Day 1 - From Singapore To Macau

The flight to Macau was bearable. It was a small plane, reminding me of the early days when I flew to KL. There was absolutely no service, although the cabin crew wheeled their trolleys selling foodstuff and other things. Surprisingly, many people bought food from the cabin crew. I guess it is still cheap considering that the budget flights are much cheaper than normal flights where food is served. Needless to say, there was no entertainment on board. We whiled away the time reading, Straits Times, in-flight magazines and Sek Hoong had a book. I listened to my MP3 player most of the time. Managed to catch a very short nap. When we finally touched down, it was with a loud bump.

The airport was cold, not sure if the air-conditioning was on. The air outside was less cold. After clearing immigration and customs, we boarded a coach that brought us to the Venetian.








The ride took only about 5 minutes. The resort is exactly that – a resort with casinos and lots of entertainment activities. The place was teeming with tourists.














Sook Hwee managed to get Sung Pong on the phone – he had just reached home after work, and came back to meet us. He brought us to our room – 30-074, on the 30th level. Very cosy room with 2 televisions – one of which is a LCD TV. There was also a sofa bed. Look at the pictures. Only complain is that there is no free internet access.








Sung Pong took us to a local area near to the hotel for dinner. There were many shops selling local foodstuff. We had dinner in shop. The food was good. We had one cauliflower dish, one crab porridge, one eel dish, one steamed chicken, and one big prawn each. The total damage was HK$795. According to Sung Pong, that works out to about S$140 or S$30+ each since there were 5 of us. After dinner, we stopped at a sweets shop and had a small cup of ice cream each. They cost about HK$10 each (or less than S$2). We also bought 2 bottles of mineral water (one big and one small) – for HK$10.






















A little about Macau. The weather is cool but not cold, like office air-con temperature. The streets that we walked in were quite empty. And most cars did not stop at the zebra crossing that we used. The people speak mainly Cantonese. The hotel staff (Sung Pong commented that one security lady officer was unmotivated) and the restaurant people were not friendly. They were quite aloof.

Sung Pong said Macau is about the size of Jurong (one tenth of Singapore’s area). I heard from a Macau government officer I met before that the population of Macau is very small, but the tourist population is in the millions. Sung Pong also said there is no commercial activity in Macau, except the casinos and resorts.

We talked about changing our plans - to include going to Hong Kong and Zhuhai.

Enjoy the pictures.

BLESSED CHRISTMAS DAY By ANJALI SINHA

Blessed Christmas to all!


*** BLESSED CHRISTMAS DAY ***

Long time ago in Bethlehem
shepherds in fields as they lay
heard ‘silent night’ sung by the choir of
Angels,
the Seraphim and Cherubim.
Then with joyful steps they sped
to that lowly manger tread
on bended knees did bow their heads
to salute the infant King of Kings.

A tiny star lit up the skies
as if the earth had never seen
such brilliance shone upon the earth,
they say this comes to pass when
special child is born

The hills and dales began to sing
And peace and calm was felt to ring
as rosy hues were settling in.
Blessed be that hour
That special morn
For Jesus Christ on earth was born

BLESSED CHRISTMAS

ANJALI SINHA
23-12-2008

Orchard Road Lights

Last Saturday, we organised an outing to Orchard Road for the Boys to see the lights and to play with the snow foam in Tanglin Mall. There were a lot of people on the road, but better than last year. I remember all we did last year was walk and walk, basically to get out of the crowds. We were there earlier this year, and as a result, it was not dark enough to enjoy the lights.

Here are some pictures I took.