one day in macau

So what were we doing in Macau anyway? My mother wanted to watch The House of Dancing Water.

I bought our "A Reserve" tickets a month in advance from their website: HK$880 for adult, HK$790 for senior citizen (total US$215 for the two of us). I have to say that this show was way better than either of the two Cirque du Soleil productions I've seen. I'd recommend it to kids of all ages.

food porn @ robuchon au dome

Monday, 13 August 2012. A day which will live in infamy (with apologies to FDR). It was the day that Ma and I had lunch at Robuchon Au Dôme at the Grand Lisboa in Macau.

How did we get to Macau, what were we doing there when we were supposed to be in Hong Kong-- all shall be explained in the next blog post. For now, let us concentrate on the food.

I've never been a proponent of false humility, so I'll just go ahead and say it because it's the truth: My photos of this lunch are magnificent. But did the food taste good? Let's dive in...

I was always under the impression that an amuse bouche should be something small, easily consumed in one or two bites, preferably eaten without utensils-- like an hors d'œuvre. But twice now I've had a kind of chilled SOUP as an amuse bouche at Jöel Robuchon's restaurants. This cherry gazpacho was absolutely fantastic-- bursting with garlic and tomato flavors tempered by a dollop of cheese. The cherry scent made me giddy. Now THAT was an amuse bouche!

L'Amuse-bouche: Cherry gazpacho with ricotta cheese sherbet and pistachio flakes. 5/5

What's an indulgent, expensive meal without caviar? Might as well go all the way with three treatments of caviar in one course. The pea veloute with egg white and basil oil was magical, the single spear of asparagus was flawless, but regrettably the king crab in the caviar tin was too salty. Still, I enjoyed Le Caviar as a whole because it made me feel like a richie-rich. Notice the covetable caviar spoon and the gold leaf on the asparagus.

Le Caviar: Chilled green pea veloute and floating island, jelly of caviar with cauliflower cream, green asparagus topped with caviar. 4/5

come back soon

We arrived in Macau on 28 September 2008, and visited the churches and temples the next day. On 30 September 2008, we went up the Macau Tower, and later watched Cirque du Soleil at the Venetian. (Ah, I didn't tell you about that.)
I visited Victoria Peak in Hong Kong for the first time on 1 October 2008. Pop and I were at Ocean Park the next day, then all three of us went to Lantau Island the day after. On 4 October 2008, Pop and I marveled at the Ten Thousand Buddhas. (Another story for another time.) We came home the next day.

Areas for improvement: 1. I was not happy with the camera I was using. 2. There were hordes of Made in Chinas-- what I call the mainland Chinese, to differentiate them from overseas-born Chinese-- because of the national holiday. 3. The weather was not so great as there was a typhoon. I saw this sign in one of the restaurants.

But, I had a great time. I know that Pop did, too. I hope Ma enjoyed SOME parts of it, at least.

Anne Hathaway said it best.

leaving las vegas

On our last day in Macau, I took a walk alone and visited the Cathedral, which is actually the church closest to our hotel. It was lovely and peaceful.

 

There was absolutely no way Ma would have wanted to go there, because you have to climb some stairs to reach it. Alternatively, you can go behind Largo de Senado and climb the hill to get to it. I didn't mind the alone time, though.

This delightful yellow building beside the Cathedral is the Bishop's Palace.

At noon, we went to the ferry terminal and caught the Turbo Jet to Hong Kong. As usual, Pop made sure that the boat did not leave us behind.

I am definitely going back to Macau someday. And I'm going to take some really fly pictures. Count on it.

o sole mio!

I believe that Ma's favorite part of the Macau trip was visiting the Venetian.

The Venetian Macau is humongous, and it seems to be divided into equal parts hotel, casino, and-- you guessed it-- a shopping mall.

The fake sky was nice... if you don't mind seeing the rivets. At first, I thought they were fake birds painted on the ceiling. But the marks were all perfectly round and placed at regular intervals.

So I just stopped looking up.

We went on a fabulously expensive gondola ride. Our gondolier was cute and very friendly. Sang very well, too.

All in all, we enjoyed the Venetian, but I don't mind not staying there. Now, if it were offered for free, though...

a place called vertigo

The next day, Ma gave up on the sightseeing. So only Pop and I went to the stupendous 338-meter high Macau Tower. I don't like the building's shape so much, though. Come on! What's it supposed to be? Here in Asia, we have towers that look like bamboo, skyscrapers with holes in them, and phallic symbols galore. There's a serious lack of imagination here.


There's a Lamborghini in the basement. Very nice.


