Day 01 Macau at Night and Dinner

We had our dinner in a restaurant called Ali's Curry House. Despite the name, they are famous for their Macanese and Portugese cuisine. Nevertheless, their signature dish is still their curry. However, I was delighted that this restaurant is very much accepted as Macanese and a must-try in Macau. Therefore during dinner time, reservation is a must. On top of that, we made sure that we were there on time for our reservation because large crowds are common and we don't want our table going to someone else.

Day 01 Macau Sofitel

During our visit in Macau, we stayed in the uber swanky Sofitel hotel at Ponte 16. We took a bus (1st bottom) for free from the pier to the hotel. Buses like this are quite common in Macau and they ply routes between the pier, town central, Venetian resort etc. This could very much be a community service provided by the casinos operator for the locals (and tourists). When we arrived at the hotel, we were greeted by this humongous and beautiful chandelier at the right hand side of the lobby (2nd bottom). 

We:Recycle; Recycle a phone, Adopt a tree

I have read about this great idea by Nokia to recycle old mobile phones.

They have a catchy phrase for this campaign which is called We:recycle; Recycle a phone, Adopt a tree. All you need to do is just drop your old phone in one of their many kiosk (Bottom) and they will do all the dirty work of disposing it for you.

Day 01 Macau Heritage Sites

My family took a trip to Macau - Hong Kong (HK) last year. Macau was a Portugese territory up until 1999 before being handed over to China as a Special Administrative Region (SAR). Macau shares many traits with Malacca, for example they are both portugese overseas territory at some point, they have deep ports and both are a shipping towns. Together with Goa in India, Cape Town in South Africa and Cape Verde in West Africa, they form a chain for ships from Portugal to China. Of course, this was before Suez Canal was built later.

Quickie: Energizer Night Race

My first posting of the year so Happy New Year! Happy Chinese New Year! Goodbye to the decade of Noughties that has brought us so many naughtiness like dotcom bubble, sub-prime crisis, SARS, H1N1 etc. Hello year of the tiger and let me hear you roar!

I'm in the midst of preparing myself for the Energizer night race. I've registered in the modest (yet Herculean task for me) 10km run.

The race is on 27th March. On a usual basis, I'll jog 2km around the neighbourhood. However lately, I've been pacing myself above 3km and tonight, managed a distance of 3.4 - 3.6km in less than 40 minutes. My target is to get above 5km the next week and 7km the following week.

I'm curious if I have the required discipline to do that.

Link:
Energizer Night Race 2010

Sam Po Tong, Ipoh

"Ipoh has breathtaking views" - that was my conclusion at the end of the excursion. Take Sam Po Tong (三宝洞) for example (Left), I was there a few weeks back and was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful landscape. The temple is unique because it is build into a limestone cave.

At the entrance of the temple, I was greeted by a fine looking pond (Bottom Right).

Luang Prabang Map and Omellette Snack

So far I have been sharing my experiences in Luang Prabang without giving much descriptions of the location of those places. Therefore, I have tried to sketch out a rudiment map of Luang Prabang town to give a clearer picture (Bottom).
Click to enlarge.

Laos Day 05-06 In and Around Vientianne

Patuxay Vientianne

The last three days of our trip were spent in Vientianne, although I did not consider the last day as a sightseeing day because our flight back to KL was early. When we arrived on Sunday, it was already late afternoon. Unlike Luang Prabang which is further north and closer to nature, the heat in Vientianne is suffocating. The very first thing we did was to check into the hotel. We stayed in Ramayana hotel @ LanXang Avenue, which is a fantastic hotel although initially we did have some hiccups because Airasia did not notify our booking to them. However, they were kind enough to let us check-in before sorting things out. Thumbs up to them there! Besides, not to be biased, the hotel is definitely one of the better hotels in Vientianne.