Smokey!

12:06am, in bed at Metro Park Hotel
Gravol is my friend on this trip. Either I'm getting old or my lack of sleep is really getting to me. I'm constantly feeling nauseous! Especially here in Macau as everyone is a walking chimney. Nasty. Tonight I had to sit through an entire dinner with a cloud of smoke around me. Poor CLM. Poor me.

Somehow the food doesn't taste as great as last time I was here.  Maybe I was just really hungry.

 

Yesterday, we hitched a ride out to Hung Hom with 阿叔, had breakfast at the 茶餐廳 next to his shop. Waited around while he tied up some stuff at work (I took the opportunity to call up Sandra to wish her a happy birthday) and then hopped into his van to head to the harbour to catch our ferry to Macau. Our tickets were for 1 pm but since we got there at 11 am, we decided to take an earlier ferry. Only we didn't make that decision until 11:20am to take the 11:30am one. Meaning we had all of 10 minutes to submit our tickets for seat numbers, go through customs, find out the gate number, run to the gate and jump on the ferry. We literally RAN to the gate. With CLM. 跑到斷氣.

An hour later we were in a really sunny and really warm Macau!  I bought my data SIM card right away (God forbid I don't have internet to share my food pics, lol). So expensive here! $100 per day ($300 for 30 days) when it's $78 per week in Hong Kong.  Stupid that I had to pay $300 for 3 days.

Mom's friend came to grab us and took us to our hotel. We checked in and then went out for a quick bite. I'm so spoiled though: I find the food that I've had so far are only okay at best. Well, except the 葡撻 that I had today, that was really good. 

Very slurpy!

After lunch, mom went to the bank to cash her three government cheques so now we have spending money! We walked around, looking at stuff, visiting the places she lived at in her childhood times, her schools, the streets she walked to get places. Then we walked to 大三吧, sampled lots of almond cookies, pork jerky, candies, had 雙皮奶. We were so stuffed. By the time dinnertime rolled around, none of us were hungry so we didn't eat dinner until 10 pm and settled for congee (which wasn't very good). I can't believe how many bird spit stores they have around. I know about jewelry stores, pawn shops, but holy, so many bird spit stores that sell canned abalone, 冬蟲草, fish maw...omg, lemme at 'em!

Free pork chop bun that came with our ferry tickets.  Paper thin!  Sigh...

One of the crappiest congees I've ever had.  The MSG in my one bowl could have flavoured an entire pot!  Yuck!

This morning Mar and 太上文太 went downstairs for the buffet breakfast and took CLM with them so I could sleep in. Well sort of sleep in because mom's friend kept calling to wake me up, grrr.

木糠布甸, meh.

We visited two casinos today, Galaxy and Venetian, tried 木糠布甸, went to 氹仔, ate 葡撻, watched an early sunset in 路環, met up with more of mom's friends and had dinner at a restaurant in the Grand Lisboa.  The second hand smoke there almost killed me. If it wasn't for the smoke maybe I would have enjoyed dinner a little more. I conclude food in Toronto tastes much better than Macau. At least the 平民 foods do.

CLM on the bus with 婆婆

Now THESE were good!

Sunsets are always so pretty... 路環, tourist-free area

This time in Macau, I got to see it in a whole different perspective and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It sure is different if you have a local bring you around.

Restaurant fail.  The rising second hand smoke from the casino floor below was more than just overwhelming.

Time to hit the sack to recharge my battery for our last half day in Macau tomorrow. (12:52am)

At least CLM seem to be enjoying himself.

腳趾公塞入鼻哥窿

Backlogged...

Jan21, 7:30 am, at home in bed
Okay, I better catch up with my blogging before I get totally backed up. Today we're off to Macau for a few days. I'm totally stoked to go Macau with mom. Finally get to see the town where she grew up WITH her. It'll be great to hear her childhood stories as we walk through the city together. Can't wait!

Back to yesterday, Sunday. Yes, dimsum at Elements again, the entire time I was Whatsapp-ing Meishan. I got tired of typing so by the time dimsum was over, I just called her to rant, lol.

That's 4 for 5.  Sigh...

CNY decorations going up everywhere

As per normal itineraries, we went to visit 阿嫲, followed by 寶福山 to 拜阿爺. 阿嫲's really lost a lot of her memory though. She claims I haven't been back at all to see her. Omg, I'm like the grandchild from overseas that sees her most. Omg. At least she seems healthy otherwise.

After a kazillion blurry shots, finally one that's decent.

