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[Macau.Food] Tai Lei Loi Kei Pork Chop Bun 大利來記豬扒包

2011-11-02T22:51:00.000+08:00

It's raining now. It was raining in Macau yesterday when my friends and I went there for sightseeing and food.

It didn't affect our schedule significantly as we had been to more than 20 places in Macau. I actually have more than 500 photos to share with you. Let's start with the most famous pork chop bun in Macau.

It's well-known that most of Hong-Kongers go to Macau for gambling, souvenirs and foods especially egg tart and pork chop bun.

Tai Lei Pork Chop Bun 大利來記豬扒包 isn't an unfamiliar name for Hong-Kongers. It serves arguably the most delicious pork chop bun in Macau. The length of the queue could substantiate this statement.

The location of the restaurant is quite strategic. Famous tourist destinations such as Venetian Hotel and Taipa Houses are within walking distance from there.

This restaurant only started selling their food at 3pm sharp according to the research I'd done. We arrived there at around 2.30pm and the queue had already begun to wrap itself around the outside of the place.

It sells glass bottled soy bean and coke.

We waited for less than 15 minutes before buying pork chop buns at 16MOP ( approximately 8MYR ) each.

It's pretty oily. It's smaller than expected.

There're no other ingredients sandwiched between buns and pork chop. Chilly sauce is nowhere to be find in this restaurant.

You can order their pork chop noodle and milk tea. But I believe everyone was there for pork chop buns.

It's my first time eating a pork chop bun so I couldn't objectively judge the taste of the pork chop bun.

However, if it's the most delicious pork chop bun I can get, then........hmm.

The buns are tough and thick. My friend said eating it reminded him of the taste of the bread he first made by himself. Besides, the taste of the pork chop is nothing to shout about.

[Macau.Food] Hung Heng Cocos 洪馨椰子

2011-11-01T21:37:00.000+08:00

During my third trip to Macau, I visited all the famous places and restaurants in Macau that I'd missed out on during my first and second ones. Undeniably Macau is one of the most awesome places I've visited in my life.

Away from the neon lights of casinos in Macau, there's a small shop that's renowned for its home-made coconut ice-cream. The name of the shop is Hung Heng Cocos and it's situated very close to the Ruins of St Paul's.

The machines used to make coconut ice-cream.

The friendly lady boss told me that all of their coconuts are imported from Malaysia. I was quite surprised as they can get cheaper coconuts from Hainan Island which is even closer to Macau. She said the coconuts grown in Hainan Island are overly salty and not suitable to be made into ice-cream.

Hung Heng Cocos was awarded as one of the 20 most unique products of Macau by The Macau Businesswomen Association.

The ice-cream served to me was pre-refrigerated. It had a very strong flavor of coconut.

Surprisingly the ice-cream wasn't sweet at all. The lady boss told me that they don't add any sweet additive into their ice-cream in order to preserve the natural flavor of coconut.

I brought my brother to this shop again the next day and we're served freshly made ice-cream that was never pre-refrigerated. The coconut ice-cream that wasn't kept inside their refrigerator was softer and marginally more delicious. Do come to this shop very early in the morning to taste very fresh coconut ice-cream as they start making their ice-cream at around 8am.

Can't believe that this awesome ice-cream is made of coconuts imported from Malaysia. Any shops in Malaysia selling great coconut ice-cream?

If you wanna taste this coconut ice-cream, do come earlier to avoid disappointment. They only made one hundred cups of coconut ice-cream every day and usually it would be sold out by 2pm.

[Macau.Travel Food] Three Free-and-easy trips in Macau Chronicles Summary

2010-07-24T11:24:00.001+08:00

Macau is a good place to travel. Even though it's a small place, there're lots of places to visit, lots of good food to taste and lots of things to do in Macau. Compared with its sister Hong Kong, Macau is relatively cheap to travel as food is around 15-25HKDs per meal and there's free shuttle services provided by hotels that you can take to travel around Macau. As long as the weather is not overly hot, you can even travel on foot as most of the tourist attractions are very close to each other.

I've written a few posts sharing my free-and-easy traveling experience and foods I've tasted in Macau on this blog. Hope you like them. Cheers!

Should you have any questions regarding free-and-easy traveling in Macau, email me at cenziwei@gmail.com.

Below are the itineraries:

MACAU　

20100206 ( one-day trip )

Shing kee ( Food ) > Historic Center of Macau Part 1 ( St. Augustine’s Square ) > Historic Center of Macau Part 2 ( Senado Square ) > Historic Center of Macau Part 3 ( the Ruins of St. Paul's ) > Historic Center of Macau Part 4 ( Company of Jesus Square ) > Taipa > Tai Lei Pork Chop Bun ( Food ) > San Hou Lei ( Food ) > Rua do Cunha ( Food Street ) > Mok Yee Kei ( Food ) > The Taipa Houses Museum > The Venetian Macao > San Luca Canal > Senado Square ( Night ) > Wong Chi Kee ( Food ) > Leitaria I Son ( Food )

20100305 - 20100306 ( two-day trip )

20100305

Macau Fisherman's Wharf > Guia Hill > Guia Fortress > Sai Van ( Food ) > Vasco da Gama Garden > Tap Seac Square > St. Lazarus Church > St. Michael Cemetery > Lou Lin Loc Garden > Lai Kei Ice Cream ( Food ) > the Ruins of St Paul's > Mount Fortress > the Ruins of St Paul's ( Night ) > Luk Kee Noodle ( Food ) > Grand Lisboa > Casino Lisboa > Wynn > Macau Tower ( Night ) > Statue of Kun Lam > Macau-Taipa Bridge ( Night ) > Friendship Bridge ( Night ) > Macau Fisherman's Wharf ( Night ) > Lotus Square > Lotus Flower in Full Bloom > Cow Offal ( Food ) > San Va Hotel

20100306

San Va Hotel > Rua da Felicidade > Historic Center of Macau Part 5 > Historic Center of Macau Part 6 ( A-Ma Temple ) > Avenida Dr. Sun Yat Sen > Macau Tower > Cafe e Nata Margaret's Portuguese egg tarts ( Food ) > Coloane > Lord Stow's Bakery Portuguese egg tarts ( Food ) > Church of St Francis Xavier > Hac Sa Beach > San Hou Lei ( Food ) > The Taipa Houses Museum > The Venetian Macao

20100528 ( one-day trip )

Kun Lam Temple > Three Lamps District > Red Market > Hoi Tsing Herbal Tea > Fong Kee Pig Leg > Lok Kee Beef Noodle > Historic Center of Macau Part 7 > Hung Heng Cocos ( Food ) > Cheung Kei Noodle ( Food ) > MGM Grand Macau > Wynn Macau > City of Dreams

[Shanghai.Travel Food] Chenghuang Miao 城隍庙 - Nanxiang Bun Shop 南翔馒头店

2010-07-23T15:06:00.001+08:00

Chenghuang Miao is a large commercial area in Shanghai. Chenghuang Miao can also refer to the large temple complex situated in the area.

My trip to Chenghuang Miao wasn't a pleasant experience. The Chenghuang Miao was closed, the entire commercial area was very crowded and I queued for more than twenty minutes for tasting Nanxiang Xiaolongbao which was a disappointment.

There're more than one hundred stores and shops in this area. I didn't look for any good bargains as this area resembles a normal pedestrian streets in other big cities in China that I've been to.

Chenghuang Miao connects to the famous Yuyuan Garden. The entrance ticket costs 40RMB and there's no student ticket to purchase. I didn't go in because I found through research it's just a normal Suzhou-styled garden.

Crowd.

The famous Nanxiang Bun Shop. It's even declared as the cultural heritage of Shanghai. It made me think that I must taste it even I saw there're more than twenty people lining up for take-aways.

The Xiaolongbaos, some might call buns, I queued for more than twenty minutes for. 16 Xiaolongbaos costs 20RMB and it's quite cheap. But the filling tastes like it's made by machine instead of man-made. The skin is quite thick which isn't very nice to eat. The soup wrapped is very little and tastes plain.

If you have ample free time in Shanghai, go to Huanghe Road to look for Jia Jia Tang Bao or Yang's Fried Dumpling. They're much better options if you wanna taste Shanghai specialties.

When I arrived Chenghuang Miao, the temple was already closed.

[Macau.Travel Food] Taipa 氹仔 - Food Street and the Taipa Houses Museum

2010-07-19T16:08:00.000+08:00

20100206 -

After eating the famous Tai Lei Pork Chop Bun, the rain became slightly heavier.

We reached the Rua do Cunha 官也街 after the rain stopped. The street is also called Food Street.

Heading to the Rua do Cunha, we passed by this restaurant called San Hou Lei 新好利咖啡餅店.

And this restaurant sells a package of egg tarts: Normal egg tart, milk egg tart, Portuguese egg tart and bird's nest egg tart. Totally four kinds of egg tarts and costs 30MOP.

This restaurant is also famous for its pork chop bun.

However we're too full. We just ordered its bird's nest egg tart. It's quite special to me. They add bird's nest into the eggs inside their egg tarts. However it didn't taste any unique and was quite expensive as well. 10MOP.

The yellow building looked like a historical building but in fact it's a Portuguese restaurant.

Koi kei bakery 鉅記

You probably can find its branches at all the tourist destinations.

According to my research, Mok Yee Kei 莫義記's dessert is a must-try especially the durian ice-cream. It doesn't come cheap. 12MOP.

For me it's quite worthy as at least 30 percent of each spoon of ice-cream is threads of durian. The taste of durian is very strong. Those who don't like durian can choose other desserts.

Heading to Taipa Houses Museum.

The streets are silent here.

The aftermath of rain.

Church of Our Lady of Carmel

This picture was taken by my friend using his DSLR camera. Should give some credit to him.

The weather is bad for photography. Anyway if the weather is better with less bright blue sky visible, certainly Macau is a very good place for pre-wedding pictures shooting. European-style buildings in Taipa, the luxurious Venetian Macao which is the sister resort of Venetian Las Vegas and the Chinese temples in the Historic Center. The architecture designs of three continentals can be found in such a small region.

The Taipa Houses Museum 龍環葡韻博物館 is one of the eight selected landscapes of Macau.

I stood outside of the Houses. The entry isn't free. Due to time constraint, we just walked around this area.

East meets west.

The view of the Venetian Macao from Taipa Houses. I believe that after the constructions of the buildings beside it are done, the night view from here should be beautiful. Especially the reflection.

The garden located in front of the Taipa Houses.

[Macau.Food] Cafe e Nata Margaret's Portuguese egg tarts 瑪嘉烈蛋撻店葡塔

2010-07-19T16:07:00.001+08:00

20100306

I jotted down all the places I've visited in Macau in my traveling archive.

In the second day, our lunches consisted of the two famous Portuguese egg tarts in Macau - Margaret's Portuguese egg tarts 瑪嘉烈葡塔 and Lord Stow's Bakery Portuguese egg tarts 安德魯餅店葡塔

Please note that this cafe is just located beside Grand Lisboa. If you couldn't find the location, ask locals for direction.

All the seats were occupied. And a short queue waiting to collect their paid food.

Except Portuguese egg tarts, they also sells cakes and biscuits and desserts.

But we're here for egg tarts only.

I thought we're gonna wait for very long. Only 5 minute waiting time. 42MOP for six!

I shall do a comparison between Andrew Stow and Margaret.

Margaret's one was sweeter and has thicker and more crispy puff pastry. Personally I prefer Andrew Stow to Margaret because the egg custard of Margaret's is too sweet and perhaps more fattening.

Anyway it's clear to me that Margaret's sales is better because of its strategic location. Within walking distance of the Ruins of St Paul's, Senado Square and many hotel casinos such as Wynn. But one thing you might have to endure is the impoliteness of Margaret's workers.

[Macau.Travel] Lou Lim Loc Garden 盧廉若公園

2010-07-19T16:07:00.000+08:00

20100305

During my second trip to Macau, my friend and I went to Lou Lim Loc Garden 盧廉若公園. It's a garden that was voted as one of the eight landmarks of Macau in 1992.

