Last Entry on Macau

Finally, the moment that Elly has been waiting for :p ... I'm going to end my blah about Macau. I can't wait to write more about Hong Kong too since I was almost 1 week there. so, here's the last entry on Macau goes.

As I walked through the small alleys of Macau (like the one below), I realized they are so clean! Can you spot any rubbish there? No? Yes? NO!! And this is just the ordinary alleys they have there. The cleanliness is amazing.



You must walk around these places, and when you have no money and hungry in Macau. Do you know what you need to do?

Simply find any alleys that sell pork slices (supposed to be very nyamz, but I didn't try :p ....) or any other tidbits like their famous almond cookies, egg crisps with pork floss, etc. All the shops are busy giving you free samples. Even though you reject, they'll just put it on your hand. And soon or later, you'll be overstuffed like me.



Yupe ... I've 2 almond cookies in my mouth and 1 more on my hands. They are all from different shops. I was so full. Shouldn't have had my lunch! :p

After shopping for some tidbits (I didn't buy though :o ... so who shopped?? -.-), my friend wanted to look this tea place. She's a tea freak!!! And she only saw the place from TV (it was recommended) and it was not that easy to locate it in the map. I remember I was standing on one of the street after we've found it, so I took the picture below for landmark next time. :p ... (As if it'll help, eh?)



So, what kinda place is it? It's actually a Cultural Club. (Wow, they even have a website :p). The building, Tak Seng On, was an old pawnshop, recognized by Macao government as historic building with great artistic value. When we were there, there are a lot of people who went there just to appreciate the decors and buy some souvenirs. But for us, we are stuck at this following corner for more than 30 mins.



What on earth were we doing? And what's that above?
If you look closely, it's actually a big tree trunk that they have modified become a table especially for tea appreciation. Those small little stools were the ones that suffered our weight during the testing session. We tried almost all the tea leafs offered in their brochures. How do their products look like? Don't worry, I'll share with all of you in just a short while. Our common favorite was "Lemon grass" but unfortunately, it's SOLD OUT!!!! ARGH!!! -.-

So I bought "Vervain / Verbena" and "Osmanthus" instead.



What's so special about the tea leafs offered from this shop? Firstly, they are all organic and natural. No caffeine. No preservatives. Secondly, the sales person was so nice and patient. Imagine these 3 customers who keep trying all the leaves and yet, she was still happily serving all of us without any complaints. :p (I wonder what's inside her heart). Thirdly and most importantly, for the freshness and good quality leaves that they offer, their price is a fraction of what you can find anywhere. (Including those I can find in Singapore). No wonder so many people from Hong Kong will go there and buy few hundred dollars worth of tea leaves. And no wonder my favorite lemon grass was gone. Hua..... Glad I managed to try it though. It's heavenly. Best lemon grass tea I've ever tried in my life!

On the 2nd floor of this antique house, they even have a place where you can appreciate Chinese Tea. They call it "Bamboo Hut".



And there's the Jin Yong Library, one of the famous Chinese contemporary writer who have brought us a few TV series such as "Return of the Condor Heroes" which was popularized with actor such as Andy Lau. And not to mention the popular song that was being translated in Bahasa Indonesia. -.- .... can faint.



So, if you are interested in taking a glimpse of this place, here's the full address.



With this, I shall end my "tok tok" session about Macau and next I shall talk more about Hong Kong. :)

D.D. signed off from Macau.

Macau - MUST EAT!

Let's continue on from where I've left when it comes to Macau. This is a very important post, especially for Elly, since you'll be there this year, you'd better take down this place's address. It's a MUST GO. No question asked.

After roaming around for so long, our tummy has shown us no mercy. So, our beloved "tour guide", Maria, brought us to this place where she claimed everyone that comes to Macau must taste the food here. And we have no regrets whatsoever! Here they are:



The number one must-have dish is the Ox's Tongue don't know what. :p ... Now you know why I'm not a travel writer! HAHA! Just look at the menu and that should be the only Ox's Tongue dish there. (Sorry, guys & gals, no photos to shared. Whenever I'd like to take the photos of any food, I've already eaten it and it looks awful! -.- I'll try to keep in mind not to eat it before taking photo next time.)

Then I also love the African Chicken. These two dishes combine with breads are just so heavenly.

For dessert, try their sawdust cake (as pictured below - one of the few pic of food that I have. :p). If you notice from their business card, you'll also see the picture of this cake. 90% of the guests there were having this on their tables. So ... if you are a sweet tooth (LIKE ME), please do try it. :)

Seriously, this place is just awesome.



