Well, I still have a million things to tell you about Tokyo but time has been flying by, I landed back in HK Thursday (just) and free time has ceased to exist! The wonders that are the internet police have not made things easy either - grr!
Anyway, here I am and hello. It is NOT raining. This is tremendously exciting so I will type fast as there is a seafood restaurant on a beach I really should get to...
Yesterday we went on a day trip to Macau. Ferry, apologies, TURBOJet, across from HK to Macau in an hour. Slightly choppy weather = lots of vomiting passengers. Nice.
Anyway, we arrived stomachs intact and managed to fight our way through the hordes of people offering "tours" to hop on the bus to the centre of town. Under 30p for those of you tempted by the taxis (GBP20).
Macau is odd. Arriving at the Largo do Senado (main square) it was like being in Disneyland. Cobbled streets, colourful colonial buildings and no dirt or litter in sight. Also well over 35degrees and far less humid than HK. Step two (step one was the bus) was to throw on the factor 50!
A bit of a wander around Macau in the heat then followed. It is a beautiful place, Portugal in Asia. Then throw in a mix of Las Vegas as you spot the super casinos on the skyline. Enormous towering buildings, many direct copies of their Vegas namesake. Macau is a gamblers paradise.
We went for lunch (Portuguese of course) at Alfonso III. This took a bit of finding (I question my map skills, v poor that day) but was worth it. The staff were predominantly Portuguese-Chinese and were all having a very bad day (apparently there had been a bit of a party the night before). Lots of screaming and shouting. Six customers left before getting their food stating "we are customers, we expect customer service". Sounds harsh but the waitress did say (ok - shout) "I know you want me to take your order, just hold on!" and other such gems so you can see their point.
I am pleased we opted to be less demanding on the service front as the food, when it arrived, was wonderful! I thoroughly recommend a trip (Alfonso III, Rua Central). I had "fish with vegetables" which turned out to be a whole fish, swimming in a bowl of olive oil, covered in about four bulbs (yes, not cloves) of chopped, roasted garlic. Delicious! That will keep that vampires away!! (The garlic was the vegetables, and it covered the whole plate...)
Post lunch we cabbed it across to the Venetian casino. The web assures me it is the biggest casino in the World - it is pretty massive.
Strolling through the gambling floors we opted for drinking our cash rather than gambling it (bellini-tini anyone?) while people watching. It was truly ENORMOUS.
We rounded off the day with a trip to see Cirque du Solei, which I had never seen before but am a massive fan of such things so I sat, garlicky and spellbound, resisting the urge to snooze in the very comfortable seats.
Ferry home, late night noodles and bed. Yawn. Definitely a day trip worth doing but I'm not sure I could have stayed longer. Overall, a very odd place. But do go see it.
Anyway, here I am and hello. It is NOT raining. This is tremendously exciting so I will type fast as there is a seafood restaurant on a beach I really should get to...
Yesterday we went on a day trip to Macau. Ferry, apologies, TURBOJet, across from HK to Macau in an hour. Slightly choppy weather = lots of vomiting passengers. Nice.
Anyway, we arrived stomachs intact and managed to fight our way through the hordes of people offering "tours" to hop on the bus to the centre of town. Under 30p for those of you tempted by the taxis (GBP20).
Macau is odd. Arriving at the Largo do Senado (main square) it was like being in Disneyland. Cobbled streets, colourful colonial buildings and no dirt or litter in sight. Also well over 35degrees and far less humid than HK. Step two (step one was the bus) was to throw on the factor 50!
A bit of a wander around Macau in the heat then followed. It is a beautiful place, Portugal in Asia. Then throw in a mix of Las Vegas as you spot the super casinos on the skyline. Enormous towering buildings, many direct copies of their Vegas namesake. Macau is a gamblers paradise.
We went for lunch (Portuguese of course) at Alfonso III. This took a bit of finding (I question my map skills, v poor that day) but was worth it. The staff were predominantly Portuguese-Chinese and were all having a very bad day (apparently there had been a bit of a party the night before). Lots of screaming and shouting. Six customers left before getting their food stating "we are customers, we expect customer service". Sounds harsh but the waitress did say (ok - shout) "I know you want me to take your order, just hold on!" and other such gems so you can see their point.
I am pleased we opted to be less demanding on the service front as the food, when it arrived, was wonderful! I thoroughly recommend a trip (Alfonso III, Rua Central). I had "fish with vegetables" which turned out to be a whole fish, swimming in a bowl of olive oil, covered in about four bulbs (yes, not cloves) of chopped, roasted garlic. Delicious! That will keep that vampires away!! (The garlic was the vegetables, and it covered the whole plate...)
Post lunch we cabbed it across to the Venetian casino. The web assures me it is the biggest casino in the World - it is pretty massive.
Strolling through the gambling floors we opted for drinking our cash rather than gambling it (bellini-tini anyone?) while people watching. It was truly ENORMOUS.
We rounded off the day with a trip to see Cirque du Solei, which I had never seen before but am a massive fan of such things so I sat, garlicky and spellbound, resisting the urge to snooze in the very comfortable seats.
Ferry home, late night noodles and bed. Yawn. Definitely a day trip worth doing but I'm not sure I could have stayed longer. Overall, a very odd place. But do go see it.
Macau sounds hilarious! Any service is worth it in my book if you get four bulbs of garlic with your meal..
ReplyDeleteAre you sure you didn't have just a few hands at the Texas Hold'em table??
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