Tchau Macau...

This will be our last day in Macau and tomorrow we'll be touching down in Malaysia Truly Asia =)
Yes, Eric and I are moving back to KL.
For good...that is...until Eric gets another career opportunity overseas.
This move home happened in a flash...just like that time when he told me he got a job in Macau.
Eric was offered a position with a new hotel opening in April smack right in the center of KL city.
I'm sure it's gonna take him some time to get use to the traffic madness after spending years in relatively jam-free Macau.

Boy...how time flies...we've been in Macau for slightly more than 2 years and this little enclave has become a 2nd home to me.
I'm going to miss the friends we made here...especially Nicolette my gossip and drinks buddy.
Definitely will miss the yummy siew yoke (roasted pork) rice from the aunty's shop down the street *drool*
And also the cheap massages, mani and pedi, food and shopping in Zhuhai.
Not forgetting my fav bubble milk tea =(
Totally appreciate the wonderful and affortable public transportation around the islands.
Oh...I will miss the beautiful casinos too especially their complimentary drinks and also the use of their well equiped and clean washrooms =P 

It's bittersweet to leave Macau but the memories are going to come home with me to KL.
I'm happy that we're going home and we'll definitely be back in Macau to visit friends and lady luck =)

So this is it...tchau Macau!!!

Jin Yuan Restaurant @ Charming Hotel, Zhuhai

A few nights back Eric and I were in Zhuhai to have dinner with his colleague.
Charming Hotel is located right outside the Gongbei Bordergate...once you get out of the China immigration, you'll see the hotel on the left.
Take the elevator up to Jin Yuan Restaurant.

Appetizer tasted like pig's stomach soup. The lotus roots has a nice bite to it and it's yummy.

First time I'm trying a corn drink. It's hot and tasted like well...corn. The texture is smooth and not too thick which is quite nice.

One fish for each person at the table...

...'cause the fish is only as big as my bowl

Mantis prawn with lots of fried garlic

Mui choy kau yuk (pork belly with mushy vege)

One crab per person too as it's only as big as my fist.

Not much meat but lots of eggs in the crab and it's yellow. Normally I don't eat crab eggs but this one is pretty yummy.

Looks like normal stir fry vege but the secret is...it's fried using pork oil =P This is how a healthy dish become super sinful.

Deep fried carrot cake stuffed with meat dessert which was too chewy for my liking.

Mango pudding with evaporated milk. Me likey mango =)

Deep fried durian ball turned out pretty good. The skin was oily but the durian filling has a creamy bitter after taste.

Recently, Eric's sister was in Macau and she was craving for some exotic dish.

We went searching for the shop and found it near St. Paul's Ruin.

It's a tiny shop with just a few tables and that's the chef in the one man kitchen.

Guess what's in this bowl of dark starchy soup?

This is snake meat soup =D

The taste of ginger overwhelmed my tastebuds and it made me wonder if it's to mask some weird smell of snake meat. The snake meat itself didn't taste weird ('cause all I could taste and smell was the ginger lar) but the texture was extremely rough and dry. Kinda like overnight chilled old chicken breast meat. If you're in Macau and feel like having some snake for snack time...this is the place.

Meet Goofy the toy Poodle. He's so cute isn't he? Goofy is Joe's doggy and we met him when Joe invited us over to his house for dinner last night.

So much food for just 5 people. I almost fell asleep on the couch after dinner...

Goofy joined Eric and I on the couch and took a liking to Eric's hand...*lick lick lick*

He even held on to Eric's thumb to to keep it steady...so cute <3

And more cuteness....

Braxton at 5 months old! He's so heavy already and so friendly*hugs*

The weather in Macau is super depressing.

Cold and wet the whole day =(

Will be super duper busy for the next few days and the I shall be in shorts again!

Dimwit

ME...that's who!

No idea why but I've been getting myself into stupid situations lately.
I've fell down twice on my knees in 1 week and now I have horrible bruises to show for it.
Maybe I've been gaining too much weight too rapidly and lost my balance.
I've got a bruise on my arm and I've got no idea how it came about.

The temperature in Macau is falling ridiculously fast.
It was mid 20s yesterday and now it's about 14 degrees.
What's up man?
I've already washed all our winter stuffs and packed them away =(

So anyways, I had to go to the shop to buy some stuffs and throw trash into the rubbish bin which is located bout 500m away (yes, no rubbish bin for our super duper old apartment ok).
But the only thing on my mind was the bubble milk tea I'm going to get from Donago.
God...I love the bubble milk tea in Macau...none in Malaysia could even come close to the ones we get here.
I went to the shop, bought what I needed, grabbed a cup of bubble milk tea and happily made my way home chewing on the bubbles.
When I reached home...I realized I forgot to take the trash out -_-
I'll just go tomorrow lar...I don't want to climb 4 flights of stairs and walk 500m(one way!) just to get rid of trash.
I'm just lazy and it's freaking cold outside okay.
My not so skinny ass prefers to be indoors.

