Morning saw us having a bit of a quick breakfast at the cafe downstairs, which, I unfortunately don't have a picture of, because I'd accidentally left the camera upstairs.
Thank goodness then that I remembered what it was we had for our morning meal. I had an egg and spam sandwich and a cup of coffee. My friend had a full one with eggs, toast, ham and sausage.
After breakfast we took a cab to Jordan Road for our pre-booked ride on One Bus that would take us to Macau, direct to Venetian Macau.
The view along this route was very, very scenic.
Up till now I hadn't ever had a chance to see Hong Kong in this light.
But this morning the bus passed through the New Territories, then what I think were a couple of islands here and there.
It was so beautiful.
I wish I knew where, and which part of Hong Kong I was in, but I didn't.
I don't know where exactly in relation to HKSAR the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge begins from but if I'm not wrong, there's this stretch known as the Hong Kong Link Road that includes a Bridge, a Scenic Hill Tunnel and a road along the east coast of Chek Lap Kok.
It was a bit of a rush having to clear Hong Kong Immigration- I hadn't known that you needed to fill in the paper and we only had twenty minutes- but after that back onto the bus we went, and off we were towards Macau.
I don't know whether the tunnel came before this, or after, but the view on the Macau side was just as gorgeous.
Honestly, I'd like to know whether or not these views above belonged to the Hong Kong side, or the Macau side.
I'd like to know if by this time I'd already had my passport chopped at Macau's immigration, or if I were still enroute there.
Perhaps, mesmerized by the view that I was, I had been working Chonkycam a little too much, to the degree that I didn't know where I was and where exactly I were actually heading to.
But there's something for sure.
The Pearl River Delta- across which the the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge spans- is beautiful.
I hadn't known how blue the waters were.
Neither had I known how calm and peaceful and serene these waters appeared to be.
It is a rare sight, even for someone who spends a lot of time on an island surrounded by water- to be able to look into the distance across an expanse of blue water and breathe in her breathtaking view.
I never knew Hong Kong and Macau had scenery like this.
But here we were, here I was, and the bus rolled right into Macau.
I'd like to say that I have an understanding of Macau.
But I'm as green as I am about the city as the day the bus brought me in there.
It is for this reason, I suppose, that I found myself thoroughly interested in the cityscape of this particular SAR, its geography and its street names.
Portuguese is not my first language, and so there were many street names that my brain could not immediately comprehend.
As it was, I didn't know anything about the place except that there were casinos and egg tarts.
As it was I also didn't know that what Macau really comprised of were the Macau Peninsula, Taipa and Coloane.
Heck, up till I looked at Google Maps after arriving at the hotel, I didn't even know that The Venetian Macau was on Cotai- a piece of reclaimed land between Taipa and Coloane.
It's embarrassing, yes I know, and if you ask me why I didn't do my research prior to coming here, well, let's just say there were things I had to be concerned with, but most importantly, it was just so surreal to be here that I didn't think of anything ahead than the experience right in front of me.
The first thing about The Venetian Macau that struck me was just how huge the property was.
Now, I'm used to large casino properties- I've been to Vegas, and on the little island alone we've got MBS and RWS, but this really was huge.
Mind, it wasn't just the lobby.
It was the entire space.
The whole property.
Imagine 3000 hotel room suites, and 300 retail stores with four specific zones for gaming that include slot machines and gaming tables.
At no time, I tell you, were the gaming tables empty.
Yes, one area might have been unoccupied, but more often than not, the tables were occupied with (intent-faced) players, and an equally curious crowd behind.
It's a bit of a pity that I know nothing about casino gaming.
Sure, I might be able to pull down the lever for the jackpot (I doubt they use levers now) but I know zilch about the games they were playing, and had I known even a little bit, I might be able to appreciate it more.
Still there's always a first, and mine first was to stand in the center of a casino and observe the (very focused) players a step away from me.
We checked into the room- I think it was the South Tower, and again I got very excited at how huge it was.
It is, after all, not a commonplace thing for me to have a room that has a hallway, a king sized bed with TV and TV cabinet, armchair with small coffee table, couch with coffee table, dining table with chairs, and cabinet separate.
I was astounded.
It would have been lovely to just chill in the room but we had plans, so out it was we went after a while.
I'm not sure if tourists get around on their own when they visit Macau.
