Hello, 2018.

2017 was a pretty good year for me, personally. I opened up a new chapter of my life by leaving Bangkok, got to do some travel back to and around the US, not to mention China. Ella and I started a new life together here in Guangzhou. We've managed to make things here work out pretty well. And although there are things we can all do better on, I hope 2018 will give me the optimism and drive to improve.

My initial thought is that 2017 worldwide is... not so great. We had a lot of influential people die, at what seems like a much great rate than usual. And it turns out a lot of the ones that did not pass away are pretty freaky. The world had a pretty rough year politically. Not just the US, but also with France, the Rohingya in Myanmar, the ongoing refugee issue in Europe, and the wars in the Middle East, to name a few.

Ella and I played a silly game on the way out to party on New Years where I presented bad hypothetical situations and we tried to put a positive spin on them. Like, stepped in a puddle of sewer water? Chance to buy new shoes. I think 2018 could be a nice chance to try to be more optimistic. Plenty of new influential people have come to replace those who have gone. There's been a large amount of awareness on sexual harassment. And a lot of people have come together at the very least, in opposition to movements they dislike. So I'm going to try and put a positive spin on any difficulties I face personally.

But enough with silly feelings. What's been going on? It is New Years after all, and we went out to celebrate with some nice folks downtown. After an Italian dinner, we hit up some bars, including one that brews their own beer. I know that sounds ridiculous that such a thing is notable, but for Asia that's kind of a unique thing. They had a massive selection, with the cinnamon IPA and coconut lager being the standouts. It reminded me a lot of brewpubs back in the US, so I'd really like to go back. When we went to book a Didi (Chinese Uber), there were 700 people ahead of us with a 2.5 hour wait. So, that was fun. We eventually found our way back at about 4am, from a very nice taxi that used the meter. This is in such a contrast to my previous experiences in China. I remember in Shanghai some 6 years ago, New Years was pretty tame. Yes we went to a bar, but it seemed like an expat only thing. In fact, the streets were pretty dead. Now here in Guangzhou, I'm not sure if its Guangdong culture or the community here, but New Years was hopping. Hopefully it's a change all of China is embracing, whatever needs to be done to get more people out and socializing.

But at the time of writing, there are only 4 more days between me and a roughly 2 month holiday. Ella's parents are coming, and we plan on travelling around Guangdong with them, including Hong Kong. We're going to Vietnam for a bit, so that will be something to look forward to. Recently though, we took a trip to Macau. I've written about Macau before, and I left it last time with a really nice impression. It is an autonomous territory like Hong Kong, but it really gets overshadowed by its much larger cousin. Formerly a Portuguese colony until only 9 years ago, it's mostly its known for its casinos. But it's also a nice place with its own charm, and a neat blend of Asia and Europe. We started our trip after work to Zhuhai, the border town. We didn't do much there except arrive, eat, and go to bed. Early the next morning we went to Gongbei to pass through immigration, and off we were. I had never been right over the border last time I went, and there's no reason to. It honestly just looks like any other city in China, except with Portuguese signs everywhere. Also little buns shaped like pigs, they were cute. Anyway, after dropping off our bags, we went to Monte Fort and the Macau Museum, both of which I missed last time. The Macau Museum was nice, not huge but they had some pretty cool stuff to see. We ate lunch at a little Portuguese restaurant nearby, supposedly one of the few that still has authentic Portuguese food in the city. Ella had some sort of cheesy tomato chicken which was pretty amazing.

After we went to the Ruins of St. Paul's, which if you've seen any picture of Macau you've seen this place. It was much more crowded, being a Sunday and Christmas Eve, than the random Monday I originally came on. They were setting up for some Christmas show, which actually coincided with a light show they do every evening around the holidays. After, it was mostly just a lot of walking around Senado Square. A really beautiful part of town, with narrow cobblestone streets, I feel like I could spend hours just trying to find every tucked away coffee shop or restaurant. It's really my favorite part of the city, and we went around drinking coffee and visiting churches. Some are pretty impressive considering their age, but Ella said that the cathedral in Covington spoiled her. That may be, but do they sell coconut ice cream and pepper pork buns outside the cathedral? Didn't think so.

We stopped at a cat cafe, because, Ella, before moving on to the Mandarin House. I really like the Mandarin House, and it reminds me of the Lin An Tai Homestead in Taipei. Just an old, cool looking "Chinese, Kung Fu Panda" sort of place you can just walk around in and do whatever. After a climb up A-Ma Temple, we went back to the center of town to see the Grand Lisboa hotel, also a building you've probably seen if you've ever seen a picture of Macau. It's of course a casino, and entirely too fancy. There was a boat made of gold. And an entire miniature Chinese village carved out of ivory. But the most impressive thing - in the bathrooms, they have like little stepping pegs in front of the urinals so there's no chance of your shoes getting wet. Truly, it is a place of luxury.

Speaking of Taipei, we were there to meet Nicole, one of my friends and coworkers from when I worked in Taiwan. She works at one of the many, many fancy hotels around Macau, and just started 5 months or so ago. We went to get some food and catch up with her, and went to some of the places we visit earlier in the day. At night, they had them all lit up with different colored lights, which looked pretty cool.

The next day we went south, into Taipa and Cotai. Taipa has a bunch of old houses, and is mostly a "residential" part of Macau. We went to see the Taipa Museum, which is mostly just a small old home. But it's right next to Taipa village, which we went to for being one of the few historically preserved places in Macau, and home of Lord Stowe's Bakery. While not probably a notable thing in America, they were the first to do Macau Egg tarts, which are now ubiquitous everywhere in East Asia. And, as someone who does not really care for egg tarts, they were pretty darn good. Ella seemed to really like them.

After we walked to Cotai, which is sort of the Las Vegas strip of Macau. Full of glitzy casinos, and formerly the largest building in the world (3rd now, I think), the Venetian. It's like 4 football fields and 50 stories high, with a friggin canal with gondolas running through it. Truly, it was the most opulent place I've been, and was at times way over the top in its... grandiousness. We followed it up with a trip to the Parisian, while smaller, was even more nice. I mean, they have a curved escalator. Never seen that before. Also people dressed in 17th century clothing that walk around tipping their hats to you.

And that seemed like a fitting end to Macau. We also did stop at the Fisherman's Wharf, but it was pretty underwhelming. We went back to Zhuhai, but not before stopping at McDonald's to get their Christmas Tree french fries. On the picture they're arranged like a tree with a dab of guacamole on top. In reality, its just a medium with a side of guac. I mean, you know how Asia is a Mexican food desert? Even McDonald's guac was heavily appreciated, and they really need to roll it out worldwide. After another stay in Zhuhai, we stopped off in Zhongshan to have lunch for a friend from Bangkok. And after that, it was back home for another day. Overall, I liked Macau even more this time. The weather was nicer, I got to see it with my best friend, and I peed in the nicest restroom in the world. I envy no one.