Back in Macau!

It has been awhile since I wrote the last post. It had to do with many things including the recently finished renovation of my HK flat, the movements of my office location and the Taiwan earthquake which took out most of the Internet connections.

Finally, I have settled down both in HK and in Macau. Thus, I hope posts will become more regular and frequent.

I have relocated to Macau since 8 Jan. 2007.

Earthquake in Hong Kong

A tremor was felt in Hong Kong early this evening at around 7:53pm. I felt my sofa shake a little when I sat down to watch the TV. When I switched my TV to Cable TV News Channel, the TV announced a minor tremor of 3.5 on the Richter Scale. This was the first earthquake felt in Hong Kong for me. I have felt earthquakes in two other occasions: once in Scarborough, Toronto about 15 years ago and the other in Taipei, Taiwan in 2001. The one in Taiwan was the strongext I felt. One of the tower cranes of under-construction Taipei 101 (tallest building in Taiwan) fell down from the top, and luckily nobody got hurt!

Getting Attacked by a Wok

最後更新:08/30/2006 02:07:57
男子慘被失常婦追打
【本報消息】新橋大纜巷附近夜冷店昨日上午發生打鬥傷人案，一名女子懷疑精神失常，先後手持鐵鍋及一尊佛像追打一名欲購買佛像的男子。雙方在事件中均受傷送院，其中涉嫌傷人女子送院後須接受精神科檢查。 案中兩名傷者均四十三歲，其中姓留男子送往鏡湖醫院檢查後經已出院，被送往山頂醫院治療的女傷者情緖激動，需要留院接受精神科檢查，但無精神病記錄。 事發於昨日上午八時許，案中姓留男子在新橋大纜巷附近的叉巷逛夜冷店，並在其中一個地攤看中一尊土地佛像。事主向警方表示，當時欲購買佛像，但檔主並不在場，遂向另一攤檔檔主留下口信，要求代為知會檔主預留佛像，轉頭再作交易。現場消息稱，當時一名女子突然在附近衝出，有人大叫“邊個搶我個佛像”。女子情緖激動，隨手在附近拾起一隻鐵鍋，追打購買佛像的男事主，雙方糾纏期間，男事主成功奪過鐵鍋，但該女子再舉起土地佛像，繼續追打男事主，衆人事後合力將女子制服，有人並報警求助。 案中兩人均受傷送院，分別送往山頂、鏡湖醫院治理，有人稱疑追打男事主的女子居住在現場附近，警方正調查是否有人因精神問題，做出失常行為。

Excerpt from Macau Daily 30-08-2006 http://www.macaodaily.com

Basically what it says is that a middle-aged man (age 43) wanted to purchase a Buddha statue in a roadside market in San Kio (新橋) near Travessa da Corda (大纜巷). Unfortunately, the stall owner was not present, so the man told to an adjacent stall owner that he wanted to leave a message to save the Buddha statue for him. Suddenly, a woman out of nowhere comes bursting out and says, "Who's taking away my Buddha statue"? She also picks up a wok and tries to hit the man. The man luckily gets away with it. The woman then picks up a large Buddha statue and starts hitting the man. Both gets injured and someone had the nerve to call in the Judiciary Police. They were both sent to Centro Hospitalar Conde de S. Januario to treat their injuries inclusive of checking the psychological mind of the woman....

Fishtank

I've finally set up my fishtank once again. Hopefully the fishes will not die on me. After a few weeks of having goldfish die on me, it seems I've managed to let these guys survive on me. I had to buy a new light as the old one cannot be used anymore. I buy most of my fishes along Tung Choi Street in Mong Kok. Plenty of fish to look and pick.

At my Hong Kong flat!

It has been three weeks since I have permanently left the Wynn Resorts Macau project and back at home for the time being. It is rumoured that I will probably start work in Macau in October 2006? So, in the mean time, I've got a management plan to revise so it can be used by the time I get back to work.

Just got my Chinese visa renewed as my old one expired just last week. Hopefully, I will pick it up tomorrow in Admiralty.

Weather has been hot and humid. August has been one of the two hot summer months here in Hong Kong. No recent threats from any typhoon since the turmoil caused by the typhoon earlier in the month.

I'll Be Back!

Things have been changing at a rapid pace. As of today, I've been appointed to work for an even larger scale casino project in Cotai (piece of reclamation situated between Taipa and Coloane. But since the facilities have not been set up, I'll be temporarily going back to HK on STAND-BY. Yes, I get paid to stay in HK for doing nothing... Once I receive word of the work, I go back to Macau for the commencing of the new project.

The photos attached was of a Sichuan cuisine in Zhuhai. The meal costs around RMB55 per person. From the Gongbei border, the taxi fare was RMB15. As you can see most of the dishes were very spicy with the red peppers!

Oddly enough, there were some funny incidents during my short trip into China (which I went after work). As I was lining up to cross the border at Gongbei, a Westerner was behind me at the time. All of a sudden, a Taiwanese tourist (I think it was since the gugy was holding a green passport) started to spit on the floor. As you can see, the Westerner got irritated and yelled at the tourist, "Why do you goddamn spit on the floor!?!". The tourist looked at him blankly and I sensed the fact that the tourist does not understand English! Haha. I told the Westerner, "I don't think he understood what you said..." The Westerner still looked irritated and continued, "This is how SARS got spread you know...You knewly spit on to my pants." As usual, the tourist looked at him blankly again! I guess the Westerner finally got fed up and shut himself up as nobody understood what he said.

Another odd incident is that the "illegal" copied DVDs and PS2 games can be found in Port Plaza, the underground shopping mall just steps from the Gongbei border checkpoint. In the front, the stall sells jewellery and woolen accessories. But on the other side of the "fake" wall is a hidden room storing all movies and PS2 games alike. I heard the prices are RMB4-5 each!

Counting Down of the Days back to HK

As I count down the days left in Macau, I've been packing my things and bringing them back to my HK flat. Here's a recent photo taken of the main hotel tower. As you can see it is just about finished and the lighting has been tested. I'll be having quite a few farewell meals over the course of this week too. I had a real 'authentic' Macanese cuisine last night in a quaint restaurant on Rua Central, 11-A. The name of the restaurant is Restaurante Afonso III whom the owner is Portuguese. You can try it when you're in Macau.