give me 4 days, i'll give you 4 countries

....and we're back. it's amazing what not sitting on a couch can do to a blog. sadly, my writing is going to take a bit of a beating in the short-term.
here's why -
a certain retiree got pulled back into active service. yes, the unthinkable has happened - i have a new job. i'll keep the details vague, but you're virtually looking at the new digital marketing director for a small up & coming firm in Macau.
*note - titles are larger than they may career

let's catch up on the rest.
spent last weekend in Singapore with double A. we were very impressed with the city/country as a whole. prior to arrival, we had been warned that the city/country was nothing more than a 'cleaner version of HK'. we disagree. Singapore was a breathe of fresh air (sorry it just came out), with its tree-lined streets, hyper modern infrastructure, mixed with just a dash of colonial architecture. and hot….very hot. not humid, like HK, just hot. we made good use of the pool. i am told though that the allure of the place perhaps diminishes after you stay a while. for now, i'm left with a very pleasant taste in my mouth, likely from the multiple Singapore Slings consumed. btw - if you go to the famous Long Bar for said Sling, expect to pay $25 CAD for the pleasure. it's an expensive city, but worth it in my humble opinion.
*added value item - the free candy as you walk through immigration at the airport.

this is where the fun begins.
Monday evening, the dynamic traveling duo parted ways at the airport. you see, my first assignment as part of the new gig was to attend a conference in Shanghai - the 'real deal' China, folks. as such, i flew directly from the Pore, a 5-hour jaunt, and arrived into Padong Airport around 11pm. customs was a breeze, no iron-clad communism poking and prodding me every step of the way. in fact, the customs officer couldn't have been more pleasant and i even considered using the 'rate me' interface that all entry booths feature. picked up my bag, scurried through the 'friendly' late night crowd at arrivals and jumped into a taxi.

'where to, my man?'
'the Intercontinental, good sir….and step on it, will you?'
'right away, friend.'

unfortunately, that's dialogue you'd be more likely to find in the classic comedy Shanghai Noon, and not my experience at all. no, my best approach was to point at the name of the hotel in an email i had on my phone….as English was not going to happen…not even a little.
the gentlemen seemed agreeable to my passive explanation of the directions, and we were off. fun fact about taxis in Shanghai - the driver is sat in a fiberglass cocoon-like structure, no doubt for his own personal safety. no apologies required to the passengers who feel like they've been arrested. it took about 40-minutes to reach the hotel (and dude was driving FAST). i'll be honest, i was getting a little concerned given i thought it was closer to half that to my destination. i even tried to ask the driver if we were 'close'…to which he responded 'close?' and laughed with hysteric non-understanding. ultimately, all was fine and we made it. no tip.

upon check-in, my company (eager to impress), had left me a couple of goodies to finish up the day with a happy-ending - a new MacBook Pro and a Blackberry Bold. i like these guys already. conference kicked off the next morning, a somewhat lackluster experience - a sentiment shared by many. i did quite enjoy the part where i pretended to be sitting in on a UN junket, given the majority of the speakers were dropping Mandarin, requiring yours truly to rock a translation headset. pretty cool, albeit most of the good bits from the presentations were somewhat lost in translation i fear.
managed to sneak out that night with some colleagues for a dinner at a very cool downtown bar/restaurant and walked around the river-side boardwalk known as the 'Bund'.

day 2 was a snore, and the boss made the call to jet out early. back to HK, where i was looking forward to settle down for a bit. nope, there's work to be done. woke up the next morning (which so happens to be today) and jumped on a ferry for Macau. for those keeping count, that makes 4 countries - Singapore, China, HK, Macau. my passport is starting to get some major international cred.