Leon's Boulevard of Unspoken Dreams

HONG KONG - SHENZHEN - MACAU 2007

Day 6

After a whirlwind and super impromptu trip to shenzhen yesterday...wrapping up the HK leg of the tour...it's time to bid farewell to the big neon lights of Kowloon and move on to the next stop of the itinerary...certainly one which i'am looking forward with much anticipation...ladies and gentlemen...say HELLO to Las Vegas of the East - MACAU!!! Here i come...haha

We checked out ard 10plus in our hotel at kowloon aft settling a quick breakfast at an eatery across the street...all's fine at this hotel where we hav been putting up for the past 5 nites...fairly decent despite the facade undergoing renovation and shrouded with scaffolding and such...other than that...it's been a quite pleasant stay...certainly one i would shortlist if i would to come back to HK again...

Mr Quek and I took the MTR to Sheung Wan to meet clem...where the Ferry Terminal to Macau is located...aft buying our tickets and a short Bible Study Session at the foodcourt...we were soon onboard the ferry to Vegas...errmm Macau (cant wait to make a killing at the tables =p)

Damn!! MGM Grand opening on the day i leaving...sheeeezz

We r on our way to win a casino!!

the ferry ride is abt one hour plus...slighty longer den the one we took to Lantau...according to wikipedia...macau is in fact the densest city in the world...and i could perfectly understand why the moment i landed at the ferry terminal...throngs and i seriously mean throngs of visitors frm the mainland were all over the place with their diff tour groups all lining up to take the shuttle buses to their hotels...thanks to China's booming economy no doubt that have in turn enriched countless numbers of their citizens...and of course chinese's notorious penchance for gambling has fuelled this tiny former portugese enclave to a sprawling city with extravagant and lavish casinos, resorts and hotels...

we finally found the shuttle bus that would take us to our hotel...Hotel Lisboa...the one which was owned by stanley ho who monopolised the whole macau gaming industry until recently...to our surprise there's actually a Grand Lisboa...haha ours is the cheapskate version i guess...checked into our so called 5star hotel...and man guess wad!?!! we got upgraded again!!! haha...this time frm deluxe to superior...gosh getting upgraded now andden...frm flight to hotel rooms...this trip is certainly turning out to be a trip of many manifested blessings...halleujah!!

check out our superior guest room...the drinks r free flow...and unlimited free movie channels

the bedroom is here...the bathroom is over there...the fridge is over there

sieving thru the room service menu

one of the nicest hotel toilet i hav stayed

i'm going to enjoy the steambath tonite man

woah...simply juz feel like staying put in the room and not going anywhere...haha...we took a short break and discussed our plans for the day...decided that we would find a place to settle our lunch first andden head to the most famous landmark of macau...the ruins of st paul or dai san ba according to the locals...this landmark is certainly the icon of macau...come to macau confirm muz go there...other than the casinos of coz...

we left our room slightly unwillingly...and started on our hunt for food hoping to find some decent portugese fare...heh...unfortunately our hunger pangs could not hold and we checked into a chinese eatery near the town square for lunch...aft lunch we explored ard the town square on this lively sunday...the facade of the catalan designed buildings...renaissance inspired fountains and ceramic paved streets really creates akind of european feel...not until when u realise there r so many asian faces ard...but den again there are certainly more foreign faces here in macau den HK...most of them perhaps of portugese descent and migrant workers frm philippines working in the hotels and casinos...and it's really jammed packed with tourists even out in the streets...thought most of these pple shud be spending days and nights in the casinos...haha...

being Sunday ...the Lord's day...we went into Macau's main cathedral and looked out for the mass timings...decided to come back later in the evening for mass when it wud be the english session...sometime since i attended mass since my cat high days...wud be really an experience attending mass all the way here in Macau...

a strong festive mood in the air

another remnant from the colonial era

Macau's main cathedral where we would attend mass later

occupying our seats in Qing history

i feel like in a prison in this house

moving up to the 2nd floor

Say Hello to Macau

we finally reached our destination aft much detours...checking out mansions...buying the famous peanut candies...speaking of which i almost could not made it out of the shop as it was so damn chaotic and crowded inside i thought i might juz be caught in a stampede when i juz wanna buy some peanut candies home...and trying out the famous portugese egg tart...oh gosh...i muz strongly recommend this to everyone reading here...die die muz try the portugese egg tart...the best egg tart i ever ate in my life...wah piangz the egg is so rich and the crust so damn tener and crusty...heavenly...i really swear i almost wanted to buy over the whole shop of egg tarts and bring back home....ahhhhh...wah if i can hav a portugese egg tart for breakfast everyday i would die a happy man...haha

Ruins of St Paul here we arrived...another key landmark of our trip...i muz say it surely ooze the charm and appeal though it's juz a facade standing on its own...to tink the portugese can actually transplant their sense of architecture and construction all the way here in Asia is amazing...certainly deserve its place among the world's most famous heritage sites...

finally arrived at this world famous landmark

the picture sums it up...we r in macau!!

walking up the steps to the ruins

standing tall aft all these centuries

looking dignified in this sacred place

look at the throngs of tourists here

check out the Grand Lisboa behind me

the back of the ruins

the best which Macau offers

headed back to our hotel for a nap aft our visit to st pauls...the exhaustion of moving frm place to place...travelling here and there is starting to take a toil on our bodies...heh so in an unanimous decision...went back to our room to recharge our batteries before indulging in some night activities...hee...woke up when it was time for mass again when the sun has already set...made our way to the cathedral and settled down juz before the service began...i guess mass r juz universal everywhere...singing of hymns follow by recitation and the word frm the bishop and holy communion...to our surprise there was a large congregation here for the english mass...most of them filippinos i guess...tink we were the only chinese ard...aft mass went in search for dinner...this time we finally chanced upon a portugese restaurant near the town square...the food was not exactly fantastic to be honest and we were slightly disappointed by the standard...maybe the food standard in HK over the past few days has made us amateur gourmets but we came to a conclusion that food in HK was way much better...

aft dinner went to our hotel casino to check it out...haha...the activity of the trip...heh...i mean u r in vegas of the East if u dun gamble den wad u do...lol...clem and i jointly "invested" in the sic bowl game and gamely won...not bad for a start...decided to hold our "power" till tmr...and went back for live EPL action...it's Super Sunday anyway...my beloved pools vs the irritating red devils...and lifelong fan clem's gunners against chelski...that's it for our day in Macau!