This garden was built in the 19th century by an affluent trader named Lou Kau. This garden is named after his first son, Lou Lim Loc. It's the only classical Chinese-styled Garden in Macau and Hong Kong.

The main entrance of the garden.

The Macau government bought this garden in 1973 and subsequently renovated it. It's open to public daily from 8am to 6pm and the entry is free.

My first impression of this garden was that it is really different from those city gardens I've visited in Hong Kong such as Hong Kong Park and Shatin Park when it comes to overall design. It adopts Suzhou-styled garden design so it contains shady trees, lotus ponds and golden bamboo groves.

Guanyin statue

A Portuguese-styled multi-purpose building in the center of the garden.

Me. Pretty tired after walking for three hours.

It's surrounded by several types of buildings such as tall public flats, administrative buildings. Like Hong Kong, Macau also faces land scarcity.

Ponds

Chinese-styled pavilion

Zig-zag bridges that zigzag through ponds. It's widely believed amongst Macau locals that evil spirits could move in a straight line. Zig-zag bridges can prevent them from getting closer to human beings.

Bamboo

Walking through rockery.

What does it look like?

Chinese poems carved on a rock

It's a place in where old folks spend their leisure time playing chess and socializing.

[Shanghai.Food] Yang's Fried Dumpling ( Sheng Jian Bao ) 小杨生煎

2010-07-15T20:39:00.000+08:00

Another reason you must come to Huanghe Road for food hunting is because other than Jia Jia Tang Bao, there's another famous restaurant along this road. The restaurant is Yang's Fried Dumpling or Xiao Yang Sheng Jian which is renowned for Fried Dumpling or Sheng Jian Bao.

Fried Dumpling is one of the specialties of Shanghai. Fried dumpling is quite similar to soup dumpling and the only difference is that the bottom of fried dumpling is pan-fried to give it a little bit of texture.

Yang's Fried Dumpling is just situated directly opposite to Jia Jia Tang Bao.

The auntie who frequents Huanghe Road told us that they usually eat Yang's Fried Dumpling first and go to Jia Jia Tang Bao because normally they need to queue for more than 15 minutes for Jia Jia Tang Bao and the long time of waiting can help digestion so that they can eat a lot more in Jia Jia.

No waiting time needed.

Incorrect way of wearing a mask but it's okay for me as I know there're many things I had to put up with in China.

Only 5RMB for 4 dumplings.

Compared with Jia Jia Tang Bao, the skin of Yang's Fried Dumpling is thicker but more crispy. At my first bite, I drank the soup first so that nothing squeezed out. The pork filling is a little bit salty but it's a good companion with the plain crispy skin. The generous scatter of sesame seeds help enhance the fragrance.

I felt very full very satisfied after trying Jia Jia Tang Bao and Yang's Fried Dumpling. I don't see any reason not to come to these two restaurants when you come to Shanghai.

Without a doubt, Huanghe road is a must-visit food street in Shanghai if you wanna try the specialties of Shanghai - Fried Dumpling and Soup Dumpling.

[Hong Kong.Food] Food Hunting in Central - Tai Cheong Bakery and Kau Kee Beef Noodle

2010-07-06T18:07:00.000+08:00

After visiting the Victoria Peak, I decided to hunt good food in the Central District. It's not my first time hunting food there as there're lots of famous restaurants that I wanna try in this district. I have been to Tai Cheong Bakery to eat their Hong Kong styled egg tart. Afterwards I headed to Kau Kee Beef Noodle which was almost fully occupied as it was the lunch hours for white-collar workers when I went there.

Tai Cheong Bakery. It looks like a normal bakery but it has more than ten branches in Hong Kong.

There're a variety of baked goods such as bread, pies and cakes sold there but I was only there for their egg tart.

When I first bite it, I realized that the pastry is not crispy, not as crispy and flaky as Malaysian version. The egg filling is very soft, so soft it actually flew into my mouth and it's not very sweet. I prefer it to Portuguese egg tart simply because it's not overly sweet.

Do visit this bakery for Hong Kong styled egg tart because it's so famous it's the favorite of the Ex-Governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten.

After finished the egg tart, I came to Kau Kee. Kau Kee is within very short distance from Tai Cheong Bakery and it will be much easier to find these two restaurants if you have done proper prior research using google map.

Kau Kee has ninety years of history and it's well-known that it's the benchmark for the best beef brisket noodle in Hong Kong. Famous Patron includes Tony Leung!

Like any famous cha chaan teng in Hong Kong, it's fully occupied during lunch hours. It's very troublesome for hunting good food in Hong Kong if you go out with a group of friends because it's likely you will have to wait for more than 30 minutes for a table that's big enough.

The chefs worked really fast. My beef brisket noodle had come within ten minutes after I gave my order.

My beef brisket noodle. I always drink a spoon of soup first. Surprisingly, the soup doesn't have a strongly beefy flavor and presents a much cleaner taste compared with usual ones in Hong Kong.

The beef brisket was cut to bite size and very soft. Not very chewy but impressive. The downside is that the serving is very small by Hong Kong standards so the value is rather low as it cost 27HKDs. Don't expect you especially guys would feel full after finishing it or you can eat an egg tart first like what I did!

[Shanghai.Travel] Riverside Promenade ( Binjiang Da Dao )

2010-07-03T14:18:00.000+08:00

While the Bund ( Old Shanghai ) is on the west side of Huangpu River, the Lujiazui is on the east side. There's a 2.5 kilometer long promenade called Riverside Promenade or Binjiang Da Dao situated at the east bank of Huangpu River in Lujiazui. It offers a marvelous panoramic view of the Bund.

Riverside Promenade is about 10-minute walking distance from Lujiazui Metro Station. The tall Oriental Pearl Tower came into sight first when I walked out from the metro station. The entrance fee for the sightseeing hall on the second sphere is 100RMB.

The view of the Bund as seen from the Riverside Promenade.

The Bund is known as the Museum of Architecture because it houses 52 buildings of various architectural styles such as Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Neo-Classical, Beaux-Arts, and Art Deco. So many European-styled Buildings being built on the Bund clearly shows Shanghai was once a leased territory of foreign countries.

The names of buildings ( from left to right ): The Mc Bain Building, the Shanghai Club Building, the Union Building, the NKK Building, the Russell & Co. Building, the Russell & co. Building, the Great Northern Telegraph Company Building, The China Merchants Company Building

The names of buildings ( from left to right ): The HSBC Building, The Customs House, the Bank of Communication Bank Building, The Russo-Chinese Bank, The Bank of Taiwan

The building with green roof is the Peace Hotel while the building that's situated at its right side is the Old Bank of China Building.

This is a cart placed on the promenade for tourists to take photos with it.

When I strolled along the promenade gazing upon the Bund, "the Shanghai Bund" sung by Andy Lau was being played on the speakers of a professional photo-taking vendor. It made me very sentimental when viewing the Bund. The song is really a good companion with the Bund!

The Oriental Pearl Tower at night.

The panoramic view of the Bund.

[Hong Kong.Travel] The Peak 山頂 ( Night )

2010-07-01T20:59:00.001+08:00

I heard through a relative who is working in Hong Kong that the visibility on the Victoria Peak is unpredictable. It can be murky one day and crystal clear the next because it's extremely humid in Hong Kong and the air pollution there becomes more and more severe over years.

When I went up the Peak again, I was quite lucky. The weather is not perfect yet good enough that I can still see the Kowloon area. The night view from the Victoria Peak didn't disappoint me. It's really awesome.

It's worth mentioning that the Victoria Peak is one of the top three night views alongside with Naples, Italy and Hokkaido, Japan.

I've tried to post-process this picture with different color balances.

Original

Orange - it looks like Hong Kong is gonna explode.

Black and White -

Sepia.

Dark purple

Green - the worst color balance. Just simply don't fit with the night view from the peak.

Yellow purple - it looks good to me.

Red -

Soft purple - I like this color balance the most. If mornings in Hong Kong are magnetic, nights in Hong Kong are romantic especially the night view from the Peak. And soft purple is the best color to represent Hong Kong nights.

Daytime view. I visited the Peak once in the morning in May.

The night view is still the best although the daytime view is satisfactory.

[Shanghai.Travel] The Bund ( Night ) 外灘

2010-06-29T13:27:00.002+08:00

My brother and I stayed in the Bund until the sky became completely dark so that we could have the night view of the Bund.

In the Bund, there's a long promenade on where people can view not only the historical buildings on the Bund but also Lujiazui financial district, which is situated on the opposite of the Huangpu River. It offers a great view of Old Shanghai ( the Republican Era ) and New Shanghai ( modern era ). In my opinion, it's even more beautiful than the Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong. After this thought appeared in my head, I overheard a guy giving his friend the exactly same comment in Cantonese. Lol.

The picture above shows Lujiazui viewed from the Bund.

As the sky was getting darker and darker, more and more tourists were coming to the Bund. After all, it's one of the most famous tourist destinations in Shanghai. In my opinion, it's the only tourist spot in Shanghai that is worth visiting as this place is definitely distinct from any places you visit in China.

I was really amazed at how fast the Lujiazui has developed into a new financial district.

Before 1991, the Lujiazui was still an underdeveloped area, featuring only residential areas and warehouses. After Shanghai was permitted to start their economic reforms in 1991, the government began to develop this area. 19 years later, dozens of skyscrappers have been built on this area and there're many construction projects still going on.

In my opinion, the Lujiazui can produce more beautiful light show than A Symphony of Light in Hong Kong.

The Oriental Pearl Tower - the symbol of the New Shanghai.

My favorite still remains the Bund, which was the main financial district in Shanghai before 1991.

The Bund houses 52 buildings of various architectural styles, most of which were built at the end of 19th century.

The HSBC building. The most luxurious building between the Suez Canal and the Bering Strait in 1920s.

The Bund was so beautiful I couldn't bear leaving this place.

The panoramic view of the Lujiazui financial district.

[Shanghai.Food] Jia Jia Tang Bao ( Soup dumpling ) 佳家汤包

2010-06-25T00:51:00.000+08:00

Shanghai is the birthplace of Soup Dumpling, also known as Tang Bao or Xiao Long Bao. Soup dumpling is a must-try in Shanghai when you come to this fast-growing city in China because it's home to the best soup dumpling in the world.

My brother and I were very lucky. A lady whom we met on train recommended us this Jia Jia Tang Bao as the best place to eat soup dumpling at very cheap price. I didn't do any research on where to eat best soup dumpling in Shanghai. I was pretty grateful for her recommendation because the soup dumplings served by this restaurant were really delicious.

Jia Jia Tang Bao. It's already 3.00pm after we checked into our hostel and bought expo tickets. We're very hungry.

The restaurant is fully occupied even at 3.00pm. I heard through my friends afterwards that it's very likely people have to wait for more than 30 minutes if it's a weekend because the restaurant is quite small and people have to split tables.

This restaurant is quite similar to Hong Kong typical cha chaan teng. The servers serve the food within 15 minutes after order and customers would usually eat their food very quickly and leave. The turnover is fast.

The big difference is that customers have to pay the bills first before their food is served.

We ordered a dozen of crab soup dumplings. It cost 22.50RMB. Chicken, pork and shrimp ones had been sold out.

The soup dumpling looked very juicy.

At first bite, all the soup inside the dumpling filled my mouth immediately and the soup was very delicious.

The skin was very thin and soft. The crab meat filling was ground enough.

Some people would like to eat dumplings with some gingers.

The soup dumplings are made by a group of young women.

The dumplings are very hot and fresh when served to us.

Try the seaweed and egg soup. It's a good companion for the dumplings.

It's located at Huanghe Road, that's very close to People's Square.

I'm very happy with Jia Jia Tang Bao because it's really cheap and delicious. The soup dumplings in other countries such as Malaysia might cost several times more expensive and don't taste as good.

