What A Nice Man!

We didn’t want to bother our counterpart to send a car to drive us around after hours. But we want to explore the city. And not on foot this round. It’s just too humid to do it in May. Cabs are surprisingly scarce for a city with so many tourist arrivals.

The hotel has cabs stopping by for us to go to town in the evenings. But later, it does get a bit painful waiting for a cab to take us back to the hotel. Unless we lurk around the casinos where cabs are plentiful. And that’s the last place we want to be at.

We met a cab driver the other evening. What luck! We arranged with him to pick us up after dinner as well as transport for the next few evenings. Woot!!! He could have just not showed up at all. But he did. He was absolutely polite. We thanked him profusely. Gave him a bigger tip in a show of appreciation for all the help. Surprisingly, he actually tried to return the extra to us. He’s made this trip absolutely memorable.

Egg Tarts :: 蛋撻

As delicious as the Po tarts (葡撻 - 葡式蛋撻) were, we were also curious about the local ones. We went looking for a local confectionery shop in the residential areas. And found many that sold local Chinese egg tarts.

Bought a boxful to eat. The local ones were not caramelized and were certainly less crispy than the Portuguese ones. But just as 'eggy'. Don't care either way. No preferences. No cravings for it. The colleagues finished them all.

Sold!!!

For days, I've been walking by this little camera shop on my way to work. I was really chuffed to see such old school cameras on the display shelves of a dingy shop.

I resisted looking at the Voightlander. It wasn't quite what I wanted. It had always been the vintage Voightlander Bessa I Folding Camera. (Refusing to buy it off ebay.) But I was rather taken by this 1970s Icarex 35S. I knew it wasn't made from the best quality materials typical of that era. Still, it appealed. To my slight horror, I realized I wanted it.

Work ended early one afternoon. With a sigh, I stepped into the shop to go bargain the price down with the shopkeeper so that I could take home the Icarex 35S.

No Chinese Food Please

It was cool that the colleague and I had similar taste in cuisine. Many meals, we made it a point to avoid Chinese food. We were quite sick of it from the previous trips already. Plus we didn't have anyone on this trip who absolutely had to have rice and whatnots. So we could eat whatever we fancy.

We tried out the Portuguese selections at both the restaurants and the little cafes. We had pretty good Portuguese wine with every meal after 11am. Of course we had Italian too. That was like the default food after a bit. It wasn't too bad. There was this huge salad that was very refreshing.

Macau had a huge Filipino community. We were trying to look for the Filipino restaurants. But I guessed I didn't look in the right places to find one that was appetizing.

The one thing we sorely missed- North Indian food. We looked very hard. We couldn't find any. Ugh.

And I'm not likely to get to explore the single malt selections at the bars. Although I gleaned that Glenlivet was a fairly popular choice next to the cheena-loved Macallan.

*scowl*

Eggs!

The cafe owner convinced me to try their fish roe. I wasn't entirely sure that it would be deep fried in the way I like it. Anyway. Decided to try it. Gulped when the entire palm-length (two inches in width) egg sac plonked onto my dining plate. They didn't deep fry it. It was just boiled. Oh dear.

Even though it wasn't vile tasting, the little cafe didn't exactly have the right sauces for it. Tabasco and strange-tasting naam plaa didn't quite cut it. This needed to be eaten with sambal belachan or something. The veiny thingies along the sac membrane did nothing to enhance the appetite. After eating a quarter of it, I gave up. Ummmm...does anyone know what sort of fish this came from?

Not My Kind of Salted Fish

I’m not fond of the salted fish in Macau. Does anyone know what sort of fish is used?

The last trip, I brought home a huge one to try. We realized that it’s the soft kind good for steaming. It doesn’t taste very good fried. It crumbles into tiny pieces which renders it quite unappetizing. I still prefer the ikan mergui sort from Penang which is good for frying.

Summer Smog

It’s hot weather here. But it isn’t burning up the way Singapore is. Very bearable at 27 - 29 degrees.

It’s got smog though. The smog wasn’t present during the refreshingly cold weather a couple of months back. Now, it’s hanging heavily over the city, obscuring the view from afar. The sunlight streaming through the smog is strangely bright.

Off We Go!

Not Gordon; not Bombay. What a nice thing. Tanqueray kinda kick-started this work trip.

But it wasn’t me doing the shots. Not a gin drinker. And never on the plane! The colleague merrily kicked back a few. At least we're landing to dinner and bedtime. Heh.

I wisely stuck to non-alcoholic soft drinks.

