Macau 澳門小游

[hangchoi]

My kids' another favorite firework is the large rockets (2 to 4 cm in diameter) that shot up and explode into a nice firework. Again the prices varied by very large margins. Many packs of 10 to 20 rockets would start from $300 to $400 per pack and can be bargained down to around ~$100 to $200. On the second night, we paid $700 for 3 packs of total 60 rockets, including 15 very large ones at about 5 cm diameter and about 1 meter long.

The one in the following picture was a medium sized one, and the one in the video was probably a large one.

BTW, in fact you can play that rockets by holding it with you hands....... It sounds scary but it is fun indeed.......as long as your grip pressure is light......

[chin]

BTW, in fact you can play that rockets by holding it with you hands....... It sounds scary but it is fun indeed.......as long as your grip pressure is light......

I can imagine, but I wouldn't want to take the risk. The fireworks are not exactly subject to the highest quality control. We have seen some that exploded right away, instead of doing whatever it's supposed to do first.

[chin]

More pictures.

This time we visited the nice little Lou Lim Ieoc Garden 盧廉若公園 again. In our last visit in Dec, almost half of the garden was closed for renovation. These pictures were mostly from the part that was closed in our last visit.

[chin]

Even the bamboo graffiti are more "poetic" than just the person's name, or the usual "x loves y" type. This one wishes everyone always happy.

The former residence in the background of the second picture was opened this time, hosting a small exhibition of Chinese ethnic minority cultures in Yunnan. The exhibition featured quite a few women customs from different minority tribes. One of the sets was probably quite old - part of the decoration on the outer clothes were about 10 old coins. On careful inspection, the coins all says "Yunnan Province" in English, with no Chinese writing at all.

I do not know anything about coin collection or old coins. I imagine the coins were from the warlord dominated period right after the collapse of Qing dynasty, and the coins were minted outside of China by the ruling warlord in Yunnan.

[chin]

Random pictures from the garden.

[chin]

More Penjing 盆景 at the corners of the park.

[chin]

The garden is small, but it has many nice features of classical Chinese gardens. One of the features is the many couplets 對聯. This one says,

Strolling on the winding bridge searching for the draft of paintings
Leaning on the rock formations listening to the song of books

The "draft" was probably referring to finding inspirations, and the "song of book" was referring to ...??

The pastel green building at the back is part of a school near the garden.

[chin]

Another set describing the nice cozy scenery in the garden. Many of the couplets are dated in 1975, when the garden is taken over from the long decline family of the original owner. The garden was subsequently taken over and managed by the government.

[chin]

One more set. There are probably more than 10 there.

[chin]

This time we stayed in Venetian Macau. This is the second time we stayed in their Rialto Suite. The suite is very large at about 1700 sq ft, but the layout and amenities are not well thought out.

- For example the door has no door bell or knockers, so you have to bang the door with your own fist to get attention.
- The suite is large but there is no place to sit near the door to put on shoes (see pic below.) I moved one of the dinning room chairs to near the door but the house keeper move it back.
- And there is no place to hang clothes inside the toilet.

A friend of mine was one of the senior construction managers who help built the complex. I told him about these problems in my first visit in Dec 2008. He told me that the owner wants to build the hotel/casino asap so he can start taking gamblers money, so the entire plan was copied from the US Venetian. 

When I made the bookings, I couldn't find bigger rooms. But at check out, I found out that Venetian do have some nicer and bigger suites, but not available to direct sales. The nicer suites are all reserved for whales. Maybe the nicer suite would have door bells?

My kids took the following pictures, with a small camera. So the quality is not so good.