Walking!
That's what you can do in Hong Kong / Macau besides eating / gambling.
Well, not exactly so much "can do" as "must do", since there aren't many other choices but to walk from one place to another, unless you are so lazy you take a cab / Uber-ride every single time you travel between places... which might actually be true in our (Malaysian's) case.
While I was in Hong Kong mid of July, a Stanford University Study published in the science journal Nature stated that Hong Kong people walk an average of 6,880 steps a day, making them the most ambulatory populace out of the 46 territories and countries assessed. My reaction after reading the article was like, OF COURSE THEY ARE. I was just there for a short visit and my legs were already in great pain.
Oy vey.
But I am not here to lament the pain my legs endured, instead I would like to document (mostly for myself) the extremely satisfying experience I had and all the beautiful memories I created from this "leg pain" journey.
As the wise Fräulein Maria once taught the Von Trapp children: Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.
Let the adventure begins after the break...
The trip, of course, started with the planning. As with other business trips, I would only have the evening time for my after-hour leisure activities so the plan has got to be concise and precise to prevent time-wasting and non-productivity. This would mark the first time I travel to a foreign country on my own, and that left me no choice but to plan everything carefully myself. Being the very kiasu me who value productivity even in taking a vacation, I did my research to make sure I cover most of the things I would like to do / should do during this trip. I even wrote down some sort of itinerary for each day. But as I would learn in the course of the actual trip, one usually ends up only sticking to half of the itinerary because of many unforeseen circumstance changes. Nevertheless I found traveling on my own actually gave me the opportunity to learn a lot of things that otherwise would have escaped me if there were companions traveling together because I practically had to do all the preparations and researches myself without the luxury of relying on others.
Then came the actual day (Tuesday 7/11).
Unfortunately the day already started with a rain on my parade. Literally. It was raining very heavily when I woke up, and the road leading to my house flooded as it would happen in every other time it rains. Luckily the cab arrived on time, and the driver was kind enough to pick me up at my lobby area so I didn't have to walk out to the main gate in the rain.
Without much traffic condition early in the morning I arrived at the airport very early, more than three hours before departure time. I went to do bag drop, and it was very fast. Next I went through the Immigration, trying the ePassport gate at first but the machine failed to read my thumb (this frequently happened to me so I wonder do I just have bad luck or is there something wrong with my thumb-print?) so I had to go to the counter. It was very fast too.
And then I passed through the check point, and head straight
to the usual breakfast place -- Old Town Café. It was still early without much of a crowd. I found a table near the windows, enjoyed my food and admired the
planes that were parked outside.
Yes, the rain stopped. But the hiccup has just begun. Yet I had little idea at that time what was in store for me in the coming few hours. Finishing my food, I headed to the departure gate.
The flight was slightly delayed by 30 minutes, and it felt a bit warm in the cabin. The brunch choices were either Nasi Lemak or Spaghetti, and being the traditional Malaysian that I am I picked the formal. It came with two slices of chicken rendang, not too bad in taste but it was not a big portion.
A few rows in front of me was a Caucasian family with two children below 10 years old. They were making a lot of noises throughout the flight and at this point I started to develop a severe headache, a combination of (I presumed) the lack of resting hour the previous night, the heat inside the cabin, the cramped space and the noise of these two kids. By the time the flight landed in HKIA, I felt like I wanted to just remain seated, taking the same flight back to KL just so I wouldn't need to stand up and move.
I decided to not going into the office that day, instead choosing to go straight to my hotel for some bed rest. I took the Airport Express to Hong Kong station before taking a short 10-minute cab ride to my hotel located in Causeway Bay (my office is located at the east side of Wan Chai, adjacent to Causeway Bay area). Now, you might ask why did I take the train and not a taxi-cab straight from the airport if I wasn't feeling well. For one, taking a cab straight from the airport can be pricey especially when you travel alone (the ride I took from my hotel to the airport when I was returning to KL cost me nearly HK$400) while taking a train from the airport using Octopus Card only costs you HK$110 and the subsequent cab ride I took cost me another HK$50. So I saved more than half the amount taking this option. Plus, taking the train was actually very easy where I just boarded it straight from inside the airport and it took me straight to IFC (a high-end shopping mall) located in Chung Wan. The whole journey took just 25 minutes. Straight out from the gate was where I hailed a cab, and it took me straight to where I wanted to go. Voilà, it was that easy.
