Tony and Elena treated us to a night at their favorite hotel, the Mandarin Oriental, which was nicer than we could have imagined. There wasn't a door to go through that wasn't being opened by a friendly staff member. The service was excellent and the hotel was beautiful. It made us feel really special to have this experience that we would never think of trying to afford on our own.
The hotel lobby:
Charlie and Tony shopping in the Cigar Emporium (surprise, surprise) on the 2nd floor of the hotel lobby area.
The room:
Welcome tea:
We also received some welcome fruit, but for some reason my stupid computer won't upload the picture right.
The bathroom:
Fresh flowers in the towels.
We set out to explore Macau. Our first stop was the Fortaleza do Monte which contained the Macau Museum. Inside the museum was this cool old seismograph.
On top of the building the perimeter is lined with cannons. I tried to make it look like this one was aiming at the ugliest building in Macau (and possibly the world), the Grand Lisboa casino.
This gorgeous tree was also on top of the fort.
From atop the fort you could see Macau in all directions. What most impressed me about this place, known as the Las Vegas of the East, was the contrast between the huge flashy upscale casino areas and the somewhat run-down look of everywhere else.
You could also see mainland China from here (across the water).
Next to the fort were the ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral, which was almost entirely destroyed by a fire in 1835. All that is left standing is the facade. Underneath the ruins are the crypts of the Jesuits who established the cathedral.
A fat seven-headed dragon and a reclining skeleton are carved into the facade.
We proceeded down Rua de Sao Paulo where we peeked into a furniture / art store and ended up leaving with several treasures that we had to schlep around all day.
This is St. Dominic's church.
I liked that it was bright yellow inside and out.
This church also contained a museum of sacred art that displayed various statues, paintings and garments. I thought this nun figure, about 1.5 feet tall, was incredibly freaky.
She has Marilyn Manson eyes.
Equally creepy was a chest filled with saint statue parts.
Next we stopped for tea at this lantern-laden building that used to be a pawnshop. It was part museum, part store, and part tea house.
Charlie and Tony in our tea table nook.
Along with our tea we were served a snack of dried longan and flavored pumpkin seeds. The seeds came with special cracking scissors.
The first type of tea we had was a blooming Jasmine. Here is our server preparing and serving our tea. You can also hear Tony's amazing Mandarin skills.
The finished product: a lovely and drinkable Jasmine flower.
The second tea we had might be transliterated as "Foon Wah Dan Chung" (they mention the name at the end).
We left the tea house feeling a bit buzzed and wandered along toward our next destination. I spotted this cool archway on a residential street along the way.
We then arrived at A-Ma Temple, which was built in 1488, is the oldest in Macau, and is dedicated to the goddess of seafarers and fishermen, Mazu.
A joss pot just inside the entrance.
These big coils are incense. They are lit at the bottom and burn in a spiral, their ashes dropping onto the circular disk below.
Another part of the temple, nestled between some large boulders.
Looking out on the bay from behind a small joss pot in the temple.
The big yellow thing next to me is an incense stick... and it had already been burned halfway down!
What I assume is a Feng Shui feature so that the deity look out at the sea.
Next we moseyed across the temple plaza to the Maritime Museum where I learned about things such as the Drunken Dragon festival where "Participants dance, carry dragon heads and tails... [and] are sprayed with water, all the while consuming large amounts of alcohol." This dude appears to be having a rip-roaring good time.
I also received detailed instructions on how to smoke opium:
After the Maritime Museum, we headed back to the hotel. Charlie and Tony had cigars and I rested my feet in our room, enjoyed the welcome tea and watched bizarre television, while we waited for Elena to arrive from Hong Kong (she had to work all day). When she got there we headed out to the Venetian hotel and casino, the world's third largest building in terms of area, to have a snack (Fat Burger) and see a performance of Cirque du Soleil's Zaia. It was pretty damn cool.
After the show we had Macanese food at a restaurant in the Venetian and then headed back to the hotel for a comfy night's snooze on our king size beds. It was grand.
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