[Hong Kong.Travel] Hong Kong Garden 香港公園

2010-06-18T14:35:00.000+08:00

Hong Kong Park is a public park located very close to the peak tram lower terminus in Central District. It's surrounded by many sky-scrappers such as the Bank of China tower and the Lippo Center and offers a relaxing environment in the midst of the bustling business district. It also provides slightly better air quality and is an great example of modern design blending with the natural landscape.

Its main features includes Edward Youde Aviary and Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware.

Before going up the Peak, it's nice to visit this garden.

The main feature of Hong Kong Park is Edward Youde Aviary. It features 800 birds comprising 100 species indigenous to Southeast Asia and New Guinea. A mini telescope is needed to view birds.

White-necked Myna.

Green Imperial Pegion. It's

Bali Starling. The Bali Starling is distributed and endemic to the island of Bali in Indonesia, where it is the island's only surviving endemic species. This rare bird was discovered in 1910. The other Bali's endemic, the Bali Tiger, was declared extinct in 1937.

I saw many birds of this species in the aviary. Really couldn't believe that this species is critically endangered at the moment and in Bali there's a national park established just for the Bali Starling's survival. I hope the information I've gotten is inaccurate. They're too cute.

Yellow-faced Myna.

Black capped Lory.

This is a walk-through aviary. Remember to come before 5pm. It's closed at 5pm.

Flying Buttresses and Stilt Root. The aviary is built over a real natural valley.

Bali Starlings again. Couples?

You really need at least a decent mini telescope in order to see birds clearly.

The view of sky-scrappers from the aviary.

Spotted this special plant. No idea of whether it's real. It look artificial.

Olympic Square. Has a seating capacity for 800 people.

Lippo Center is located in the vicinity of Hong Kong Park.

The Bank of China tower too.

The Tea Museum. Worth visiting but not as good as the Museum of Art as it's just a small museum.

Exit. Surprisingly the park is very crowded even during Friday.

Applause to Hong Kong city planners who planned the construction of such a nice great area in the busy business district.

[Macau.Travel] Tap Seac Square and Vasco da Gama Garden

2010-06-15T23:49:00.000+08:00

Tap Seac Square and Vasco da Gama Garden are both located in the central part of Macau Peninsula.

Tap Seac Square is a huge cobblestone-paved square, where some beautiful 1920s neo-classical buildings can be seen.

Would pass by this place if you walk from Guia towards Lim Loc Lec Garden.

There was no events held in this square when we visited this place. Quite silent as a result.

Macau Youth Art Gallery.

Wave-patterned, stone mosaic which can be found in many places in Macau. It's paved by Macau government in 90s in order to improve the appearance of Macau as a tourist region.

It's a library.

The building in the center of the picture above is Macau Historical Archives which

Contains letters, books and manuscripts pertaining to Portugal's exploration and Macau's relations with Europe, China, Japan, and Southeast Asia from a wide variety of governmental, civic, ecclesiastic and private sources. The most valuable have been put on microfilm, including 7500 items dating from 1587 to 1786.

The archives are houses in one of the mansions in colonial style in Avenida de Conselheiro Ferreira de Almeida restored by the Macau Government which won the Pacific Area Travel Association's Heritage Award, in 1982.

Tn the left side of picture the building is Tap Seac Gallery. The gallery opens daily from 10am to 7pm and contains approximately 400 square metres of exhibition space.

It's also close to lots of attractive tourist spots such as Lou Lim Lec Garden.

Me. I really like the earthen-yellow and brick-red outer walls.

Vasco da Gama Garden is within walking distance from Tap Seac Square.

The bust of Vasco da Gama.

People in Macau, Singapore and Malaysia should hear of this name. He's one of the most successful explorers in the European Age of Discovery. He had contributed a lot to his government's exploring eastern world for trading opportunities.

Other than this, it's just a normal garden in where you can find lots of old folks and secondary school students spending their leisure time.

[Hong Kong.Travel] HKUST - Walking around the campus

2010-06-11T19:23:00.000+08:00

It's my last month studying in the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology ( often abbreviated as HKUST ). Other than studying, I've traveled around China quite a bit. However I didn't take time to walk around my campus which can be very beautiful tourist destination when the weather is right.

I decided to put these two posts under the label "travel" because I really think that HKUST campus is beautiful.

HKUST - Entrance Piazza > Academic Building > Walking around the campus > Port Shelter > Beach

The whole campus is constructed along the slope of surrounding hills.

The main building, which is The Hong Kong Jockey Club Atrium and Academic Building, is built on the top of cliff while most of the student halls and sport facilities are built on the bottom of cliff which is also located closer to the Port Shelter.

My route was from The Hong Kong Jockey Club Enterprise Center to UG Hall 3, which is my hall.

Lots of construction projects going on in the campus.

Bed sheets hung outside of postgraduate hostels.

Visitor Center. The visitor center is only reserved for those who came to HKUST for functions or research purpose. HKUST doesn't offer accommodation to students' parents or friends.

There's a small pub at the ground level of the visitor center.

Spotted this purple old-fashioned car outside of the visitor center.

The academic building as viewed from the visitor center.

A small outdoor space in where students can enjoyed the sunny weather and the sea view without worrying about studies.

Walking down the slope.

When walking from postgraduate hostel towards the bridge link, you would pass by a pathway along where there're two rows of coniferous trees.

The pathway as seen from another end.

Reached the bridge link. The bridge link has three sections as you can see from the map.

"the stairway to Heaven"

It's the central part of bridge link.

Inside the bridge link.

The bottom part of bridge link as viewed from the central part. Sports facilities such as outdoor swimming pool and football field can be seen also.

The left side of the picture above shows my hall. The right side shows Hall 7 which is the newest built undergraduate hostel in HKUST.

As shown in the picture above, the campus is built on a steep slope. As we stay in the bottom of the slope, we have to walk up the slope to the academic building via bridge links every day.

In my case, I have to pass by all three parts of bridge links and take three elevators to go to the academic building. It normally takes fifteen minutes. It's pretty short compared with NUS. When I stayed in the Prince George's Park in NUS, I have to take shuttle bus to go to school every day. It normally took more than thirty minutes in early morning.

Postgraduate hostels and academic staffs' accommodation are built on higher sea levels than undergraduate hostels. Some students said it's bad for undergraduates. But I couldn't understand it because I don't have adequate knowledge relating to Fengshui to understand it. Worth nothing that most of Hong Kong people are believers of Fengshui.

Finally reached the bottom of the slope.

Hall 2. One of the busiest halls.

Outdoor swimming pool. It's closed until April.

Hall 7 - Chan Sui Kau and Chan Lam Moon Chun Hall. It's just beside my hall. The rooms in this hall are newest. It's the only undergraduate hall where all the rooms have attached bathrooms.

My hall - Hall 3.

View from my room. The road is always silent.

The panoramic view from my room. As my room faces the port shelter, it offers a spectacular view of South China Sea.

When I go back to NUS, I certainly will miss this view.

However the possibility of the sky in HKUST being clear is pretty low because HKUST is located just beside the ocean. There's always plenty of humidity and haze at the ocean so the sky is unclear most of the time. Don't really recommend you to come to this place for sightseeing if you only come to Hong Kong for less than ten days.

[Hong Kong.Travel] HKUST - Entrance Piazza and Academic Building

2010-06-08T23:35:00.000+08:00

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (often abbreviated HKUST) is one of the nine universities in Hong Kong. Recently, HKUST was named the second best university in Asia in a study by the Chosun Ilbo and Quacquarelli Symonds of 448 universities in 11 Asian countries.

The Hong Kong University is the best in Asia but certainly HKUST is the most improved university in Asia. You might be surprised to find this university is only 19 years old. More surprisingly, 19 years ago, a team of officials from this university visited Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea to learn about university management. But 19 years later, HKUST ranks second among universities in Asia, while POSTECH fell to 14th place.

Other than its fame, it also has a very beautiful campus. In my opinion it can be a tourist destination.

Before I finish my exchange program in this university, I decided to walk around the campus in order to have a complete view of this campus.

Entrance Piazza. It's the main entrance of HKUST campus where you will pass by if you come here by bus or car.

The red structure is a sundial. It's one of the symbols of HKUST.

Some of the full-time students called it turkey because "turkey" and "science and technology" have the same pronunciation in Cantonese.

Remember to take a photo with this turkey when you visit HKUST.

As mentioned above, this turkey is a sundial - a device that measures time by the position of the Sun.

People can tell the time when the sun casts a shadow from the silver rod onto the red curved surface indicating the hours of the day. As the sun moves across the sky, the shadow progressively aligns with different hour-line on the red curved surface.

Of course HKUST surface don't need it to know the time. It's much more of a landscape.

And the sky in Hong Kong don't always open up.

The University Road. There's a bus station at the other end of the road.

Carvings that combines Chinese and European elements. It symbolizes the cultural diversity of Hong Kong.

The view from another angle.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Atrium.

There're several construction projects in the vicinity of atrium. This university is still very small compared with the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The view from the atrium. You can see bridge link and South China Sea.

Many escalators in HKUST. It stops operating after 7pm.

A corridor in the academic building.

Elevators.

Direction board. I had to take this lift to come to my sociology class. I certainly would miss this lift and the class because in the class I learn a lot about the modern history of China, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Kim Dynasty.

The atrium. This place will become very crowded during school days. We have to pass by this area when going towards our respective classrooms. Despite the high human traffic in this area, I have never seen any commercial activities like bazaar being held here.

It's a place where societies hold their promotion activities and controversial shouting periods.

Sundial in a random early morning.

Sundial in a random late night.

[Hong Kong.Travel] HKUST - Port Shelter and Beach

2010-06-03T11:01:00.000+08:00

During the first three months of my staying in Hong Kong, the sky was always haze. In the middle of May, the sky finally opened up and the visibility was excellent. I took a short break from my preparation for final examinations and come down to the port shelter to enjoy the great weather especially the blue sky.

There're many sport facilities and a coastal marine laboratory located on the shore of port shelter.

School buildings built on the slope can be seen for the port shelter.

My hall is the building that has a red triangle on top of its roof.

The port shelter is just 2 minute walking distance from my hall. The weather had never been so good before that.

It's a good place to meditate and pray.

I found a few of middle-aged people fishing there.

The water is surprisingly clear. So clear that you can see little fishes moving in the water.

The port shelter is really a relaxing place.

It offers a relaxing environment for those students who are struggling in HKUST. Worth mentioning that Hong Kong people call HKUST as Hong Kong University of Stress and Tension because this university has higher workload compared with other universities in Hong Kong.

It also offers a tranquil place in the midst of this competitive university.

Fishing can be a good way to relax yourself also.

I was amazed at the changing color layers of water surface and the sky.

Discovered this light blue water drained into the sea. I guess most probably it's emitted from the coastal marine laboratory. Not sure of whether the emitted water would devastate the marine life. But I guess the water should have been filtered as Hong Kong has fairly strict regulations on pollution control.

Otherwise the water won't be so clear.

Me. I became so tanned since the end of April.

There's a barbecue site just beside the shore of port shelter.

A short stretch of beach just beside the barbecue site! There was so much to experience here.

Do come down to the port shelter if you visit HKUST.

[Hong Kong.Travel] Yuen Bo Street Bird Garden 园圃街雀鸟花园

2010-06-02T10:52:00.000+08:00

Yuen Bo Street Bird Garden 园圃街雀鸟花园 is a Chinese style bird garden in where many birds of different types are displayed. It's also a place where people can buy birds and bring their own birds for an outing.

It's located very close to Prince Edward MTR station and another two tourist spots - flower street and golden fish market. We visited this place after having polo buns for our breakfasts in Kum Wah.

You will be fine if you feed fedal pigeons. Fedal pigeons are really everywhere inside the bird garden. Birds of this type really devastate the food chains of the birds inside the garden.

It's a place where bird-lovers come with their private birds and gather with other fellow like-minded bird-lovers to share their experiences.

This big white parrot couldn't imitate human's voice and is completely unresistant to people touching him/her. I saw a parrot of similar size and same color appeared in a Mongkok street performing after several weeks.