Oh...and I've been encountering weirdos again....sigh
And of all places, in the casino.
You would've think that weirdos doesn't go to such places and they wouldn't try anything stupid 'cause there's camera everywhere except the washrooms.
Not too mention the amount of security guards keeping an eye on things on the floor.
Just my luck...I met two.
Can't a gal have peace playing the slot machine huh?
I was happily pressing the button hoping to hit the jackpot when these two dudes came up next to me and stood really really close.
I hate it when strangers or people I don't like do that...haven't they heard of such a thing as 'personal space'?
Immediately I felt damn uncomfortable and weirdo alert warning bells started going off in my head.
I've bumped into too many weirdos and I could spot them easily lar.

Anyways, they started to talk to me in Mandarin which I understood of course.
But I just stared at them trying to indicate to them I don't speak Mandarin and hopefully they leave me alone after that.
I find that this trick works with less persistent weirdos but obviously these two had the persistence genes in them.
They kept pestering me in Mandarin asking me how to play the slot.
Hello???!!! Just fucking feed money into the machine and press the button.
When I continued to ignore them, they started to speak to me in Cantonese.
Now they are curious about my nationality.
And then they actually asked me in English!
Lol...and I still ignored them.
Finally one of the slot attendance auntie saw my distress and came to me rescue.
I whispered to her in Cantonese that the two guys needed help with the slot and I tried to make my escape.
I then overheard the conversation between auntie and the weirdos as I was cashing out my money from the machine...


The conversation was in Mandarin.

Auntie : What you want?
Weirdos : We were asking her to teach us how to play this game.
Auntie : You don't have to ask her. I can teach you.
Weirdos : Where is she from?
Auntie : Come, I teach you how to play.
Weirdos : Where is she from?
Auntie : It's none of your business where she is from!!!
Weirdos : We want to know where she is from only mar...

Lol....I left right after that so I don't know what happened next.
That is the only time I appreciate how rude those aunties can be =P
Serves those weirdos right...but as I look back at the whole thing again, it's kinda funny.
I was in no danger of course since the casino was pretty packed and security is tight.
Just that I don't like weirdos.
I'm a friendly person...truly I am =)
Just don't approach me in such a creepy way...actually, I'm sure no gals would appreciate such a move.

Is it just me or do you gals attract weirdos too?
Maybe I just have a sign on my forehead inviting them to say 'Hi' -_-

Mezza9 @ Hyatt Macau

Macau is humid, misty and foggy at this moment.
Tiles in the house has water drops on them...don't be surprised if you find puddles of water on the floor.
Stairs are wet from the humidity.
Same for the windows.
No rain.
The problem with such humidity is MOLD!!!
They're starting their invasion =(

Anyways, had been busy these past few days.
Eating too much yummy food and piling on the weight.
And I've yet to lose the weight I gained in Sitiawan...sigh

Celebrated Chad's birthday at Mezza9 at the new Grand Hyatt yesterday.
The restaurant has a nice ambiance and it reminds me alot of Rossio.
We had a table tucked between the open kitchen which provided a clear view of chefs cooking. 

Mezza9 serves Macanese, grill, sushi & sashimi with a cellar and bar too. 

I was entranced with the shiny balls hanging above our table.

Assorted sushi & sashimi platter to start...spot the melt-in-your-mouth toro (tuna belly)

Raw sweet prawn with fish roe

Crab cake

Mixed seafood platter with lobster, oyster, scallops, tuna, prawns and some fish.

Mixed grill with lamb, beef, chicken and sausage

Red and white wine for me

Beautiful pool just outside the restaurant.

Birthday boy blowing out his candle.

Bailey's souffle with ice cream...yummilicious

More desserts =)

I was the only person on our table who wasn't a chef.

So obviously the topic of the night is about food...how the melon is oh so sweet and they had to find out where mezza9 got them from.

About the texture of sushi  rice, the tuna sashimi, the sauce, the wine....you get the drift.

While the chefs went on and on about the food and kitchen...I was happily stuffing myself with food =P

The best thing about eating with chefs...you get to try all the yummy stuffs!

Oh...it doesn't hurt that they know the Mezza9 chefs too =)

Had a great time last night and it continues tonight.

Will be heading to Rossio for dinner which no doubt I'll stuff myself silly again.

Oh...how pampered my tummy is...

Out of the dark

Back in the land of casinos and it's been kinda drama from KL till we got here.
Was in LCCT damn super early and spent like 5 hours roaming the little airport.
Loaded up on unnecesary calories as there's nothing else to do but to eat, drink and surf the web.

Boarded the plane and it was packed with irritating people.
I seriously wanted to smack the guy sitting behind me as he kept kicking my seat.
Then we sat in the stationary plane for almost ONE freaking hour due to heavy rain and thunder.
Yeah...imagine...stucked in a small plane that is not moving and then this stupid idiot behind me likes to kick.
Lovely start to our journey -_-
Erm...ate again in the plane...nothing to do mar.
Then slept a little bit...no thanks to Ronaldo wannabe behind me.

