Churches in Macau

Before proceeding to explore the Churches, we stopped by a small shop for double boiled milk dessert. It's the first time I'm trying this. The texture is very different from soybean curd. Much more delicate, smooth, and if you love the taste of milk, you will like the lingering natural sweetness of milk after the dessert glides down your throat effortlessly. I also like the boiled milk with ginger! Yum... Pictures of milk cows adorned the walls of this small shop. I wonder which one of the cows produced the milk which we were enjoying then?

We only had time to visit 2 beautiful churches: the St. Lawrence's Church and the St. Joseph's Seminary and Church. How does it feel when you are in there? Very peaceful, very quiet and cool, and it feels like you are in another world, away from the hustle and bustle outside. I could sit there for hours, just admiring the interiors and my favourite stained glass windows.

Of course, we must make our way to Macau's iconic landmark - the Church of St. Paul's, which was very much ruined by a big fire in 1835. It was crowded with people and I didn't have the opportunity to take a closer look at the ornate stone facade. We walked up the grand staircase to explore further. However, I wasn't too keen to take a closer look at the cyrpt, plus, we need to grab some souvenirs before returning to Hong Kong.

We deliberately took pictures at this small lane - the Travessa da Paixao (Love Lane)...

On our way back to Hong Kong, we had freshly baked Portuguese egg tarts for dinner. I thought it was a wonderful finale for a wonderful time at Macau! There were no other tastes but the yummy egg tart and a blessed feeling of being with friends. Indeed, life's best moments are the time we spent in the company of friends!!

More Sightseeing at Macau

We walked into this building with a very interesting architecture.

Here is a picture of a typical Macau street scene, taken from the building's balcony.

Next, we ventured into a large mansion, the Mandarin's House (http://www.wh.mo/mandarinhouse/en). According to the introduction in this website, the whole complex can accommodate 100 visitors at any one time. Woah! We tried to follow some of the tour groups in order to listen to the tour leader's introduction. I found some interesting features in the house: rain gutter and the white downspouts that are shaped like bamboos, complete with bamboo shoots! And I love the design of this door!

Day Two at Macau

Today is supposed to be a sight-seeing day. We started at the A-Ma Temple. It is the oldest temple in Macao. There was a winding path with flights of stairs to climb. Poems and inscriptions were carved on the stone along the cliff. The place was full of tourists so we didn't hang around for long. I particularly love the blossoming Flame of the Forest in front of the temple!We also tried ice cream at a mobile stall just outside the temple. Mine had a strange cookies and cream flavour plus some corn kernels. One of the blogs said that it is called the "Happiness Ice Cream". Eat it and you will get happiness in your life. Great!

Then, the highlight of the day - big lunch at a place called Alorcha, near the A-Ma Temple. We ordered: Portuguese kale soup - Caldo Verde, octopus salad, Portuguese seafood rice, clams stir-fried with garlic (everyone loved it!), Sangria (a tasty, refreshing drink with bits of apples, orange peels, and a bit of alcohol), "sawdust pudding" called Serradura (thick, creamy, milky creme pudding topped with fresh biscuits that's been crushed into fine and powdery goodness that tasted like a mixture of marie and digestive biscuits, so good you want to have seconds!), cod fish cakes - pasteis de bacalhau, char-grilled Portuguese chirizo... did I miss out anything else? Oh, the chewy, crusty bread that we used to soak up all the tasty clam soup.

End of First Day at Macau

Well, yeah... we were still not quite done with food tasting yet! Had to try out this small stall that churns out very good fried beef noodles. I wasn't able to get a clear shot as the man kept moving, he was either hyper-active, or he needed to get the rhythm right in order to fry that perfect plate of beef noodles! Imagine big flames higher than him, appearing above the wok. The end product has a unique smokey flavour and surprisely, didn't leave much oil stains on the plate!

