PINOY POWER

Just as it in all other parts of the world, there were plenty Pinoys in Macau. It was very nice to see them working proudly, whether at the front desk, house keeping, security or as an artist.....

It was funny how they would stop and greet when they hear one speaking in Filipino.... There was one instance, while we where by the pool (more kwento about the facility itself in DAY 2) kunyari making laps to burn off all the food we ate, but really just bumming around having cocktails, a food server passed by, stopped in his tracks, turned around and started heading towards us......The first thing Chy (the food server) said was "Sabi ko na nga ba Pinoy kayo eh! Nakalagpas na ako nung marining ko kayong nagsasalita." And ofcourse our first inpression was, "What?! Narining niya tayo, eh nagbubulungan lang tayo eh." Hahaha! That was really funny.... ang lakas pala ng kwentuhan namin to think we were talking about this girl in the pool (buti na lang tagalog ang conversation namin. Yikes!) who had Rapunzel hair sa pits! Iba talaga!

My other funny encounter was with an artist (I would like to call them that). All over The Venetian, there were jesters, opera singers, this guy on stilts and ofcourse the white statues. It was amazing how they could hold a pose for hours on end. Anyway, we chanced upon a white statue and my kamag-anak incorporated started saying "Magpa-picture ka na. Sooo cute. Go na." And the duwag that i am, i said "Ayoko nga, baka gumalaw yan!" After several more minutes of persuading, i went. And the freakin' thing started to move! Kakahiya talaga how i started running away from the thing.....I later on figured out na the reason why that statue moved when it was my turn for the photo op was because PINOY SIYA! He could understand everything that i was saying!

Super gulat talaga!

This was attempt number 2. Different guy naman. Ofcourse, this time the strategy was to keep my mouth zipped while we were having our picture taken... but my kulit family started shouting "Lapit pa!" when i was near the gut na. So gumalaw ulit! Grrrrrr!

After this was taken, I refused na talaga...never mind the picture! I just took pictures of other Pinoy artists.

The Violinist

and the opera singer.

Macau Trip with my Crazy Family :-) DAY ONE

It was a fun and crazy trip, to say the least! It probably was the fun-est (i doubt there is such a word, but what the hell, i like using it) vacation i've had with my family!

Here's a rundown of the bakasyonistas: Cha Baby (my mom), Cho Bobby (my dad) + me; Tito Ding, Tita Carmen and their daughter Bea; Titatos Em and Chona...will tell you later why we call them that; and Tita Dodie. We had four rooms reserved (one for each group) at The Venetian. There was quite a line at the lobby for checking in, so we decided to take pictures first...

The Venetian Main Lobby

me with my cousin bea

L-R: My Mom, Tita Chona, Tita Ems, Tita Dodie (partly covered), Me, My Dad

It took awhile before we got our rooms 'coz we wanted 4 rooms on the same floor with 2 double beds in each room. There was a miscommunication with the Travel Agency, plus the person at the front desk was not Pinoy, so major communication error talaga. What we got instead were 4 Royal Suites (1 big bed lang in each room) on 2 different floors, but same wing ---- North Wing. So okay na rin. It would have been a disaster, well okay a major inconvenience, if different wings ang rooms 'coz the hotel is ginormous and meeting up would have been an HB task---as in high-blood task for everyone.



Anyway, after getting our room assignments, we decided to break into 2 groups: The Tanders (as in matatanda) and the Young Ones. Me and Bea were the only young ones talaga, but Tita Ems insisted on being part of our group so that's 3 of us and 5 forgets as the Tanders. Tita Carmen refuses to be part of the Tanders, but she can't stay with us the whole trip so siya ang official tour guide na Tweener (as in teen-ager between the Young Ones and the Tanders). We brought the first set of bags to the designated rooms. TOURIST TIP #1 If you don't have a lot of luggage, just bring your bags to the room. Leaving it with the porter is a hassle since its takes a long time for them to actually bring it up.



Here's a look-see at our rooms. Featuring Tita Ems as Cleopatra. . . .

The bed with our model

The bed with 3 sleepy heads

Bea and I, obviously decided to squat in our Titatos room instead of sleeping in our assigned rooms with our parents. We had a blast!

The living room inside the Royal Suite.

That is the sofa bed where Tita Chona had to sleep.

The bathroom...this is actually huge. I just didn't capture the whole room in this photo.

After we got settled (with room changing and luggage storing), we ate at the Red Dragon Noodle and had my first authentic Wanton. We couldn't take pictures since the resto was at the Casino floor and it was an open area. Then we walked around for a bit to look at the shops before the Tanders decided it was time for a snack......again.

After a day of walking around the Venetian, we decided to hit the shower and just order room service for dinner. We ordered food for six people yata and there were only three of us. Haha. TOURIST TIP # 2 Room service is the way to go if you are too tired to walk at least 2 kilometers to the nearest restaurant. Room service food at The Venetian is very reasonable. Food ranges from 45HKD for appetizers to 120HKD for humongous burgers and baby back ribs....not bad, right! The Tanders had dinner in a resto (Imperial, I think) then they went to the casino.

We went to bed with a very full stomach and a wide grin...... END of DAY ONE