Weekend recap: Hac Sa, fireworks, casino tour, and more

Friday evening after work, Susan, Sam and I got slightly lost in Z.A.P.E. after getting off the bus a few stops too early, but after some walking around we finally met up with the MPI girls for dinner at "A Taste of India" near the Kun Iam statue. I thought my spice tolerance had increased throughout college after rooming with Atisha for three years, but things here still seem to have quite a kick, and the combinations aren't always what I expect. For example, my chicken curry had a LOT of cilantro, along with some other unidentifiable spices...I think I chewed a bit of ginger at one point and there was something that looked like a raisin but smelled lemony. It was still really good, but quite, um, flavorful.

Sam and I were pretty tired so we went home early while the others went out bar-hopping, but we all slept late in preparation for the afternoon/evening full of activities. Things started off around 4:30 PM with the UM exchange students' barbecue, all the way down at Hac Sa (Black Sand) beach.

The beach, which I guess is more dark brown than black

A cool sculpture overlooking the beach

The exchange students' association, including people hailing from all sorts of places (mainland China, America, the Philippines, Finland, France, Germany, among others), had invited us ETAs to join the fun, and we took the opportunity to explore the area a bit more ourselves. Joseph and Henry, two local students, had also come along to meet more of the exchange students (they both studied abroad, so their English is very good), and because they had kindly agreed to guide us to a good local restaurant for dinner, but more about that later.

Hac Sa itself was nice and cool, partially because it was so cloudy, which made it perfect weather for the annual beach rugby tournament. Austin wasn't with us at the barbecue, but that was because he was playing rugby!

Attempting to dodge a defender

By early evening, we were getting kind of peckish, so Susan, Henry, and Joseph stopped by one of the little food stalls to get a snack...a very protein-rich one =P

Susan with her snack, which looks like it escaped from Davy Jones' locker. She said it was yummy.

For dinner, we headed back to Horta e Costa, where Joseph and Henry guided us to a popular local joint called Sun Iek. Amy and Holly joined us for dinner as well, so it was one big party. While I'm getting a bit tired of Cantonese food all the time, I thoroughly enjoyed the tong cai, shrimp with cheese, pork chop with spices/cheese, spicy fried pork pieces, and curry chicken in a giant bread bowl!

Yum.

Post-dinner, Joseph and Henry left us to start their homework and Amy went home, but the rest of us caught the 32 bus down to the Lisboa to watch the second round of fireworks: Taiwan vs. France. Both were definitely better than last week's contestants, although my photos aren't as nice because I didn't have the backdrop of the Macau Tower.
After the shows, Holly went home, but Susan, Sam, and I randomly bumped into Emily while walking around the MGM. We continued exploring the casino lobbies, some of which had some extremely amusing decor:

The light/water show at the Wynn

Chinese zodiac-themed dome in the Wynn rotunda

"Legend of the Golden Panda" at MGM

Mock Senado Square (which doesn't really look like Senado) in MGM

More pandas in the MGM =P

We stayed out until the wee hours of the morning, but it was a pretty satisfying night of explorations, so it was all worthwhile =D