June 5, 2023
Planning for the Pre-Trip: Macao and Hong Kong
You know it's going to be an awesome trip when you're more excited about the pre-trip than the actual trip. Hong Kong is the locus of where the trip begins with a foray into Macau as well. Most of it will involve banking of some sorts and for that we'll await the conclusion of the insurance oddysey. Spoiler alert: it's going to be good.
The plan is to fly into Shenzhen first and catch up with the fitness community where I had made friends with during covid. Shenzhen delivered greatly during that dark time. This time, however, things are wide open. The next stop looks to be Hong Kong. Research shows available ferries from the Shekou port, but it seems a lot easier to take the bus. Once in Hong Kong, the first task is to get rid of the coin clutter that was already pre-sorted in my house.
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It turns out there is a much easier way to do this. It doesn't require counting coins and going into convenience stories to find items that match the amounts exactly. Instead, the city of Hong Kong has two mobile coin collection trucks in various locations where you simply dump coins into a machine. Then the value is either exchanged to bank notes, transfered to an Octopus Card, or given away to charity. It solves so many problems! This scheme even won international awards.
The Octopus Card is the best deal but is also potential clutter if you don't plan to return the card and get the deposit back before leaving Hong Kong. For that reason I'm going to avoid the card.
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The next task is to withdraw US currency which is needed for my my visa at the Laos airport and then for exchanging to Laos Kip. Based on the sinking fund, I've got it all figured out. This presents a risk carrying cash on the bike but in case you haven't figured out by now, risk is a fundamental part of the minimalist philosophy. The alternative is to use the ATMs in Laos but there are too many stories of them not accepting cards, eating cards, or otherwise charging high withdraw fees.
The pivotal task will involve two major banks in Hong Kong. If all goes well, I could be eligible for HSBC Premier status. This is an accomplishment that I always thought was beyond the reach of a poor teacher, but anything in life is possible.
Once those things are done, I'll take the brand new bridge to Macau for that weekend and spend a couple nights in this gambling paradise. But first of course I need to spend the Macau coins, also sorted and tallied. Banks won't take coins outside of Macau, so it becomes another one of those countries: the ones with currency that is useless outside. For that reason they have to be gotten rid of in the territory.
As for gambling, I found an extra $200 in the budget from a bank error, and the main event will involve throwing this on the roulette wheel at a random casino. It will be only one spin with nearly a 50/50 chance of win or lose. Why only one spin? The point is mainly psychological. You could lose it all on one spin, but you could win too. So is the glass half empty or full?
That being said, it would be nice to warm up and that's where the slot machines come in handy.
After all this, it will be a ferry ride back to Shenzhen and then depending on the weather, a one-day warmup bike ride to Guangzhou. If the weather is no good, it will be more time spent chilling in Shenzhen. One way or the other, I'll try to fit in some partying at either city before flying out to Laos the next day in the afternoon.
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