what is a visit to macau without going to the ruins of st paul's? this is definitely the most photographed spot on the island.
we decided to get a cab to go there from the hotel instead and walked all the way down later. the taxi ride was less than HK$20. they accept hk$ widely here and you can ask for change in hk$. but if you want macau's patacas, you get more. not sure of the conversion rate. heck, even all the casino slot machines only accept hk$.
the back of the wall on the right. you can walked up there on the steel platform they have built. i dun remember it being there last time. yee went, i din. i heard those tourist who went saying that it was a waste of time. haha...anyway, i was too lazy.
this is the view from the top. just walk down the street and all the stores are there for you to shop while you walk to senado square. another iconic symbol of the unification with china, on the right.
the ruins from the top of the fortress hill. awesome right?
bird enthusiasts bring their cages here and what is left of the fortress.
the macau museum is here on the fortress, but it was not open.
again, we were hooked...more curry fishballs. the stall is just down the steps from the ruin. but the ones in mongkok were better. spicier.
it was mostly food shopping that day....and ooh how heavy our arms were...mine especially. saw this shop bustling with customers selling all sorts of local macau products: almond biscuit, preserved fruits, peanut biscuit, egg rolls, dried pork, etc. yee bought almond biscuits, dried squid, and peanut biscuit while i got all those heavy stuff- dried pork. gosh, regretted buying them so early...had to carry them everywhere we go.
senado square...din capture the fountain in the middle here. i remember the scene from the movie young and dangerous. there was an event here and we saw a group of fans waiting for a singer coming out from one of those restaurants housed in the old building. din know who the singer was. a young emerging male singer i think.
some of the shops at the piazza.
all sorts of dessert at the piazza. was too full to have anything so we din go in. this shop is famous for its milk dessert i think. i read it somewhere. i saw some papaya dessert soup.
st dominic's church at the piazza. it is really beautiful and the atmosphere inside was tranquil and serene despite the hustle and bustle outside. there was a mass when we entered and i think it was held in spanish. they also hold mass in tagalog. after senado square, we decided to explore a bit....and gosh...we had a miscommunication. we wanted to explore all the tourist spots they have on the map and then make a turn back to our hotel. so ambitious. so we followed the signs and decided that if we go looking for chapel of our lady penha, we would pass all of these attractions....and off we went.
dom pedro V theatre. this was like after walking for about 15 minutes uphill. the streets here are narrow and steep and there are a lot of steps and slopes. yeah, carrying those plastic bags with heavy food stuff...we harboured on.
to cut the story short, on the left, you can see one of the narrow streets we passed through and on the right, on top of the hill is chapel of our lady penha. after walking for another 25 minutes, only we realised our miscommunication. yee thought i wanted to go and search for this church and i thought she wanted to make the best out of her trip here by visiting every single labelled church on the map. syish!! we even stopped to ask ppl a few times for direction to find this church. one of them was a cute teenage boy who was slightly flustered for being consulted. he suggested us taking a bus. but we thought we could see more on foot. and ooh, what a mistake it was. it was a freaking hot and humid day and i was in long jeans. aaahhh!! so i just couldn't help from nagging and complaining non-stop all the way. yee was a good sport and just played along. haha. complaining helped keep my mind off the pain in the feet.finally when we reached the foot of the steps to go up to lady penha, we gave up. no way. we just couldn't go further up. all those uphill climbs had taken its tool on us, we had enough of climbs and steps. hmmh....ppl must have thought us to be so religious and maybe we were walking all the way there for our pilgrimage or something similar. well, i would likened this journey as a pilgrimage of some sort. haha...after all i had poured buckets of sweats and effort to reach there.
enough of that. next, to find our way down and walk back to our hotel...and the sky was turning dark. we decided to take a bus. we walked till we reached the peak of a hill, which is slightly isolated. nobody was there, but there was a hotel nearby with tour buses parked outside and we saw guests coming out.
this is a view we got from the top of the hill: macau tower. i think we are at the other end of the island from where we started. we just hopped on the first bus that came and when the bus made the turn to go downhill, i almost smacked the palm hard on my forehead. behind the bend...i.e. behind this hill we were at, just walked straight down and it was the town centre. hahahahaha....so near yet so far. we just din see it because our view was blocked by trees. what an experience. so do i have the bragging right of having walked the whole island?
just two or three stops, voila, the town centre where the macau mall is. i think there is a new yaohan here too. we decided to get down and walk back.
on the way back, almost reaching grand lisboa, we passed by this restaurant. it think it is restaurant macau or something. the rooster on the sign reminded me of the nando's chicken, but i think it is something symbolic in portuguese since you can see the rooster in quite a number of establishments. celebrities have dinned here too...alan tam and gang. saw their newspaper cutting on the wall. anyway, having dinner was a break from all those walking. what a relief. i remember we entered at 7p.m. aaahh....finally something hard on my butt. yee ordered portuguese chicken curry while i had cheese baked seafood rice. yummy...yeah, not bad at all and both of us could not finish the rice served.that 40-minute break soon ended and it was back to the hotel...but not before taking photos of the majestic lisboas bathed in lights.
but the posts will come later...i need a break. see...i told you it was a long long day.
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