Macau. Hot or Not?

Hello,

After discovering the blogger 'save' of drafts is less like the outlook save of drafts and more like the Lindsay lohan detox save, here is my 3rd blog entry in 1 year... Hoorah!

I can't really speak for other expats in Macau but I'm living here with an expirey date constantly lingering over my head. When I first moved here, I was thinking 1 yr tops, then suddenly it's been two and soon heading to three. It's been amazing that such a small town has reigned me in for so much time.

I kind of have a love hate relationship with Macau. I grew up in a pretty medium sized city and in a lot of ways, Macau is a small island town dwarfed by looming 5 star casinos and construction sites. I don't know what it is, but maybe because of its size or showy glitzy lights, Macau is the perfect victim for slander. Kind of like the over enthusiastic kid in school who always wants to play snap with you in the library. It makes me look at it with disdain, a little bit of fear mixed with self loathing because I can actually identify with its needier side...

Living here sometimes helps me to appreciate the smaller things in life, because they're seemingly rarer. And for the benefit of those who have never been here, I'll try to illustrate the pros and cons of the city.

Pros:
24 hr Cheap Massages. Damn straight! There are 24 hour massage parlours here!! Haven't you ever been lying in bed and you can't get to sleep because you have a knot in your neck which makes your pillow feel like mt rushmore? Not a problem here, or at least, not an excuse to get into work late the next day. If you're really tired but still not sleeping, you can call a masseuse to come to you. And if a bit sceptical, don't be, because as the Entertainment Map of Macau points out, these girls get their annualy check up regularly(?!)

Ok, ok.. so that was a bit cynical. Sorry, I tend to use a lot of bravado posing as flair in my writing but seriously, there are seriously good spas over here for reasonable prices. Ahh, just thinking about it makes me want one...

Portugese influence. So maybe the cobblestones do make me walk like one leg is substantially shorter than the other leg, but it's a nice touch.

//segway... I don't know how blog writers do this. I get sick of my own voice before I even reach my point. Gah!!

Apartment - You can live in an awesome apartment, by yourself, comfortably and pay not too much in relation to your salary.

Ok, so I'll explain in pictures!! And I'll get to the cons later. So here are some reasons, in pictures, about why Macau is rad!

Has it really been 5 months?? And Glamour, Glamour, Glamour Dahling!

There goes my New Year's resolution to blog more often. But I have an exciting new list!! Yes, I love lists! Don't get me wrong, I don't often stick to lists, but I like making them. So hopefully I can tell you all about each of the items on the "what I want to do in china before I leave list"...

So I made this list a while ago, so I don't know how much I'll stick to... Oh well!

1) Glamour shots China styllleeeee.
2) Custom make some Jewelry
3) Spend 1 week in a village somewhere
4) Get a full medical and dentist check (maybe won't blog about this)
5) Get a Shanghai Tang Cheong Sam
6) Custom make something else really cool

So onto number one... Maybe it was watching too much American idol. Maybe it was my unending love of seeing really bad glam shots and wanting to embrace it in the height of self depracation. Or it was a sincere desire to see if I could pull off glam. But it was actually several months in the making. First research into the tackiest yet raddest photographers in Shen Zhen, then grab a friend who is equally enthusiastic and willing to take the piss. Add some humour, a few shots of sake, know not to take yourself too seriously whilst quietly wishing for somewhat positive results...

My selection criteria was variety, costumes (of course), hair and makeup, oh and costumes... We ended up chosing http://www.szhds.com and with a fairly long trek to China, we started off with a mixture of excitement and trepidation... The studio was clean, bright and the staff friendly. They ushered us off to hair and makeup straight away... I have never had double layer false lashes or had my nose painted on, but this is what it looked like from my chair>>



Choosing costumes was more difficult than I orginally imagined. I was flipping through the books and suddenly, I started to take myself too seriously! So I opted for 2 normal-ish things and one over the top fluff dress frou frou flowery I'm-going-to-go-marry-a-hobbit gown... The results? I'll let you decide for yourself, but here you go! Audrey & my glam shot debut!!









So it toook 4 hrs all in all, the hair dresser went crazy with the crimplers and curlers and hairspray. She had no mercy when it came to excessive inhalation of product fumes and the fake hair was deffo uncomfortable. One of the dresses was held together by safety pins... On we go...






































































































So conclusively, this ain't for the faint of heart. When the guy with the camera asks you to part your lips, bend over and give him a sultry growl, you kind of have to embrace it. Despite my initial reaction to laugh (a lot) I guess overall it was a good experience and I loved going there with Audrey. What a star!! Ain't she hot>??