June 13, 2010 - Egg tarts and historic fun of epic proportions in Macau

I'm taking a trip to Macau mainly to get my Hong Kong work visa activated, but since I have an uncle in Macau, I might as well travel a little before I return to Hong Kong on the same day. Macau is a small island that is an SAR of China; I heard that you can bicycle through or around the entire region in just 2 hours. The TurboJet is one of the three ferries that can take you to Macau. For now, I'll just let pictures do the talking.

the TurboJet

a comfy one hour ride to Macau

farewell Hong Kong...

...and hello Macau!

Macau, the land of casinos and egg tarts

one of the large casinos

a fancy fountain inside the Four Seasons (or was it the Venetian?) hotel; too many hotels and casinos to remember

the architecture of Macau are reminiscent of Portuguese colonialism

in the square of the Ruins of St. Paul's, a famous tourist spot

the Ruins of St. Paul's

mmm curry fishballs

I'm making quite an embarrassing expression, but this picture is too funny to not post

Macau is famous for many things: casinos, Portuguese-style egg tarts, almond cakes, and curry beef jerky; here is a bakery specializing in almond cakes

jerky of all kinds

more almond cakes cooling off

streetside shrine

these pork sandwiches are very popular

more Portuguese-style architecture

crowded, tourist-filled streets filled with food stalls

where's Waldo?

Rua de S. Paulo

Macau Post

inside a shop selling paintings; shown is one of the Eight Immortals crossing the sea (a popular image in Chinese stories)

a portrait of Deng Xiaoping peeks from behind

entering the temple of A-ma, bodhisattva and the goddess of seafarers

a view of the casinos from within the car

a large bronze statue of bodhisattva Kwan Yin, goddess of mercy, on a white lotus pedestal; it shows some Western influences, especially if you look carefully at the face of the statue

mmm, flaky Portuguese-style egg custard tarts from the famous Lord Stow's Bakery

I start work tomorrow morning at 9:30am, so I went home to rest and prepare. Dinner was delicious, as usual.

June 7 - 10, 2010 - Relaxing in Tuen Mun

The days are going by quickly, and I will be starting my internship soon. I am still living in my uncle's house in Tuen Mun, New Territories for the time being, and my goodness, is this place beautiful. Walk a few blocks down, and you can reach the MacLehose Hiking Trail. Walk some streets down, and you'll be next to the Gold Coast beaches. Take the light rail a few stops to Town Centre, and you will be in Tuen Mun Trend Plaza, a large shopping mall with anything you can possibly want to buy. Everything is close by - the mountains, beaches, shopping malls, grocery markets. Even the view is nice.

the view from the bedroom

We went back and forth to my other uncle's houses for a day, then back to Tuen Mun for a trip to the MacLehose Hiking Trail. It's a relaxing walk/jog, but the climb is quite treacherous, with mosquitoes attacking my already-swollen legs and lizards and bugs jumping from here to there. The mountains offer a beautiful view of Tuen Mun and some of the New Territories. We went to Yuen Long for lunch. More pictures to come!

After two hours of hiking in the morning, we trekked to the Gold Coast for some beachtime. It was a cloudy day, but nonetheless, hundreds of people gather at the beach for barbeque and playing in the sand with their children. Only thing I noticed was that none wore bikinis and revealing outfits; it must be a kid-friendly, locals beach.

Gold Coast beach

people fishing even in rainy weather

Monday, June 7, 2010 - Lingnan Garden and Lai Chi Kok Park

Today was another lovely, sunny day and we are back in Hong Kong, relaxing in my uncle's mosquito-ridden house. I could not sleep the entire night, because I had heavy sheets pulled over my head to prevent the mosquitoes from attacking my face, which happened once and resulted in two large, hideous bites on my right cheek.

Ugly things aside, we are going a few blocks down the Lai Chi Kok fire station to Lingnan Garden and Lai Chi Kok Park. Lingnan Garden is a lovely "park" in the style of the palace gardens of Empress Dowager Cixi. There's a pebble road where you take off your shoes and walk barefoot on, which supposedly massages your feet at the vital points. There's a huge pond with turtles and koi that swim up in anticipation of food, when you lean closer to the rail. There's a small, artificial waterfall and traditional Chinese decor. Anyway, enough reading; I'll show you around.

a tiny lizard basking in the sun, in the middle of the sidewalk

...it ran away when I approached it :(

entering Lingnan Garden

being fascinated by the doorway

turtle and koi pond; some people release their turtles and koi here, despite that being illegal

walking on the pebble stone path - quite painful, I must say; uncle was gasping the entire time

some old well that has long been covered up

a group of painters

miniature waterfall

peek-a-boo!

what kind of stance is this?

koi swimming up

stone carving of the Eight Immortals crossing the sea (also a popular Chinese idiom)

a Heavenly court

Lai Chi Kok park is more modern, and has a stage for performances. I was fascinated by the dolphin-shaped garbage cans. I wish I took a picture to show you, but that would be weird. Besides, who else would be easily astounded by animal-shaped trash cans?