At 10.10pm, we shared a plate of delicious fried beef noodles! I checked my watch as I could no longer keep my eyes opened and speaking Cantonese the whole day had taken its toll on my poor brain. Most of the blood must be working overtime at the stomach and had no time to take care of the over-worked brain. My mental "Chinese" and "English" translations went on strike! Haha...

We carried our happy bellies back to the hotel. I soon slipped into a blissful slumber after a nice, hot shower.

More Good Food!

We stopped by the Grand Hyatt Macau Hotel for a late afternoon tea. Look at what we had! Fanciful tea names (to match the price!) and we shared the 2 lilliputian size cake which was delicate and light. Yes, feels like all gold and glittery. We slouched and had girls talk the whole time till we were energised enough to walk around some more.

We went to the Sofitel Macau at Pointe 16 to check out the Michael Jackson Gallery. His famous songs and MTV were featured, together with some of his personal items. If you are a big MJ fan, read all about it in this website: http://www.accortrade.info/press/detail.aspx?id=854

Next eating stop... the Lok Kei porridge and noodle place. This shop has been around since 1945. We ordered some of the shop's specialty: prawn roe springy noodles (extreme left), fish balls coated with skinny rice noodles and deep fried (yes, the hairy balls on the plate in front!), scrumptious braised chicken feet (it's so good you can taste the fragrant soy sauce and herbs that's been infused into the warm chicken feet, not too salty with a hint of sweetness - excellent!). At the top right hand corner is deep fried dumplings and the sweet dipping sauce in front (it has some fragments of pig's intestines, I spotted a slice of liver...). It was a satisfying dinner!

The Venetian Macao

No. We didn't do our casino rounds, wasting time gambling away when good food beckons. It was more to experience the atmosphere and enjoy what the casino have to offer! There are MANY casinoes in Macau!

We spent some time at the Venetian Macao because it has a very interesting feature! A man-made canal, the San Luca canal... complete with boatman/boatwoman rowing (or rather, assisted by motored gondola) for people who chose to belief that they are in Venice. I wonder how much they've got to pay for the ride. There are coins strewn all over the 'canal' floor. With the fake sky above, and the boatman singing 'O Sole Mio, one can really be lost in this illusionary space.

You might think that's all. We went to another casino that featured..... mermaids! To someone who is not aware of what's going on, you can really get a fright of your life if you are just innocently walking past an eeriely green screen and then suddenly a life-size mermaid emerged from among the 'seaweeds'. Then off she disappeared and another would made an appearance somewhere on the screen. Very bizarre!

Macau Food Adventure!

With anticipation, we boarded the Turbojet on a bright and sunny Saturday morning for a great day ahead! It was a happy reunion with J1, J2 and new friend A2. We enjoyed some pandan cake and chatted...


Our first eating stop... Seng Cheong crab porridge! Mmm... delicious, fragrant congee peppered with crab roe and crab meat. We also ordered fried fish balls and squid balls. I didn't try the preserved clam dip. The colour is not too appealing for me la! But I kept seeing it being served at other eating places. And we also ordered fried salt and pepper frogs legs. It is very succulent and has a nice texture.

Satisfied, we walked along the streets and also tried Mok Yi Kei's durian ice-cream. It is very flavourful, like eating real, iced durian pulp. It's a bit pricey though, for a very small cup of ice cream! We also made a mental note of what to buy when we are going home the next day...

What better way to aid digestion than to walk around the scenic 'European feel' vicinity. We stopped by the Taipa Houses Museum, walked around the lotus pond, and tried to get out of the way of wedding couples taking pictures among the beautiful blooms.

On to the next highlight of the day! The famous pork chop buns! Pork chops pan-fried to perfection and sandwiched between 2 pieces of warm, chewy, crusty bread. Heavenly! J1 also ordered her favourite curry cuttle fish and fried fishballs. I had a very strong cup of hot, silky milk tea. The whole small pot was filled with tea leaves. I wondered why I didn't get heart palpitation after that. Haha!