寶福山 on the other hand, was really busy! There was so much smoke I smelled like a walking bbq for the rest of the day. Blah...felt like puking. Funny how 太上文太 told 文生's grandfather that she brought me there to see him. I'm thinking, I brought YOU...She didn't even know what temple he was in! Omg, I'm sure I've been there more times than she had in the last 5 years.

Pretty flowers I got for 阿爺.  So vibrant (and so cheap, lol).  I wonder if he had a thing for bright flowers?

As per norm again, we went to the 沙田新城市廣場 for a quick drink (that place was packed) and then went to 大圍 for 燒乳鴿. Yet again CLM was complaining so we just quickly ate and left. The shrimp we had were awesome! The second I bit into it I knew they were fresh. So sweet and succulent!

Most expensive 凍檸茶 I've ever had in HK and it wasn't even good :( I knew I should have lined up for Starbucks

Shrimp was so fresh!  Pigeon was crispy and juicy!

We finished dinner at around 7 pm, went home to pack for Macau and called it a night. (1:40pm)

CLM finally cracking a smile after days of misery

Going to Taiwan! and Macau

Jan20, 11:57am, Lei Garden @ Elements
Omg, dimsum again. I'm going to be dimsum'd out pretty soon. Four days here and 3 dimsum dates already. Omg.

Last night I was so tired I passed out right away after getting home. Well, right away means after I got everything tidied up and CLM into bed.

又飲茶, *facepalm

So, dimsum in the morning at Tsuen Wan 潮江春 and then we made 妙珠姨 come into Tsuen Wan (I felt so bad, we were supposed to go out to Mong Kok). Booked our tickets to Macau and Taiwan, walked around 新の城 before it dawned on me that I had to call Emmi. Funny thing was, she wasn't even awake yet (it was quarter after three). She couldn't figure out where to eat so we headed over to 愉景新城 while she got ready. I had my first Starbucks in Hong Kong and as I guessed, their venti's are smaller than ours. The barista was surprised at my custom green tea frappuccino, which wasn't even complicated. That actually surprised me.

Venti, unsweetened, 8 matcha, soy green tea Frappuccino

(one less scoop of matcha for the missing 2oz, lol)

Emmi decided to come over to Kowloon so I took the opportunity to exchange some money first.  Omg, when I got to the foreign exchange I always go to in TST, I saw that the sign said the exchange rate was 7.75. Then an older dude poked his head out and said that the rate had changed to 7.72. So I thought what the hell, I'll change anyway because I was really running low on cash! Turns out that the markets "are closed" and the CAD rate dropped so to be safe (for them), they wanted 7.65! All in the span of a few minutes while I decided how much to exchange. Of course I was a little upset so I was going to walk but Emmi! She was livid! Entered into a huge catfight-like argument with the owner's daughter...I felt kinda upset but not that upset! Lol...So the lady agreed to give me the 7.72 rate, and "影 Emmi 相". So dramatic lol.

Saturday night eating out meant lots of people and no tables so Emmi suggested we eat earlier. We actually sat down at 6 pm. Only she didn't know the restaurant she picked at iSquare was an all you can eat shabu shabu. None of us were hungry enough for AYCE so we left. Oops, lol.  We ended up walking next door to a yakiniku restaurant and had wagyu! Sweet!

Lemme at that wagyu!

During dinner, CLM was acting up again (poor guy, he was so tired) but good thing the server seated us at the very back of the restaurant so damage was minimal. Over topics of babies, Emmi told me she's getting married in October this year! I'm so happy for her! Then I started giving her tips on prepping her body for babies, lol. Although I'd really like to attend her wedding, I don't think I'd be able to make it for October 30 (which happens to be a Wednesday, lol).

Mammie! I need to sleep!!

After buying Alan's stuff at Mark and Spencer, we took the mtr home and got in at around 10 pm. (Jan21, 7:21 am - yup this post took a whole day)

CLM looked so stoned, lol

Lost a Shoe!

4:51am, at home in bed
It was a little chilly today according to the weather report but by the time we left for Tsuen Wan at 10:45am, it had gotten warmer. Had a quick brunch at 翠華 as I refused to go dimsum again today before heading out to Hung Hom again to get those lucky envelopes printed for Greenpark. In other words, I kinda wasted an entire morning waiting for the printer to get me a draft for approval. While waiting, I grabbed a snack of chestnuts (mm, so good), and had lunch with 阿叔 at a Thai restaurant before finally finalizing the design with the printer. It was 4 pm already so we made our way over to Causeway Bay and walked around Sogo before meeting up with 妙珠姨 and 旭珠姨 for dinner at とん吉 for yummy, but kinda expensive tonkatsu. Oh so juicy, oh so crispy and oh so good. Would have been better if CLM didn't fidget and complain the entire time though.

