Macau, 2006For those of you who did'nt know yet, Macau is a Special Administrative Region(SAR) of China with its own flag, currency and visa procedures. It was a Portuguese colony till 1999 and still retains a lot of that flavor in its buildings, street layouts (like you seen in this pic; a street) and structures.
I found myself in Macau looking for a cheap place to stay for a night, and the only real budget place in the middle of the small town was the San Va Hospedaria Guesthouse in a pretty street called Rua de Felicidade. I got a single, sparsely furnished room for US$ 10 and was content. All the rooms had thin, almost cardboard material type(little more thicker!) walls which only rose just upto 3/th of the ceiling, the rest 25% was open space shared by all rooms commonly. This was apparently some Portuguese building style, and strange as it seemed, I didn't bother too much as I was only there for a night. The rest of the place was fine, with shared bathroom facilities.
Until I went to bed.
Now I have to share this with you all, Macau is famous for its Grand Prix (not F1), pretty streets, delicious Portuguese egg tarts, gambling and prostitution. While I indulged gladly in viewing the streets and gobbling up the tarts, the last two options were not for me, though I must admit I was all eyes at the casino where both of the latter could be found and ogled at in abundance. After all of that, I had tucked myself in bed around midnight. And then the sounds started..
I heard the most disgusting of all snores begin to hit my ears from a neighbouring room(remember, the ceiling is open and common to all rooms!), from what I assumed to be an old Chinese man with EVERY chest and lung disease in the world. God help him with his congested lungs, but it was absolute pollution to my ears as I was forced to hear out every chord and crescendo of the blissfully snoring bugger. I've heard some pretty bad snores over the years, but NOTHING could beat this, it was almost scary! At 1am, just when I was beginning to console my ears into accepting my fate, started the most tantalizing Oooooh's and Aaahhh's that I have ever heard. From a female, I might add.
Oh yes, I already had the pleasure of being surrounded by a horrible sounding loud snorer but now, as an addition to the musical night was an orgiastic hooker who I bet was in all probability belting out well practised artificial moans and groans as they did the DEED. Add to that, by the sounds of her whimpers and whines, I assume her client was a sado-masochist beast (hope I spelled that right!), I think he was making her repent for all her previous sins!! Ah, what delight to my virginal ears, this was the truly the most weirdest kind of audio porn I had ever heard, if you may call it that!
Complain to the reception, I hear you say? On a lazy, sunny afternoon, I would never spoil the fun for both them and myself. But at 3am in the morning, when I was not having any fun, I finally went to the reception. I was told to turn over, shut my ears and sleep as this was "normal". And thats exactly what I tried to do. Until the bed bugs began to bite. Ah, a memorable night in Macau.
Would I ever go there again? Of course! But next time, before I tuck myself in, I'm gonna remember to buy lots of those lip smacking egg tarts, insect repellant and a good book..
Did you notice I didn't mention ear plugs? :P