Grand Lisboa Macau (December 26, 2011)

The hotel casinos in Macau are located in several parts of the Portuguese colony. The ones we visited were the closest to the historical sights. A fair walking distance away like about 2 blocks from Senado Square.

Our first stop was the Grand Lisboa Hotel. A massive structure in the shape of a pineapple plant. It is situated in the same block with Hotel Lisboa and Casino Lisboa.









I was impressed with the decors inside the Grand Lisboa Hotel.



The hotel caters mostly to the Mainland Chinese market



So most of the decors were reflective of the Chinese culture



Quite opulent

















It was all lighted up at night!

Awkward, anyone?

It has been really really hot lately. Summer has officially graced our tropical nation with temperatures reaching a sizzling 34 degress Celsius, the other day.

At home, my usual garb is a tank top, shorts and my hair in a ponytail. Not glamorous. No makeup. No contacts. Plain, nerdy (thick glasses on), 'losyang' look all day, all week long. Sometimes, my neck and my back are covered with baby powder so I have the unflattering 'geisha' look.

My layered, wavy hair is at a strange length. The side parts are shorter than the back. I tend to wear a head band to keep the shorter hair strands off my face. The rest are tied with a ponytail then I put it up on my head with some plastic hair accessory (I don't know what it is called) to keep my neck, hair-free.

The other day, I couldn't find my usual head band so I grabbed the one I bought at HK Disneyland. You know, the one with Mini Mouse ears on them. I went on with my usual online activities, my household chores (cleaning, dusting, cooking).

Suddenly, the messenger knocks on our door to deliver our cable TV bill. I rush down and opened the front door. As I was signing the invoice, the messenger said "Ma'am, mukhang bumabata kayo ha" with a silly grin on his face. At first, I couldn't get what he meant. I thought it was kinda rude of him to comment or remark, he normally doesn't say anything at all. Then I realized he was referring to my head band and that drove me into a giggling fit. I tend to giggle when I am caught in some awkwardly embarrassing moment.

Note to self: Next time you open the front door, check to make sure you don't look silly or else bare the consequences of your appearance!

Magnificent Macau (December 26, 2011)

It was the day after Christmas 2011, we set foot on Macau soil for the second time. Our first visit in February 2009 was a brief half day tour so we weren't able to explore much.

Since it was officially a holiday (Boxing day), most of the ferry rides were fully booked. We managed to get 5 seats for the 11:00 am ferry then made a mad dash to the boarding gate. An hour later, we were in Macau, the immigration counters were brimming with people of different nationalities waiting in line.

But the long wait was worth it once we saw the amazing sights of Macau! First stop was the Ruins of St Paul's Cathedral.


It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site


A 17th century Portuguese Cathedral dedicated to St Paul the Apostle, it was destroyed by a fire during a typhoon in the 1800s


The ruins consists of the baroque stone facade of the Church and the 66 stone steps leading up to the entrance


In the crypt, there is a chapel of the bone relics of martyrs. It contains the Cross of St Paul and the bone relics of the martyrs


In the museum of Sacred Art, there are several paintings. A painting of the martyrdom of Catholics in Japan. Among them Blessed Lorenzo Ruiz, our first saint.


Then we had to squeeze our way through the crowd to get back to Senado Square.


We said a little prayer at St Dominic's Church.


Main altar of St Dominic's Church.


It was already around 2pm when we had a very late lunch at NOW Cafe.


Our meals were mostly Portuguese fare like Bacalao fried rice and beef stew.


Then a few steps away from the NOW Cafe was the Cathedral of Macau.


The Cathedral is located in Plaza de Se.


It has beautifully carved wooden Stations of the Cross.


Elaborate main altar of the Cathedral of Macau.


A long walk back to Senado Square with its numerous colorful and historical buildings.


Christmas display in front of the Post office of Macau, Senado Square


Senado Square


Senado Square


D & D @ Senado Square

Then it was time to make the rounds of the different casinos. And it deserves an entirely separate post ... so this Macau series will be continued.