Alright, back to my story. So there, a not-so-smooth start to my much-anticipated trip. Checking in to my hotel room at around 3:30pm, I took a hot-water shower before taking a short nap. As warm as the weather outside, there was nothing that a hot-water shower and a close-my-eyes-and nap can't resolve. By 5:15pm, I felt much refreshed, and decided to start exploring Hong Kong.
Well, "exploring" might not be the best word to use in this case. I have been to HK before, and during those few visits I have had my fair share of exploring, each time with a group of different colleagues. This time around I decided to drop the few "usual suspects" from my list: no Victoria Peak, no tram-ride, no Star Ferry-ride. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love those few attractions, in fact I highly recommend them to you if you haven't been to HK before. Both the tram and the ferry are very localized way to travel in HK, and you get to enjoy the view along the ride. I had not missed any of these in all my previous three visits so I reckoned I would rather do something else this time. Also missing was the Avenue of Stars along the Victoria Harbour waterfront in Tsim Sha Tsui, but this was due to its closure for upgrading work.
Anyhow, taking the MTR in HK is extremely easy. Walking from my hotel to the nearest Causeway Bay station took about 10 minutes, it took just three stations and one interchange to reach Tsim Sha Tsui, and by 5:45pm I was already there.
One thing you should know, is that the summer in Hong Kong is extremely warm. You think KL is hot recently? I suspect (without the actual proof of temperature measurement) HK was worse. So the first thing was to find something to soothe the heat. Lucky me, found one walking along Hoiphong Road.
I don't think we can find ice cream truck in KL anymore, we buy ice-cream from 7-11 store. This brand (富豪雪糕車) is a very retro brand in HK, first brought into the country during the 1970s. You don't get the luxury of choosing the flavor, as it is a "one day one flavor" kind of business. I've got vanilla that day. Not distinctly different from other ice-creams, but at least I got three minutes of icy chilly feeling walking under the sun.
Located in Tsim Sha Tsui was iSquare, a shopping mall with one special reason for me to venture in: hmv Hong Kong, a DVD store with so much more varieties than our own Speedy Video. I bought a few DVDs here in previous trips. This time I kept a cool attitude, just went in for a quick round, didn't see much that I can't find back in KL (I made a secret vow to myself that I must refrain from impulse buying products which can be found in KL -- usually at lower price) so I exited without a purchase. Perhaps I haven't found my shopping rhythm yet. Little did I know I wasn't done with hmv yet, but more on that later.
Walking along the famous Nathan Road towards the Jordan direction, it was still hot despite the sun was nearly set. There was a mosque, the Kowloon Park and the Park Lane Shopper's Boulevard on the left. I had been walking this route countless times so I didn't stop. It took about 10 minutes to reach the Jordan area.
According to my plan, there were two restaurants with similar business nature in Jordan that I would like to try, depending on which one I came upon first - Australia Dairy Company or Yee Shun Milk Company. They were both famous for steamed milk pudding (among other things). For some reasons I found the formal first, so Australia Dairy it was. Dinner time meant a very crowded restaurant, but being a one-person tourist has its perks and you can easily sit down at any table with some strangers. Dining in HK means you have to get used to eating your meal in front of strangers. Many were eating scrambled eggs which were rumored to be very good, and some were eating macaroni soup. I didn't intend this to be my actual dinner so I just ordered the steamed milk pudding as per my original plan. Now, if you have done your online research, you already know that the service in this restaurant is bad, that the waiters are impatient and rude. Luckily for me, my order was simple and straight-forward so I didn't get the infamous scolding.
In HK, there is a term "Yau Tsim Wong" (油尖旺), it literally combines the three areas reachable by MTR along Nathan Road: Tsim Sha Tsui, Yau Ma Tei and Wong Kok. Jordan is located between Tsim Sha Tsui and Yau Ma Tei, and you can walk from Jordan up north to Yau Ma Tei. It is a bit far for someone as lazy as me, but hey that is why Temple Street （廟街) exists, so that one forgets how far you've walked, distracted by the goods sold here. You reach Yau Ma Tei at the end of Temple Street. Try to refrain from buying anything on first cruise, I'll tell you why later.
Surely if someone as lazy as me can walk the whole way from Jordan to Yau Ma Tei, you can too?
By the way, "Mai Yuk, Cai Yan"
Just right opposite the police station was Broadway Cinematheque. A movie fan like me wouldn't miss a chance to take a quick tour inside of it. There was a mini DVD store, and while it was so much smaller than hmv they have much more non-English selections here. Once again, I didn't buy anything here (Seriously what was wrong with me? Once again perhaps I haven't found my shopping rhythm yet). Though interestingly, I learned that the Cantonese title for the Oscar-nominated Swedish film A Man Called Ove was 想死無咁易 (translation: Not Easy to Die). Haha.
