(Conclusion)
A hearty breakfast at MGM Grand’s Rossio started the second day of the tour. It was a very interesting walking tour of Macau’s UNESCO Heritage sites which included the Moorish Barracks, a military base built in 1874 where soldiers from the Portuguese Goa (in India) lived while on military duty. Now, it serves as the headquarters of the Macau Maritime Administration. We passed “Barrio do Lilau” where the early Macanese community lived before proceeding to St. Augustine’s Square, one of the earliest European squares in Macau where I noticed the cobblestone pavement, a reflection of preserved traditional Portuguese streetscape.
We then dropped by for a while at the St. Augustine church which was established by the Spanish Augustinians in 1586. After saying a short prayer, we continued walking down to Rua da Felicidade or the “Happiness Street” which I learned was a “naughty” strip before. Now the street is lined with stores selling Chinese candies and almond cookies, not to forget my favorite pork jerky…wow, I am actually craving for it at this very moment! After the long walk, Señor Joao and Charina Puno of MGTO both convinced us to try the most popular Chinese dessert, the “Tao Fu Fa” or the Soya Custard which tastes like our local “taho”…uhmmm, yummy! Then we proceeded to the Senado Square, Macau’s urban center for centuries and is still the most popular venue for public events and celebrations and a quick stop at the Sto. Domingo Church before proceeding to the famous icon of Macau, the Ruins of St. Paul’s passing through streets lined with antiques and souvenir items.
After the three-hour walking tour, we went back to the MGM Grand for lunch which the hotel hosted for the group. MGM Grand’s Carina Ho welcomed us at the hotel’s Imperial Court, a Chinese restaurant. Soon after, she gave us a tour of the entire hotel before a quick siesta. Later that afternoon, we were off to visit A-Ma Temple, a temple which existed before we had the city of Macau came to be and is an exemplary representation of Chinese culture inspired by Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism and multiple folk beliefs. It is considered to be the most famous and picturesque temple in the city. The next destination was the most imposing and renowned Tower in the World, the Macau Tower. It meant a “cool” pedicab ride from Ma-a Temple. Each one of us had a service pedicab and how I enjoyed the breeze of the cold winter air of the city!
We were then dropped-off by our respective pedicabs at the foot of the Macau Tower after a brief 15-minute ride. The 7-year- old tower is the 10th highest tower in the world at 338 meters skywards. Once on top at the observation deck and the revolving restaurant, the magnificent panoramic view of the whole of Macau and the Pearl River Delta is as far as your eyes can see. One can indulge in some daring activities depending on one’s guts, such as the Bungee Jump all the way down and the Skywalk, a walk around the transparent flooring outside the observation deck and the Skyjump…activities which I will never do and never dreamt to experience in my whole life! Daring and high-spirited Cybill Gayatin of Zee Lifestyle Magazine and Charina did the Skyjump while Connie Cimafranca of Cathay Pacific and Nathalie Tomada of The Freeman opted for the Skywalk with the rest of us just watching and cheering them on.
Dinner that night was at the Ristorante IL Teatro of the Wynn Macau, one of the most impressive structures in Macau. We were privileged to dine that night with Wynn Macau’s very pretty and pleasing Director for Communications Katharine Liu over Italian dinner at the restaurant’s private room with a perfect view of one of the hotel’s attractions, the Performance Lake. It is a spectacular lake with choreographed musical water show that features dramatic fire effects and shimmering illuminations in a series of awesome dream sequences. After dinner, we had the chance to drop by another attraction of the hotel at the ground floor, the Tree of Prosperity wherein a spectacular movement of kinetic sculptures, video, light and music takes centerstage every 30 minutes.
Before calling it a night, Connie, Charina and this writer agreed to have a couple of drinks at MGM Grand’s Lion’s Bar where I bumped into a good friend from way back, Reuben Laurente, a former member of the famous singing group, The Company. Reuben was with some colleagues in the music industry who are now permanent entertainers of Hong Kong Disneyland.
One of the highlights of the last day of our tour was a visit to a local park where we had the chance to observe the locals doing “Tai Chi”, their early morning routine which they believe, helps them a lot to achieve good health. Of course, the Venetian Macau Resort Hotel visit was one of the memorable experiences. Known to be the world’s biggest casino resort and a subsidiary of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, the US$2.4 billion Venetian Macau became the largest single structure hotel in Asia and second largest building in the world. Just like its sister-property in Las Vegas, The Venetian Macau is a renaissance Venice-themed property featuring stunning replicas of Venice landmarks such as St. Mark’s Square, the Doge’s Palace, Campanile Tower, and three indoor canals with gondolas and, yes, singing gondoliers. The hotel has 3,000 all-suite guest room and one million square feet of retail space which is more than any shopping mall in Hong Kong. The casino area, at 550,000 square feet, is the largest in the world and is home to 870 table games and more than 3,400 slot machines plus the 15,000-seat Venetian Arena which is a venue of a variety of sports and entertainment events, including two NBA exhibition games and a match-up between tennis greats Roger Federer and Pete Sampras. At the time we were there, Celine Dion was going to have a concert a few days after.
Dinner that night was at Coloane Island, in Nga Tim Café in particular, just a few steps away from the Chapel of St. Francis Xavier, one of the focal points of the island. It was an al fresco dinner with lots of laughter, good food and fine wine. I can’t help but notice the mosaic paving and the whole arcade with white and yellow neo-classical arches housing a number of open air restaurants serving Portuguese and Chinese food.
The last part of the tour’s itinerary was the Canidrome on Avenida General Castelo Branco, a greyhound racing venue. Nathalie tried her luck and was lucky indeed! She won quite a sum but quite amusing is that, up to now, she has not revealed to us how much that was!
Macau is undoubtedly a must-visit destination today. An ultra modern metropolis yet its heritage and culture is so well preserved — too much to see and too much to do. Thus, the unstoppable influx of foreign tourists from all over the globe is overwhelmingly growing every single day. It was one place I’ve always been planning to visit and yes, it was fulfilled! For the wonderful experience, I would like to thank the Macau Government Tourist Office for their hospitality and Cathay Pacific for pampering us…the Cathay Pacific way!