The End Of The Week

I was kinda reluctant to bid goodbye to the familiar surroundings. I was really charmed by its air of tranquility. I hope I'll stay here again. Till the next time then.

We're Good For Now

And we're sorted for this phase of the project.

I've been scribing, analyzing and talking. I'm glad to have a respite before I get back into the office and begin writing that report.

It's pretty exciting to watch the project unfold.

It's far from completed. There're many factors and changes that could affect this project. In the meantime, I'll just do my part. I'll keep the ears open and the eyes peeled.

There'll be good times and there'll be the bad. It's been all good so far. I need to prep myself for the bad if it should come.

The Buildings

The wind whipping around the tightly clustered buildings makes it seem so much colder than it really is.

I love strolling along the streets and looking at the juxtaposition of architecture in the city.

Change is definitely in the air.

There are the moneyed commercial edificios and swanky shops along the Wharf. If I really want a Prada bag, I could head over to the overpriced shops along The Strip. If I want a disposable bag for toiletries, I'd consider those fake Burberry and Le Sportsac bags at Senado Square.

But the old streets are most charming of all.

I like wandering through the little lanes and seeing what comes up at the other end.

In my mind, I build a little map and draw a line through the streets I've walked by. It makes it so easy for me to remember the area and link it to the maps I'm reading.

I want to pop back here for a weekend jaunt when I needn't have to bother about work.

I've built a little personal itineary of where to go and what to do.

I've got to bring the boyfriend along. He will be absolutely fascinated by the rapid changes in the city from the time of his last visit. He came before 1999 and it was dog poo central. He will be intrigued by the colors, food and whatnots. He likes the idea of crab porridge already. If he will drive, I can navigate and take him around the small eateries in Taipa and Coloane.

The city's 27 million tourist arrivals don't seem to have populated the older areas too much. Perhaps most stay in the casinos and rarely venture beyond. If they do, it's to buy Chinese bites at the pastry shops of Koi Kei and its competitors. (Who always set up shops next to a Koi Kei outlet. Don't bother with the different names and addresses. You find one, you find all of them.)

I want to keep these memories of the old places before the pace of modernization wipes them out.

Casual Rules

I love it that the tone of this work trip has been casual from Day One. It made packing and filling up the luggage so much easier. 

The cashmere sweaters are lightweight and super warm, great for checking into the office with dresses. However, on some days when jeans are permitted, it's awesome.

When the cold front blew in and made my breath fume in the outdoors, these sweaters kept me really snug beneath a light coat. The 10◦C temperature is perfect. Quite happy with the cool weather and those boots on my feet. They're a great combination and made it so easy to do those half-hour walks across town.

Glitzy Not

I realized that I'm not fond of casinos.

There's a strange sort of vibe lingering in casinos that doesn't excite me. I felt that in the Las Vegas Strip; I was bored in Australia; I absolutely hated Casino de Genting. I feel the same here in Macau. I will not feel too different about Singapore in the not-too-distant future.

As far as I'm concerned, the only good thing that comes out of casinos are the music acts that swing by at the major venues.

The decor don't excite me. What they term as opulence becomes unbearably ostentatious. But the chandeliers are mildly fascinating.

But after a night out to the glitzy strip, my eyes hurt. The neon lights are seriously bright. I didn't quite know where to focus. And all I want is the quiet comfort of my quaint little room.

By the end of this year, there will be 30 casinos in the country. Wow. I hope the traditional Portuguese inns will survive.

Thank goodness I needn't stay in the gaudy casino hotels each time I'm here.

皇冠小馆

Lunch is usually a light affair. All we want is to warm our tummies. On an extended trip, we tend to be boring and stick to one or two lunch venues. It's just easier to hop in and out. There's no time to wander around or linger over the excitement of trying new stuff. 

We have this favorite little cafe along Rua do Campo called 皇冠小馆 . We eat there almost daily. By now, the owner recognizes us. We call him '冠哥'. He never fails to cheerily usher us to our favorite table in the corner. Apparently this cafe is famous for its crab porridge (花膏水蟹粥). But we haven't tried it at all. It's like, we are never quite in the mood for it. The affable 冠哥 allows me to check out the live crabs in the pail and take photos all over the shop.

We love the dumpling soup noodles (竹升云吞虾子捞) and the superbly fresh stir-fried dou miao. Food quality here is awesome.

皇冠小馆
No.310A Rua do Campo (澳门水坑尾街310号A地下)
Tel: +853 372248

Thinking Thinking

At lunchtime, I hit the streets to clear the head of all the intense work discussions. Circled the shops. The only thing I was interested in were those metal poles with salted fish dangling off them.