Right beside it was this book café called Kubrick. It combines dining and reading (or more accurately, book shopping). You can find some interesting and hard-to-find non-English books here (many had been translated to Chinese, but still they are rare in the market). At this point, I was here more for the air-conditioning than the books, nevertheless I thought it must have been nice if I had more time to scout through the racks for some gems. I nearly bought some magazines but then decided against it, walking out empty-handed instead.
Coming out from Kubrick it was already 8:15pm, so I deemed it's dinner time. Walking back to Temple Street area I saw the two famous Claypot stalls: 興記煲仔飯 and 四季煲仔飯, and I chose the latter (actually I wasn't sure where the formal's tables and chairs for customers to eat from since from the picture below you can see it didn't look so much like a restaurant as a take-out stall).
Like I said before, dining in HK means eating with strangers. This 四季煲仔飯 (Four Seasons Claypot Rice) was no exception. It felt like our canteen from primary school, where strangers sitting down at the many long tables eating their own food and having several different conversations.
Another unique thing about this Claypot stall is that, they don't sell drinks except for the complimentary free flow of Chinese tea. If you want other drinks, you would have to bring in yourself, or buy it from the convenience store next door.
I ordered 北菇雞飯 (steamed chicken rice with mushroom). You know, we had been saying 北菇雞 for a very different meaning (ahem, if you are English-educated, try ask your Chinese-educated friends what does "Pak Ku Kai" mean) but let's try the actual dish. It was a bit plain for my taste so I added quite an amount of soy sauce into my rice (I was literally 豉油撈飯). I couldn't finish the rice, damn that steamed milk pudding I had earlier. The waitress was a bit concerned and asked me why I didn't finish. Wow, and here I thought they didn't care as long as we pay. Respect, lady!
Continuing the journey, since I was in full and lazy mode, I decided not to walk to Wong Kok. Instead, I took the MTR. Yes, it was just one station. Yes, I could've just walked. Sue me. Haha.
Wong Kok (or sometimes called Mong Kok) would be the last stop of the night, and here lies the famous Lady's Market (女人街). It would be the perfect place to buy some souvenirs for friends and family. But before I reached Lady's Market, I made a stop at Starbucks Coffee located at Sai Yee Street. It was a retro-feel café, decorated with many HK-style wallpapers. Knowing I would have endless meetings in the office the next day, I didn't want to risk being sleepless that night so I ordered a non-coffee drink: Mango Smoothie.
I sat in the coffee shop long enough to finish the whole drink. After a few hours of walking and sweating, the cold drink was such a delight. Initially wanting to buy a Starbucks HK merchandise too, I ended up exit the café empty-handed as I didn't find anything unique enough to buy. Not the mug with the words Starbucks Hong Kong engraved on it, and not the highly-priced T-shirts also with the words Starbucks Hong Kong printed on it. Creative much?
My last stop, Lady's Market.
I knew that I would come back again on one of the next few days, so I made a secret pact with myself that I would just observe and decide on what to buy, and then actually buy them when I come back again. So it was rather a quick walk that took me just about 15 minutes. The goods and souvenirs sold here were pretty much the same as from Temple Street, but Lady's Market was so much more crowded and much more competitive so you get to negotiate for a much lower price.
And then I took the MTR back to my hotel (with a lot of walking in between), and ended my first-day adventure in the big city of Hong Kong. Like I said before, there is nothing that a hot-water shower and a close-your-eyes-and-nap can't resolve. And after a tiring day, I slept like a baby.
Day 2: Wednesday 7/12
It was a long day in the office with several meetings back to back, but during lunch break we stopped by this bakery called Tai Cheong Bakery located on Wan Chai Road and bought some egg tarts. Rumor has it that the last British Governor of Hong Kong Chris Patten (彭定康) loved it so much that he basically called it "the best egg tart in the world". Well, that might have been exaggeration, but one cannot deny that the taste is good especially if you eat it while it's hot.
After completing the day in the office, my colleague Nicolas suggested walking to Island Centre (金百利廣場) in Causeway Bay (just opposite Sogo), to dine at the Huayuan Restaurant (花園茶餐廳) famous for steaks and chops. The restaurant was dimly lit and you could feel the difference from the usual "char chan teng" you go to. Other differences? The price and the portion. The portion was so big that even a big-eater like me felt terrified just by looking at it. I chose a mixed-platter, which came with a steak, chicken & pork chops, fish and chips and I believe something else I couldn't recall, because, well it was simply too much. Yes, I couldn't finish it.
