Macau, the Asian las Vegas

Macau, like Hong Kong, is theoretically Chinese but not really... But as I kept on repeating the entire WE, there are a lot of Chinese people there!


In summary, it's not really like china because rules are much more flexible, no need for a visa prior to traveling but the gambling industry mainly serve Chinese people coming either from HK or main land. As European tourist, we felt very isolated! (English is not widely spoken...)

Macau is formed of Macau peninsula (who would have guessed...), and the islands of Taipa and Coloane. These last 2 are now pretty much a single island connected by the wonders of land reclamation which is also the new casino centre: Cotai strip, where our hotel was.

When we arrived, we couldn't find the hotel reception, finding the casino was not difficult, but who would have thought that the reception was stuck in between 2 casinos?

Food was the highlight of the WE for me (I wish that was the case everywhere else in asia...) the Portuguese heritage brought us octopus salads, fried chorizo, garlic gambas and pasteis de nata and the fusion cuisine of Macau added afrikan chicken, vanilla soufle and a few other thinks. Not to forget we were in southern china, we added a Cantonese fried rice on Sunday lunch time for good measure.

The weekend was divided in between finding the remains of Portuguese colonization, that includes lots of churches in the city centre but also some quiet market squares on the south of Coloane island.

And exploring the casinos trying to understand the rules of some games and deciding which one was the most suitable for spending our money

Baccarat seems to be a Chinese favorite but we still have no idea what are the rules or even what's the goal! Black jack seems by far the easiest but the insurance part completely escaped us...

We finally decided to spend the remaining of the WE money in the Pacific casino, the Venitian was too big, the Himalaya too cold ;-), the Lisboa too smoky, to be really honest, the Pacific just had the lowest entry bet for Blackjack...

Call me cheap but 200 HK$ (20€) already seems excessive to me!

 

Singapore zoo

Despite its fame, the Singapore zoo is a touristic spot I hadn't had a look at! So once again, A and Y's visit was a good excuse and it was well worth it.

There are some pretty unusual beasts: white tiger, dwarf hippo, enormous snakes, gigantic turtles, orang-utans, monkeys with really red bums and also hundreds of Singaporeans school kids all dressed the same (they made a nice shot...)

And lots of interactions with animals: feeding the giraffes, riding an elephant, a penguins show etc

Here are a few additional shots (I can't help it I love zebras lines!)

In order to save Y's reputation I am not publishing the photos where he behaved like a monkey, looking for inexistant  lice in A's hair...;-)

This month and last month's photos: my blog and details

Meeting deadlines hasn't been my speciality in the last couple of months, I'm now trying to catch up!

The theme of "This month's photo" for the 15th of November was to summarise my blog in one shot. I actually spent quite a long time taking the shot at Macau airport but never published it...

You would have guessed that the photo summary of this blog had to be taken in an airport! It took a while to combine a really full page of my passport, with my samsonite, the right light and obviously a plane ready to take off.

For December, the new theme is "detail", I didn't do anything special, just a bit of browsing in the gigantic photo collection, I found some of the shots I took while playing with the new camera lens, I present "orchids details":

Despite being "disqualified" from the group this month for no show last month, here is the list of blogs participating.

100driiine, A&G, Agrippine, A'icha, Akaieric, Alban, Alexanne, Alexinparis, Alice Wonderland, Angélique, Anita, Anne, Anne Laure T, Annick, Arwen, Ava, Batilou, Bestofava, Blogoth67, Calamonique, Caprices de filles, Cara, Carnets d'images, Caro, Carole In Australia, Caterine, Cathy, Cekoline, Céliano, Céline in Paris, Cessna, oui !, Champagne, Cherrybee, Chris et Nanou, Christeav, Cindy Chou, Clara, Coco, Cocosophie, Cook9addict, Cricriyom from Paris, Cynthia, Dame Skarlette, David et Mélanie, DelphineF, Djoul, Dorydee, Dr. CaSo, Dreamteam, E, El Padawan, Eloclemence, Emma, Eurydice, Fanfan Raccoon, Filamots, Flo, François le Niçois, Frédéric, Galinette, Gilsoub, Giselle 43, Gizeh, Guillaume, Happy Us, Hibiscus, Isabelle et Gilles, Isaquarel, J'adore j'adhère, Jean Wilmotte, Josiane, Juriste-in-the-city , Karrijini, Kob, Krn, Kyoko, La Fille de l'Air, La Flaneuse, La Messine, La Nantaise, La Papote, La Parigina, LaFamilleD , LaGodiche, Laure, Laurent Nicolas, Lauriane, Lavandine, Le Mag à lire, Les bijoux de Sandra, Les petits supplices !, Les voyages de Lucy, Les voyages de Seth et Lise, Leviacarmina, Lhise, Lisa doré, LisaDeParis, Lo, Louisianne, Lucile et Rod, Lyonelk, magda627, Maïder, Maïeva Voyage, Mamysoren, Marion, Marmotte, Melting Pot, Mgie les bons tuyaux, Misscarone, Mistinguett, N, Nana, Narayan, Nataru, Nathalie, Nicky, Nikit@, Nora, Olivier, Ori, Pat Québec, Pilisi, Renepaulhenry, scarolles-and-co , Sébastien, Sephiraph, Shandara, Sinuaisons, Skipi, Solveig, Sophie Rififi, Stephane08, Supalisa, Tambour Major, Testinaute, Thalie, The Mouse, Titem, Un jour une rencontre, Une niçoise, Valentine, Vanilla, Violette, Virginie, Viviane, Xavier Mohr, Xoliv', Zapo, Zaza.

Champagne brunch at the Fullerton Bay Hotel

Y and A were visiting, finally a good excuse to go for a champagne brunch!