So...drama in KL and plane over...welcome to drama in Macau.
Eric gotta work as there's VIP dining in his restaurant.
So we made our way home ourselves.
We had one huge luggage weighing about 20kgs, 2 small hand carry weighing 13kgs and then 2 handbags.
And we had to drag it all up to our apartment at the 4th floor!
No elevator okay....only fucking stairs.
I tribute my survival of the stairs+bags to bootcamp.
What little muscles I managed to build in the last 2 months did wonders =)

Drama didn't end there.
Our room light was dead.
Couldn't unpack my stuffs and had to make do with groping around.
Before we could get it fix, the whole apartment went dead.
Yup...something went wrong somewhere and we ended up with no electricity.
And then we tried to get an electrician to fix it.
He didn't show up when he said he would.
I showered with candle light.
Eric reminded me that I should be grateful that our water heater uses gas instead of electricity (a fact that I was bitching about constantly) and I now shall not complain anymore.

Thank goodness we got everything fixed today so I'm finally connected to the virtual world.
Was very deprieved.

Beautiful Skies

Nicole and Elie asked me to go watch the Annual Macau fireworks competition that's happening every Saturday until the finals in Oct.
Meeting place was in front of the old Lisboa at 9pm.
I got there on time.
And they got there when the first session ended.
Yes, it's called Malaysian time ('cause in KL people are never punctual except for some minorities) and the irony of the situation, I was the only Malaysian -_-

We then decided to walk to the other side of Nam Van Lake to have a better view of the next session of fireworks at 10pm.
Nicole was wearing a flowy tube dress and we were crossing the street when her dress got blew up by wind.
And she flashed some guys =P
We ended up with a not so great spot on at this new viewing area.
Oh well, mabe next year we should head to the Macau Tower to have a real fireworks experience.
There's supposed to be music and stuffs to go with all the booming.
Obviously we were to far to hear anything.

After all that walking and pretty skies, we needed a drink badly.
And ended up at this restaurant serving Spanish food.
Ordered a Sangria and stayed there till 2am.
And witness some really disturbing sights.
I saw a bunch of kids got drunk.
They look no older than 16.
One even got so drunk he dropped to the floor.
A few needed help to walk.
Then there was this Philippino couple who looked like they were fighting.
But then suddenly they chased each other...saw her bra...they lied down on the dirty floor...they guy stayed on top of her for super long time...
Thought they were fucking out in public but then the guy wasn't moving.
Thought they fell asleep.
Now that I think about it, that place is kinda dodgy.
Who said Macau is boring right?

Talay Thai @ Fisherman's Wharf, Macau

Yesterday, we headed for dinner at one of the nicest Thai Restaurant in Macau.
Talay Thai is located at the Fisherman's Wharf, the ambiance at this place is just amazing.
Super relaxed and beautiful view.
Just the perfect place for a date.

Most people would choose to dine al fresco.

The place was packed at dinner time.

Come early if you want to have a nice table.

There's indoor dining as well.

Not very popular.

Except when it's winter and it's freezing outside.
Or rain.

Seafood tomyum. Extremely spicy but yummilicious to the max.

Pad thai with many huge prawns. I like it =)

Lala fried in some sauce and lots of basil(I think). Don't really fancy the lala.

Fried rice with shrimp paste. All the ingredients are piles onto the rice and you're supposed to mix it I guess. But the plate was too small for any mixing action. Eric and Mum said it's like belacan fried rice. Not too bad. Portion is generous too.

Stir fried mince pork to be eaten with.....

...Lettuce.

Fill up the lettuce with pork and stuff it in your mouth. Finger licking good =)

Talay Thai is obviously a famous makan place in Macau.

The food is great, the view is great, even the service is better than a lot of other places in Macau.

This is one place that you wouldn't mind the service charge in the bill.

If you've been to Macau many many times and looking for something new to try, head to Talay Thai.

Talay Thai website

Nestle : Banana Chocolate

In Macau, you can find some really nice and some funny flavoured ice cream.

Was in the shop and came across Nestle Banana Chocolate Drumstick =)

I love choc and I like bananas ;P

Chupa Chup used to have this Banana Choc flavour lollipop but I haven't seen them in the market for years now. So sad =(

I like sucking on their choc banana lolli.

Banana and choc goes really well together, don't you think so?

Looks like a regular drumstick. I was curious to find out if there are any banana bits in them. You know, like ice cream potong that has red bean or cendol in them?

Thick choc...and banana? Real bananas?

Okay...the choc is thick alright. Sadly, no bananas in sight for bites.

After all the thick choc has gone into my tummy, you get choc and banana ice cream.

I like it. The banana is aromatic and not too sweet.

I know lar...ice cream ain't helping me with my wish list(to lose weight lar)

But got banana...makes it a little bit healthy right?

Yalar...trying to come up with excuses to have ice cream.
Oh...the weather is really really hot also!!!