I have SO MANY pictures from my Macau trip with the girls that i didn’t know how to split them up at first.
This is gonna be the first blogpost of a few… cos i don’t want to forget all the things we saw and did and ATE! 😀

It’s a pic-heavy post so click on the blogpost title to view the whole thing!

Full post and text after the jump

We flew to Macau for a 3-night holiday over Labour Day weekend, and met up early in the airport one morn to catch our flight.
I remember being a little bit slow at the check-in counter and before i could heave my luggage unto the belt there, Dhanya and Aps were already doing it.

Me: Eh guys, i can do it…

But it was already done.

Aps joked, “We’re like your coolies”
And we giggled till we’re quite sure the people in queue were wondering what was wrong with us.

LOVE giant rays of sunlight!

This is not Macau. I just like aerial shots.  😆

THIS is Macau.

When we landed, we headed straight for dinner at Macau Tower (i’m putting all the food pix into one post so none here for now!)

me, Aps and Dhanya

Great heights make my heart jingle but i like it.

Macau is just filled with elaborate buildings covered in blinking lights, all trying to outshine each other… it’s such a spectacle to see.

And it’s massive. We stayed at the Sheraton and this was their reception area

Hahaha

My suite was #ballin. Had a living room and two bathrooms (never even used the first one)

A bathroom i wouldn’t mind staying in for

That bathtub and tap are so sexy. They are!

We started on a bottle of red wine in the living room, and went out at 12:30am before we got too tired to bother… we just wanted to walk around and see what’s up. Apparently the only place to go at that time of the night was…

The City of Dreams! I was just at City of Dreams in Manila for NYE!
I like that pic of me on the right (above). You can pretend i’m falling down a rabbit hole from an aerial view.

Aps and i went to Cubic, a huge club with an amazing light and sound system.
The lights were so amazing, i dragged Aps to stand with me in the middle of the club just so i could stare up and look at them.
They were THAT mesmerizing. I didn’t even mind not talking to anyone so i could just look. (So easily entertained.)

After some cocktails, rum, gin, champagne, and something that resembled a flaming; we decided to call it a night.
I woke up the next morning with the lights and music on in my room on. Hmm.

Had some coffee, felt a bit more alive, got dressed and made our way out for some sightseeing!

I wore this pink top for the first time and its sleeves are SO MUCH FUN! I felt like a graceful pink puddle all day.
It’s from the FashionValet x Scha Alyahya collection, now i just wanna get all their other flowy tops.

I really hate taking tourist shots, but sometimes, you just kinda have to.

Macau was colonized by the Portuguese in the 1500s and used as a trading post, hence the Portuguese words you’d spot here and there… and Portuguese egg tarts!

Our first stop was A-Ma Temple, one of the oldest Taoist temples in Macau and part of the Historic Centre of Macau, a listed UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Tino (our tour guide) gave us lengthy explanations about everything around us, including the yellow step above which one should step over and never on.

I was fascinated by the giant spiral joss sticks that resemble triangular coils. You can buy them to light for prayers.

A-Ma Temple is dedicated to Matsu, the goddess of seafarers and fishermen.

There’s Tino in green, he’s telling us how it’s a good sign if you can use the friction of your hands to try to get the water to ‘jump’. Check out Aps’ attentive expression. I tried and managed to make the water skip, it’s fun! Just a matter of creating vibration.

  

Vintage graphic design in a food shop we sampled biscuits in.

Versus modern design…

 

It’s the top. It makes me want to flap my wings and fly.

Also part of the historic centre of Macau is Mandarin’s House- the family home of literary figure Zheng Guanying, whose works influenced Emperor Guangxu, Dr. Sun Yat Sen and Mao Tse Tung. Its construction was initiated by Zheng Guanying’s father and traced as far back as 1869.

  

This is where the bride can catch sight of her groom(-to-be). Arranged marriages, remember.