 

The idea was to go back to the Fullerton hotel to confirm our good memory of our first champagne brunch ever (or decide that we were too easily impressed at that time...)

 

Somehow, I didn't book the brunch in the right hotel...

 

Like a beginner, I confused the Fullerton hotel with the Fullerton bay hotel. Luckily I realized it the day before going so at least we turned up at the right place! So Fullerton bay it is!

 

Lovely location on Marina bay, the view is not fantastic but still on the water. The Clifford restaurant where the brunch is served is on the side of the hotel so it looks towards the custom house.

 

The room is beautiful, very high ceiling, amazingly long curtains, lots of crystal, mirrors and fabrics. The sitting is not too big, it definitely feels more human than the Fullerton hotel. It was nearly full by 12.45, some people insist on turning up late, I'm still not sure why you would be missing 45 min of free champagne...

(even if I definitely slowed down in the last 45 min of the day...)

 

Anyway, Perrier-Jouet champagne started flowing immediately, R asked for a bloody Mary and was shown to the station: a DIY version of the hangover cocktail!

 

The particularity of this brunch is to have a main course to order from the menu. It doesn't restrict the rest of the buffet in anyway, it's just an additional bit, I had fantastic eggs Benedict, A had lobster laksa, R had suckling pig and I think Y got a different sort of eggs as well.

Desserts were for me the highlight of the brunch, I think the photos speak for themself!

In order to ease up digestion, we got some fresh air on the roof where we were able to admire spectacular tropical rain on Marina bay.

What a great way to celebrate A and Y last day in Singapore!

 

Rawa 2

I appear to be very late on this blog...

Lucky me, it's the rainy season in Singapore, the pool is not very tempting so I'm back on the blog!

Here are a few shots of our last visit to Rawa (courtesy of GP), there is a new slide, the same dark sky before thunder and the same dreamy beach...

 

 

 

This month's photo: Bienvenue/Welcome

Bienvenue a Singapour!
         Welcome to Singapore!

15th of October, time for this month's photo around the theme: "Bienvenue chez moi" (Welcome to my place)

Idea: 0
Time to take a specific photo: 0 (came back from Angola on friday)
Photos vaguely related to the theme in the library: 2 (1 from Malacca, and 1 from Singapore)

And the winner is: Singapore (just because Malacca is not really home...)

For context, Pulau Ubin is a small island, it's part of Singapore but it is so different that it feels much further away than the 15 minutes boat ride it takes to get there from Changi village.
It's more like a remote part of Malaysia, there is very little to do apart from renting a bike and going around, stopping in a fish/sea food restaurant and enjoying the peace and quiet of the area.

And here are the links to some better photos:


Dr CaSo, Vickie in the sky, Isabelle et Gilles, David et Mélanie, Alice Wonderland, Annick, Filamots, Mamysoren, Le Mag à lire, Berliniquais, Lo, Nora, La Fille de l'Air, Dorydee, Lisa adore, Les voyages de Lucy, Pilisi, Akaieric, Laurent Nicolas, Viviane, El Padawan, Nathalie, Pat Québec, Petite Marie, Sinuaisons, Renepaulhenry, Cessna, oui !, The Mouse, Galinette, Blogoth67, Chris et Nanou, Violette, DelphineF, M, Sephiraph, Cekoline, Gilsoub, Stephane08, Ava, Titem, Batilou, Djoul, Marmotte, Arwen, La Papote, Mgie les bons tuyaux, Narayan, Vanilla, Carnets d'images, Happy Us, Anne, Escapade en Tunisie, Les zinzins, Lyonelk, J'adore j'adhère, Cherrybee, Maïder, Une niçoise, Bestofava, La Parigina, Ori, François le Niçois, Christeav, Un jour une rencontre, La Messine, 100driiine, Cara, Champagne, Krn, La Flaneuse, Jean Wilmotte, A&G, Cocosophie, Coco, Flo, E, Gizeh, Kob, Xavier Mohr, Anita, Lucile et Rod, Les petits supplices !, Guillaume, The Parisienne, N, Xoliv', Kyoko, Céline in Paris, André(eric)Fernandes, Clara, Karrijini, Fanfan Raccoon, Anne Laure T, Hibiscus, Nicky, Louiki, Sophie Rififi, Nataru, Sébastien, Dreamteam, Caro, Testinaute, Dame Skarlette, Marion ENLEVER L’ESPACE AVANT LE ORG MERCI, LaFamilleD , LaGodiche, Alban, Alexanne, Emma, Les voyages de Seth et Lise, Laure, Frédéric, Alexinparis, Cricriyom from Paris, La Nantaise, Solveig, Tambour Major, Olivier, Lavandine, Melting Pot, Lauriane, AnneSoPhotos, Manola, Cynthia, Céliano, Agrippine, magda627, Lhise, Cathy, Skipi,Isaquarel,Leviacarmina.

F1 GP in Singapore

R guest-writing again,

After several weeks of huge rehearsal for the National Day that took place in August 9 (including multiple fireworks, military parade ...), Singapore started to transform with fences and spotlights that were placed along the main roads of the city center. Singapore was getting ready for the Formula 1 GP.

(credit: Max)

 

This year I had another opportunity to attend this main event in Singapore, and below are some of the pictures of the various races that took place in this street circuit for 3 days and nights:

Formula 1 in the streets where I am used to ride in taxis or bus. Here is Webber:

 

GP2 racing (they are much less noisy):

 

Ferraris racing and crashing:

 

Porsches Carrera:

 

And the City showing its best lights... until next year's edition.

 

Thai temples (photos post)

Here are some of the best shots of the temples we saw in central Chiang Mai, up on the hill of Doi Suthep and finally Ayutayah, an ancian capital, an hour away from Bangkok.