Seafood Dinner!

A3 and I had a delicious seafood dinner! We get to pick our 'victims' and soon tucked in when the food arrived. I think we over-ordered. It was a great pity that we couldn't finish the rich, seafood soup! This is the first time I tried the mantis prawn. It tasted like crabmeat and the shell was quite difficult to peel. Guess I have satisfied my curiosity... so this is how a mantis prawn taste like!


I also like the sculptures nearby!



It was a perfect way to end a beautiful day!

More of Saigon

Next, we took a bumpy ride to a beach at Saigon. We had a leisurely stroll around the vicinity. It was really scenic with lots of beautiful butterflies fluttering around. Most amusing was a wild, big, black cow (with horns!) that seemed to appear from nowhere. I wasn't sure what to do because the path was narrow and the only way for me to run off was to climb up the slope (didn't think I could make it)... we eyed one another for a while. The cow decided to gallop past me. Boy, he badly needs a shower!

Here are some of the views. I'm also pleased with myself that I spotted a thumb-sized, orange crab scurrying around. Quite cute!

There are also interesting foliage and beautiful flowers. Unfortunately, my tiny camera was acting up so the colours seemed a bit off!

Heritage Museum & Exploring Saigon

It's Monday and as planned, A3 and I met, and had yummy breakfast (mine was the simple luncheon meat sandwich with silky smooth milk tea). After that, we set off to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum.

My deepest impression of the museum is that it has an interesting Cantonese opera heritage hall, and the New Territories heritage hall. I'm most interested in the way they presented New Territories' changing landscape over the years.

After the short visit, we met up with another friend Dr L for lunch. I decided to be brave and tried a piece of coagulated pig's blood. It's actually very tasty! And the radish just soaked up all the goodness of the broth. The noodles were very smooth, it's like a cross between the slippery pasta and broad rice noodles.
There was a large seafood restaurant at Saigon. Look at what they have! I was very surprised to see them selling horseshoe crabs. Aren't they an endangered species? These ancient animals have remained almost the same for the last 250 million years. These crabs do not have hemoglobin in their blood, but use hemocynin to carry oxygen in their blood, hence their blood is blue in colour! Their blood has been used in medical research to test drugs and implants, etc. Not sure if you can spot the mantis prawns in front. They do resemble the cockroach... There are also boats selling seafood - fresh and dried ones!

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.