I’ve had a busy week in New Orleans, so I’ll leave you with two of my favorite photos so far. Most krewe members (the generous folks who toss beads to the crowd while riding on floats) are masked, but CNN anchor Anderson Cooper made an unmasked appearance during tonight’s Krewe of Endymion parade in the Garden District.

And below, a pair of NOPD cruisers illuminate discarded bead packaging, as officers force the crowd to exit the street during a parade.

For as long as I can remember (OK, fine, it’s only been two years), I’ve spent the first full week of January in Las Vegas, covering the massive Consumer Electronics Show for PC Magazine. Nearly every major consumer electronics company has a significant presence at CES (with Apple as a notable exception), announcing new products in every established electronics category, including home theater, computers, cell phones, e-book readers — even LED lightbulbs. This year, as manufacturers release countless Android tablets and even more 3D HDTVs (consumers are definitely going to eat them up this year — right???), I’ll be heading to Hawaii for some travel writing and R&R. I plan to be back in the game at CES 2012, but in the meantime, here are just a few of the people and sites I’m following at the show:

PCMag.com: @saschasegan, @lanceulanoff, @dancosta, @wwwendyyy

Blogs: @engadget, @gearlog, @gizmodo

Bloggers: @joannastern, @joshuatopolsky, @ryan, @fruhlinger

And, if you want to follow everyone at CES (myself included, for some reason), head over to @NBCUCES’s CES 2011 list.

Arguably some of the most high-end casinos in Las Vegas, Steve Wynn operates a Wynn and Encore casino in Macau as well — surprisingly, the seemingly quiet and noticeably smaller Macau casinos are significantly more profitable than their Vegas counterparts.

Located on the Macau peninsula, the Wynn complex is much smaller than the nearby Venetian Macau, with 205,000 square feet of gambling space. Table games and slots are divided into many smaller rooms, offering a much more intimate gambling area.

Click the “read more” link for more photos of the Wynn Macau!

A fleet of Rolls Royce sedans is located just one block away from the row of rickshaws seen above.

Chinese visitors toss coins at this musical tree at the Wynn, which accumulate during each performance and magically disappear before the next.

The tiny fishing village of Tai O on Lantau Island refers to itself as the “Venice of China,” though the Venetian in Macau — the largest casino in the city and larger than many cities itself — might challenge that claim. The $2.4-billion, 10.5-million square foot casino offers 550,000 square feet of gambling space (compared to 120,000 square feet of gambling space at its smaller sister casino in Las Vegas).

Just across the street, on the yet-to-be-completed Cotai Strip, you’ll find the City of Dreams — an enormous complex consisting of a Grand Hyatt Hotel, Hard Rock Hotel, and the Crown Towers Hotel.

Click the “read more” link for more photos of the Venetian Macau, City of Dreams Casino, and Cotai Strip.

WHEN: Thursday, August 6th, at 6:30 p.m. (slideshow begins at 9 p.m.)

WHERE: Canoe Studios, Chelsea
601 West 26th St., Suite 1465, NY, NY 10001

WHO: A wide array of artists and genres, some of whom are very accomplished, including:

•    SHEPARD FAIREY- Illustrator who created the Obama “Hope” Poster
•    PLATON- Famed celebrity photographer
•    TIM HETHERINGTON- Vanity Fair photographer showing a searing multimedia piece from Iraq
•    GREGORY CREWDSON- Fine-Art Photographer and Yale Prof. shows David Lynch-esque work
•    PETE SOUZA- Photographer appointed by Barack Obama to cover his administration

TO  RSVP: http://network.slideluckpotshow.com/events/slideluck-potshow-xiii

For more general information on the show, head over to my article at PopPhoto.com. I’ll definitely be there tonight, so let me know if you will too!

Q: Well, how was Beijing? Should I go?

A: After spending two months living in Beijing, I’d hesitate to recommend the city to tourists looking to soak up Chinese history and culture. Sure — there’s plenty of that in Beijing, but there’s so much more to China that you won’t be able to see through Beijing’s environmental and propaganda haze. I came to tolerate life in the city towards the end of my journey, but only because the Olympics were in town, and many familiar Western conveniences became available, such as an Apple Store and Cold Stone. Unless you speak Mandarin, communication with locals is almost always impossible. Some are learning limited English, but are unable to pronounce words correctly due to a lack of native speakers to practice with.

For photographers, Beijing can be a great place to shoot on clear days, but unfortunately, the sun only breaks through the clouds every so often. If you’re only in town for a week, you may not have a single day without a hazy blanket to get in the way of you and that perfect shot. The Chinese make incredible subjects, and are generally more open to photographers than Westerners. Unfortunately, I think much of this comes from a fear of confrontation, especially when they’re unable to communicate with the foreigner behind the camera.

Q: What was it like to work at the Olympics?

A: I can’t even begin to describe the Olympic experience – it was so incredible to be able to work alongside the world’s top photographers, reporters, and athletes. Just being around the athletes was a thrill – there were so many, from almost every country in the world. There were also plenty of opportunities for staff and journalists to mingle with athletes outside of the competition venues, especially towards the end of the Games.

During the first week of competition, I answered questions for photographers at the road cycling course (and ended up doing quite a bit of computer troubleshooting as well). A few days after road cycling, I transferred to indoor volleyball, where I worked as a flash quotes reporter, interviewing athletes in the mixed zone alongside reporters from around the world. Often, we had to work through translators — it was really an experience unlike any other.

Q: Can I work at Vancouver 2010 or London 2012?

A: Honestly, I’m not quite sure. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) required the Beijing Organizing Committee (BOCOG) to hire native English speakers from overseas only because very few were qualified in China. Fortunately for the next Winter and Summer Games, that’s not the case — both will be held in countries where English is the official language. If you’re an expert with relevant experience, feel free to contact VANOC or LOCOG for more information about joining their staffs during the Games. I’d certainly recommend giving it a shot — working at the Olympics is an experience like no other.

I have a few regrets about my experience in China. Some are less significant, and were only realized when I read the United Airlines magazine on the flight back to the States. I can’t believe I spent two months in Beijing and only visited half of the locations they suggested in their cover article. I never made it to the restaurant, Made in China, but I certainly heard great things. My biggest regret, however, is not taking more time to travel around the country. I visited Shanghai and Tianjin, and made a side trip to the suburbs with Vincent Laforet, but I really wish I had taken more time in the beginning of my trip to explore other parts of the country. Some friends flew to see pandas in their native habitat near Chengdu, or visited the Terracotta Army at Xi’an. I’d love to visit China again at some point in the near future — but I don’t think Beijing will make it on my itinerary.

This marks my final post to Behind the Lens at the Beijing Olympics. Thanks for visiting, and feel free to continue sending questions or adding your comments to individual posts.

I board my shuttle to the Road Cycling Course finish line in a little less than six hours, and need to get some sleep before my 16-hour day at the Great Wall, so I decided to watch the last hour of the opening ceremony on the way back to my hotel. Passengers were glued to the flat panel displays on Subway Line 10 as basketball star Yao Ming led the Chinese athletes around the National Stadium track — the last team to march into the venue. Small crowds gathered around televisions in a subway station to watch the final minutes of the ceremony, standing near television speakers to hear a speech by Chinese President Hu Jintao.

The tape-delayed opening ceremony will be broadcast on NBC at 7:30 EDT tonight.