The best thing about going to see the Cirque du Soleil do a Michael Jackson themed performance was the row of teenaged girls who every now and then (including when the screen whizzed up a MJ signature) screamed, 'We love you Michael!'. Hopefully they were believers in the spirit world, and didn't think he was actually there.
This was a trip (we're back in Hong Kong with Tabs and Matt again) that Tabs' friends had arranged for her birthday. The music was fantastic (obviously), although occasionally they did remixes, or would have just a snippet of a song then move onto another, which made it intermittently hard to sing along. It did feel more like a dance performance than a flying trapeze circus-stunts style thing (I was reminded of...that dance troupe that won Britain's Got Talent) - there were no diving through the air hands-free tricks. A few people were lifted up and down on wires in pretty poses, one very flexible lady climbed out of a giant book, some men dressed in white Swan Lake-esque shorts did a few back flips.... And they began with MJ's childhood, and then moved onto his love of children (Neverland and some monkey I wasn't aware existed) - some slight awkwardness registered in even this stadium of fans.
The most impressive thing - and it was very impressive - was the pole dancer. And it wasn't sexy-vixen pole dancing, it was 'How the hell is she doing that?!' pole dancing. I was trying to think of ways to describe it: basically if you imagine a star fish, a completely dried one, so rigid hard. Put one point of it next to a pole, just touching. Let go. And it somehow stays up. And twirls around a bit. (It also climbed up the pole itself, before becoming rigid.) How!? Fingers of steel.
And yesterday we spent in Macau. Gambling den of sin. Also ex-Portuguese colony, so the old town bit of it had some beautiful Portuguese buildings in it. We arrived at the fanciest hotel in the world. (Well, the fanciest one I'd ever been in.) It had a lounge, another lounge, a bathroom, a toilet, a bedroom, three big plasma tvs. (We got a deal from a friend of Tabs' who worked there.) Then we went out to the old town and to see a ruins bit. In the old town, which was beautiful, we had some delicious tapas and Tabs coined a new phrase: water-juice. This = ice :) Zoe bought one of the famous custard tarts. I did not, because I'm not really a fan of custard tarts.
After that it was back to the hotel for complimentary cocktails/glass of wine, then across the street (more complicated than you'd think, but we were a little surprised that Tabs' friend had advised us to get one of the free coaches: it was genuinely the other side of the road) to the Venetian.
In the hotel, I checked my phone and had received 4 text messages. 3 advertised hotels in the area, and one warned me severely against smoking in another hotel. (And also said something about children, I think - presumably in a related way.) I read some more of my book and discovered that the 100 years war DID actually last over 100 years. I'd always assumed that was an exaggeration. I expect, however, that they weren't fighting constantly the whole time. Maybe it's like that country that's still at war from WWII (or something) because they forgot to finish the paperwork, or maybe it was more like every now and then a French or English family would look up over their breakfast/dinner and think 'Grr those French, I hate them, and we are at war with them'/the French equivalent. Going out to drink our cocktail outside, I temporarily forgot where I was, and thought, 'Oh no, I'm a bit cold now, and I'm about to go outside. If only I had my jacket.': stepped out the door and my glasses steamed up (a la entering a pub in England in Winter).
So, the Venetian. I think I was told this is the biggest hotel in the world. I would Google that fact to check it. It has canals inside and outside, and you can go on a gondola ride if you want, under the painted blue sky. It has shops, restaurants, bars with live music, I think a cinema, rooms to sleep in (presumably), and a casino. Tabs was telling us about some of the tricks of the gambling trade: 1. They pump oxygen into the air so you don't get sleepy, 2. The blue sky etc are all so you don't know what time it is, 3. She said it was really hard to find your way out. There are some signs, but things are confusing. We're not sure if this is an intentional trick or not - it took us 2 attempts to find our way out (stopped in a bar and listened to a fantastic band for a bit before attempt number two).
And as for the Vice. Zoe and Tabs had a go on a roulette wheel. It was quite fun to watch it. Zoe lost her money straight away, Tabs made some money. It seemed to be more worthwhile (kind of unsurprisingly given statistics etc) to go for little wins by choosing red or black, or odds or evens etc, rather than hoping for a specific number or choice of 4. A man came and sat next to me and fell asleep but somehow did not fall over, despite being perched on a stool, it was kind of scary and dead, in general, with lots of electronic screens rather than real-life things, and the croupiers were frequently asleep/rather angry looking (our one hated us, her life, and probably life in general)/one was doing some kind of meditation.
The best part of the evening was when we went shopping. I didn't buy anything but Tabs found a nice dress and tried to help me into being fashionable/looking good by encouraging me to try it on - dress and cut being good etc. I tried it on but wasn't convinced. Change, ugh. And in the process.... Well, Zoe and Tabs heard me laughing from inside the changing room, just little bursts of giggling. Basically I somehow managed to get my long necklace down and round my waist while putting on the dress. It had no clasp or anything, and was fairly snugly round my waist. It made a nice belt-necklace thing, like were around in the 90's I think, but I had no way of removing it save scissors or someone else's assistance.
Hee hee. (I still keep laughing about it now. How did I manage it?)
I needed help, so Zoe came in, with me standing in skirt and a bra, and pulled it up and back to round my neck. Saviour!
And now we're back at the flat and Tabs and Matt's kitten Audrey is back from staying at friends (they've been away on holiday while we've been away). Audrey is a cat that is weirdly ginger: it looks like she's had ginger tips done over her general tortoiseshell fur. And she miaows a lot. But she is cute, because kittens can't not be.
