Tuesday morning consisted of breakfast at the hotel buffet. I had been eyeing the asian part of the selection the day before so I partook whole-heartedly in the siu mai, sponge cake, steamed buns, and dragon fruit. It was not all it was cracked up to be so I made note to search for a new breakfast nook on Thursday.

Ion chose dim sum at Pak Loh as our next lunch adventure. The Vancouverites at IG were a little puzzled that I wanted to have dim sum in Hong Kong. After all, they said, Vancouver and Richmond dim sum is far superior. Go figure. I better figure out which restaurants Winnie and Garland were referring to.

Dinner was a quick stop with Johnny to a small Shanghainese cafe off Electric Road. This place, according to Winnie, is great for its wonton. We opted for chicken in wine and braised pork belly, more of the same “soup dumplings” that we had sampled at Pak Loh, and vegetable rice. We shared our table with a stranger, which is the normal course of things in small establishments like this one. The pork belly was exactly how I liked it and the portions were small enough for my squirrel-like appetite. One of the better little eateries that I tried in the city.

Excitedly took my first hydrofoil trip to Macau to visit Kuya Mike. The waters just outside of Sheung Wan station were so turbulent that two men were anchoring down the ferry on either side of the on-ramp. Everyone boarding the ferry was being tossed around like rag dolls; doubly difficult for people assigned a seat on the upper deck (like myself). Good thing we all had seat belts to hold us (and the contents of our stomachs) in until the waters smoothed out shortly after we left harbour. Wish I could tell you more about the trip over, but the lull of the jet engine plus my exhaustion from work and jet lag caused me to pass out in blissful slumber until we docked in Macau.

Macau is an entirely different animal than Hong Kong. Originally a Portuguese settlement, the city is laid out in wide European-style boulevards. Mosaics are strewn about on practically every fresco. A far cry from the narrow alleys and sign-riddled streets of Hong Kong Island.

Macau is also Asia’s oasis for gambling (not so much for debauchery, which I always thought went hand-in-hand). Everywhere you turn, there are one or more neon / videotronic displays enticing you to empty your pockets into casino coffers. I had never experienced Las Vegas besides what they show on CSI, so the 11pm to 6am jaunt around the casinos with Kuya Mike was overwhelming in its gaudy splendour. Since there is so much more to say about the nightlife in Macau, track me down one day and I’ll share more observations in person.

Finally got to spend time with my mom’s cousin, whom I call Kuya Mike (kuya means “older brother” in Tagalog). He picked me up from the Macau ferry terminal and indulged my photography spree till the sun rose. We had a lot to catch up on after 9 years of losing touch. He is currently a pilot with Air Macau and flies regularly to Manila, Beijing, Shanghai, and Taipei. Still breaking ladies’ hearts it seems =)

After wandering several casinos in our futile search for non-gambling activities, we hunkered down at the Starbucks inside the Wynn and gossiped till dawn. Always a fun time chatting with Kuya Mike about everything under the sun.