Maybe they just stay in the property, maybe they go straight to the touristy spots without checking in.
But we were going to the Macau Tower, and we were going to take public transport there, so Bus 26- from the bus stop outside the hotel- it was.
Here we had a bit of a curiosity.
We had assumed that the OCTOPUS travel card that we'd bought in Hong Kong would be able to be used here but apparently it wasn't so and so we had to use hard cash in the form of coins instead.
Fares weren't exorbitant however, thank goodness, and we had more than enough cash to throw into the coin machine next to the driver.
Macau is a fascinating place.
Now, the apartment buildings might look a little similar to Hong Kong but a closer look actually shows a wee bit of difference.
Maybe it's the lay of the land.
Maybe it's that they're surrounded by the Pearl Delta- with strong winds during typhoon season- that their buildings don't seem to be as high as those I've seen in Hong Kong.
I don't know.
But the streetscape charmed me.
It's like up till now I hadn't thought of Macau being just like any other district, any other neighborhood, but here, along the curving streets, the traffic lights and the pedestrian crossings, there were shops, there were restaurants, there were people going about their day with belongings and plastic bags in hand.
That being said, where the bus went, which route the bus took, I don't know- I wasn't paying attention- but if I'm not wrong, we crossed a body of water before arriving at the stop outside the Macau Tower.
Here we got (last minute) reservations for Afternoon Tea at the 360 Cafe on the upper floor.
But because we were early, up it was to the Observatory Deck first for a quick look around.
As it turned out it would be more than a while.
Because the view was simply breathtaking.
I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
But the pictures taken from the Deck that afternoon don't give the view any justice at all.
Let's just say that whilst reflections can sometimes enhance a picture, at other times it makes the picture look different altogether.
The pictures of the view from the slow revolving 360 Cafe (one floor below the Deck by the way) came out looking a little awkward as well.
Fortunately then that the sweets and the savories here were good.
I wasn't sure what to expect- like was their afternoon tea going to be on the glamorous, luxurious side like some rooftop places serve, was their afternoon tea going to be a couple of plates laid out here and there on your table, what was the tea like, what was the coffee like, was there a chance of some sort of buffet etc etc?
But I like seeing things as they are, and so I was glad when the place, and the arrangements reminded me of how afternoon teas were in casual, sit-down, sisterly type of cafes.
The sweets and savories of 360 Cafe are not as attractive for those who value the aesthetics of their food over the simplicity and the conversation intended to be held over it.
For they are sufficient, they are sweet, and savory, but garnishes there are few.
Which, for someone who prioritizes the food over anything else, was good.
I loved how the fruits had been cut and arranged into triangular shapes that made me think of the Tower itself pointing towards the sky.
I loved the sweets, all of which had been brought to the table in a three-tiered tray, and which consisted mostly of chocolate-themed desserts. There was a chocolate eclair filled with fresh cream, there was a sort of round chocolate that had hazelnuts or peanuts at its base, then there was a small cute little mound of cheesecake with a carefully cut orange slice on top.
My palate leaned towards the cheesecake, and I wished I had two.
If the sweets attracted me, the savories attracted me even more.
On the eastern side, there was a basket of dumplings that looked like they were a sort of half-half between wanton dumplings and soup sui gao dumplings. Small, slightly on the flat side and cute, they were comforting.
Then there were two pieces of perfectly fried radish cake in the shape of huge discs (or coins).
And there were two puffs, also perfectly fried, which I think had some of the most pong pong puffy pastry enveloping what i think was minced pork inside.
We loved the sides of the radish cake.
We also loved the pong pong feel of the puffs.
On the western side (this is Macau), there were two scones and two Portuguese egg tarts.
The baked square shaped scones weren't warm by the time we ate them, but that didn't stop us from appreciating them with fresh cream and jam.
Same as the Portuguese tarts.
They were so good.
So they might have tasted better had they been fresh from the oven, but quality means quality means quality and the layers of pastry on each petite little tart did not disappoint. Nor did it affect the pleasure of having the mushy, bouncy caramelized egg custard on its own.
It was one of those egg tarts that I could have easily popped into my mouth at one go, but I was learning to calm down and savor my food slower and so with a spoon I scooped out the custard, and ate the pastry separate.