The best way to shake off the big dinner we just had was to walk it off, and knowing I was a big movie fan Nicolas suggested to check out the hmv Flagship Store nearby. It was located just one street down from where we had our dinner. And OMG it was a really big store, even bigger than the one in iSquare. This hmv in Causeway Bay occupies three floors; selling music, films, magazines, video games, audio equipment, and it even comes with a cafe. The product varieties were broad, and you can find a lot of films that are not easily found in KL (the first sign of "oh dear I'm doomed"). But I told myself, maybe I'll come back tomorrow. So we left empty-handed... for now.
Before walking back to hotel, stopped by 輝記小食 to buy some "snacks" for supper later. It was just nearby my hotel.
Oh by the way, this was opposite my hotel (I think it's a bar)...
Day 3: Thursday 7/13
I had been thinking about hmv all day long, so that was the first stop I made once I got off from work. I was not quite sure what's the full name of hmv but I was pretty sure the "h" stands for "heaven". Very often when people speak of Hong Kong as a "shopping heaven" and how they enjoy shopping here I usually only think of it as fashion-related, either trendy famous brands with cheaper price than in KL or unique fashion brands can't be found in KL. Now I've learned that shopping in HK does not necessarily mean clothes and shoes, and it was a pricey lesson, haha. Remember my secret pact with myself to only buy DVDs not found in KL or with bargain prices? Well, suffice to say I found a lot here.
Anyway, dinner first, then shopping.
I took the MTR to Wong Kok, all the while carrying a bag full of the hmv DVDs I bought.
When you are in HK, the one food you can't miss is roasted goose. The place in HK that is famous for roasted goose is Sham Tseng (深井), but it is located in New Territories area so unless you have got time on your hands it's really unnecessary to go all the way there. Don't worry, you can find a restaurant in Wong Kok area selling Sham Tseng roasted goose, it's called "Sham Tseng Chan Kee Roasted Goose" (深井陳記燒鵝茶餐廳). That was where I had my dinner.
You can see from the picture that it was not much on the look and the portion was not big as well, but something about it (or perhaps something about my satisfaction after a big shopping in hmv, haha) that made it taste so good in my mouth. Granted, I actually couldn't differentiate what was the difference between a roasted duck and a roasted goose (I know, I was such an idiot when it comes to food), but that didn't stop me from giving it two thumbs up.
Oh ya, please don't chuck the skin away, that is the best part. Just forget about your healthy diet for once.
And then, off to Lady's Market.
I had carefully thought of a few things I wanted to buy here. But when you are here, there are always something unexpected that you love so much you have to own it lest you regret later for not buying it. That was what happened to me as well. Luckily I can speak Cantonese well, so I could do my bargaining quite well, and got some very good prices.
Here are some of the things I bought:
And because I love minions, I bought something for myself too.
That stuffed minion was so cute, and so recent (the jailed minion was a plot line in the recently released Despicable Me 3) I knew I have to bring it back and add to my collection of minion babies. And then, in the similar way I worried about my luggage the moment I left hmv, I started to worry about bringing this minion home almost immediately after paying for it. And this was before my planned Saturday trip to Macau which I presumed I would buy some souvenirs as well. It's alright, I told myself, I would just use my creativity to re-arrange my luggage then.
After a satisfying (and wallet-hurting) shopping trip, it was time to call it a night.
But not before I became kiasu and bought two brands of "dit da jow" which were highly demanded by our colleagues in KL during my last trips. A few of them asked us a favour to bring back for them. So this time, I decided I would give it a try.
Day 4: Friday 7/14
As with every other day before this, I started my day with the same breakfast from Kam Kee Cafe near my hotel. Because of time limitation before going into the office, the food adventure was not applicable for breakfast, and thus I was my usual boring self that ate the same breakfast set every morning. Something unique about this cafe, the menu looks like this:
Never need to worry about the heat in the summer, eh? Haha
During lunch, we walked over to another famous localized char chan teng "Capital Cafe" (華星冰室). We had previously tried to come here the day before but it was very crowded and there was a long queue outside of the cafe so we gave up. Today, we decided to come earlier and was just in time before the crowd started to flock here. Now, if you have dined in enough of the localized cafe especially those of the franchises here you'll realized their breakfast set / lunch set / any other set are similar in style: it usually consists of a main course usually a noodle or macaroni, a side snack of a bread toast and omelette / scrambled eggs, plus a cup of hot coffee / tea with extra charges if you want a cold one. The set lunch here (常餐) looks like this:
Which was very similar to what I had during breakfast in Kam Kee.