A local trying to teach him/her to speak human's language.

Me.

It's a narrow street inside the bird garden.

Around 70 stalls selling cages, accessories a bird owner would need.

The majority of stall owners are old folks.

We're there merely for watching birds. Discovered lots of birds that can only be found in tropical countries like Singapore and Malaysia.

Singapore bird sold at 880HKD. Actually the price of a bird is largely dependent how well the bird sings, according to sellers. 880HKD could be the minimum price only.

It isn't surprising to find that the birds in this garden stay in such an overcrowded cage. Hong Kong people also live very much closer to their counterparts than many other Asian regions.

Birds' feeds are also sold here. Like live grasshoppers.

Mong kok streets are within walking distance from this bird garden.

Certainly a good place worth visiting, purchasing domestic birds and even doing research on bird species.

[Macau.Food] Lai Kei Ice Cream 禮記雪糕

2010-05-30T17:06:00.000+08:00

Lai Kei Ice Cream is a sixty year old shop located in the center of Macau Peninsula.

It's the only traditional ice-cream parlour left in Macau and still stays the same way after sixty years.

The shop still preserves the decorations it had sixty years ago even after several times of renovations.

Read from right to left.

The style of the words certainly evoke nostalgia amongst elderly people and those who like 60s movies.

Old tiles that can only be found in very old houses nowadays. My friend said the decoration resembled an old shop he always frequented in his hometown in Malaysia and it brought back lots of memories.

Old-styled standing fan. According to the shop owner who's very friendly, it still works. It's not merely a decoration.

It looks like an old movie scene in which a male would bring his girlfriend here to spend an afternoon after a simple movie.

I guess the booth is the place where a lot of elderly people reminisce about their past dates.

Me. My attire kind of ruined the whole atmosphere. Where to buy 60s style shirts and pants?

Other than ice-cream sandwiches, this shop is also famous for its peanut ice-cream which I didn't try out.

The shop still retained the usage of 60s style ice-cream wrapping paper. It's certainly worth bringing back home as a souvenir.

It's my first time eating an ice-cream sandwich.

I like it because it's not too sweet.

It's also a place to revise our traveling plan.

My friend and I had a hard time finding this shop. Luckily it seemed to be so famous that three local pedestrians whom we asked for directions showed us the correct ways of going to the shop.

[Macau.Travel] Revisited the Ruins of St Paul's and Mount Fortress

2010-05-27T08:55:00.000+08:00

Senado Square is a travel hub in the Macau Peninsula. The Ruins of St Paul's is too. The street linking these two popular travel spots is a pedestrian street in where you can find lots of souvenirs and snacks.

The night view of the ruins of St Paul's is as good as the daytime view of it.

As we walked from Lim Loc Lec garden to Sanva hotel, we passed by this area. Although it's Friday, it's very crowded. I stood still alone there for five minutes and there're four groups of people asking for my help to take photos for them.

Yellow flowers were grown this time.

Crowded street. It's like Mongkok streets in Hong Kong.

A secondary school is located in this area. The students might be sick of the view of the ruins?

After we checked in our hotel, we walked to the ruins again in order to have a night view and also to have our dinner.

Found this trishaw. Trishaw used to be a major public mode of transportation in Macau but it's become merely for sightseeing purpose.

A bustling pedestrian street. People come to Macau for shopping? Not necessarily. Stuffs in Macau are generally priced slightly higher than Hong Kong.

It's getting darker.

The courtyard in front the fortress buildings.

The view of the ruins as seen from the Mount Fortress

The ruins started to look gloomy as the sky was getting darker and darker.

Company of Jesus Square in the evening.

Visiting the ruins in the evening will be a totally different feeling from visiting it during daytime. The whole area behind the ruins will be inaccessible in the evening but still can see the the ruins. Another good thing is that it's much less crowded in the evening. We headed to the north eastern part to have our dinner after it.

[Macau.Travel] Night at Macau Peninsula 澳門半島 along Avenue Avenida Dr. Sun Yat-sen

2010-05-21T01:35:00.003+08:00

Walking along Avenue Avenida Dr Sun Yat-sen is one of the best ways to have a night view of Macau Peninsula. There're lots of tourist spots that looks both nice in the morning and evening in Macau.

Macau Tower and Sai Van Bridge are shown in the picture above.

Statue of Kun Lam. Closed in the evening.

Macau-Taipa Bridge.

Friendship Bridge. The building at the left side of the picture above is Macau Science Center which just opened this year.

The combination of Macau-Taipa Bridge and Friendship Bridge is one of the eight landmarks of Macau.

Macau Fisherman's Wharf. It's recommended to visit this tourist spot in the morning. Pretty boring in the evening and most of the shops are closed after 6pm.

Hotel Sands.

Lotus Square

Lotus Flower in Full Bloom is presented by the State Council of the People's Republic of China in 1999, marking the transfer of the sovereignty of Macau from Portugal to the People's Republic of China.

The lotus flower, which is in full bloom, symbolizes the everlasting prosperity of Macau.

[Macau.Travel] Guia Fortress 東望洋炮台

2010-05-21T01:35:00.002+08:00

Guia Fortress is part of Historic Center of Macau. This building is also one of the eight landmarks of Macau.

The fort and chapel were constructed between 1622 and 1638, after an unsuccessful attempt by the Netherlands to capture Macau from Portugal. The lighthouse was constructed between 1864 and 1865, the first western style lighthouse in east Asia or on the China coast. The lighthouse stands at 91 meters tall, and has a light visible for some 20 miles in clear weather conditions. The complex was built upon the highest point on Macau, Guia Hill, and named after the same location.

The building in the left side of the picture above is a chapel where as the building in the right is lighthouse. The illumination of the lighthouse in the evening is really beautiful.

As the complex was built on the peak of Guia Hill, you can have a panorama view of Macau peninsula there.

Due to that the height of buildings in the vicinity has affected the view from the lighthouse of Guia, UNESCO expressed their concerns to Macau government. After coordinations, in 2008 Macau government decided to impose regulations to stop any controversial construction projects and restrict the height of new buildings in the vicinity.

Thanks to this regulation, you could find only very few sky-scrappers on the Macau Peninsula.

Cannon.

Me.

This complex was also a fort. Now it's a tourist destination.

And also a place for pre-wedding shooting.

After that, my friend and I had our lunches in Sai Van, which is a normal, decent Cha Chaan Teng. But it's almost fully occupied by secondary school students

I'd ordered a set of baked pork chop with rice. It's really very delicious. The sauce was moderately sweet and the pork chop was really crunchy. The rice wasn't over-cooked. It outclassed all the baked rice I've ever had in Malaysia or Hong Kong.

I spotted this warning plate. Macau seems to be a trilingual country. But I hardly heard anyone speak in any language but Chinese and English.

[Macau.Food] Luk Kee Noodle 六記粥麵

2010-05-21T01:23:00.001+08:00

After revisiting the ruins of St Paul's, we came to this restaurant to have our dinner. It's within walking distance from the ruins, but it's pretty difficult to find the exact location and we had to ask pedestrians. Macau people are very friendly toward tourists and very patient when explaining how to reach a place. Don't expect all the people in China are as helpful.

Luk Kee Noodle is very famous amongst Hong Kongers. I found this restaurant from a Hong Kong-based website.

Due to the close proximity between Macau and Hong Kong, Hong Kongers often come to Macau for hunting good food. Tai Lei Pork Chop Bun and Luk Kee Noodle are amongst their favorites.

Before coming to Hong Kong, I'd already heard of Luk Kee. Hong Kong TVB did an introductory episode about Luk Kee in their food show.

Luk Kee is well-known for its traditional self-made bamboo-pressed noodle. The making of bamboo-pressed noodle is pretty tough. The maker has to sit and ride on a bamboo pole to press dough into a flat layer.

The bamboo-pressed noodle coupled with shrimp is delicious. Too bad I'm not a food critic. I couldn't find any difference between this noodle and the noodle I ate in Wong Chi Kee. The taste are about the same.

However, this time I was slightly smarter. I ordered shrimp noodle with wanton because I know shrimp noodle is not enough for my dinner.

We found this Mamak stall outside of Luk Kee.

[Hong Kong.Travel] The Peak 山頂 - Sky Terrace 凌霄閣摩天台 and Lions Pavilion Lookout 獅子亭觀景台

2010-05-19T11:09:00.002+08:00

Undoubtedly the Peak 山頂, which is also known as Victoria Peak, is one of the must-go places in Hong Kong. In the 19th century, the Peak attracted lots of westerners to settle down in this place because of its panoramic view over the Victoria Harbor and its climate. Now there're lots of affluent people living on the Peak. It's a place to have a good view of the world's leading finance center. It's also a place to escape the hustle and bustle of the city.

Before visiting the Peak, the most important thing you shall do is to check the weather forecast. Bad weather especially foggy one will ruin the whole view and your journey will be wasted.

The weather was pretty good.

The peak tram lower terminus is within walking distance from Central MTR station. Before going up the Peak, have a look at the sky-scrappers in the Central district first.

The reflection of Cheung Kong Center in the Bank of China tower.

Reached the terminus. It's the administrative building of the Peak.

You can choose buy the package that comes without the sky terrace entry. After all, there's another lookout called Lions Pavilions Lookout in where you can have a good view of Victoria Harbor. The entry to the lookout is free.

However, according to my research, the sky terrace is much bigger than the pavilions lookout. I was worried that the lookout might be very crowded. I bought the package that comes with the sky terrace entry.

Other than the Peak Tram, you can also go up the Peak on foot or by minibus. But the Peak Tram seems to be the most convenient option.

The Peak Tram.

It's Tuesday. There seemed to be very few people going up the Peak.

The first look on Hong Kong island inside the tram while the tram is still moving on the rail.

When we reached the Peak Tower, we're required to take escalators in order to reach the Sky Terrace. There're a wide range of shops and restaurants in the Peak Tower. All of them look luxurious.

Mademe Tussanus Wax Museum is also in the Peak Tower. The price of combo tickets that include Sky Terrace, Peak Tram and Wax Museum is 200HKD. It's actually quite cheap considering that the wax house houses nearly 100 wax figures of internationally-known personalities.

However I'm not interested in the wax museum. I would rather spend my money to go up the Peak twice.

The wax figure of Bruce Lee was exhibited outside of the museum.

Reached the Sky Terrace.

The Sky Terrace, standing at 428 metres above sea level, is the highest viewing platform in Hong Kong offering a stunning 360-degree panoramic view across the Hong Kong.

The Sky Terrace is actually the roof of the Peak Tower.

The sky terrace is much bigger, less crowded than I anticipated.

We found "tourist spot photographer." I create this name for those people who work as a photographer in tourist areas. There're a lot of tourist spot photographers in mainland China.

This photographer looked very professional and polite. He didn't try to pressure tourists into buying his service, unlike those in mainland China..

Me.

The Tram railway.

Expensive private houses on the Peak.

As this place offers a panorama view, you can also see Repulse Bay from the Sky Terrace.

My favorite sky-scrapper - the Bank of China tower.

Boards showing the history of the Peak and Hong Kong island.

Leaving the Sky Terrace.

After visiting the Sky Terrace, I visited the lions pavilion lookout to see whether going up the Sky Terrace worth the money.

The view from the Lions Pavilion Lookout is really not as good as that from the Sky Terrace. It's ruined by the under-construction building.

A board showing the exact locations of famous buildings or monuments in Kowloon and Hong Kong island.

The lookout is also very small. I can imagine how crowded it will be in the evening when some professional photographers set their tripods at the lookout. Going up the Sky Terrace is definitely a better choice.

The Peak Tower.

Have a coffee in the Peak Tower. It's only about 40HKD per cup of coffee.

Going back to the Central distinct. The incline is so steep that everything outside looks like they're leaning at a 45-degree angle.

Finally, thanks for reading this long post.

This is a stitched picture. It shows the entire view of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon you can get on the Victoria Peak. Again, the view from the peak is great even during daytime. I would visit here again for a night view.

