 5 RMB (around $0.6-0.7 USD) each. The bad part about buying a Japanese Wii is that the menus are in Japanese, but it’s not hard to figure out what’s what after some testing. There is a Japanese – English translation (PDF) you can look at if you’re really stuck.

I originally bought it because I felt that my daily tasks were getting repetitive and that I would need to do some thinking that only some well designed video game puzzles would give me. Unfortunately, I still suck ever as much at playing games so I’m still glued to the computer, checking for full step-by-step walkthroughs to play my games. Sigh…

Today I went for a stroll in the local computer city of Xiangzhou district, Zhuhai (in Guangdong, China) and was overjoyed to find Engadget, my favorite gadget blog, selling stuff over a counter there.

I thought that it would be very new, since it wasn’t yet announced on the blog. And therefore, I thought that the founders would be there to celebrate the launch. Guess what? They weren’t there, not even Thomas Ricker was there. Worst of all, the Engadget Chinese staff (living the closest) weren’t there either. This is really lazy of Engadget, running a business long-distance like this.

When I approached, I realized no one talked English… Engadget is the world’s largest English blog, so this didn’t make sense either. Engadget – you guys suck at business.

I’m really disappointed and shocked. In how stupid some Chinese vendors can be.

A while back I went to the Beijing IKEA with a few friends, it is the second largest in the world dwarfed only by one in IKEA’s home country Sweden.

Entering IKEA felt just as if I was back in Sweden. Everything was the same as Swedish IKEAs. Except one thing. Here, the people were Chinese.

Products in the IKEA in Beijing cost roughly half of what they would have cost in Sweden. Since most of the products are produced in China, their savings in transport are passed on to the consumer.

Another difference is that in Sweden IKEA furniture is the cheapest you can get, and a popular brand amongst young people. In China, it’s also popular amongst young people, but for entirely different reasons. IKEA in China is more or less a luxury brand and a is used as a fashion statement.

Ever since I arrived in Beijing, I’ve been looking to get a gym card and start exercising, because otherwise, I know all the good food would catch up to me soon.

There are many gyms and fitness centers in Beijing, these places are all very nice because fitness centers are still a new phenomenon only for the mid-upper class of China. Most fitness centers have swimming pools, state of the art foreign machines, more than enough staff to help everyone, and provide you with showering equipment. The price is similar to that of a regular gym in North America and Europe.

Here in Fulicheng, we have a gym just downstairs. It’s called the R&F Club, and is complete with a restaurant. R&F stands for Rich and Famous, and as you can guess – the price isn’t the cheapest. A half year card costs more than 2000 CNY ($300 USD), and they have no cards for shorter durations. Since I’ve only just slightly more than two weeks left, the price just isn’t justifiable.

Hosa Sports (aka. Haosha Bodybuilding Club)

On my way to the Century Mart (local supermarket) worrying about what I should do about the gym one day, a guy hands me a flier. Usually I never accept things handed to me on the streets here, but this offer was pretty interesting. Hosa Sports, the gym across the street was celebrating a three year anniversary and were offering discounts on their gym cards. This was great, just what I needed!

The same day I go there and get my card done. Although I’m not staying a full month, I still got the one month card, as it would be the cheapest solution for me. It cost 280 CNY ($40 USD) on the anniversary day.

I’ve been going regularly, almost everyday – and it’s great. Coming from Sweden, the gyms in China are much better, especially in terms of service, location and equipment. I’m already seeing good results and can continue to eat all the beautiful food without feeling guilty. I’m definitely getting a gym card when I move to the next city.

The Resurrection

I got a PSP when I was in Sweden. However, after fooling around with homebrew applications I bricked it. I tried all the fixes I found on the net, but none of them worked so I gave up.

Today I was bored and plugged the PSP to the adapter, played around with the power controls, and it suddenly boots. Needless to say, I’m full of joy. 6 months of a dead PSP and it just resurrects out of nowhere.

Directions

If you are in Beijing and want to get your PSP hacked at the same place I did you can follow my directions, although they suck since I took a taxi. Anyway, hail a cab and say you want to go to Honqiao Market. Get off the cab and walk to the left on the large street. After 2 minutes you will see a semi-underground CD shop. That’s where it’s at. While your there, check out Hongqiao market too, it’s a great place to buy stuff like clothes and small consumer electronics.

The contact lenses are name brand from Johnson & Johnson, which is good as it makes me feel safe. Due to the brand, the price is similar to that of Sweden. However, they first checked my eyesight to determine which contacts I should use – and that was free. It would have cost quite a bit in Sweden. I also got a liquid for my eyes to use when they feel dry. All in all I spent less than 500 CNY for a months supply of contacts, about $70 USD. I’m pretty happy.

Contact lenses are great! I’ve heard so many horror stories about them, but when I wear them, I feel nothing at all. The freedom gained from them is incredible, I don’t wear glasses normally – so I had a hard time seeing before. Not anymore.