Macau in October

First we visited the casinos in Macau island. The famous ones are the Grand Lisboa, Sands, Star World and Wynn. It is true that Macau is the city that never sleeps. You can catch live concerts and cabaret style performances at regular intervals in all the large casinos while gambling away your fortune.

 

 

 

 

  

 Sampling various types of Chinese tea at the Macau Tea Centre in Senado Square.

Visited the famous ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral. Fortunately the weather was not so hot. We bought loads of almond cookies as gifts for friends.

The interior of the newest casino, The Galaxy over in Taipa. Very impressive!

Inside the Venetian. The roof of this section is painted like the sky so the weather is "perfect" all the time.

The main lobby is painted in gold to signify wealth and good luck to the gamblers.

  

 

We also enjoyed visiting the places frequented by the locals like the Red Market. I found out that people prefer to buy live fishes to take home to cook. We enjoyed rice porridge sold in this shop accompanied by a plate of roast pork. I bought several kilos of Chinese sausages to take home in preparation for the Chinese New Year. 

 

 

 

 

 

Fishing trip before the monsoon

 

 

Above are the two large catches from my latest fishing trip. And below is mealtime with the "boys"

 

 

Final group photo before we depart for home.

 

 

A Weekend's Drive

We decided that instead of spending the Hari Raya holidays sitting at home we would drive around the countryside and enjoy the food that is famous in the places that we would visit.

Since many people were still celebrating the Muslim New Year in their hometowns, the roads were traffic free making the drive very pleasant. The weather was also surprisingly good, cloudy and not too hot or wet.

Mostly oil palm plantations, banana plantations and occasionally some fruit orchards along the way.

Two of the towns we visited are Bentong and Karak.

The famous Yik Kee restaurant in Karak which is well-known for its freshwater fish dishes and local- made pastries.

Here are among some of the food we sampled at a fishing village (on the first day) and at Yik Kee in Karak town on the second day. Fried oyster omelete...a bit gluey but quite delicious.

Prawn noodles. The prawns that accompanied this dish were huge and extremely fresh.

Freshly steamed fish. This dish was much too big for the two of us.

Many local tourists bought home-made cakes and biscuits from this famous shop to take home.

On this trip we were also on the look-out for the king of fruits which is in season. Everyone knows that the current best variety is the Musang King which has delicious yellow meat with very small seeds. I'm told that Hong Kongers are coming in plane-loads specifically to eat this fruit.

This stall even had tables and chairs for those who prefer to eat the fruits at site. They even provide water to wash your hands after the feast.

As we were too full from lunch we decided buy some to take home to enjoy later. Not cheap but who can resist? Durians tastes yummy when frozen and eaten with ice-cream.

How did the average Malaysian celebrate the holidays? Taking the family for a picnic by the sea seems to be very popular judging from the huge crowds at these public beaches.

Selamat Hari Raya to all my Muslim friends

Wishing all my Muslim friends Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri. May we continue to enjoy peace and harmony and let's give thanks for all of life's blessings.

Some Old Photos

I started this particular blog to show off some pictures I took of my favourite flower - the camelia, and the beautiful roses that bloom in Niigata during the spring.

Then I came across my photos of the sakura flower and they brought back a flood of happy memories. I'm actually quite proud of these pictures as they are taken with only a simple camera.

My good friend informed me that there is an old Japanese proverb that says that after the cold winter spring will certainly come. Cherry blossom is a symbol of happiness although happiness does not last for long just as the season of the cherry blossom. How true!

Fortunately we have the ability to treasure the happy memories and forget the unhappy times. And add to our store of happy moments as we continue through life's journey.

The sakura plant will bloom again and again bringing joy and happiness to viewers. Some of the trees in Shibata, I'm told, are more than a hundred years old.

Life can be fleeting just like the ephemeral beauty of the sakura.