[Macau.Travel] St. Michael Cemetery and St. Lazarus Church

2010-05-17T00:13:00.005+08:00

St. Michael Cemetery is the largest cemetery in Macau. It's built in 1875.

The cemetery is filled with ornately decorated tombs. Most of the designs of the tombs are beautiful. I didn't take photos of the tombs because I think taking this type of photos is disrespect.

St. Lazarus Church is within walking distance from St. Michael Cemetery. It's one of the oldest churches in Macau as it's built in the 16th century. Almost as old as A-Ma temple in Macau.

A primary school is located beside this church.

I think I need some knowledge relating to the design of church in order to explain these features.

If you really like buildings with special colors and stone mosaic of special design, I would recommend you to come to the central part of Macau Peninsula.

The design of stone mosaic found here is slightly different from those you can find in other parts of Macau.

Pedestrian-friendly.

Most of the functions of the buildings shown above are unclear. Some of them are government buildings while some are residential buildings.

Most of the color combination are cool and I like this region very much.

[Zhangjiajie.Travel] Bailong Elevator 百龙天梯

2010-05-14T23:35:00.002+08:00

Bailong Elevator is the last tourist spot we'd visited in Zhangjiajie. This elevator is 330 meter high and is claimed to be the highest and heaviest outdoor elevator in the world. However, due to that this elevator has caused several environmental issues, its future remains to be seen.

Due to time constraint, my friend and I had to choose between taking cable car and elevator to go down the mountain. We had no energy to go down on foot.

There're many tour groups waiting to be brought to their destinations. It's the last day of April. The next day will be the beginning of Golden Week.

32RMB.

The entrance.

In front of the entrance, there're many big promotion boards reminding tourists that they're gonna see the "floating mountain" that only appeared in Zhangjiajie and Pandora.

"Pandora is far but Zhangjiajie is near" is the marketing slogan.

The director of Avatar said that they drew inspiration for the floating rocks from mountains from Zhangjiajie National Park.

We're on the ground again. It's the last chance to see these pillar-like formations.

The entrance on the ground.

Me.

Wulingyuan Scenic Area is definitely worth visiting for nature lovers and people who are sick of life in cities. Visiting this scenic area would be a very good retreat and decomposition.

But do avoid tourist peak periods especially golden weeks. All the spots in this scenic area are small and the scenery would be spoiled if the places get crowded. Luckily we had finished all the spots in Zhangjiajie before the May Day Golden Week started.

[Macau.Travel] San Va Hotel 新华大旅店

2010-05-11T01:37:00.001+08:00

San Va Hotel is a 70 year old hotel located very close to Senado Square. The location is rather strategic because of that. It's really suitable for budget travelers because the fare is really low compared with other hotels. It's more suitable for those adventure lovers like me because it really offers different experience than usual youth hostels and hotels.

The signboard is retro-styled. The owner never changed it?

The double room we stayed in.

The necessities given are very simple.

No air-condition. Celling fan. It's okay for us as we're from a tropical country.

The double room costs 140MOP per night. The overall condition is much worse than those youth hostels in China that cost cheaper.

However, compared with other hotels, the ratio of quality to price should be not overly low.

Corridor. Surprisingly all the rooms were occupied even when it was Friday night.

At around 2am, two people came here to request for a room and were rejected. The walls don't go all the way up to the ceilings so basically you could hear people talking outside of your room or in your adjacent rooms.

I choose to stay in this hotel partially because it's also a tourist spot in Macau. It's the filming ground for "Isabella" and "2046". "2046" is a Hong Kong film written and directed by Wong Kar Wai. My favorite Japanese actor Kimura Takuya was featured in this film.

Woke up and felt restored.

Rua da Felicidade. One of the most famous streets in Macau, along where there're lots of restaurants and souvenir shops. We woke up quite early so all the shops were still closed.

Something worth noting. I tried out the cow offal sold near the hotel when we came back from Lotus Square at around 10pm.

It cost only 10MOP and definitely worth trying out as it tasted fresh without strange odor.

[Hong Kong.Food] Food Hunting in Prince Edward - Kum Wah Polo Bun 金华菠萝包

2010-05-08T17:31:00.003+08:00

I heard through my friend that polo bun can be found everywhere in Malaysia. However I'd never eaten polo bun before in Malaysia.

Other than than trolley noodle, polo bun is also an unique Cantonese style food. It's more of a snack.

According to my research Kum Wah Coffee Shop 金華冰廳 serves arguably best polo bun in Hong Kong. I ordered a plain polo bun and a cup of Hong Kong style milk tea after I found an unoccupied table.

The crust of the bun was pretty crunchy. The bread inside was sweetish and pretty fluffy. I settled it within thirty seconds. Really missed the taste all the time when I was back in my campus and don't mind eating this for my breakfast every three days.

7HKD

It's located within walking distance from Prince Edward MTR station. Before heading to either Mong Kok or Bird Garden, come to this restaurant for your breakfast.

[Hong Kong.Travel] Hong Kong Flower Show 2010 香港花卉展覽 - Part 2 - more flowers

2010-05-05T21:12:00.001+08:00

20100319

It's the first big event I've attended in Hong Kong. I thought I would spend only 30 minutes in Victoria Park, in where the flower show was held. I ended up spending more than 3 hours over there because the exhibition was much bigger than I had anticipated. Went back with a tanned face.

A performance stage. The flower show was held from the 19th of March to 28th. There're several performances presented throughout these ten days.

There're also many awarded floral arrangements displayed in another section of the show. It really took large amount of time to finish watching all the displayed flowers.

Commercial stalls selling flowering plants and other horticultural products.

This section resembled Keukenhof, which is the world's largest flower garden located in Netherlands.

Orange Tulips. Real Tulips!

Bee pollinating. Showing that the flowers were real.

Exotic flowers. When I snapped flower photos, I had to use my body shield those flowers from harsh sunlight. The sunlight was really harsh.

Plant/Flower with their labels shown below.

Bees pollinating in another flower.

The pictures below show one of my favorite flowers - sunflowers. Actually reminded me of a Singaporean drama I'd watched before coming to Hong Kong - the Sunflower's promise.

This flower may not be sunflower. I'm not quite sure of its species. It's not labelled. The diameter of the petals is merely 4 centimeters.

Personally I like this picture very much and set it as my desktop wallpaper.

Writing wishes on colorful papers provided. It's like wishing trees.

Before leaving, don't forget to snap a photo of the statue of Queen Victoria.

[Hong Kong.Food] Hong Kong Food Hunt 2 - Tsim Chai Kee Noodle 沾仔記

2010-04-23T20:34:00.001+08:00

Tsim Chai Kee Noodle 沾仔記 is one of the three restaurants I've visited more than once in Hong Kong. It's partially due to its strategic location. It's located in Central where I frequented. In reality it just opened a new branch in Sheungwan and the branch is much bigger and less crowded.

The main reason is that I really like the wonton mee served in this restaurant. One set of "triple-ingredient" wonton mee contains two large wontons, beef slices and dace balls. The wonton is as big as a table tennis and contains three shrimps inside. The noodle is springy and better than average. The soup is fairly good isn't overly salty like the typical soup you would be served in Hong Kong.

Another main reason I like this restaurant is that the wonton mee served here is relatively cheap. A set of "triple-ingredient" wonton mee only costs 25HKD. It's really cheap considering that the restaurant is located in Hong Kong Island which is an expensive region. And a set of "single-ingredient" wonton noodle that has three wontons only costs 17HKD. It's cheaper than the foods sold in my school canteen.

I've brought three groups of friends to this restaurant and would definitely recommend it to any friends of mine who plan to come to Hong Kong for traveling.

[Zhongshan.CNY] the Former residence of Sun Yat-sen's 孫中山故居 in Zhongshan

2010-04-17T19:45:00.005+08:00

20100214

The Former Residence of Sun Yat-sen's in Zhongshan 孫中山故居. It's located in Cuiheng Village, which is Sun Yat-sen's hometown. There's a museum exhibiting some historical materials relating to Sun Yat-sen located besides his former residence.

It's the very first tourist spot I've visited in China. We went there on the first day of Chinese New Year and I was amazed at how crowded a tourist spot in China could be. It's also partially caused by that the entry is free during public holidays.

Sun Yat-sen's former residence. It has two floors and three rooms. It still retains the original layout designed by Sun Yat-sen himself.

The main floor of his former residence consists of his bedroom, living room and pantry. Certainly an eye-opener for me. His bedroom looks like those typical 19th century Chinese bedroom
The entire residence is pretty well-preserved. Seemed to me Sun Yat-sen lead a simple life and there's no fancy decorations in his former residence. It's really small and it was so crowded I couldn't take any photos.

Inside the museum there is the Statue of Sun Yat-sen in front of the main entrance.

Me. I had had my hair cut one day ago and it costs 25RMB.

Several belongings of Sun Yat-sen and his photos are displayed inside the museum. A detailed chronology of Sun Yat-sen's is also displayed to let people know more about what he had contributed to China.

Zhongshan Memorial Secondary School is just within walking distance from the former residence. It was established in 1931 in memory of Sun Yat-sen under the supervision of Soong Ching-ling, the widow of Sun Yat-sen.

John's father drove us around the campus. The entire campus is about as large as my home university NUS. There're more than two lakes inside the campus and more than 10 four-floor dormitories.

[Macau.Food] Wong Chi Kee 黃枝記 and Leitaria I Son 義順牛奶 at Senado Square ( Night )

2010-04-13T11:38:00.002+08:00

In the evening, we came back to Senado Square to have our dinners. IMHO Senado Square looks nice both in the morning and evening.

Unfortunately, we reached the place while it's raining. Light rain. As a result, there're very few people walking around on this square which could be bustling otherwise.

The General Post Office.

Besides, there're a few of famous restaurants located here. One of them is Wong Chi Kee 黃枝記.

Wong Chi Kee has a history of more than half a century. It has several franchises in Hong Kong with one of them being located in the new airport of Hong Kong.

"Saida" is the Portuguese term which stands for exit in English.

For your information, Portuguese is one of the two official languages of Macau with another one being Chinese.

Amongst so many famous foods served by this restaurant, one of the foods recommended by my friend is shrimp eggs noodle. It's the first time I eat this cuisine. It costs 29MOP.

At first, I was quite shocked there're nothing other than shrimp eggs and noodles and it costs me 29MOP. The portion was overly small and it's more like a snack for me. It tasted good. Shrimp eggs were very special for me .

Me

Initially we decided to leave this area and moved on to the southern section of Macau Peninsula. However it continued raining and we eventually decided to stay in Senado Square until it stopped raining.

Leitaria I Son 義順牛奶 is a restaurant located at Senado Square. It's famous for its milk dessert and we're keen to try it out.

Milk dessert. 17MOP.

It looks like tau fu hua but the taste is completely different. It has very strong milky taste and it's way solider than tau fu hua. I would recommend it to those who like milk or daisy products.

Leal Senado

[Hong Kong.Travel] Hong Kong Flower Show 2010 香港花卉展覽 - Part 1

2010-04-09T20:22:00.002+08:00

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Hong Kong Flower Show 2010 香港花卉展覽. It's an annual major event held by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of Hong Kong. It's held every March in Hong Kong. About 200 organisations from 21 countries including Malaysia, Singapore and mainland China showcased exotic flowers, landscape and floral art displays.

It's a sunny day. Perhaps the warmest day in Hong Kong throughout March. The temperature is about 25 Celsius and I could overhear lots of people especially old folks complaining about the heat.

The admission fee is 14HKD for an adult and 7HKD for a full-time student like me. Quite a good deal considering the size of the exhibition.

Me.

Saw this big horse when I first entered Victoria Park.

And this pink building which was one of the main attractions that targeted children.

Two lions displayed at another entrance.

The flowers that were placed on the molds were all real flowers!

The pictures above show other displays of same type.

Student drawing competition was also held concurrently with the flower show.

These young participants were pretty quick in drawing. The flower show started at 9am sharp and most of them almost completed their works at 11am.