When we got to the first observation deck, I noticed that I could see through the floor!


That's when Pop had to sit down for a while.


I had wanted to try to bungy jump, but I was afraid that Pop would freak out. So I decided to try the Skywalk X.


You get a 360 view while walking along the outside of the tower. On a somewhat clear day, you can see Hong Kong and the China mainland, as well as the landmarks of Macau.

macau walks

The great thing about staying in a hotel on Macau Peninsula (and not on Cotai Strip) and being a block away from Largo de Senado is that most of the historical sites are within walking distance. This was essential as my female progenitor, a.k.a. "Ma", hates to walk-- unless it's in a shopping mall.

Less than five minutes from the Metropole Hotel is St. Augustine's Church. It's my favorite of the half dozen or so churches and temples that we visited.

It's in St. Augustine's Square, which is also where the Dom Pedro V Theatre is located. That's the green building behind my immediate forebears, a.k.a. "Parents".

We didn't make it to St. Lawrence's Church before it closed for the day. But the outside looked really cool.

That evening, we took a cab to have dinner at Camoes Restaurant, which is in Fisherman's Wharf. It was a weekday, so the place was deserted. You're supposed to think that you're in New Orleans. But with a Roman Coliseum and a fake volcano-- that erupts, by the way.

Still, I was there for the food. It was excellent.

Here's a New Orleans-y building. You can see the Sands Casino behind it.

caffeine fix at senado square

I don't care what some people think about Starbucks. There's something so comforting about sitting down for a cup of coffee in a place that looks the same, smells the same and tastes the same all over the world. There's a Starbucks at Senado Square.


So, immediately, you are already sightseeing. Just a few steps away is St. Dominic's.


And then up the hill is St. Paul's.


It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


Right behind the cathedral's facade is the tiny Na Cha Temple.


This, for me, is the perfect metaphor for Macau. There's a crumbling majestic European structure in front, and a minuscule wooden Oriental hut at the back. Guess which one is still fully operational?

happy congee

We arrived in Macau about thirty minutes ahead of schedule, but that still meant checking in at the Metropole Hotel at around 10:30PM.

My plan was to walk to the Wynn Hotel or MGM Grand and have a late dinner there. Here's what we saw on our short walk:

It looks like an Asian Las Vegas. Except it's not really Las Vegas, of course... yet. Still, it's very impressive. Pop thought so.

 

We ended up at the Wynn Macau. The Tree of Prosperity rising up from a hole in the floor is cheesy, but strangely entertaining and insidiously addictive-- like the whole Macau casino experience, I guess.

Finally, we sat down to dinner. Congee, happy.

panic on the way to the airport

Here's what happened in the car. I planned this trip to Macau and Hong for the last week of September 2008/ first week of October 2008. I knew that my passport would expire in January 2009.

On the way to the airport, I said, "You know, I had a bad dream. I dreamt that we were at the check-in counter when I realised that I didn't bring my passport."

Pop exclaimed, "Well, did you bring it?"

I said, "Of course, I did. It's right here, see? Has my photo, still valid until January 2009."

Silence, then all hell breaks loose in the car!

Turns out that in this country, if your passport has less than six months' validity to go, you can't use it anymore.

 

Now if they wanted me to renew my passport six months before expiration, then why didn't they just write down my expiration date as 29 July 2008?

Someone please explain this to me.

rush hour

Last year, I planned a trip to Macau and Hong Kong with my parents-- just the three of us, from 28 September 2008 to 5 October 2008.


At the very nice, spanking new Terminal 3, my male progenitor, a.k.a. "Pop", made sure that we checked in three hours early.

Ever since I became conscious of the world around me, Pop has always been THE early bird.

Especially at airports and train stations.

Here he is half-running ahead of us at the airport.

 

Get out of my way!

 

Ahhh... safe! Made it.

Because of Pop, I am never late for anything. In fact, I develop heart palpitations and sweaty palms an hour ahead of my appointments.

eating in macau and bacolod

My Top Five Macau Eats:
1. Pork Chop Bun at Golden Cameron
2. Portuguese Fried Rice at A Lorcha
3. Suckling Pig at Camoes
4. Egg Tart at The Patisserie, Macau Tower
5. Pork Ball & Century Egg Congee at Red Dragon

Image of suckling pig borrowed from camoesrestaurant.com.

My Top Five Bacolod Eats:
1. Chicken Inasal at Chicken House
2. Fresh Lumpia at El Ideal
3. Kansi at Connee's
4. Molo Soup at L'Fisher Hotel
5. "Butter Fish" Teriyaki at Pala-pala

Hot Tuna eats chicken inasal.