Reel time

As far back as I can remember, our family have always loved (watching) movies. Growing up overseas, we always did things together, just the four of us.

One of our favorite hobbies was going to the cinema theater. "Benji", some movie about a dog was if I recall correctly the very first film I saw at the cinema. I was barely 6 or maybe already 7 years old. Every weekend we would troop to the movie houses and be entertained. So I would know most of the Hollywood actors and actresses playing these myriad of characters from the leading roles to the supporting cast.

Another family tradition was to watch the awards shows like the Golden Globes and the Oscars. Not only to see the celebrities all glamed up for the occasion. I also like to see which actors would bring home the coveted trophies, watch the production numbers, the clips of the nominated movies, the monologue of the host(s). The acceptance speeches of the winners is a personal favorite part of the Awards.

I've been like majorly sticking to this tradition up to this day and age. A period when the actors of my youth now portray mother roles and may have gained a few pounds. Just like me. Well the weight not the maternal part. But in essence they have also matured and aged gracefully both in their looks (not all, but in general) as well as in their acting abilities.

So it is a bit sad (for want of a better word) that nowadays, I rarely step into a movie theater. For one, movie tickets are too pricey. Secondly, my hubby doesn't share this hobby with me. Third, it just takes a lot of effort, period.

Naturally, the next best option would be to watch movies on my laptop in the comfort of my home, dressed in my 'pambahay' with earphones so I can hear the dialogue clearly. Of course, I've indulged in this lonely habit, for some time now.

But in a recent email exchange with a fellow movie buff (based in another country), he strongly believes that a film is best experienced in a movie theater. That I was selling out by watching it on a smaller surface.

Although, I do believe he has a very valid point, I did however feel slightly insulted when he said I was selling out. I don't think so! I still watch movies (when time permits) and whether it is on the big screen or on my laptop shouldn't matter. What matters most is that my passion for film doesn't diminish and make me less of a movie buff. Suffice to say, he got a slew of emails from me tongue lashing him for his views.

How about you? Which do you prefer? Watching movies at the cinema or at home?

HK Revisited

During our visit, we didn't avail of any city tours. We didn't have any tourist guides to give us info about famous landmarks. We were armed with a map of HK island and Kowloon, print outs from websites and my very handy cell phone with roaming services so I could text my sister whenever we got lost!

She would message me what bus number to take, where to alight, which road to cross. All these vital info were easily accessible on her iPhone apps. There were times we got off the wrong MTR station or we missed our bus stop but overall we did fairly well. Here are some of the places we 'bumped' into:


Luxurious malls like The Pacific Place



Star Ferry at Victoria Harbour




The Victoria Peak Tower




Skyline view of skyscrapers from the Victoria Peak Lion Pavilion



Stunning view at night from the Victoria Peak Tower



Main altar of the St Anthony's Catholic Church



The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Caine Road



Organ at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception



Main altar at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception



Traditional Chinese shops



The Man Mo temple



Inside the temple are hanging coiled incense holders



Temple altar and offering of incense



This colonial style building is now the HQ of the Central District Police



A beautiful colonial style building in the Wanchai district



An obelisk in commemoration of the return of HK to China



Golden Bauhinia Square - the venue of the ceremony marking the return of Hong Kong to China in June 1997



Marker on the Century Square Building on D'Aguilar Street, Lan Kwai Fong

Dr Jose Rizal (1861-1896) Philippine Physician Poet Author and Patriot practiced medicine in 1891-92 in a clinic which once stood on this site.




Lan Kwai Fong is the place to be for Hong Kong's vibrant night life. It is a district filled with pubs, bars and restaurants




Hong Kong island as viewed from the Avenue of the Stars, Kowloon




The Legislative Council Building, Central



the Louis Vuitton boutique, Central



The Sun Yat Sen Museum, Caine Road



Dr Sun Yat Sen statue in front of the museum bearing his name



On a few occasions, after work my sister would join us for dinner. Here we are at Hometown Dumpling Restaurant which serves authentic Beijing cuisine.