This was a trip (we're back in Hong Kong with Tabs and Matt again) that Tabs' friends had arranged for her birthday. The music was fantastic (obviously), although occasionally they did remixes, or would have just a snippet of a song then move onto another, which made it intermittently hard to sing along. It did feel more like a dance performance than a flying trapeze circus-stunts style thing (I was reminded of...that dance troupe that won Britain's Got Talent) - there were no diving through the air hands-free tricks. A few people were lifted up and down on wires in pretty poses, one very flexible lady climbed out of a giant book, some men dressed in white Swan Lake-esque shorts did a few back flips.... And they began with MJ's childhood, and then moved onto his love of children (Neverland and some monkey I wasn't aware existed) - some slight awkwardness registered in even this stadium of fans.
The most impressive thing - and it was very impressive - was the pole dancer. And it wasn't sexy-vixen pole dancing, it was 'How the hell is she doing that?!' pole dancing. I was trying to think of ways to describe it: basically if you imagine a star fish, a completely dried one, so rigid hard. Put one point of it next to a pole, just touching. Let go. And it somehow stays up. And twirls around a bit. (It also climbed up the pole itself, before becoming rigid.) How!? Fingers of steel.
And yesterday we spent in Macau. Gambling den of sin. Also ex-Portuguese colony, so the old town bit of it had some beautiful Portuguese buildings in it. We arrived at the fanciest hotel in the world. (Well, the fanciest one I'd ever been in.) It had a lounge, another lounge, a bathroom, a toilet, a bedroom, three big plasma tvs. (We got a deal from a friend of Tabs' who worked there.) Then we went out to the old town and to see a ruins bit. In the old town, which was beautiful, we had some delicious tapas and Tabs coined a new phrase: water-juice. This = ice :) Zoe bought one of the famous custard tarts. I did not, because I'm not really a fan of custard tarts.
After that it was back to the hotel for complimentary cocktails/glass of wine, then across the street (more complicated than you'd think, but we were a little surprised that Tabs' friend had advised us to get one of the free coaches: it was genuinely the other side of the road) to the Venetian.
In the hotel, I checked my phone and had received 4 text messages. 3 advertised hotels in the area, and one warned me severely against smoking in another hotel. (And also said something about children, I think - presumably in a related way.) I read some more of my book and discovered that the 100 years war DID actually last over 100 years. I'd always assumed that was an exaggeration. I expect, however, that they weren't fighting constantly the whole time. Maybe it's like that country that's still at war from WWII (or something) because they forgot to finish the paperwork, or maybe it was more like every now and then a French or English family would look up over their breakfast/dinner and think 'Grr those French, I hate them, and we are at war with them'/the French equivalent. Going out to drink our cocktail outside, I temporarily forgot where I was, and thought, 'Oh no, I'm a bit cold now, and I'm about to go outside. If only I had my jacket.': stepped out the door and my glasses steamed up (a la entering a pub in England in Winter).
So, the Venetian. I think I was told this is the biggest hotel in the world. I would Google that fact to check it. It has canals inside and outside, and you can go on a gondola ride if you want, under the painted blue sky. It has shops, restaurants, bars with live music, I think a cinema, rooms to sleep in (presumably), and a casino. Tabs was telling us about some of the tricks of the gambling trade: 1. They pump oxygen into the air so you don't get sleepy, 2. The blue sky etc are all so you don't know what time it is, 3. She said it was really hard to find your way out. There are some signs, but things are confusing. We're not sure if this is an intentional trick or not - it took us 2 attempts to find our way out (stopped in a bar and listened to a fantastic band for a bit before attempt number two).
And as for the Vice. Zoe and Tabs had a go on a roulette wheel. It was quite fun to watch it. Zoe lost her money straight away, Tabs made some money. It seemed to be more worthwhile (kind of unsurprisingly given statistics etc) to go for little wins by choosing red or black, or odds or evens etc, rather than hoping for a specific number or choice of 4. A man came and sat next to me and fell asleep but somehow did not fall over, despite being perched on a stool, it was kind of scary and dead, in general, with lots of electronic screens rather than real-life things, and the croupiers were frequently asleep/rather angry looking (our one hated us, her life, and probably life in general)/one was doing some kind of meditation.
The best part of the evening was when we went shopping. I didn't buy anything but Tabs found a nice dress and tried to help me into being fashionable/looking good by encouraging me to try it on - dress and cut being good etc. I tried it on but wasn't convinced. Change, ugh. And in the process.... Well, Zoe and Tabs heard me laughing from inside the changing room, just little bursts of giggling. Basically I somehow managed to get my long necklace down and round my waist while putting on the dress. It had no clasp or anything, and was fairly snugly round my waist. It made a nice belt-necklace thing, like were around in the 90's I think, but I had no way of removing it save scissors or someone else's assistance.
Hee hee. (I still keep laughing about it now. How did I manage it?)
I needed help, so Zoe came in, with me standing in skirt and a bra, and pulled it up and back to round my neck. Saviour!
And now we're back at the flat and Tabs and Matt's kitten Audrey is back from staying at friends (they've been away on holiday while we've been away). Audrey is a cat that is weirdly ginger: it looks like she's had ginger tips done over her general tortoiseshell fur. And she miaows a lot. But she is cute, because kittens can't not be.
RSS Feed