BTW, can you the super clean plate behind the cake? That's how good the red wine sauce that's used to cook the Ox's Tongue. It's tender and simply yummy. :)

Go have it now!! shoo shoo ...

Strolling Along Macau

I will not write much in this post. Taking this "quiet" opportunity to just share what my eyes have caught while walking around the city of Macau before I reached my favourite eating place at Macau.

Enjoy!




Hotel & Casino - Wynn (Very "goldie" .... I LIKE)


Hotel & Casino Lisboa. With a few of its interesting antiques & interiors captured below. BTW, heard the ventilation of this casino was quite bad. I didn't go in though. I went to Wynn instead and it's amazing. :)


Super "Goldie" cherubs on the ceiling


Since I've taken the ceiling, I should take the chandelier too.


33 Kwan Yin's Figures are being carved out of this tea trunk. AMAZING!


My friend though I'm too free by snapping so many nonsense. So she said, why didn't I take photo of the pillar too. Well, so here it is.


While walking to our dinner place, I can't help but be amazed by this big tree. I love the fact that the city of Macau still preserve the tree in such a good condition even though it's surrounded by the Military Club. I'm amazed.


:p Alright .. this is just a prank. I was on a cab and ... wanna snap whatever I could. :p Quite colorful, right? :p

Tower of Buns

Once a upon a time in a land not so far away, there was a story about the tower of buns, which I'll call it, Bak Pao Tower. (BP Tower?). Hhmmm ... I should refrain myself from being crappy because I'm seriously going to talk about history, here. Plus, I'm not even sure whether the bun was made of Bak (meat). :p

So let me start all over again ...

As we were strolling across Macau, we stumbled upon this antique house that not only they still preserve its structure like the one below but they also kept some interesting models, drawings, etc.



So, when my friend pointed at one of the model:



I quickly snapped the picture. Honestly, I've no idea what I was snapping at. I only knew my friend said ... oh isn't that the "bla bla bla bla" (I don't really understand Cantonese, you see and they were happily talking about it and I was happily being nosey about it too.)

Then they tried to explain the history which I didn't really quite grasped and finally I found a better version from Wikipedia (AGAIN??). :p .... Now can you see why I love to be online so much? The whole world is really at your fingertips. I love Internet.

So what's this tower all about?

"Nong" "nong" time ago, to be exact during the 18th century in the island of Cheung Chau (長洲), there was plaque and pirate attacking the citizens. Distressed, they used the images of god Pak Tai and paraded through the village lanes. I believe the pirates and the plague would have disappeared. Then, they started to create string of events and activities to commemorate this event. And one of the activity is Bun Snatching (搶包山).

Historically, men (young ones) would race up to get the buns. It was believed the higher the bun you got hold of, the better fortune it'd bring to the holder's family. Argh ... I should have climbed the one I saw but unfortunately, it's just a miniature. No wonder I only discovered 5 cents and not 5 million dollars on the floor. (Dream oh dream ...)

Well, it's still money :p ..... Bak Pao Tower Rocks :p

Ruins of St. Paul

So where was I when it comes to Macau?

Ah … I was eating THE egg tart and after that “enriching” the body session, I’m ready to “exercise”. The next stop, Ruins of St. Paul.

As you see from the map, well, I don’t even know where’s the egg tart place but I suspect is near the one I marked blue :p ... (which seems like everywhere) Oops. (BTW, you can easily get the very helpful map from the ferry terminal at the Visitor's Information Centre)

The red line is where Ruins of St. Paul is and the green line is where Senado Square is.

The whole walking experience was very pleasant. Not too far. Not too near. Around 10-15 minutes. I remember we passed through the main street. Shucks … sorry, I really can’t remember the details :p ... We asked strangers on the way and voila, the next thing we knew, we were at the Senado Square. (Can you believe that we were passing Senado Square at least 3-4x throughout my entire trip?) -.- What can you find there? Food oh glorious street food and shopping. (I didn't do much shopping so I personally can't comment on that. I can comment on the walking though. :p)

Then finally, I saw the sight where everyone loves to take photo with when they are in Macau. The Ruins of St. Paul. Yippeee!!! It’s time for me to be the model instead of the spectator :p … (Vomit) Don’t worry. I’m not going to put the picture when I am posing with The Ruins of St Paul. Happy? :p

So here there are the amazing façade that’s still standing after the fire that took down the church.

This one is at the back. You can actually go up there and look through the holes. Some people throw coins there. (Don’t know for what). May be they think since there are no wishing well, there’s still a wishing “hole” and they throw and throw and throw.