But for lunch, we decided to try their very famous "creamy bun" （奶油豬仔包). A very nice one, full of the sweetness of the butter and conensed milk. Yummy.
Finishing the three full days of work in the office, Friday evening should be a more relaxed one, and it still was. But because I had to wake up early the next morning catching an early boat to Macau, I tried to not stay late tonight. First, I took a train ride to Tsim Sha Tsui, found this localized cafe called "Lan Fong Yuen" underground of the infamous building Chungking Mansions (yes, that one featured in Wong Kar-Wai's movie Chungking Express). This building kinda reminded me of our very own Pertama Complex from nearby our KL office, where there were a lot of Indian/Bangladesh men selling a wide variety of products. For a moment I really thought I had been home in KL to be seeing so many Indian/Bangladeshi people, haha. But the cafe was located downstairs, so I took an escalator down and walked all the way in to look for the cafe. It was a bit hard to locate but because I was here before I remembered where it was. As expected, it was crowded even though its location was so hidden inside. Being a single dude, once again I was easily being assigned a seat at a table with another group of tourists from the mainland.
While waiting for my food, I realized the family sitting at the next table was from Malaysia too, hearing them spoke fluent Cantonese to the waitress while speaking Penang-style Hokkien among themselves. Suddenly I had an urge of wanting to go over and say hi I am from Malaysia too, but then I stopped myself and instead I just smiled to their cute little kid. He was a bit shy and quickly turned back to his mom, probably thinking why was this weird uncle smiling at me.
Then my food arrived.
After dinner, I took a stroll around Tsim Tsa Tsui area before dropping by the famous bakery 鉅記 to buy some egg rolls for family and friends. And then, feeling hungry again (I know, right? haha) I made a stop at "Macau Cafe" (澳門茶餐廳), knowing I might not have the chance tomorrow when I'm actually in Macau as it migt be so much more crowded there. Ordered myself the famous "pork chop bun" (豬扒包). Confession: I had never tried this before, so I was quite surprise to realize it was not actually something like "char siew bao" but rather it was a crunchy bun with pork chops. Kinda like McD, except it was the one you can't find in KL.
If you are still reading this post now, you have obviously worn yourself out reading me talking about myself myself and myself. News flash: There will be more myself coming up, so take a rest, go to the bathroom, make a coffee or something before continuing on (if you still decide to, I seriously don't know why, haha).
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Saturday 7/15 - Macau day
I had done my online booking of the ferry tickets to and from Macau one week earlier, and all I've got to do was to show up half an hour before departure time to claim the boarding pass from the ticketing counter. Being the kiasu me, I tried to maximize my time spent in Macau by getting the 7am ride, and because it was the first time for me I decided to be extra cautious by allowing buffer time for everything. I left the hotel at 5:30am (that's right, that was even earlier than my usual going to work time), walked two minutes to the junction of Tin Lok Lane and Hennessy Road to hail a cab.
A little bit of side-note: HK and KL are in the same time zone, but located at the east side of KL the sun rises earlier in HK and subsequently the sunset also comes earlier. When I left the hotel at 5:30am, though the sun had not yet risen it was nevertheless felt like a 6:45am in KL where you could begin to feel the daylight arriving soon. And being a city that never sleeps you can already see people walking on the street and cars on the road.
It was not hard at all to get a cab, even at 5:30 in the morning. Fortunately/unfortunately it was also a very quick ride to Shun Tak Centre (the location of HK-Macau Ferry Terminal) in Sheung Wan, and I was already there by 5:50am. After getting my boarding pass, I've got another 30 minutes to burn before going into the terminal. How should I spend the time? Breakfast, of course. Luckily enough, the McD in Shun Tak Centre was already open, so I grabbed a quick bite of burger there. The fast food restaurant was full of local uncles and aunties eating their breakfast before sailing towards their (presumed) "fortune-seeking" journey, a.k.a. gambling trip. I reckoned most of the tourists would not torture themselves by waking up so early in the morning, instead they would be more relaxed and not in a rush. I was the rare exception.
By 6:45am I was waiting in front of the gate to board the ferry. The passengers were assigned seat numbers by the staff in front of the gate, and mine was 17M. Soon we were all on board and ready to go.
Remember my trip to HK started with a hiccup few days ago? Something happened in the beginning of this mini Macau trip as well. After spending an hour on board of the ferry sitting beside some strangers and when we finally cruised into Macau's water area, it began to rain. In my mind it was like "what? it was sunny all along the ride and suddenly now it rains?" When we docked, the rain had not stopped. But miracle happened, after some 10 minutes it finally did.