I wanted to buy Macau's famed salted fish home. The preferred method of cooking here seemed to be steaming. I was thinking of deep frying it in our usual way. But the man's mom protested violently when I suggested it. She told me not to tempt her! Heee heee. It's the most unhealthy thing ever. But we love it. If I bought that, it would be tough to not have salted fish on the table every other day.

So for the life of me, I still couldn't decide if I should buy the salted fish home and scare the man's mom with it. She'll so smack me. Woooohoooo. It will be a bad bad frozen temptation for the next couple of months. If it's stopped raining, maybe I'll go lurk around the shops some more.

Piping Hot

Yea, it's part of a chain. But on this windy day, after a 20-minute brisk walk, we wanted to have hotpot at Little Sheep (小肥羊火鍋).

I was thoroughly captivated by the spam.

Spam in hotpot. Awesome.

I liked those handmade fishballs. Very nice.

After the water evaporated, only the chill oil was left on the other side. Not exactly healthy. While it was great to cook the meats in, the rest of the food didn't go too well with it. Needless to say, we left it almost full. The other side containing clear soup dwindled down to almost nothing.

Piping hot food made us feel good and braced us for another walk around the block.

小肥羊火鍋
澳门雅廉访大马路57-61号
越秀花园地下DE铺(近俾利喇街)
电话: 00853-28581111
網址: http://www.xfy.com.cn/

Spooky Portraits

As a teenager, my entire view of Chinese tv serials and movies was shaped by actors dresssed as jumping Chinese vampires with ridiculous make-up wearing Qing dynasty court garb. When I walked by an antiques shop and saw these replica portraits hanging by its entrance, I literally froze and shivered in the bright sunshine.

I have this intense dislike for this sort of portraits with long-dead humans in this sort of long-dead fashion. They scare me and give me nightmares. When I visited ancestral halls in China with thousands of portraits hanging off the walls, I literally ran away to the nearest spot at an angle where I couldn't see them no more.

The thing is, many fancy wency international hotels think that it's artistic or classy by putting these portraits into the rooms.  Arrrrgh. Whenever I step into a room and see this sort of portraits adorning its walls, I will leave immediately. I will either demand to change a room or for housekeeping to remove the frames within the hour. Eioooowwwww.

My problem is, I'm reminded that when my grandfather died, he left me some portraits of some ancestors in this sort of pose and dress.  At that time, I stashed them away in some rented locker to be forgotten through the decades. But every now and then, I get this shockingly rude reminder I have portraits like that which I can't just dump in the garbage bin to recycle.

Grandfather used to proudly hang them up at home in their glass-encased glory. He would tell me stories about these fearsome people. I would be cringing and wishing that I could just disappear. After a while, he stopped telling me stories. I know he doesn't think so, but I remember every word he said, every one of those names and stories. I can re-tell those stories as well as he did, but without that conviction and eloquence. As much as I love my grandfather, I'll never hang these portraits in my own home. *shudder*

Me and My Camera

We walked the streets to find an outlet of Padaria New Mario bakery to buy authentic 'made-in-Macau' almond biscuits. We were given the somewhat general directions. By pure instinct, we found it after a short 10-minute walk.

On the way out, I spied some fresh spam bread. Spam!!! Or rather, commonly known as 'luncheon meat with bread' in Singapore. I LURVE luncheon meat with bread.

And what did I do? I didn't just buy the bread. To the great amusement of the couple next to me, I whipped out my camera and took a photo of it, in a bakery in a non-touristy area. You guys would know exactly why I did that.

The couple asked me if I had never seen luncheon meat in bread before. Haizz. I gave them a sheepish grin and ran away to join my colleagues waiting a-ways at the road junction. I told them about it. They laughed at me. Bah.

Pretty Colors

On my way to work, I pass by this cheery little shop.

It is bursting with the colors of early spring. They now have all the what I term as 'Chinese New Year flowers', ready for customers' selections.

I'm a grouch in the morning.

However, the chilly air and the jolly shades of nature add that extra spring in my steps.

Kawaiiiiiiiiiii ne!

When I walked by a tuition centre, I grinned. It stood out like a sore thumb among the dreary grey walls. I backtracked to grab some photos.

They tiled the entrance and walls with Hello Kitty prints.

I was quite tempted to peek in to see how the decor was. Unfortunately, a minder was staring at me very suspiciously.

So I waved the camera at her and ran off.

For all you Hello Kitty fans out there.

If all tuition centres were this cute, maybe I wouldn't hate tuition so much when I was a kid!