Me? Fat?

I came across this funny picture on Facebook and it inspired me to talk about my weight.

In my 43rd year, I believe this is the 'fattest' I've ever been. Everyone seems to agree as I'm constantly hounded with statements like "Wow, Daph ang taba mo na!" or "Mukhang hiyang sa yo ang buhay may asawa ha, malusog ka!".

Remarks which could be offensive but unfortunately are very correct. I've observed it is mostly Filipinos who blurt out these sentences as some form of salutatory greeting. In all the years that I've lived aboard, it was only my Pinoy friends who would allude to my weight as opposed to my foreigner friends who never even mentioned anything remotely close to my weight gain or weight loss, for that matter.

Maybe because back then, I still had a waistline that didn't surpass the days of the calendar?

I don't think so.

I figure it has to be with being polite, with trying not to offend people's sensitivities and/or they just accepted me for my pleasing personality and didn't judge me on my weight.

I've also noticed that once I hit my 4th decade, it got really difficult to keep the weight off. Slow metabolism is to blame. A sedentary lifestyle is another. An unbalanced diet is another culprit. And so on and so forth. There are numerous reasons, really.

Lastly, even though I'm now at my fattest, it is also strangely enough a period in my life where I'm my most happiest.

So there! I wholeheartedly concur with Garfield and sticking to his story too!

A sign?

It seems that some higher authority or whoever is in charge of looking over us deemed that I was being way too lazy and neglectful of my blog, so They conspired and decided to send a challenge my way.

It takes a lot of effort and time to tweak with html codes to come up with a pleasant enough template. So I really loathe it when the bandwidth of some templates are exceeded and the pictures don't show up. I mean come on people shouldn't you check if your hosting fees are up for renewal? It is irritating, to say the least.

I had to scramble for a new template! So I just went for the ever reliable blogger templates, for now. I have been scouring for new ones but some of them need too much tweaking to look presentable. Too much hassle, really!

I just might keep this dark gloomy rainy effect c/o blogger. It perfectly matches my temperament - insouciance!

"Pundar"

I seem to have temporarily lost my blogging mojos thus the intermittent blog posts. I still have a couple of post re our HK trip but sorting through tons of pictures to figure out which ones to feature is very time consuming so I am procrastinating.

The other afternoon while drinking some peppermint tea, a random thought entered my mind. I was thinking here we are about to enter our 4th year of marriage this coming May and we haven't really made 'pundar' for anything concrete. By the way, 'pundar' is the vernacular term for the act of saving for the future.

We were already well established and set in our ways when we got hitched. I was 39 and D was 44 years old! When we moved into our conjugal home, we had our own set of furniture (bed, closets, book selves), appliances (TV, iron, electric fans, stove), gadgets, kitchen wares and personal effects. The only brand new item was a refrigerator which was a wedding present from my parents. In short, we didn't really dip too deep into our meager savings to set up our married life.

So while other married people tend to make pundar to be able to buy their own houses/condo units, cars, the education of their kids as well as save up for their retirement, D & I just take each day as it comes with nary a thought on the state of our finances.

During the first 2 1/2 years of our marriage, most of our income went into fertility meds/treatments. It really drained our finances as well as put a strain on our mental well being. Eventually, it felt more like a tedious chore than something worth fighting for. So we, well *I* abandoned the whole process. I just gave up and stopped trying. It was driving me insane. Perhaps I can be called a weakling for giving up, but unless you've lived through the hell I went through, you cannot really understand how it feels. Anyhoo, trust me, I'm at a much better place now.

As we sail into our 4th year, I believe it is never too late to start a new venture, so I've decided to start saving, period. That way I can sleep with ease at nights and not stay up until the wee hours of the morning in a constant state of worry!