Place: Macau, later Hong Kong
I never knew what time the sun rose in Macau. I had my eye mask on.
Anyway, I woke up at 8:30 am, and later we had a lovely breakfast buffet at the hotel at 9:30 am. As the sun was too hot for baby to go out, my brother, sister-in-law and baby rested in their room while my parents and I set out for other historic buildings around Macau.
11:00 am, when the sun is terrifically hot and high in the sky, we set out in a taxi to the famous A-Ma Temple (妈阁庙).
A few hundred years ago, the fishermen of the island built a temple for the deity 妈祖. During the mid-16th century,the Portuguese set foot on the island near the temple. They asked the name of the island, but the locals thought there were asking for the name of the temple, and so they answered A-Ma-Gau. Later on A-Ma-Gau turned to Macau, and that was how the island got its name.
The temple is one of the oldest temple of the island, and locals and visitors alike flock to the temple to pay their respects.
The temple is built on a slope. This is the highest part of the temple building, where Guan Yin Ma overlooks the sea.
Lots of writings on stones are found around the temple. They were done by various scholars, some famous, from a very long time ago.
This is the largest stone carving of the temple, found at the topmost part.
Just across the temple is Maritime Museum, one of the world's best museums devoted to all things maritime. This was also the site where the Portuguese first landed.
One of the few post-office thingy in Macau. It's actually a postbox and a stamps vending machine. Just toss the required amount in and voila! you get your stamps.
I have no idea what this building is. But I like the color and the architecture.
The tiny square where the temple and the museum is. Again, the pavement is beautiful. The Macau government has put in a lot of thought for every nook and cranny of the island.
The souvenir store with the best business on the island. They even roped in the famous gourmet Cai Lan (蔡澜）as spokesperson.
I do not understand their obsession with salted fish. It seems every souvenir shop sells them.
We are on a mission to seek out the famous Largo do Lilau (亚婆井前地）, where the first Portuguese settlements were built. There is a well there, that the Portuguese locals once said that one sip will make you remember Macau always; either you will get married and settle down, or even if you're far away, you would always return here.As you see, it's located inside a residential area, and the place lacked obvious post signs pointing us to the right location. But we trudged on bravely, because if we got lost, there's always a taxi to drive us back, with an exchange of money, of course.
Along the way is the 港务局大楼. Built in 1874, this building was originally a barrack for police officers from India stationed in Macau. Currently it serves as the port authority office.
This is the house of a famous thinker Zheng Guan-Ying (郑观应）, known as 郑家大屋. Its architecture is a beautiful display of East and West combination. Sadly, it was closed for renovation the day I went. The window was all I could take a photo of.
Take a guess on what this is.After almost half an hour of walking up slopes under the smothering heat, we found a signpost pointing us back to a construction site we passed by a few minutes ago. Turns out, this is THE Largo do Lilau. And this is where the well was supposed to be. Good grief! We were sent on a wild goose chase!
Seriously, if you were to walk by a place like this, would you have any idea it's supposed to be a historic site?
It was 1 pm when we finish our treasure hunting, and we couldn't wait to jump into an air-conditioned taxi to drive us back to our hotel.The Macau Tower. You can bungy jump from the top. Have fun, 'cause I won't be joining you. This picture was taken from the taxi. I am pretty darn good with a camera :p
圣母小教堂on top of 西望洋山.
Cybernetic Fountain? Don't think so, really...Wonder what it really is.
It only took a few minutes to reach our hotel. By then we were joined by Bro and his family for lunch. Baby's criteria: air-cond. Hence the eaterie right across the street (滋味满屋) fitted the bill.Macau's famous dish, 猪扒包 (pork chop in a bun). Crispy on the outside, succulent on the inside. Man, don't I sound like an ad.
3 pm. What is Macau famous (or infamous, depending on your POV)? The casinos, of course! This isn't the biggest on the island, but it's pretty darn grand in my opinion.
Ceiling of the 永利 building, the twelve chinese zodiacs.
And on the floor, the twelve horoscopes.
The high-end shopping lane inside the building.
My brother, sister-in-law and I went into the casino. It's pretty huge, and of course really grand. Main colours consist of red and gold. I saw baccarat, poker (which was full of people), blackjack and slots. Not much in variety, but hey, it's grand. I'd give them five stars for their lavishness. Too bad photography isn't allowed in casinos.
Never assume the tourists in cheap clothes and worn shoes are small fries with only a few hundreds to chuck down the drain. The casinos main customers are those from the mainland, while having terrible dress sense (or they're just modest), are terribly rich in moolah and only too happy to donate them all. Employees are well-versed in Mandarin.
My most memorable game in the casino is a large LCD screen on the wall, where a virtual dealer deals out virtual cards (I think it was a blackjack game), and asks patrons, in Mandarin, to place their wager. It's all very interesting, but just another gimmick to pull patrons in. The fact that they're playing a virtual blackjack game simply means they're giving up what little percentage of chance of winning the game, compare to a game where real humans deal cards out without reshuffling them every game.
The streets of Macau, where neon lights and signboards fight for view.
4:30 pm, tired and beaten, we caught the ferry back to Hong Kong. We reached at 5:30 pm, but immigration took a lot of time that by the time we were done, it was 6:15 pm. The scorching heat of summer even caught on to baby, as he showed up on the infra-red camera as having a fever. He was detained for a few minutes, which kinda worried us all. His fever was 38.9 degree Celsius, But the health worker said it was nothing serious and pretty soon we were given the permission to leave, after reminding us to take him to a doctor if the fever persisted.
His fever pretty much subsided at night.
Took the cab at 6:30 pm, reached home at 7 pm, after heavy traffic jam. Hong Kong is so darn small.
8 pm, went for dinner at a nearby restaurant 聚宝轩. The most memorable dishes are melon soup and barbecued pigeon (烧BB乳鸽）. Very nice and pretty expensive too. Oh the joy of spending money on a vacation (better yet when the money's not mine).
9 pm, finally checked-in to Bishop Lei International Hotel on Robinson Road, which is only a five-minute walk from my bro's service apartment.
The breathtaking view from my Hong Kong suite (sweet) room. I get the living room all by myself. Insert evil laugh here.
And that's that for day 2. Goodnight Hong Kong.