At the back of the facade, as you walked further you will discover this:

So, I first choose to the right and my next discovery was the Crypt and this is what I saw:

Apparently, they kept the bones of the ancient Japanese and Vietnamese martyrs at the side walls as being displayed below. It is recommended that one to remain very quiet and respectful while entering this place.

Next to the Crypt, there’s the Museum of Sacred Art. Inside you will discover paintings, statues and religious artifacts originated from 16^th – 19^th centuries. I took a few pictures of them, here they are:

But there’s only one that captured my attention:

Why? This picture depicts the Japanese martyrs that died for the cause of the religion. It seems holy but yet eerie. Just can’t help to wonder why human beings are so cruel for just a belief. Well, it’s not my place to comment. Let them be who they want to be as long as they are happy. Everybody has free will and one life to live. It’s seriously up to every individuals how they would like to start and end their life.

"The" Egg Tart

So, this is my first time to Macau. Let me write down the date clearly as it's an historical event for me. It's 7th of January 2007. Why is it so important? Because out of so many times I've been to Hong Kong, this is the first time I've actually boarded to the boat and stepped on Macau's land. Thanks to my new friend from Hong Kong, Maria and my not so new friend also from Hong Kong, Christine to make this happen. (Though .... there was a "tragedy" caused by Christine as to why I didn't manage to step to Macau last time though I already have the ticket on hand!! Well, let me say, I'll keep it as a "mystery" for now) :p

As Maria keeps emphasizing that "Macau is very small. You can discover everything about it in a short time." I'm not sure whether I'm agreeable with her :o ... but honestly it's quite small. We could walk to the same place for 2-3x without us realizing. But regarding discovering it in short time hhmmm ... I believe in ABUNDANCE and I think there are always more to see every time anywhere on this earth. There's always something to new to be discovered.

After we have clarified certain things from Macau Tourism Centre at the terminal (hmmm ... I hope I have named it correctly), our first stop is to discover the legendary "PORTUGUESE EGG TART".

We took a cab from the terminal. It was pretty near ... (remember what Maria said before? :p) ... Once we were there, no one miss the egg tart. How does it look like? Here it is ...



Well, sorry for the incomplete photo. Whenever I'd like to take a photo of any food items, I always realize it after I've eaten it. Hence the ugly view .... and I sincerely apologize for that.

Most importantly, how's the egg tart? My verdict is HEAVENLY. Accompanied with either hot tea (without milk is my preferred one) or hot coffee (not for me though), it's just PERFECT!!!!!!!!!

Hey ... I've talked so much about the egg tart but where's this place actually? Errrrrrrr ..... I don't really have the address (I'll try to Google it later :o) but I did take a photo of the small cosy cafe called Margaret's Cafe e Nata and it's behind some alleys and some shop houses. (Hmm .. better ask the taxi driver for direction than rely on my memory)



I just found out there are different type of egg tarts. Hong Kong style vs Portuguese style. My personal favourite is still Portuguese style (with a bit of burnt smell ... delicious). If you are really interested to know more about the difference, Wikipedia has provided us with all that we need to know. I love internet. :p

As for the exact location of where this great egg tart lies ... I found a website that has it. Phew.

Here you go:
Margaret's Café and Nata [Macau Peninsular]
One of the best egg tart bakeries in the city
Address: Edif. Kam Loi, Nam Van area

But honestly and secretly ... I still prefer Singapore's egg tart. Which one? I'll tell you more at "DD Discovers Singapore" next time. :-).

26/01/07
Just realised I do have the address for THE egg tart place. Here you go. :-) How come different from the one I posted above? Oppps ... May be when you are there, you should try both. :p

DD's Introduction

Hello

My name is D.D. (or that's how I'd like to be called :-)). I'm a simple girl who lives in the simple universe and decided to reside (currently) at Singapore (a FINE city).

Though I'm not a big fan of traveling, partly waiting for my Big Daddy up there to increase my pocket money, but after my most recent trip to Macau, I enjoy every moment of it and hope to share with all of you what I have discovered through my humble eyes and experiences. Do pardon some of the photos taken as it's not up to certain standard. I am not a professional photographer and my camera can be quite nasty especially during night time. :( (Big Daddy, I want new camera!!)

I hope you will enjoy my sharing and findings.

Have a great life, everyone.

Sincerely

D.D.

Image taken on the 7th of January 2007 opposite the Macau General Post Office at 126 Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro. For more information of Macau postal services, please click here.