Macau Part 1

On Friday, my family and I ventured over to neighbouring Macau. The former Portuguese colony is only an hours ferry ride away and a popular tourist destination for Asia. I visited last Summer in the crazy heat and this time, it was a lot more comfortable walking around the old town. The buildings here are so vibrant and the Macau government have put a lot of money into the upkeep of the old Portuguese style buildings (which I took more pics of last Summer) but are easily visible with their pastel coloured buildings and European influences. However there is an abundance of more run down buildings which also add to the charm of Macau.

One of the first things we did is stop in one of the traditional dessert shops. I had a Water chestnut soup with egg white and some sesame tong yuen (balls made from glutinous rice flour). This is one part of Asian culture that I especially love!

We were super lucky that my aunt had some business over in Macau and we were able to stay at the super luxurious, 5 star Banyan Tree hotel which is a resort hotel from Thailand. It was super posh and has a variety of rooms ranging from the standard suite which we stayed in (which was not at all standard/small on any terms!) to huge villas complete with pool. I'm not sure if I'd ever have the chance to stay in a hotel like this ever again. So I made the most of it! My aunt who often visits Macau for work, says that and the hotel next door (The Okura) were the most exclusive hotels in Macau. Wow.

Our 'standard' room had a shallow pool, living room area and a huge bathroom, complete with awesome wooden bath tub, double shower room with rain shower and to my surprise...the toilet seat was even heated! Mind boggling. The whole place smelled of lemongrass. It was quite the experience. My aunt said that the hotel caters especially towards couples which explains the resort feel and the double features in the suite.

I'm not sure what they call the pool below because it's super shallow and I suppose they're perfect for having a bit of a soak or even just soaking weary feet. 

Obviously judging from the photo below on the right, that's exactly what I did, please excuse the PJ bottoms! How could I resist testing out the lovely warm water? I look ridiculously happy and believe me, I was since I felt so lucky to be in that hotel.

Blouse (Miss Selfridge) Jeans (BDG)

After lots of oohing and aahing over the hotel room, we left the room and hopped into a taxi to a restaurant which my grandparents really love and rave on about. I figured it must be good because it's hard to please my grandparents more mature tastebuds! At To To Koi, we had yummy Guangzhou cuisine consisting of crispy roast Chicken, sweet and sour pork and crispy suckling pig. I quickly realised that they were right to rave on about it and our meal cost about $500 for 4 people, which is about £40. So good.

After the meal we headed back to the hotel but stopped off at the Galaxy Hotel which adjoins our hotel and the Japanese themed Okura Hotel which I'll mention in the next post]. We wandered through the Galaxy hotel which has a huge casino on the main floor (Macau is famed for it's casinos) and a crazy amount of luxury brands. Macau caters a lot for Chinese tourism and plenty of mainland Chinese flock to Macau to load up on their designer goods, just like they do in Hong Kong too.
However we soon found ourselves back in our hotel room where I made my aunt take a photo of me posing in that tub (if I wasn't sharing a room then I totally would have filled it up and had a right old soak!  Since we were in Macau, we had to pick up some Portuguese egg tarts. Compared to normal Chinese egg tarts, the pastry is really flaky and crispy. They're so good! We also bought a box of these fresh old fashioned Chinese candies which is spun sugar (like candy floss) with a peanut filling. They look and feel a lot like cotton wool balls which is kind of odd at first! My family said that it made them feel quite nostalgic because they were such traditional Chinese candies.
The rest of the night, we watched Cantonese TVB dramas from bed and looked forward to the following day which I will share with you guys in the next post!

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The First Days

Hi guys! So I've been in Hong Kong for 2 days now and it's only just begun to sink in that I'll be here for the next few months. My dad has been visiting for the last 10 days and today is his last day before he flies back home this evening. However, first, let me share with you my mixture of iPhone, Instagram and camera pics! 

So after an hours flight from Birmingham airport on Monday morning, I landed at Charles de Gaulle for my connecting flight to Hong Kong. I was super lucky and had two empty seats next to me which was brilliant but I quickly realised that the extra space didn't make the hugest difference to how uncomfortable it is to fly for almost 12 hours. I was so happy to touch down on Tuesday Morning (HK Time) especially because I could get away from the annoying child sat behind me! When I arrived at the airport, it took me about 15 mins to check through immigration (having a HKID card makes life super easy/speedy!) and collected my luggage and found my dad waiting for me on the other side.

 

We hopped on the bus and I found myself in familiar territory. We opened that typical HK front door and I was back at home! It honestly feels like I never left last Summer. After quickly realising how cold it was, I changed into something warmer and then we popped out again for some much needed Dim Sum. 

After dim sum, I fought the jet lag that was starting to kick in and my dad and I went to Mong Kok so I could help him buy my sisters presents. It was super busy but it was awesome being back in town and meandering through the chaos of people shopping away. 

That evening, my family surprised my dad with a birthday cake. This cake was so good and had slices of mango in the centre. Extremely light, chocolately and yummy fresh fruit.

A Misty Wednesday morning. The view from the kitchen window, High rise flats and commercial buildings and a hint of HK's moutainous terrain in the background.
The following morning, I woke up bright and early and my grandma had made me some congee for breakfast. There really is nothing like food cooked by your grandma and she was a little embarrassed when I showed her my blog earlier. Food cooked by grandmothers is always so good!

Later on, we caught the bus and arrived into my favourite place in the world, Causeway Bay! Safe to say, I didn't drag my dad around the shops but my sister Hailey and I shopped away to our hearts content last Summer. I don't feel the need to buy clothes yet...but then again it's early days! At lunchtime we went to Domon Ramen which is situated behind Times Square at Lee Theatre Plaza. I had a set lunch of Ramen and the Taro and Pumpkin Korroke which was pretty awesome. Especially when it only costs $58 which is under £5! Definitely an impossible price if I was back int the UK.

There was a crazy hat installation at Times Square. Though, I suspect the area gets pretty drippy when it's raining! It's so pretty and colourful. 

My dad and I stopped off at Sogo and went into one of their Coffee shops. I don't recall ever having a coffee with just my dad but it was really nice!

   

My dad adores his food and one of his favourites are these fresh wife cakes seen in that first pic. They're really good and he bought a couple of boxes to take home. No doubt when I return in May, I'll be asked to buy some more for him too! Later that eve we hopped into a taxi and went to Wang Jia Sha, a Shanghainese restaurant in Causeway Bay. On my last trip, my sister and I went to the one in Taikoo Shing but I never got round to posting the pics! I might revive those eventually because some of those dishes we had in the Summer were better presented! 

Finally, the reason why I am able to blog so soon is because I bought myself a new laptop. Electronics in HK are definitely cheaper, often with a bazillion freebies if you shop in the right stores. So this is most definitely a worthy investment! 

This evening, my dad leaves for the UK so we are spending the rest of the day, having lunch, a bit of a shop for last minute gifts before we have dinner at home. Will update soon!