Hong Kong Trip 2

We took a break from the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong and enjoyed a few days in Macao.

Macao is the mini-Las Vegas of Asia with all its casino's and apparently dodgey places... but I never got to explore that part :)  We stayed in the Venetian which is the largest hotel in Asia.  Really posh.  The hotel even has its own river - complete with Gondola and singer!

There's a lot of gambling in Macao and there'll be even more with more hotel/casinos being built.  I'm guessing in four or five years, the main Macao strip will rival Las Vegas.

Anh and I tried our luck playing "Sic Bo".  Its a really simple game to learn.  The dealer/casino/robot rolls three dice and you pretty much have to guess what comes up.  We played this the most and lost a bit of money the first night.  Thankfully my luck changed the second night so we ended up breaking even :)

But of course Anh and I cared little about gambling.

We cared more for the food!!

My Fat Burger

Our ferry food

Hmmm. New York style pizza.

This is how you do high tea!

Hong Kong Trip 1

I'm sick.  :(  But still blogging :P

It could be post holiday depression but its most likely a cold caught from our return flight from Singapore - there was a girl who was coughing and sniffing near us.  My wife has is it too, so were a pair of sick birds lolz

Its really unpleasant being sick during summer with the hot weather and having runny nose. Yuckers!

But enough of that - pictures time!

Our Hong Kong holiday started with a quick stop-over in Singapore.  We only had a few hours, but enough time to check out the new Marina Bay Sands hotel.  The hotel boasts a skypark at the top and a casino and shopping centre underneath.

I thought its quite interesting that they charge the locals S$200 to gamble but its free for tourist.  The hotel is alright, but I got a feeling they rushed the construction or they went cheapish with the materials because it just didn't have that glamorous feel about it.  Bits were falling off and the toilet I went to the flush wasn't working.

We didn't get to check out the sky park which was available only to guests staying in the hotel (or pay S$20).

After the quick stop over, we were off flying to the concrete jungle that is Hong Kong! *insert gong sound*

 Trams now accept the octopus card! Sweet.

Hong Kong is awesome for sightseeing

 Red panda

 Fat panda.

Shopping

 The winter sales meant I could actually afford stuff!

and of course, EATING!!! :P

 We love the desserts at Honeymoon Desserts.  Best place ever.  I think we visited a Honeymoon dessert outlet almost daily.

 Xialongbaos - these dumplings have surprise soup inside!!

Note - I would fly back to Hong Kong just for these baked BBQ pork buns.  They are so good!  If you don't believe me?  Google Tim Ho Wun.  These are Michelin star buns!!

Thats enough for now - more to come soon!!

Thank You Day

Happy Thanksgiving day to everyone! :)

Although Thanksgiving is not really something I celebrate, I think it makes for a great time to give thanks to the wonderful people and things who surrounding me, for making my life that little bit more special. So a big thanks to:

1. Jaws kaiten Sushi for having fried chicken in your sushi train. You have created deep-fried happiness drowned in spicy Japanese mayo.

Can we ride the train?

2. Tony and Kim for having an incredibly fun wedding. You've given me so much to look forward to on my wedding.

3. Thank you Dad. You have taught me so much and continue to do so. I really enjoyed our lunch date.

4. Thank you Chelsea for running with me every Monday afternoons. I know I don't give you much opportunity to sniff other dog butts, but you still love me all the same. More meaty bites for you.

warf!

5. Thanks DJ Al for games nights and Resident Evil. I hope we don't see anymore of those freaky things that we can only shoot when its' stomach opens.

Chris Redfield is such a perv. Look where he's looking.

6. Thank you Anh for agreeing to marry me. Is it too late to back out now? Love you.

.. is where the heart is.

7. Thank you Chilliz for my $4.30 Honey Chicken Rice lunch. You have given hope to under $5 lunchers like me.

8. Thank you Naruto Shippuden. You continue to inspire me to be a ninja.

Sasuke and Itachi battle is epic!! It has eye gouging and giant fireballs

9. Thank you Steam for my new skin whitening treatment.

10. And thank you for the music, for giving it to me.

Food, Food and glorious Food!

That's the best way to sum up the recent Sydney trip :)

We ate so many things its almost not funny!

We had pizza, pho, ribs, oysters, pickled mustard leaves, fish, cherries, beans... I can go on and on and on!

Sydney Good Food and Wine Festival

Our food holiday started with the Sydney Good Food and Wine show. We ate all sorts of stuff like Lasagna pies, spreadable cheeses, ice cream and lots of other freebies.

We loved hanging around the mee-goreng and Nandos stand (Portugasm hehehe) :)

We were like vultures circling the sample platters.. waiting and waiting for the next batch of samples hehehe!

Scary/funny story!

We were watching celebrity chef Ben O'Donoghue make gourmet pizza using pizza stones on barbeques.

He was teaching us some really good stuff like rubbing garlic on your base before you put the tomato sauce. After he prepped up this awesome chirizo pizza with spreadable ricotta, he turned around, went up to the barbecue, opened the lid and...

..

..

..

..

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

Big ball of flame EXPLOSION!!

NEARLY BURNT Ben O'Donoghue to a crisp and SCARED THE SH!T OUT OF EVERYONE!!!!!

Thankfully it was only a split second explosion!

I think the barbeque wasn't fully lit. So while he was prepping up the pizza, the barbeque was just building up gas.

But Ben's a professional.

After swearing for a bit and checking that his eyebrows weren't burnt off, he shrugged off the scary experience and continued to make his pizza!

What a legend!!

Anh and I were lucky enough to try what he made.

Best celebrity-chef-near-death-experience-pizza I've ever had.

Speaking of celebrity chefs, there were heaps in the show!

Gordon Ramsay

Matt Moran

Manu!!

Shame we couldn't sample some of their cooking.

And speaking of cooking, my sister, Anh and me made an adventure of finding the Masterchef house!!

Your time starts NOW - CHOP CHOP!!

We knew it was in Sydney and just had to find it!

It was all very exciting coz we felt like we were in the Amazing Race... only weren't racing for a million dollars. We had to rush because we had a lunch booking at Red Lantern Restaurant :) (pics below)

A source told us it was in Redfern, in the technology park.

We checked it out.

The buildings look similar but not quite Mastercheffy enough. Inside were just old trains and small offices.

We looked around some more but the rain and crazy Sydney traffic made it ready difficult :(

:(

We almost gave up.

But thanks to Anh's persistant googling on the phone (which gave her a headache), she found an address looking through the Big Brother forums.

We followed it to a building in Alexandria.

Googlemapping

Trespassing the property next to it revealed its true identify!!!

MASTERCHEF HQ!!!! OHHH YEAAH!!!

Hahah the Masterchef house is surrounded by wire fencing and what looks to be a little moat.

Its like a castle! hehehe.

The back door said no entry, but I was able to get this paparazzi photo of the inside before I ran like crazy after hearing footsteps.

We think its been sold.

So where's the next MC kitchen?

********

The whole Sydney holiday was such an awesome trip! (so much better than Melbourne! Hehehe) So much good food and shopping.

And to enjoy it all with friends and family? priceless.

I can't wait when we do it all again next year.

(more random photos below)

Wagaya is such a funky Jap restaurant! Lets you order food from a touch-screen!

Wagaya's Sushi Roulette. One is heavily loaded with wasabi!

Hurricane's awesome ribs. Soooooo much better than Tony Roma's.

Ramen-kan

Passion Flower

Sydney fish market platter for two.