So here it begins, my one-day Macau adventure.
Stepping out from Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal and crossing the road, I waited for 9am where supposedly the shutter buses to multiple hotels (read: casinos) started their first trip of the day. They are all completely free and you could hitch a ride to any hotel (read: casino) according to your plan, all you've got to do is to get on the right bus (they are all clearly labelled so you can't really get it wrong). According to my plan, I would take the green bus to Grand Lisboa Hotel and started my adventure there. Unfortunately while I was waiting (along with a few other tourists), there came a bus-washer who told us the bus to Grand Lisboa would only start operating at 10am.
Oh dear, we've got to wait more than an hour just for a free bus ride?
Uh-uh, I refused to be unproductive for more than an hour. Take a cab then, I told myself. Because Macau is really small, it was just a short 5-minute cab-ride and costs MOP$25. By the way, you can use HK$ in Macau as well and the ratio is 1:1, but be prepared to receive MOP$ in return (sometimes they do return HK$, it all depends on the business owner).
I wasn't interested in gambling or touring the hotel so I crossed the road and continued my journey along Avenida do Infante Dom Henrique (殷皇子大馬路).
Now, first thing you need to know about Macau, its roads, its buildings and its everything else, is that they are mostly, if not all, named in Portuguese instead of English, with Chinese available too (but I also know not everyone can read Chinese).
Just a very short 2-minute walk brought me to a row of shops. Here in the alley, you'll find the famous Margaret's Cafe e Nata, selling the famous Margaret's Portuguese tart. When I arrived, it was yet to open (it opens at 10am on Saturday) but there were already a lot of tourists sitting on the benches outside of the cafe waiting. Still feeling energetic in the morning, I took a stroll nearby before coming back at 10am for the egg tart.
Eating the tart while it was hot has its pros and cons. The pros: it was soft and the smell of the eggs was so good. The cons: it was hot and it was hard to enjoy the taste fully while it was burning your tongue. I ate one on the spot and bought another one for the road later.
Okay, done with egg tarts and time to move forth. If you are on this route, chances are you're heading towards the Ruins of St. Paul's (大三巴牌坊). That's the "must visit" tourist attraction in Macau, and if you walk from here you'll make multiple pit stops along the way before reaching the famous landmark. Walking a short distance along Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro (新馬路) I reached Senado Square (議事亭前地) first. As famous as it was, there was actually not much to see except a fountain, and it was full of a huge crowd of tourists. But from here forth was the interesting part, the Ruins of St. Paul's was very nearby but it took me quite some time to actually reach there. The reason? All the stops I made along the way.
First, there were all these shops and bakeries that offered free food-tasting of their products, and while I enjoyed being offered free food I also took time to listen to them introducing their products. Be polite a bit lah, won't you? Just take their food and leave is so rude.
Located nearby was St. Dominic's Church (玫瑰堂). Wandering into the church, one can immediately feel the huge difference from the noisy environment outside. Suddenly I felt calm and serene, even forgetting (albeit just for a moment) how warm it was out there. The church's high altar featured a statue of the Madonna and Child as the centerpiece and was flanked by wood and ivory-carved statues of several saints. There was even a guestbook for tourists to leave a word of two behind, and in a moment of feeling holy I scribed down something. So now I had left behind some of me in Macau too.
From holiness to...
... HOLY SHIT! Will you look at the crowd!
Yep, that was the crowd I rubbed shoulder with walking in this alley, eating my free snacks and ventured into some fashion outlets once in a while for air-conditioning. At the end of this alley was the Ruins of St. Paul's, and it was so crowded it made my head wanted to explode.
From here onward, it was a series of never-ending climbs. First, there was the climb to the ruins to get to the other side of the wall. The back side of the wall was bare and plain, such a big contrast to the front side where the craftsmanship was unbelievably detailed.
Then, there was the second climb (a series of hill climbing) towards the top to reach Monte Fort (大炮台). By the time I reached there, I was out of breath and all sweaty.
I wasn't such a big fan of museum, but seeing that it was the only place with air-conditioning I allowed myself to put down my prejudice and took a tour inside the Macau Museum located just right here. Besides learning some of Macau's unique histories, I also learned the origin of one of our Malay words:
By now, it was already noon time so I deemed it was lunch break. But before that, took a quick tour inside the souvenir shop outside of the museum and bought some souvenirs -- some key chains and fridge magnets.
