Macau - the final days

(Written on Aug. 23)

I am sitting in the Philippine airport wishing the "free public wifi" network actually worked. Until then, I'll write up my blog and get ready to post it later.

Our run in Macau was fantastic! The theatre was gorgeous, and we actually had every set piece on stage, which we haven't had recently. If we don't lose the flying altar in the wedding scene, we lose the mountains or the stairs (in Guangzhou). It was great to be able to close the show with the full scenery as originally designed. Also, our audiences had a large percentage of English speakers (and the theatre, oddly enough, projected both Chinese and English supertitles of the show), so we were able to experience an entirely different audience reaction to our lines - as opposed to the Chinese translations. It was really fun and the cast definitely reacted to that in a very positive way.

I didn't do very much in Macau except wander around the Venetian Casino and hotel and visit Senado Square. Maddy and I went to the Venetian on a whim, to eat quesadillas we had heard about in the food court. We nearly got lost just trying to FIND the food court, it's so big! I believe it is the largest casino in the world. Incidentally, a few days later we were at a Starbucks, and a nice Australian couple sat down next to us and started chatting with us. When we asked them what they were doing in Macau, they told us that they are the directors of the Venetian! Wow! They were so nice and helped us find a store to buy party favors for the double birthday party we had that night.

It was James' (Captain understudy) and Greg's (Rolf) birthday on August 15, so after the show we all gathered in our company manager's hotel room to celebrate. It was the party to beat all parties! The presents -- an elegant Chinese robe for James and a new backpack for Greg, to replace his old falling-apart one -- were a big hit, and the party went until about 4:30 a.m. if not later. I found that I lost a lot of daytime in Macau because of staying up so late at night. I did not, however, gamble!

Senado Square was a big square in the middle of Macau that seemed to be the place to shop. There were many small stores and little restaurants, a Starbucks of course, and on one of the last days, I discovered a neat stand that sold knock-off LeSportSac bags, the style of which I love, and the brand name of which I could not care less. So I bought some! The stand was deserted until I got to it, then Chinese women swarmed the stand, looking at bags and laughing at me for holding ten bags on my arm while I tried to decide which ones I liked best.

Fisherman's Wharf was another popular place to visit, mostly for the restaurants. It looked a lot like a Disney theme park, with faux-European architecture, an arcade, and a small amusement park. We had some amazing hamburgers in one diner there, and I had some amazing Macanese-style fish (twice!) in another.

As we reached the end of our run in Macau, we heard about the typhoon warning: good old typhoon Nuri, here to ruin our travel day. Yes, it was scheduled to hit the Macau and Hong Kong area on August 22, the day we were scheduled to fly! For the people on Troika-sponsored flights home, they would be taken care of no matter what. Unfortunately, I took the buyout, which means I took the price of my Troika ticket and purchased my own ticket, which was an easier travel day and slightly cheaper. Those who took the buyout had to sign a paper waiving Troika of any responsibility for us, so of course I was on my own fending off the typhoon! Not really, but I was definitely responsible for any changes in travel and any affects Nuri would have on me.

As it turned out, all flights were canceled on Aug. 22. I didn't even go to the airport, because the storm warning was an 8 and we were told the bridges would close when it got to 8 ... if the bridges closed, we could get stuck at the airport and not be able to return to the hotel! I did have to check out of my room on my travel date, even though I wasn't traveling anywhere, so some of the Ukrainians (orchestra) in the room next door let me bring all my stuff into their room and crash there for the day and night. Then I started making phone calls, trying to get myself on a flight home.

It's a very long and arduous story, but the short version is that I talked to the Philippine Airlines office in Macau 5 times that day, and in each of the first 4 times, they offered me some good options to get myself back to San Francisco within the next few days. when I called back the 5th time to confirm, they told me that none of those options were available, not even the option of flying home on Aug. 27, a full 5 days after I was scheduled, which had been my worst possible option and last choice. No, no, instead, they told me, I could fly the first leg of my flight to Manila on the 26th, and camp out there for a night. The following night, Aug. 27, I could complete my flight to San Francisco. They could not understand why that wasn't a satisfactory solution for me!

Carter, Kurt's dad, saved the day by coming to the room and making a bunch of phone calls on Skype, trying to help me fix the problem and get another flight, or at least a refund. After three difficult tries, we found out just before 2 a.m. that Philippine Airlines was willing to refund $662 of the $876 I had spent on the flight, no more, or I could hold onto my flight on the 26th-27th, because that was all they could do for me. Not ok!

I was utterly exhausted, but before I went to sleep I emailed my parents the situation. When in a bind, my mother is the one who can always make the right phone calls and talk to the right people to get me out. So I went to sleep expecting to have a strange adventure in the Philippines several days later.

When I woke up this morning, I had about 20 emails from my parents, saying things like, "Good news!" and "Magic!" and "there's more!" and one that simply said, "WAKE UP! YOU HAVE A FLIGHT TODAY!" That woke me up pretty quickly, so I tried to skim the other emails and get the gist of things. As it happened, my mother had somehow, incredibly, managed to get me on my same flight I originally had, but one day later: today. How did she do it? I don't yet know. She promised me the full story when I see her in person. Boy was I lucky! I also realized that all of the Ukrainians were leaving for the Macau airport that morning, so I called to ask if I could tag along on the bus and get my airport transportation taken care of. I could! Things were looking up.

We got to the airport, and I was told that I couldn't even check in for two more hours, because the counter wasn't open until 1:40 p.m. I hung out with the Ukrainians that entire time, because they were having trouble getting checked in as well, and finally managed to check in on my amazingly confirmed flight to the Philippines and then San Francisco! We had the same gate, both flights delayed, so we sat there, slightly falling asleep on each other, for hours, until they left for a gate change, and I got ready to board my late flight! The flight was uneventful except for some delicious fish curry (yes, delicious airport food!) and the fact that I had the entire row, 8 across, to myself, so I could lie down and nap a little.

Now I have arrived in the Philippines and have gone through the most tight airport security I've ever experienced. I was a transfer, so I didn't even leave the secure area and "enter" the Philippines, but I still had to go through security and the bag check again. Then when I got to the gate area, there was a huge line to enter the seating area, and I had to go through yet more security, get frisked, and finally, finally sit down ... only to discover that our flight is delayed two hours! I hope my sister gets the message because I have no way of calling her. She'll be picking me up and taking me to stay at her apartment in SF until tomorrow.

So that's the story so far. The show has not officially closed and it's quite possible we'll be brought back eventually, so the departure was strange. Many of us were thinking, "Am I sad or not? Is this really the end, or are we coming back?" It was still pretty sad, and I think the end hasn't yet sunk in for me, with all of the drama of trying to fly home. I'm sure home will be exciting for the first few days, having access to all of the wonderful things I didn't have on tour (particularly my dad's homemade bread), but then it will get depressing and boring and I'll want to be back on tour.

I hope we come back!