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Published: October 25th 2012
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Day 2. Macau.
We get up bright and early. Again. Well technically I was up at 1 then 3 then finally got up at 6. Today we take a trip to Macau. I'm afraid I didn't know much about it except its an Asian Las Vegas. It's a mix of Chinese and Portuguese influence. I'm excited to see the architecture and of course the food. The mix of Portuguese and Asian flavors not to mention the Portuguese egg tarts. We get ready and head down o the ferries. I assumed tht this ferry would be similar to the ones servicing Vancouver to Victoria type thing. I forget that we are technically going to another country and we have to go thru immigration. Don't worry, I tell my motion sensitive friend, these ferries are big and you won't even feel it. Well I was horribly wrong. Lets back up the story to 2008 ish. Me and Jill in Hawaii on a whale watching tour. The sea was rough and the small boat we were on felt every single wave as the boat tilted over left then right, sliding over the big swells. I got so nauseous, that it took an hour
after we got off the stabilize my self. Fast forward 2010, Hawaii again, this time a deep sea fishing tour. About an hour in people were yaking off the side of the boat. I luckily didn't get physically sick, but have never felt so ill in my life. I had to put myself to sleep to try and escape the hell I was in. So needless to say my tolerance for boats has been less and less. I've never considered myself someone who gets motion sickness, but am starting to realize that it effects me a lot. So on this special ferry to Macau, it looks like the inside of an airplane. Leather seats in rows all facing the front of the boat. No outside deck,or bench seating here. I see why as it jets off at a great speed, moving with the motion of the waves. This was not the stabilized ferry trip I was thinking about, more a motion sickness hell I wasn't expecting. At times the boats jeers over to the right or left, I feel every up and down motion as it cuts through the water at great speed. Please god get me off this fricken
boat. This story ends with me locking myself in the dirty grungy bathroom, squatting against the wall on one side, holding onto the sink in the other, while peope randomly rustled the door handle to make their way in, oblivious to the locked sign, While i shouted inbetween bouts of nasea " im in here!" I have never been sicker.
Needless to say I was I sick pretty much most of the day. Ths day was a write off as in everything I did was not super great. the day was really hot and humid. We went to this grand looking casino called Grand Lisboa. And Grand it was. The front looks slightly like the top of a pinapple stuck onto this round, slightly oval sphere. The whole outside is covered in a gold glass that reflects different colors it picks up from its environment. Walking into the lobby literally takes your breath away as crystal dangle fron the celing. I've been to a lot of hotels in Vegas but this gives you the feeling of granduer.
Next mission, to go to an area with a more prominent Portuguese flavor in their food. We ask the cabbie us
take us to this area suggested in the book, Rue Almirante Sergio. We end up at this great family run business and order a couple dishes to get a taste of everything. Now I wish this part were more romantic and I could say how I tasted each expertly crafted dish, savouring the macanese tastes, but truth be told I was still sick so I mostly ate my bread,which was delicious, and my vegetable and cury chicken tasted very good, because I mostly just tasted it. I could Definetly see a split in between the two cultures, either you were Portuguese or Chinese, but it didn't come out like the chocolate vanilla ice cream twist I had hoped for. The architecture was surely more portuguese influenced but it seemed any remnants of their people were hidden away in these tiny gems of family business, while everything else seemed abandoned, and taken over by the Chinese.
We ended the day with more walking around, trying their steamed milk pudding ( which was delish and very comforting) and some traditional almond cookies( tasted like a mix of a cracker and a cookie. It was ok. Great for uneasy stomach.
Next
day held more promise then the last. was woken up in the hotel rom at 2 am ( hard to sleep at that time for some reason) by Dave slightly pacing. " what are you doing?" Dave: " I want to gamble. Want to go?" I kicked off my covers, pulled myself up, and shrugged, " ok let's go" so down we went, I was in my pj's. to the roulette table. It was not super busy but here I go, slapping some chips down on some very familiar numbers. None of them hit. Ok thats a sigh to stop. To Dave that was a sign to withdraw more money. Thank god the ATM did not let him. He will still have a house when he gets back.
Next day we check out even more casinos. Same thing, like Vegas but more disorganized. Some times I felt as if we were in Dubai, Barron land with grand bridges connecting the islands and flat industrial nothingness with over the top hotels in the middle of it all. The sky was a bit bluer than HK, but you can see the haze sticking to the building . I thought about how
lucky we are to have clean skies in Alberta.
Our final mission is to get to a famous place called Lord Stows. He is the maker of his own original egg tart recipe. We hail a taxi and away we got, into the Colane district. We pull up to this very unassuming store front with people loitering about outside , boxes in hand, enjoying their delicious pastries. WE order a box and I also grab the desert called Serradura, a non cooked pudding made from whipping cream, condensed milk with crushed powdered cookies on top resembling "sawdust " which is what Serradura means. Both of these specialty items were extremly delicious. The tart was very flakey and the egg custard was sweet enough but not too firm. The Serradura was amazing and almost had an icecream flavour to it. So good. we finished that mini trip with a walk around this local part of town, resembling Vietnam in some areas and stil that European flair. Tin houses, run down, off kilter, some with shelves stocked with alcohol in a make shift kinda store, the owners sit out front, keeping in the shade, alot without teeth, chewing their lips and
staring at me inquisitively,as I snapped pictures around them. A couple of store fronts with whole dried fish hanging on lines,clear bags full of dried fish fillets, owners in plastic chairs watching Chinese soap operas in front of the fans. Out side near the muddy waters, 2 women walk by with small buckets full of oysters, rubber boots in tow. oyster shells litter the muddy shores and pile up making tiny mountains every where. I feel like this day was more of a local Macau experience, and the fact that I wasn't as sick made it all better. But I'm ready to get back to Hong Kong. Now if only there were another way...
Ps( took meds this time, and sat in super class. Worked like a charm,didnt get sick, however knocked me out for the night, felt like I was drugged)
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