BECKY WAS HERE (the end)

Well, this is probably my last chance to finish talking about Becky's trip before Mom and Dad arrive, so I will ignore the fact that it's getting late and just finish.

 We did some souvenir shopping and decided to get these cheesy matching t-shirts, because having a red dragon t-shirt is a good idea for everyone.  We were told by the shopkeeper that we could choose any color we wanted because white matches with everything.  I seriously beg to differ.

I was also asked whether I was Russian while we were shopping.  I'm guessing it's because I'm wearing this hat, even though it was made in Tibet.  In this photo, I'm drinking a super-chocolatey hot chocolate at the Macau Museum cafe and we're waiting for the rain to let up so we can go home.

 Becky bought this very carefully chosen mahjong set and so we wanted to try it out.  We took a break from playing the Chinese way to try it American computer solitaire style.  It was actually quite fun and we made up some new rules to make it competitive.

 The next day we went hiking on the Big Taipa Trail.  We passed these guys on the way up and I wanted a picture even though I'm dressed like a fool.  There are my favorite guardian lions in all of Macau. 

There is a park at the top of the trail and there are bronze statues of all the different ethnic groups in China - like 50-some.  They're awesome, but I'm a little biased since I totally love anything bronze.

 I took Becky to my favorite Indian place in Macau, cause you can never have enough Indian.

The next day, Carol was kind enough to invite us out to have dinner with her friends.  The woman with the noodles was our host - Iny.  We're having hotpot, which is what the Chinese often do for special occasions.  The food was delicious and it was fun to hang out with a bunch of new people.

This is cow stomach, and yes, I tried it.

 After dinner Becky and I put our mahjong skills to the test against Francis and Carol.

I got a very lucky hand - too bad we weren't playing for money!

But speaking of money, I did get my first red packet from Iny's dad, who came up and handed them all out during dinner.  I wasn't expecting to receive any of these since they're usually for younger single people, but it was fun!

 On our last day we went to Coloane and found this temple - kind of by mistake.  Pretty huge thing to not know about huh?  Oops. 

 Becky liked these little lions all in a row.

 We also enjoyed the fact that all the dragons on the many pillars had bows tied on their noses - I guess to celebrate.  All I could think of was "pin a rose on your nose". 

 Our real destination was this enormous white jade statue of A-Ma.  I've been wanting to see this since I first learned about it months ago, but it's up on a small mountain and not a place I normally go.  We discovered the temple on our way up.

 That concludes my coverage of Becky's visit.  It was a great time and I'm so glad she was able to make the trip.  Looking forward to starting another round on Wednesday.

p.s.  I cut all my hair off today and dyed it red, much like it was when I was 21.  Still perfecting my styling technique - will post a picture when I'm satisfied.  :)