tilted behaviour

The Red Bull is in the fridge, the iPod fully charged and the suitcase almost packed.

It’s time for Macau!

PokerStars has asked me to be part of the blogging team for highly anticipated Macau leg of the Asian Pacific Poker Tour – and since Macau is one of my favourite poker related destinations – how could I turn the offer down.

I suppose the best thing about Macau is catching up with my PokerNews buddies Donnie, Eric and GG (since they do occasionally read Tilted Behaviour, I better keep 75% of my audience happy) but in reality it’s really a battle between apples, oranges and pears!

Gambling (and in particular Baccarat)?

Night-life?

Cheap Massages (and in particular the PG rating of the Grand Waldo Spa)?

I enjoy playing poker in Macau although I haven’t had too much success in the past two visits, but am hoping that I can have some luck this time round. My first year there I got hooked on Baccarat and made somewhere around the HK$12,000 mark in profit. Last year wasn’t too good, but this time round I hope it all changes although I doubt that I will play too much Baccarat or other table games.

Oh the Macau night-life . . . one minute it is fantastic and the next it has you waking up feeling worse than ever before! There is no doubt that at some point during the trip that I will visit the D2 nightclub where so many great memories have been etched – from David Saab’s antics last year to PokerNews reporter David King falling asleep in the male toilets to gorgeous girls hanging off your every incomprehensible word since you’re white (or half) and logically have lots of money!

The Grand Waldo Spa is the first thing I want to cross off my list once I get there. Have a spa, sauna, massage and a full relax all for chump change. Only problem is that I just saw this on their website, “For improving Grand Waldo Spa facility, with effect from 01 February 2010, the Grand Waldo Spa will be under renovation and closed. The exact re-open date will be announced later” . . . three letters is enough . . . FML! I guess another spa will have to be found.

Hopefully you guys will stay locked on to Tilted Behaviour as I detail my Macau adventures while mixing it with a little work in the uncharted waters of the PokerStars blog.

Better get cracking as I only have three hours until I zip up the highway!

So as we all shared a lift up to our room’s we decided that tonight was the night for some pampering at the Grand Waldo Spa.

Thirty minutes later GG, Lynn, Craig and I met and made our way to a cab – Heath and Kirsty pulled out, while F-Train was uncontactable – and HK$80 and fifteen minutes later we were outside the Grand Waldo Spa.

With everyone apart from me being a noob we consequently had to spend ten minutes looking at the spa menu, even though I had informed them on exactly what to get. Finally we were able to get to our lockers to get changed and head into the spa and sauna area.

GG went and had a haircut and shave while me and Craig jumped in a shower before making our way to one of the sauna’s. We sweated it out for about fifteen minutes before having a shave ourselves and another quick shower before getting changed into these sailor-type pyjamas.

We joined Lynn upstairs in the communal area and headed straight to the buffet and tucked into some noodles, toast and chinese tea. At about 1am we decided that it was time for our Shanghai Oil Massage and made our way up a level and were all allocated separate rooms facing each other.

Everyone seemed nervous while I was just ready to get every bone, joint and muscle cracked, stretched and bent!

My massage was . . . eventful . . . as the lady I had at one point just stopped massaging my back and pulled out this pumice stone type of tool and began rubbing it on my back. It didn’t really hurt and felt like she was cleaning it, and once she finished that, and the remainder of the massage, my back felt really smooth.

However when I saw what it looked like in the mirror, and after showing the guys, we were more then a bit shocked. Basically it appeared as though where she was rubbing she had popped the blood vessels under the skin so that it looked like I had been cut up. It kind of looked cool like it was a tribal-style tattoo, but Lynn and GG thought I had been scarred for life!

We returned to the communal area and all took a seat in the recliners and watched an assortment of National Geographic, MTV and Fashion TV before enjoying a foot massage. Me and Craig enjoyed a few more cups of Chinese Tea while I decided to join Lynn with the pampering and get a manicure and pedicure as well.

4am ticked round and Lynn, GG and Craig decided enough was enough and made their way home, while I decided just to sleep in the recliner because . . . I could . . . no other real reason.

I woke up around 10am and headed to the buffet for a breakfast of toast, sausages and orange juice before heading downstairs to have a sauna.

For some reason however the sauna’s were off, and I couldn’t be bothered waiting round, so I just showered up and got dressed. I went to pay my bill and was shocked to see that it cost me all of AU$105!

Grand Waldo Spa Bill
Cover Charge – HK$188
Shanghai Oil Massage – HK $120
Foot Massage – HK$78
Manicure – HK$100
Pedicure – HK$100
Service Charge and Government Tax – HK$87.90
Total – HK$673.90 or roughly AU$105

A very cheap and relaxing night . . . and now off to cover the HK$88,800 High Rollers Event