Took a red bus home after and even when I was extra careful and mindful of my belongings, we lost one of Cur's shoes. Poopie.

What a not so eventful day. Damn, getting old. (5:08 am)

I absolutely REFUSED to have dimsum again today.  Then I got attitude all morning, lol.

What 細V describes as "從未如此鬆化過" 的炸豬扒

Look who passed out on the bus

Curtasee's First Day in HK

2:53am, at home

When we landed yesterday, we took our sweet little time to freshen up at the airport before heading out to immigration check and as a result, no wait and no pushy people rushing to get their checked luggage.  I wanted to grab a new prepaid SIM for immediate internet access but of course with my luck, the 2 stores I went to either didn't carry the one I wanted or sold out. Sigh. Hence I waited until after dinner to run out to 7 Eleven and even then, I had to go to two different ones! That card is just too popular I guess. A week of unlimited data on an HSPA+ network for $78HKD ($10CAD) is pretty darn good compared to what we pay for a prepaid service. This is the first time I've ever used mobile internet while away. I like. Hee hee.

阿嬸 knows I'm a sucker for good food so she bought some 大閘蟹 for dinner. Although they're totally not in season, I loved the thoughtfulness and the crab were actually pretty sweet, despite lacking in the 蟹膏 department (and the one I had was male, so even more lacking).

Not really big, but still pretty good!

After dinner I ran out to buy my SIM and noticed they opened a Starbucks downstairs! Of course I had to unleash the inner non coffee sbux drinker in me and went inside to check out their stuff. Some local drinkware are much better looking than the stuff back home or maybe I'm just biased, lol. They're having this Chinese New Year promo on right now so I may just make myself an excuse to go in just to get some sbux lucky envelopes!

Looks like they invaded 深井

While extremely exhausted from the flight, I could have fallen asleep standing and CLM was pretty pooped out too but I think he has a little jetlag and woke up many times (nothing new, lol) once to poo and once to play! Aiya, clapping happily at 4am...吹漲.

Got up shortly after 8am and got ready for our first real day out. A coincidence that cousin Aiyi from England is here visiting with her daughter and hubby so we all went out to Elements for dimsum. We were pressed for time so we didn't end up shopping there but I still managed to pick up my Armani make up. Can't believe they changed the packaging so I had to get a new case! Freaking hell.

Dimsum at Lei Garden

Hitched a ride out with 阿叔 to Hung Hom and walked around a shopping arcade looking at clothes and phone cases. When I got hungry, I was going to grab a McDonald's red bean pie but they were sold out! The nerve! I came all the way for it! LOL~!

I also had a chance to source out some printers to print Greenpark's lucky envelopes. Found a place that could do it for half the price compared to what they're paying over there for better looking and larger envelopes. So after whatsapp-ing with Mario, my trip just turned business, lol.  Now if only they can just pay for my vacation...

Walked into a travel agency to inquire about a side trip and it looks like we'd be going to Taiwan and not Japan. Works for me! I still have lots of Taiwan cash from last time.

What's a trip to Hong Kong without looking at jewelry? Lol, found a really nice 0.7ct ring, F, SI1 with certification, for only $29,600HKD ($2,840CAD). So pretty and quite cheap for the size! I think I just convinced Mui to buy it, lol.

Dinner time rolled around pretty quickly and I was a starving monster (since I didn't get my pie!) so we went back to 阿叔車房 and we headed out to 屯門 for suckling pig! Oh so crunchy and so juicy! Me likes! So cheap too, 4 of us, 6 dishes and under $700HKD out the door. Fantabulous! What was even better was CLM falling asleep just as we got there and slept through the entire peaceful dinner. Nice! Enroute home we grabbed dessert from 發記 and I got my fix of 楊枝金露.

Been looking forward to this! I can still hear the crunchy skin...

Throughout the day I had several dizzy spells so I'm thinking my body wants to warn me that I'm exhausted! I crashed by 11:30pm in the middle of a conversation with Mario, lol, and just woke up, omg an hour and a half ago, to finish it. Now that I'm completely caught up with blogging, I should really catch up with sleep. Signing out! (3:52am)