For lunch, I wanted to avoid the crowd so no more famous restaurants like Wong Chi Kei (黃枝記). Taking a less crowded alley further north (many tourists stopped at the Ruins and made a u-turn after that) I came to another church (a Catholic city like Macau was understandably full of Catholic churches) -- St. Anthony's Church. This church, unlike the previous St. Dominic's Church, wasn't open for tourists.
And just opposite from the church was a restaurant called 豪庭美食. I didn't take a picture before going in so I tried to search back its location using Google Street View. Unfortunately, I couldn't locate it on the picture taken by Google in 2008 although I was pretty sure it was that location. Then I found a picture uploaded by a user in 2015 that featured my lunch restaurant so I figured this restaurant must be quite new.
"Despite its name, Galinha à portuguesa did not originate from Portugal as such; rather it came from Macao, where the dish was given the "Portuguese" name to enhance its status."
So there, I wasn't actually eating a Portuguese cuisine but rather a Macanese cuisine. But damn it was huge and it costs only MOP$41 (RM20++) so it was really cheap. It came with a bowl of soup (with a lot of meats and chicken feet), a drink (tea or coffee), and a big plate of the main dish. Oh, plus a plate of rice too. I couldn't finish it.
I am not quite sure how to describe it beyond it was so hot so yummy so delicious so tasty so unforgettable so fulfilling, so once again I copied from Wikipedia:
"Galinha à portuguesa is served as pieces of chicken, potato and sometimes boiled rice with a mild, coconut-based, curry-like sauce, baked till golden and with a distinctive aroma"
It was kind of like our 黃薑雞 a.k.a. "turmeric chicken curry" -- if that is even what it's called in English, haha, except it was less spicy and more "coconut-milky".
I must stop for two minutes now, reliving that memory. If you would excuse me...
30 seconds...
60 seconds...
90 seconds...
120 seconds...
Okay, time's up. Back to the story.
Retracing my footsteps back to Senado Square, this marked the end of the first half of my Macau adventure in Macau Peninsula. The second half of the plan called for me to move south towards Taipa, the island part of Macau. Initially wanting to take a bus there, I changed my mind and took a cab instead. The nice and chatty cab driver took me straight to The Venetian Macao, where after a few hours of walking under the sun I would be spending the next two hours in the indoor Grand Canal Shoppes (大運河購物中心).
The mall was a lavish-looking, European-inspired indoor shopping heaven with a very unique ceiling where it was built to be reflecting a near-evening-hour sky. It was unlike any of the malls found in KL, with a wide variety of shops selling different lines of products. I got lost and circled the mall a few rounds looking for Starbucks Cafe, but by happy accident I came upon a performance at the center of the mall. I was not quite sure what the story was about but it starred two men and a woman dressed in medieval clothes, something about a love triangle and sword fight. Very nice indeed.
There was also a "canal" in the mall and tourists can pay to take a ride on the Gondola... well, only if you have too much time on your hands and can afford to lose some.
At around 3:30pm, I decided it was time to proceed to my last destination - Rua do Cunha (官也街). The street, by itself, was a really short alley that you can walk through in less than 5 minutes. But combined it with two other streets that formed a triangle-shape together -- Rua do Regedor (地堡街) and Rua Correia da Silva (告利雅施利華街), it became a stroll-worthy commercial area.
To walk over to the area from The Venetian Macao, I just proceeded to the West Entrance of the mall which led me to the open area where I would later take a shutter bus to the ferry terminal. I crossed the street using the overhead bridge before passing through a few long escalators. At the end of the escalators, I just walked another short distance following the road to reach Cunha. The journey took about 5 minutes. And when I reached Cunha, the first thing I saw... a big crowd, or course.
Despite being very short, there were a lot of famous bakeries in Cunha, and quite a number of them weren't at the Ruins of St. Paul's area so once again I had a great feast of free-food tasting session. A few that I recommended:
>> Lord Stow's Bakery (安德魯葡撻): The famous Andrew's Portuguese Tart (yes, another one). And if you ask me who makes it better: Margaret's or Andrew's, I really can't answer... they were both fantastic. But eating it while it was hot really burned my tongue.
>> Gelatina Mok Yi Kei (莫義記榴蓮雪糕): Famous for... wait for it... Durian ice cream! Yup, it was very weird to see Macau claiming to be famous for something durian. But under the hot sun, it was such a treat to have something chilly.
>> Tai Lei Loi Kei (大利來記豬扒包): We used to have one in MidValley The Gardens too, but too bad it is no longer there now. So if you want to relive the memory of eating the incredible pork chop bun, Macau is your only choice now.