It seemed to me that there's also a photo competition held at the same time. I'd found people holding various types of camera equipped with various types of external flashes and lenses.

My super-zoom camera stood out amongst them as one of the lowest-quality cameras. Snap the picture above before moving on.

There're also landscape displays participated by Hong Kong, Macau and cities in mainland China.

Hangzhou.

Na Tcha Temple in Macau. One of the Chinese-styled historical buildings in Macau.

Ocean Park.

Guangzhou. In where the 16th Asian Games will be held this November.

Shantou city, China. A city in Guangdong province.

The post is overly long. I split it into two parts.

[Macau.Travel] Company of Jesus Square (Historic Center of Macau - Part 4)

2010-03-27T15:37:00.006+08:00

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The Historic Center of Macau consists of 25 historical monuments. One of the great things about them is that most of the monuments are not located far apart.

Mount Fortress is part of Historic Center of Macau and also one of the eight landmarks in Macau. It's a must-see destination if you like historical heritages.

The whole area in front of the ruins and Mount Fortress is called Company of Jesus Square.

There's a street called Love Street in the square.

An uncivilized person had destructed the beauty of the street by spraying the wall. But it seemed to me the simple graffiti looks like a red line which Chinese believe can bond a couple together forever.

The color combination ( red and light yellow ) is nice.

Na Tcha Temple and Section of the Old City Walls.

Na Tcha Temple.

Built in 1888, Na Tcha Temple is located close to the Ruins of St. Paul’s, inviting inevitable comparison with the grandeur of the former Church of Mater Dei and the remains of St. Paul’s College. The location of this temple is a perfect example of the dignity and distinctive nature of the local Chinese religious traditions in Macao, a unique multicultural dichotomy that is well represented by this small temple. Na Tcha is also considered an irreverent god and, as such, the distinctive identity of Macao is again evident at this site, where a traditional Chinese temple stands close to the remains of the principal Jesuit enterprise of the region, presenting a dialectic of western and Chinese ideals, as one of the best examples of Macao’s multicultural identity and religious freedom.

It started raining after we visited the ruins. This photo is very poorly composed and we didn't bother to enter the temple.

Situated so close to the huge Ruins of St Paul's, Na Tcha Temple appeared to be in solitude, isolated.

The reserved nature of Eastern culture stands out beside the enormousness of the ruins.

Section of the Old City Walls. It's a fragment of the city walls Portuguese colony built to defend Chinese military in the 16th century.

This surviving segment of the city’s defence structures, built as early as 1569, is a remnant of an early Portuguese tradition of constructing defensive walls around their port settlements, done also in Africa and India. In Macao, this section bears testimony to the incorporation of local techniques and materials, especially a solid compound named chunambo, an elaborate mixture of clay, soil, sand, rice straw, crushed rocks and oyster shells compacted in successive layers. The immediate location of this wall segment is also relevant, taking into account its proximity to Na Tcha Temple, the Ruins of St. Paul’s and Mount Fortress, as part of the defence structure of Macao’s “acropolis”.

Heading to Mount Fortress

Built in conjunction with the Jesuits from 1617 to 1626, this was the city’s principal military defence structure, and was crucial in successfully holding off the attempted Dutch invasion of Macao in 1622. The fortress was equipped with cannons, military barracks, wells and an arsenal that held sufficient ammunition and supplies to endure a siege lasting up to two years. In 1998 the Macao Museum was installed at the site, consisting of two underground levels and a third one above the fortress’ top platform following the location, volume and design of the old military barracks that existed at the site before the area was demilitarized in 1965. The designs of military structures in Macao inspired the southern Chinese authorities to start building fortresses of a similar kind to defend their extensive coastline.

A courtyard in front of the fortress buildings. It's raining lightly.

One of the cannons in front of the fortress walls.

Me

Because of raining, we didn't stay for too long although there's a museum called Macau Museum that I would like to visit on the hill.

[Hong Kong.Travel] Tsim Sha Tsui 尖沙咀 ( Daytime ) and 1881 Heritage

2010-03-23T21:00:00.004+08:00

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Tsim Sha Tsui.

Although it's a major tourist hub in Hong Kong, restaurants that sell cheap yet delicious Hong Kong styled food are pretty hard to find over there. Unlike Mong Kok, most of the restaurants and shops over there target affluent tourists.

Street scene in Tsim Sha Tsui in a Sunday morning.

The only mosque I've found in Hong Kong.

Double-decker bus. I rarely take bus in Hong Kong. Instead I take mini bus. A special experience. Mini buses usually travel faster than normal buses.

Chanel. A long queue of people outside of the shop.

Hong Kong Cultural Center is located in Tsim Sha Tsui. A multipurpose performance facility.

The Museum of Art. Just located beside Hong Kong Cultural Center. I had visited the Museum of Art, History, Science and Space. All of these museums are major museums in Hong Kong and you can buy a museum pass at 50HKD only to gain access to these museums.

If you have only spare time for just one museum, you should visit the Museum of Art. It features more than 15,000 art objects including calligraphy, paintings of historical significance and works by local artists. Chinese treasures of several dynasties are exhibited in the museum as well.

View of Victoria Harbor from within the Museum of Art.

Peninsula Hong Kong. Five-star hotel. The cheapest room ( superior room ) costs more than 4000HKD!

If you couldn't afford the room rate, can consider staying in the YMCA hotel, which is just located beside Peninsula.

I visited 1881 Heritage again.

I had been there at night several weeks ago. Click here to view the photos I'd taken.

Valentine's Day decoration. So many people wanted to take picture with this huge thing that there's a security guard maintaining order. Before I captured the picture above, there's an old couple who spoke Mandarin with heavy Northern China accent that were totally oblivious of the existence of a long queue of people lining up waiting for their chances to take picture with this decoration. They didn't join the queue, walked toward the decoration, stood in front of it and posed for more than two minutes. The security guard was left speechless and seemed incapable to do anything.

In my opinion, 1881 Heritage looks more beautiful at night.

View of Victoria Harbor. According to my friend, you can take ferry from Tsim Sha Tsui ferry pier to Expo Promenade and the fare is only 2.5HKD and the egg tart shop located in front of the pier sells delicious egg tarts. Do try it out.

Expo Promenade in where you can see beautiful, closer night view of Central. and Hong Kong Trade and Exhibition Center. Most of the exhibitions held over there are trade exhibitions. Quite disappointed.

The picture above also shows the ferry that could bring you from Tsim Sha Tsui to Expo Promenade.

Chinese New Year decorations in front of historical Clock Tower.

The tower has been listed as a declared monument in Hong Kong since 1990. It is the only remnant of the original site of the former Kowloon Station on the Kowloon-Canton Railway. Officially named Former Kowloon-Canton Railway Clock Tower (traditional Chinese: 前九廣鐵路鐘樓), it is usually referred to as the Tsim Sha Tsui Clock Tower (traditional Chinese: 尖沙咀鐘樓) for its location. Built out of red bricks and granite, the Clock Tower peaks at 44 metres, and is topped by a 7-metre lightning rod. The top of the tower can be reached by a wooden staircase located within.

Regardless of whether it's night or daytime, you could spot cruises of special design sailing on Victoria Harbor. Aqua Luna in the picture below.

45-minute harbor cruise costs about 180HKD. More details on Aqua Restaurant Group.

The server does look like a Japanese army.

There's a restaurant inside. Watching a symphony of lights while taking dinner. It's what they are promoting.

Olympic Torch. It's also the place in where Hong Kong Government staged the Hong Kong Olympic Piazzaat in the August of 2008.

Occasionally you could watch some artists' performances in front of Hong Kong Cultural Center.

Hong Kong Space Museum.

[Zhongshan.CNY] Fireworks and the Sculpture of Zheng Guanying

2010-03-20T21:57:00.006+08:00

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After our reunion dinner, John's father brought us to the main square in Zhongshan, in where there're lots of people playing fireworks and watching New Year eve live show.

For your information, it's legal to play fireworks and firecrackers in China, even in metropolitan areas like Shanghai and Beijing. People have to buy fireworks from licensed sellers and those who sells fireworks without possessing license would be severely punished.

The visibility was pretty low as people already started playing fireworks at around 8pm. The ground was wet because it had rained before we're here.

Chinese New Year decorations in this square.

Soon there're aerial fireworks ignited a few distances away from the square.

People were playing ground fireworks there. Most of them are children. The result is the smoke released which further decreased the visibility in this square.

Sculpture of Zheng Guanying 鄭觀應. He's a prominent Chinese literary figure; His writings influenced both Dr Sun Yat Sen and Mao Tze Tung.

Zheng Guanying was born in Sanxiang Town.

Mandarin's House in Macau ( Historical Center of Macau ) belonged to him and was his former residence.

After that John's father brought us to John's grandma's house. I was given a glass bottle of Coke which had Chinese character 可口可樂 written on it. I found it special and brought it back to Hong Kong.

It's our time to play ground fireworks. I forgot when the last time I played fireworks is. We had lots of fun. The picture above was captured by my friend.

Captured by me.

At the end, my friends and I tried to do something special. Quick motions of our hands holding fireworks and long shutter speed of my friend's camera produced the picture above.

It's certainly memorable in the future.

The result is....

We're back in John's house at around 11pm. Awaited 12am while preparing the big firecracker John's father had bought a few days ago.

My family used to play it in the 90's and stopped playing it when the Malaysian government declared it to be illegal.

It's hung in front of John's house waiting to be ignited.

Done. I stood about 8 meters away and the sound was so loud I had to squeeze tissue papers into my ears so as to continue watching it.

No video to share because I accidentally deleted the video I'd recorded. Lame.

The residue of firecracker seen from John's house roof. You can find these red stuffs in front of every house in Zhongshan. I believe that people over there didn't want to remove them because the red stuffs help bring good luck.

On his house roof we can watch aerial fireworks ascending into the sky. We also do it in Malaysia but here people will not run the risk of being fined.

[Hong Kong.Travel] Nights at Hong Kong island 港島 - Tram, Central - Lan Kwai Fong, Sheungwan

2010-03-16T21:02:00.005+08:00

I had been to the western section ( Central, Sheungwan, Admiralty ) of Hong Kong island for more than 10 times. To take ferry. To hunt good food. Shopping.

And.

On Hong Kong island 港島, one of the things you must do is to take Tram.

A tram is coming on the opposite site.

I was on a tram. The fare is only 2HKD regardless of which stop you alight. And you pay the fare when you alight, not when you board the tram.

Hmmm 2HKD is just a small sum of money in Hong Kong so don't think people in Hong Kong will cheat.

Just like bus, mini bus, MTR, tram is another form of transport for Hong Kong people. Some people, especially the white collar workers on Hong Kong island, would use it every day because it basically connects all the major places on Hong Kong island.

Don't get overexcited on trams..... although it's considered as a tourist attraction by Hong Kong tourism board.

It traveled at a very slow speed. Good for tourists who wanna have a look at Hong Kong island.

We reached Central.

Central, being the commercial center in Hong Kong, is perhaps the most expensive place in Hong Kong. The food here are expensive. Could only buy a decent meal at 40HKD at least in Central, or walk to Sheungwan in where you would find a lot of restaurant which served great food at cheap price.

And how much does it cost to have an advertising board displayed in Central?

Another hot tourist spot in Central - Lan Kwai Fong - a small square of streets famous for night life.

Not only for drinking. There're lots of pubs, discos and western restaurants in the vicinity.

You could find way more westerners here than Hong Kong locals. Not that Hong Kong locals are not good at drinking. They love drinking... at Dai pai dong 大牌檔.

The streets here are very narrow. Sloped gradients.

My friends even joke about.. that some people who get drunk might rolled down from Lan Kwai Fong to the main streets.... hmmm it's just a joke....

I had been there twice. Generally stuffs there are expensive. A pint of beer cost 48HKD and only 24HKD before 9pm. Not hard to find some people buy a carton of beers from convenience shops and share it with friends and drink over there instead of patronizing any pub. The atmosphere there is nice, relaxing.

No drinking picture of mine to post...