Alleys are made in between sections of the house (it’s very big, covering 4000 sq m!) so it can prevent a fire from spreading back in the day.

Dhanya’s expression when she heard from Tino how the family gave away their riches or sold the house (ahhh i don’t remember the details) when a tragedy occurred amongst the poor.

Continued walking around the historic centre and visited St. Dominic’s Church

Someone was going to get married there that day

I think these floral wedding bells are a thing in Macau, we spotted them a few times

We observed the stained glass windows and i gaped as Tino told us the story that was portrayed- it’s violent!

Dhanya wanted to stop by a crystal shop, headed straight to a box, picked up a stone and ended up bonding with it (and bringing it home). I think it was a rough green phantom and very beautiful.

Tino took us to the Ruins of St. Paul’s – what’s left of the 16th-century complex of St. Paul’s College and Church of St. Paul

It was probably the most crowded area out of all the tourist spots we visited, it would have been impossible to get a shot without a crowd in.

Other pix of the lavish casino resorts and malls in Macau… Everything is just so flashy and huge

The walking areas in between casinos

A garden in one of the resorts

Wall decoration of crystals JUST BECAUSE

One of the bathrooms we went into. They’re ALL as large and luxurious as this one tho, decorated in different ways

I like how there are lots of sparkly things hanging from the ceiling. Sometimes the girls would be talking to me and i’d completely space out cos i’d be so intent on admiring whatever shiny thing that had caught my attention

Check out this reception area!

WINNER OF MOST SHINY THINGS EVER!

I took pix of the other reception areas i walked past because it was just so crazy!
The one on the left are of live jellyfish swimming behind, and the right are of gold leaves.

There were also big displays of wealth in the hotel hallways like MASSIVE gold sculptures, HUGE intricate works of jade, and GIANT white carvings like i’ve never seen before. When Tino told us the white carvings were made of ivory, i wailed, “Noooo!!!!” and practically ran away without taking a picture. I just CAN’T.

THIS was my favourite art piece (and one of the smallest) of blown glass. I kept on walking past just so i could keep cooing at it. Wouldn’t it make a magnificent table centrepiece?! I wish it were mine.

An art exhibition area in MGM Macau that changes every 6 months. It’s gigantic, of course. Currently it’s the Valkyrie Octopus by Joana Vasconcelos- a giant octopus made from different awesomely-coloured materials like crochet and Nisa embroidery! So fun, i wish i could climb it and swing from its tentacles but there were watchful security. Read about its design process *here*

My top from Monki goes with the tiles 😀

We walked by lots of luxury designer stores selling extravagant buys… there’s lots to choose from when you strike big in the casino!

Teardrop diamond = SO MUCH YES

Tino got us to watch this dragon and fire show at Wynn Macau, which plays at a particular hour. I can’t recall what time we were there, maybe 1 or 2 pm. As we stood there and waited a few minutes before the hour, i gazed up at the ceiling showcasing metal carvings of the different animal zodiacs. It was quite impressive really.

I’m the year of the pig! Oink

So the show starts, and the ceiling revolves to reveal a visual simulation of a fireball, while the ground opens up too and a dragon comes out.

An hour later, Tino gets us to stand at the same place again and i’m a bit confused cos i thought we’d already seen the show. He said it’s a different one.

In the exact same spot, a chandelier (it was GIGANTIC, didn’t you guess?) slowly lowered its way down from the ceiling. It looked like an upside-down jelly cake cos i could see every crystal on the chandelier moving every so slightly on its own. It was so… extreme! I’ve never seen such a huge chandelier before!

And then… wait for it, a GOLDEN TREE raises itself up from the ground.

I was so baffled as to why there are two separate extreme shows in the same place. It’s as if they couldn’t decide which idea to go with and because they can afford anything their imagination comes up with, they go, “Oh well, let’s just have BOTH.”

😯  😆

You’re so cray Macau. More to come!