>> Pastelaria Fong Kei (晃記餅家): This is a famous brand only available in Cunha Street, operating for more than 100 years already (since 1906). How famous, you asked? So famous they don't have to offer you food tasting for free and people still line up outside the shop to buy their products. Since I don't like almond (which supposedly is something of a specialty in Macau), I only bought their "sweetheart cakes" (老婆餅). My verdict? Better than other brands, even 鉅記.
Rua do Regedor (地堡街) was more of a restaurant street, so it was full of cafes and restaurants, including a McD.
Around 5:15pm, I decided it was time for dinner. So I picked the most obvious choice -- a restaurant located on Regedor Street (地堡街) called... wait for it... Regedor Restaurant （地堡茶餐廳)... how lazy can you be when it comes to naming your restaurant? Haha.
Suddenly came to my mind was my lunch, and how yummy it was. Knowing I won't have much chance to enjoy it elsewhere after today I ordered the same dish -- Galinha à portuguesa a.k.a. Portuguese Chicken a.k.a. 葡國焗鷄飯 again. Some sort of a social experiment to see who cook it better.
The verdict? It was a draw! The dinner portion was not as big as the lunch portion, and there was no shredded coconut on top of it, but it didn't take away the creamy feel of the coconut-milk.
After dinner, it was time to make a quick stop at the last tourist attraction nearby Cunha -- Our Lady of Carmel Church and the Taipa Houses-Museum. The museum complex consists of five houses, of which four display various artifacts and exhibits on life during Macau's colonial era while another serves as an event venue. They were all painted in light green. While I was walking around taking pictures, I saw a couple taking their wedding photos here. Yup, this place was really that attractive that one would like to fit it into their wedding album.
It was 6:00pm when I got around to Our Lady of Carmel Church, and the bell was tolling. It was such a nice sound (probably because I haven't been to a church for so long that I forgot how soul-cleansing the sound of the church bell can be). I managed to record a one-minute clip.
By now, I had successfully completed every item on my plan so I figured it was time to leave. Taking the same route, I returned to The Venetian Macao to take the free shutter bus to the ferry terminal. The waiting was fast as the frequency of the shutter bus was high. The bus took us straight to the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal.
But not before I recorded another one-minute clip on the shutter bus while it was driving through the Macau-Taipa Bridge towards the ferry terminal.
By 6:50pm, I was already sitting in front of the gate waiting for my 7:15pm ferry-ride back to HK, thus ending my unforgettable one-day adventure in Macau.
Last day - Sunday 7/16
Everything has got to end one way or another, sooner or later.
And so it was.
On the morning of the day to travel back to KL, I've got a few hours to burn before checking out from the hotel and heading to the airport. Despite staying and working here, I had been neglecting the Wan Chai area in the past few days, choosing instead to spend time in Yau-Tsim-Wong and Causeway Bay areas. Without much time to travel too far, it became obvious that this was the perfect morning to explore Wan Chai area. I randomly picked a restaurant to have my breakfast (I honestly couldn't recall the name) before taking a long walk along Wan Chai Road. On a Sunday morning, it wasn't busy with people heading to work, so it was such a nice and relaxed walk. Many of the shops along Hennessy Road and Wan Chai Road weren't open yet but a lot of local residents gathered around the wet-market area to do their grocery shopping. If it wasn't for the rain that was coming I would not have headed back to the hotel so soon.
In an unfortunate co-incidence, my trip ended like how it had started -- with an unpleasant hiccup. Arriving in the airport (the cab driver dropped me at the wrong terminal so I had to walk -- thankfully not too far -- to the right one), I was notified by the beautiful lady at the check-in counter that my flight had been delayed for an hour, due to the late arriving of the flight from its previous destination. Without much to do, I could only wait, taking an endless spin around the airport. But it got worse from there. When we finally got on board of the flight, we were notified once again that due to a tai-phoon was making its way to HK, the flight would be delayed once again until further notice.
We spent a long time in the cabin, doing nothing but wait.
The total delay time was 3 hours. And by the time we reached KL, cleared the Immigration and claimed my luggage, it was already 10pm. And with a very tired body, I dragged myself home worrying about getting up tomorrow morning for work.
But barring the events that happened in the beginning and the end of my trip, I felt very happy and very content with my solo adventure. I didn't get to do everything I had planned before the trip, but I covered most of them; and the surprises that happened along the way, they were all pleasant surprises.
There were no regrets, even if I missed a few things.
I would do it again.
My adventure ends here, have yours begun?
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