Sheungwan. At most 15-minute walking distance of Central.

Two international financial centers. Like my friend said, where the money is!

Cars speeding toward the Bank of China - my favorite architecture in Hong Kong.

Unlike Tsim Sha Tsui and Mongkok, most parts of Hong Kong island are actually very silent at night.

There're no cars moving on this road for more than five minutes but I found long queues of taxis on both sides of the road.

Apparently, Hong Kong's "No Idling Engine" Campaign should target taxi drivers like them.

[Macau.Food] Coloane Village - Lord Stow's Bakery Portuguese egg tarts 安德魯餅店葡塔

2010-03-12T11:53:00.005+08:00

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Coloane 路環 is the southern section of Macau island. As a tourist spot, it's not as popular as the Historic Center of Macau and Taipa because it's located slightly far away from airport and ferry terminal.

Coloane Village is located in the western section of Coloane. It takes about 20 minutes to travel from the bus terminal located near Lisboa to here by public bus. The fare is 6.4MOP regardless of which bus stop you alight, just like other bus routes in Macau.

And tourist normally come here for two things - Portuguese egg tart and Church of St Francis Xavier.

President A.R.Eanes Square

If you have the tourist map, you shouldn't have problem in coming to this place. The Lord Stow's Bakery is just beside this square.

The Portuguese egg tarts known in Macau originated from Lord Stow's Bakery 安德魯餅店. It was previously owned by a Briton named Andrew Stow and he's passed away in 2006. So couldn't see him in person.....

People who come to Macau for hunting egg tarts should know about the two famous Portuguese egg tarts in Macau - Andrew Stow 安德魯葡塔 and Margaret's 瑪嘉烈葡塔 ( Cafe e Nata Margaret's 瑪嘉烈蛋撻店 ).

Mr.Andrew and Miss Margaret were a married couple. They divorced, resulting in they established their own shops separately.

So many freshly baked egg tarts waiting to be tasted. I'd bought two and each costs 7MOP. 40MOP for six.

The egg tart was hot when I ate it. The egg custard was very soft. Moderately sweet. The puff pastry is very very very crispy, thick enough and buttery. and solid enough that it won't deform when you first bite it.

I love it so much. Free-and-easy traveller must come.

[Macau.Travel] the Ruins of St. Paul's 大三巴牌坊 (Historic Center of Macau - Part 3)

2010-03-09T21:47:00.005+08:00

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Like Georgetown and Malacca, the Historic Center of Macau was also inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. There're more than 25 monuments in the Historic Center of Macau and I had been to most of the monuments.

Regardless, when you come to any historical place, it would be a waste of your precious time if you don't understand the history of the place.

I'd added brief descriptions on each monument written on the map I took in Macau.

Historic Center of Macau - Part 1
Historic Center of Macau - Part 2

The distance between Senado Square and the Ruins of St. Paul's 大三巴牌坊 is merely five-minute walking.

The Ruins of St. Paul’s refer to the façade of what was originally the Church of Mater Dei built in 1602-1640 and the ruins of St. Paul’s College, which stood adjacent to the Church, both destroyed by fire in 1835. As a whole, the old Church of Mater Dei, St. Paul’s College and Mount Fortress were all Jesuit constructions and formed what can be perceived as the Macao’s “acropolis”.

Undoubtedly Ruins of St. Paul's is the most famous tourist destination in Macau. It's Saturday. This place was very crowded. When you moved up the staircase, you will found the necessity to dodge through the crowd because most of the people standing over there are taking group photos. If you stand still over there for more than five minutes, you'll be requested to help taking photos for others.

A western man and a Chinese lady. I found through research that it symbolizes the positive relationship between China and Portugal. A Chinese lady was giving a flower to the a Portuguese man. The bird symbolizes harmony and permanence.

The flower trees were just grown last year.

The Chinese New Year decoration being placed in front of this Catholic stone facade is a pretty weird combination.

I had attempted to utilize the 12X optical zoom feature of my Powershot S5 IS to snap close-ups of each carving. The four pictures shown below show the upper part of the ruins.

According to my Catholic friend, it's the sculpture of Jesus Christ and the tools employed to crucify him are shown beside the sculpture.

The carvings was done by a Japanese in 1620.

鬼是誘，人爲惡

I'm sure that you can see this quote.

念死者無為罪 at the left-hand side of the skeleton.

聖母踏龍頭 at the right-hand side of the dragon-like creature. It means Virgin Mary standing on the head of the dragon.

Other carvings.

The sculpture situated below Jesus's one is actually Virgin Mary. According to my friend, the sculptures beside her are singing angels.

Mater Dei is the Portuguese name of the Cathedral.

The inner part of the Ruins of St Paul's. Tourists can go up to have a...hmmm....good view of this area.

The left-hand side of the inner part clearly shows the traces of fire.

There must be a popular belief that those who manage to toss a coin onto the top window of the ruins will have good luck.

Na Tcha Temple is just so close to the ruins.

Ruins of St. Paul's through time.

Macau is an unique place. There're lots of historical places and in the vicinity of them there're also lots of modern entertainment center like casino. A combination of old and new.

From the picture above you can see Lisboa Hotel Casino as the background. Lisboa is one of the largest casinos in Macau.

The ruins in the mirror. Hmmm.... You can find this "mirror" hang on the wall of the yellow building.

The Ruins of St Paul's has actually become the symbol of Macau in my opinion. It's representative of Macau.

What do you think?

The picture on the Coke can bought in Macau proves it.

[Hong Kong.Food] Hong Kong Food Hunt 1 - Trolley noodle, Kai Bi, Dace Ball

2010-03-05T00:29:00.009+08:00

Trolley noodle 車仔面 is considered as an unique Hong Kong styled food.

Che zai mian zhi jia 車仔面之家 is located in Wanchai. Click the link to find the exact location.

The restaurant is very small. Approximately 7 feet x 10 feet. There're no seat inside and the space inside the restaurant only allows 5 people standing there eating noodle on a platform.

Customers can choose what kind of noodle they want and also what kind of ingredients they would like to be added with the noodle. There're more than ten ingredients to choose from. I'd chosen white carrot, squid, pig's blood, pig's intestines, beef and fish ball. Each ingredient costs 5HKD. It totally costs me 38HKD with the noodle and soup costing 8HKD.

Pig's organs always rank amongst my favorite foods. The ingredients are all delicious and fresh. Fish balls is much more chewy than average.

Another interesting thing is that initially I managed to grab a place at the platform. After that, I found an old lady holding a bowl of noodle waiting behind me and I gave the place to the lady and went out of that shop holding my half-finished noodle bowl. To my surprise I found five people standing in the alleyway beside the shop eating their noodles. All of them seemed to be white-collar workers.

It's my first time eating my lunch in an alleyway and I didn't feel uncomfortable.

Kam Fung Restaurant 金鳳茶餐廳 is famous for its frozen milk tea. Frozen means that they froze their milk tea in refrigerators instead of just putting ices into their milk tea like normal restaurants do.

It's also located near Wan Chai MTR station.

I was too full after eating the trolley noodle so I only tried out another famous food of theirs - kai bi 雞批. It contained chicken meats inside.

7HKD

Sang Kee Congee Shop 生記粥品專家 is located in Sheung Wan ( near the MTR station ) and is famous for its dace ball 鯪魚球 and beef porridge.

I ordered noodle with beef ball and dace ball. Dace balls are delicious and chewy. A dace ball consists of dace, fa chop and chenpi and can be found almost everywhere in Hong Kong and Macau.

28HKD

Openrice has been a very good guide for my food hunting so far. This website provides informations about the food served by almost all restaurants in Hong Kong, the locations of restaurants and most importantly, the reviews written by food lovers. Another great thing about openrice is that users search for restaurants by location.

I actually wish websites of similar kind to be established in Malaysia and Singapore so as to facilitate my food hunting in these two countries.

[Hong Kong.Travel] Lion Dance in Mongkok 旺角 (Videos)

2010-02-27T21:21:00.008+08:00

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It's my first time watching Lion Dance in Hong Kong.

I heard the drums which signaled the beginning of lion dance performance when I was walking on Mongkok streets. It's about to start when I arrived in this street. I was quite lucky to have watched this performance, which lasts about 10 minutes, from the beginning till the end. And also that I stood at a good place to record the videos posted below.

Part 1. The most spectacular part starts from 2.00. There're two lions performing. The yellow one is solo whereas the white one consist of a pair of performers.

Part 2. Much shorter. The street in Mongkok is very narrow. It isn't an easy task to perform lion dancing over there. It requires good coordination from the two people who carried the same lion head. Any mistake might result in not only them falling down from a height but also a vehicle accident.

Some photos I took before the performance. This lion dance performance was held by Argyle Centre 旺角中心.

Stages had been set up and one of the lanes has been temporarily closed for this performance, which made the road even narrower.

There's a god of wealth giving out gifts to every pedestrian.

One of the cutest girls I'd ever encountered in Hong Kong standing besides the god of wealth.

Those who can't watch the youtube videos can view the pictures below, which I took while capturing the videos.

The performance was about to start.

[Macau.Travel] Senado Square 議事亭前地 (Historic Center of Macau - Part 2)

2010-02-25T16:55:00.034+08:00

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It took us less than 5 minutes to walk from the first section to this section.

Senado Square 議事亭前地

Senado Square has been Macao’s urban centre for centuries, and is still the most popular venue for public events and celebrations today. Located close to the former Senate building, Sam Kai Vui Kun is also a reminder of the active participation of the local Chinese community in general civic affairs, providing a clear example of the multicultural dimension of the Macao community. The square is surrounded by pastel-coloured neo-classical buildings, creating a consistent and harmonious Mediterranean atmosphere.

Senado Square is perhaps the most crowded place in Macau. You can find several historical places here and shops ( such as Levi's, Giordano ) and restaurants ( Chinese, Portuguese ). It's also located very close to the symbol of Macau - the Ruins of St Paul's and Lisboa. You can come here from almost any section of Macau by public bus. But you have to make sure that you alight at Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro 亞美打卑盧大馬路 or 新馬路.

Decorating a western historical place with Chinese decorations is somewhat awful. But IMHO the decorations are nice.

Leal Senado

Originally built in 1784, this was Macao’s original municipal chamber, a function it maintains to the present. The name “Leal Senado” (“Loyal Senate”), derives from the title “City of Our Name of God Macao, There is None More Loyal” which was bestowed by Portuguese King D. John IV in 1654, after Portugal regained its independence following 60 years of rule by Spain (1580-1640). During this period, the people of Macao remained loyal to the Portuguese king, who at the time was exiled in Brazil.

Holy House of Mercy. It's also located in Senato Square. According to my friends, it's always crowded in Senado Square especially during weekends. I couldn't capture a full view of this building because of it.

Established by the first Bishop of Macao in 1569, this institution was modeled after one of the most prominent and oldest charitable organizations in Portugal, and was responsible for founding in Macao the first western-style medical clinic and several other social welfare structures that still function to this day. One of the principal roles of Macao’s Holy House of Mercy was to provide support for orphans and widows of sailors who died at sea, a role that is intimately linked to Macao’s profile in the context of regional and international maritime trading routes.

Cathedral

Built around 1622, the Cathedral was originally constructed with taipa (compound material consisting soil and straw). During the restoration of 1780, the religious services of the Cathedral were temporarily transferred to the old chapel of the Holy House of Mercy. The Cathedral was damaged by a typhoon in 1836 and its services were then transferred to St. Dominic’s Church, until repairs were completed in 1850 following the design of local architect Tomas d’Aquino. The façade is characterized by pilasters and the twin belfries that stand out on the streetscape. The exterior is clad in Shanghai plaster, giving the church a monolithic subdued appearance.

It's around 11pm when we reached this section and left at around 12.30pm.

I had no idea of the name of this fountain. It looks unique.

Street view again.

The statue of D. Belchior Carneiro

Some Chinese decorations hanging at Senado Square

St. Dominic's Church （玫瑰堂）.

