Macau: The Vegas of Asia (Part 2)

After the meal, we stopped by the hotel to drop off our belongings. The view from the taxi was very scenic. Crossing one of the three bridges connecting either side of Macau led to this grand picture.

 Getting to the hotel, we decided on a quick swim at the pool before the nighttime show of a majestic performance of the House of Dancing Water. What can I say except refer to the picture below.

Just WOW!

The pool looked like something out of Hawaii or some kind of paradise. It had a beautiful waterfall, tall palm trees, abundant lawn chairs on which to sunbathe, and even its own water slide!

We spent two hours at the pool before getting ready to go to the show. We had VIP tickets in row 2, and when we sat down, were given towels to wipe ourselves off if and when we got wet during the performance!

Shazam, money tickets!

The show was very interesting but there was this weird part where they sort of time traveled and a dragon and motorcycles got involved, which was very...intriguing. After the grand performance, we went to an authentic Portuguese "diner" to grub out at 10:30 pm.

Words cannot begin to describe the food at this place. Judging from the outside, it did not look like anything special. The outer decorations were average at best, but sometimes the hole in the wall places are the ones that are indeed the best.

My mom's friend ordered for us and as I looked around, all the menu items on the walls had very distinct "names". It is hard to describe in English what I am referring to but the owner used very creative names for each and every one of his dishes. My favorite dish was this.

Curry chicken served in a bread bowl.

Unlike the soggy old bread bowls they serve at Boudin's in San Francisco, this crispy and scrumptuous bread bowl was filled with some of the best tasting curry I have ever had. I burned my mouth with every bite, ripping handfuls of bread that was still dripping with savory stew before it was all gone. My gosh, I would go back just for this place, just for this bread bowl.

Other notables:
Deep fried pork ribs: simply amazing, fried just crisp but not burnt, with just a light salt and pepper seasoning that was just right.
Cheese baked shrimp: the name in Chinese was very cute but I am unable to translate it properly into English.

The experience was just amazing and I will go there again anytime I visit Macau.

The next day, I went to more tourist-y attractions, stopping by this famous landmark.

The story of this church goes like this. There was a fire in the back of the church, where supposedly a candle had lit a curtain. The fire spread throughout the building and as people were rushing out of the building, parts of the church started to collapse. Eventually, the whole building collapsed...except for this. The whole front of the church stayed up, including the five statues of the five saints that the church was built for, and the cross that did not burn and stood erect on the roof. This was seen to be a miracle and tourists come here often hoping to have "miracles answered".

My last stop in Macau was to buy souviniers to bring back home, and what could possibly be better than...

Sweets! Almond cookies, sesame candy, "grandma" cakes, and so many more things to choose from. We ended up buying almsot twenty boxes of goods to bring back to Hong Kong and some back to San Francisco.

So the Macau trip was a total success (besides the fact that I lost money gambling, but it happens to the best of us =P ). I wouldn't mind visiting again but for now, I ahave a lot more exploring to do in Hong Kong. Until next episode =)