Having finished a most delicious afternoon tea, down the Tower we went to take another bus- this time- to the tourism site known as the Ruins of Saint Paul.
Now, which bus it was that we took to get there, I don't remember, but our destination was Santo Antonio, and we alighted at a bus stop that seemed to be midway up a hill above a rather long and steep slope that the bus easily trundled on.
The Ruins of Saint Paul belong to a 17th century Portuguese church dedicated to Saint Paul the Apostle. Built around 1640, the church was destroyed by a fire during a typhoon in 1835.
What makes this place so interesting is that the structure still stands.
That whilst it might have one time been a College and a Church, the crypt, the foundations, and numerous religious artefacts belonging to the monastic clergy and Chinese Christian martyrs have been found, and are still there.
It is a bit of a pity that I didn't get to go to the museum, nor did I get to visit the back of the facade where the foundation stone, original pillars and a shrine are.
But maybe, when I next return to Macau, I might.
A church more than 400 years old is worth a second visit after all.
Never mind even if I have to climb 68 stone steps to get to the facade.
That's testimony.
But if I'd thought that the Ruins would be just that- heritage- well, one would be so wrong.
They've turned the area into a sort of tourism spot these days, and whilst you might have had a keen, interested look into the history of this UNESCO World Heritage Site, there's a Uniqlo to remind you that three centuries have passed, we're now in 2024, and where once Japanese Christian craftsmen worked on St. Paul's after having come over in 1587, today there's (fast-fashion) label Uniqlo.
The streets surrounding the Ruins are a bit of culture mix these days too.
With a mix of contemporary shops amidst older ones, there were a host of snack shops and an abundance of cafes offering drinks from coffee to boba to fruit juice to juice smoothies and the like. There were plenty of pastry shops where you could buy boxes and bags of pastry snacks that were, I'm told, unique to Macau.
We bought a box of salted egg yolk rolls.
Something that surprised us were the shops selling bak kwa.
And they were the authentic sort, mind, where they let you sample thinly cut slices, and after you bought yours, wrapped your slices in paper and handed it over to you.
I ought to buy a few slices next time.
From here we walked back down the hill- again more contemporary shops, including stationery shops and clothing shops- to the main road where we took Bus 26A to this place called Altura for dinner.
I can't quite describe the restaurant, but I'd like to think of it as a semi-formal place, one where old friends can gather, one where business associates can gather, or one when a person simply wants to have a delightful, satisfactory meal without too much plomb.
Amongst some of the dishes on the menu we decided on a plate of roast goose, a plate of sweet sour pork, and a plate of fish maw noodles.
Appetizers and dessert were, I believe, on the house.
I had half anticipated the roast goose to be served the same way I'd seen back at the eateries in Hong Kong, but no, here there was a bit of heaped up arrangement, and all the pieces were beautifully laid out.
The sauce wasn't oily nor greasy nor was the meat too strong in taste.
Same too it was for the sweet sour pork, which, I'm thankful to say, had been ordered because it's one of my favorites and which I always wish I could have whenever I have zichar.
Out of all the dishes, perhaps it were the fish maw that I found most memorable. Up till now I'd only had fish maw in soup- never dry like the one which they'd mixed with the noodles here.
At first I was a little worried, like would the fish maw give the noodle an awkward taste- it is an innard after all- but no, the sauce that they'd fried the noodles with blocked out any weird, awkward taste one thought might be there, and the maw in fact gave a very chewy contrast to the smooth, slurpy noodles overall.
This fish maw noodles will be something we'll come back for another time.
I took one piece too many a fish maw by accident, and didn't know until I'd eaten the whole thing.
Their desserts too were commendable.
Not only were they so pretty, the flavors were delicate too.
There was, I think, a small cute little sakura meringue.
Then there was one with, I think, mandarin orange.
And then there was chocolate, and finally, an osmanthus jelly which had the texture of konnyaku and the delicate flavors of the osmanthus flower.
Dinner over we decided we'd walk back to the Venetian, cutting through some of the roads, and some of the local neighborhoods.
The neighborhoods of Macau look rather romantic at night, actually, what with their street lights of warm lighting, their hills, their trees, the specks of glow here and there.
I don't know which route it was that we took, but we somehow managed to find our way back to a park right by the river- besides a couple of buildings that made me think of homes in European architectural styles- and then across the water there were these.