Founded in 1587 by three Spanish Dominican priests who originally came from Acapulco in Mexico, this church is also connected to the Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Rosary. It was here that the first Portuguese newspaper was published on Chinese soil, A Abelha da China [“The China Bee”], on 12th September 1822. In 1929, this church integrated the worship of Our Lady of Fátima into its religious service, based on the account of the miraculous sighting that three shepherd children witnessed in Fátima, Portugal. After its establishment in Macao, through this church, the popular cult of Our Lady of Fátima expanded to Shiu-Hing, Timor, Singapore and Malacca.

Inside St. Dominic's Church.

Before entering Lou Kau Mansion, I bought an egg tart from Saint Honore Cake Shop.

So-so. The normal egg tart in Hong Kong is more delicious.

Lou Kau Mansion

The mansion is believed to be built in 1889. This was the home of Lou Kau, a prominent Chinese merchant who owned several imposing properties in the city. The location of this grand old house depicts the diverse social profile present in the centre of the old “Christian City”, where this traditional Chinese residence stands near Senado Square and Cathedral Square.

It's a window inside Lou Kau Mansion; I like it very much.

Paintings

I like them and wish I could sojourn here for two weeks.

Alleyway

Carving

Another tourist trying to snap a photo of the specially carved roof.

End this long picture blog entry with these two pictures. I believe Macau government has continuously put massive effort into maintaining these historical places as I found most of the buildings are well-maintained.

At the same time they also constructed some new retro-style buildings in order to make this historic center more attractive. IMHO they did a good job.

Some restaurants which serve good food according to my research are also located in this area. I will blog about it in the next entry.

[Zhongshan.CNY] Reunion Dinner

2010-02-22T21:18:00.012+08:00

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Thanks to John ( I never mentioned my friend's name in my blog. This is an exception. Because I feel very grateful to him ) whom I know in my college hostel, I didn't spend Chinese New Year alone in Hong Kong.

Again I realized the importance of networking. John and I are staying in the same level in our college hostel. I took the initiative to say hi to John during the first week I arrived in Hong Kong. We struck up an interesting conversation, mostly about mainland China and we become friends very soon.

I had spent Chinese New Year ( eve, 1st, 2nd, 3rd ) in his house which is located in Zhongshan 中山.

Zhongshan is a city in Guangdong Province in China. It's the city in where Sun Yat-sen 孫中山 was born.

There's direct bus service between Zhongshan and Hong Kong. It took about 4 hours to go from our college to the bus terminal in Zhongshan with the time spent in immigration included. The picture above shows John's three-storey house.

My friend lives in Gu He Chun 古鶴村, San Xiang Zheng 三鄉鎮. Chun 村, which means village, doesn't directly imply that my friend is from rural area. From my perspective, Gu He Chun is more of an urban neighborhood.

There're no clear evidence showing that the residents are involved in agriculture industry. Most of them grow vegetables and fruits in their backyards for self-consuming. There're several textile factories established in this village and I believe that most of the residents are working in those factories.

The neighborhood was relatively silent during the Chinese New Year eve. Because of the economic reform in China, there has been a large influx of people from other provinces coming to Guangdong Province seeking for job opportunities since 1992. According to John, more than 80 percents of residents in Zhongshan are from other provinces and I believe most of them were already back in their respective hometowns during the eve.

When I first stepped onto China, I found lots of slogans that are meaningful and humorous.

Shops selling Chinese New Year couplets. It seemed to me that anyone who is good at calligraphy can earn some part-time income during the Chinese New Year.

The wet market was closed.

Back in John's house. John's family likes Chinese tea so do I!

Chinese New Year couplets pasted on doorways of John's house.

Out for some fresh air. Certainly the air quality in Zhongshan is better than that in Hong Kong.
The picture shows one of the ways that residents in Zhongshan employ to prevent burglar. Hmmmm

A naughty neighbor kid.

The reunion dinner prepared by John's mother consisted of prawn, white chicken, mushrooms, pork fried with potato and small crab. All of the dishes were simple yet great. I particularly liked the small crab because of its rich roe.

I also realized that Cantonese cuisine is largely similar to Hainanese cuisine.

The weather is just unbearable. The temperature was about 25 Celsius two days ago and today it became 11 Celsius.
Nevertheless, the warmness of having dinner with John's family is simply indescribable. Made me feel right at home.

After the dinner, John showed us the map of Zhongshan.

Zhongshan has bigger land mass than Hong Kong. There's no railway or subway in Zhongshan. And people are mostly dependent on cars and public buses for commuting.

My first 2010 angpau.

John won the Baidu bear while participating in China Baidu programming competition. John's brilliant. You must know how competitive China's academic world is.

[Hong Kong.Travel] Sheungwan 上環

2010-02-19T17:54:00.006+08:00

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Sheung Wan is located in the western section of Hong Kong island. Hong Kong Macau ferry terminal is located at this place and it takes me about one hour to travel from my college to Sheung Wan MTR station.

There're several not-so-famous tourist destination located at this place: Cat Street, Man Mo Temple, Hollywood Road and the Museum of Medical Science.

Cat street, also known as Upper Lascar Row, is a street along where there're lots of stalls selling eclectic souvenirs and gifts.

Almost every stall on Cat Street sells figurines of Mao Tse Tung or any stuffs that are related to him.

There's no cat to be seen on this street. Instead I saw this dog. Hmm...

A normal sold in Cat Street costs 10HKD! It's whopping expensive.

I believe that the price are generally set very high and customers should always bargain over price.

Hollywood Road. Nothing to do with movies. There're lots of antique shops along this street.

I found the carving of Chinese twelve zodiac animals. I believe it could cost more than 5000HKD.

Dragon, Rabbit, Tiger, Sheep

Monkey, Snake and Pig

Cow, Dog and Chicken

Mouse, Horse

Another carving.

Man Mo Temple. It's one of the oldest Chinese temples in Hong Kong. Unlike the temples in Penang, there're nobody who try to persuade you into buying any over-priced stuffs inside. Instead they encourage people to donate money to the temple.

If you wanna worship the gods, there're joss sticks offered free of charge inside.

The Museum of Medical Science. I arrived there at around 4.45pm and the person in charge said it would be closed at 5pm. The entrance fee is 5 dollars. He said I could enter the museum if I donated any amount of money. I did it. 1 dollar.

The museum is small with nothing spectacular inside except a detailed chronology of major events of SARS incident in Hong Kong.

Time's up. It's closed at 5pm sharp.

I miss Langkawi!

2010-02-18T00:29:00.002+08:00

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I was in Pulau Langkawi, Malaysia. The place shown in the picture above is Durian Perangin Waterfall.

My friends and I had lots of fun over there. Due to the ending of the tourist season, there're only three of us enjoying ourselves at this famous tourist destination.

The water was crystal clear. Drinkable provided there're nobody Pxx-ing at the peak. I admit I drank it.

The weather was warm whereas the water was moderately cold. I couldn't help taking off my clothes and feeling the awesomeness of sinking my body into the water.

I enjoyed the timeless moments over there.

20100215
I was in Zhongshan, China. The temperature was 8 Celsius. I wasn't able to ward off coldness with one shirt, two jackets and one coat. I shivered. I could barely write a word on paper.

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The current weather in Hong Kong is

Unbearable!

I miss Langkawi!

[Macau.Travel] St. Augustine’s Square (Historic Center of Macau - Part 1)

2010-02-16T22:40:00.006+08:00

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We set off from our college at around 6.30am and managed to reach the Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal, which is located in Sheung Wan, at around 7.45am.

A lady persuaded us to buy tickets from her at only 100HKD each. I was quite skeptical at first. The normal price of one ticket is about 140HKD.

We'd gotten a good bargain.

Eventually we still managed to get on the ferry and arrived in Macau at around 9pm.

The weather is miserable. The sky is foggy. I, who like photography, missed blue sky again.

It's very convenient to travel around Macau not only because it's small, but there're free shuttle service provided by several hotels such as Hotel Sands.

We took the shuttle bus of Hotel Sands to go from Taipa Terminal to the hotel. After that, we took the shuttle bus of the Grand Emperor Hotel to head to the Historic Center of Macau.

The picture shows three sections of the Historic Center of Macau. There're many historical buildings, most of which are churches, located at this area. The distance between each section is much shorter than expected. We managed to visit all the three sections shown in the picture within three hours' time.

There's another section at the south-western area of Macau Peninsula which we didn't explore.

I'd found Shing Kee（盛記白粥) when I planned our itinerary.

All of these foods tasted quite plain and normal. It was however very suitable for our stomach as we'd eaten too much food with extreme taste in Hong Kong. It costs us only 27HKD.

Almost all the shops and restaurants in Macau accept Hong Kong dollars as Macau Pataca (MOP) and HKD are interchangeable. ( 1HKD = 1.03MOP )

It looks cool for me.

The first section of historic center we had been to is called St. Augustine’s Square.

St. Augustine’s Square gathers various classified buildings, such as St. Augustine’s Church, Dom Pedro V Theatre, St. Joseph’s Seminary and Sir Robert Ho Tung Library. The cobblestone pavement unifies the area and reflects a traditionally Portuguese streetscape.

Sir Robert Ho Tung Library.

This building was constructed before 1894 and was originally the residence of Dona Carolina Cunha. Hong Kong businessman Sir Robert Ho Tung purchased it in 1918, using it as his retreat until his relocation to Macao during the Second World War when Hong Kong fell into the hands of the Japanese in 1941. He passed away in 1955 and in accordance with his will, the building was presented to the Macao Government for conversion into a public library.

In fact it's a public library now.

When I entered this building, I found that there're quite a number of people reading and surfing the net in the library.

Dom Pedro V Theatre.

Built in 1860 as the first western-style theatre in China, this is today one of the most important cultural landmarks in the context of the local Macanese community and a venue for important public events and celebrations that remains in use to this day.

St Augustine's Church

First established by Spanish Augustinians in 1591, this church maintains the tradition of organizing one of the most popular processions through the city, the Easter Procession, with thousands of devotees. The normal religious service of this church also takes into account an especially strong participation from the local Filipino community.

St Joseph's Seminar and Church

Established in 1728 and built in 1758, the old Seminary, together with St. Paul’s College, was the principal base for the missionary work implemented in China, Japan and around the region. This church, together with the Ruins of St. Paul’s, is the only example of baroque architecture in China (as noted in UNESCO’s 2001 publication Atlas mundial de la arquitectura barroca). Inside the church, in one of the lateral altars, lies one of Macao’s most precious religious relics, a piece of bone from the arm of St. Francis Xavier, that formerly belonged to the collection of the Church of Mater Dei (Ruins of St. Paul’s). St. Joseph’s Seminary taught an academic curriculum equivalent to that of a university and in 1800 the Portuguese Queen Dona Maria I conferred on it the royal title of “House of the Mission Congregation”.

Some of the other churches were closed. And I didn't take any photo inside the churches as I wanna show respect to the religion.

Street view. It's perhaps one of the narrowest streets I'd ever seen in Macau. The buildings on two sides of the road are so close to each other.

Heading to another part.

[Hong Kong.Travel] Happy Valley Horse Racing 歡樂谷賽馬地

2010-02-09T09:58:00.011+08:00

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My friends and I went to Happy Valley Race Course 歡樂谷賽馬地. Again I was reliant on Google Map while finding the location of Happy Valley and found that this place is within walking distance from Causeway Bay MTR Station.

However, we wounded up walking for more than 15 minutes and missed the betting time. Maybe we didn't miss the betting time but the race started one minute after we had arrived there so we just watched the horse racing first.

There're way more tourists than locals standing at the beer garden area socializing, drinking beers and taking photos. The majority of tourists were westerners.

Those people whose real purposes were to gamble assembled at the seating areas and I could hear them shout when the race started.

Someone might have lost his or her money.

The view from the fourth level seating area.

It's my first time posting the video that is captured by my camera. I attempted to capture the horse races in the form of photos. But I believe a video tells more.

Taken at Beer Garden Area. Low Resolution.

Taken at Fourth Level. High resolution.