Musings by Grace Chng

There’s nothing really much to see in Macau. Well, at least i didn’t get to see much except for the ruins of St Paul’s church and then walking along the alleys that led out of the ruins. That’s quite fun. 

All that’s left of the ruins is a wall which had some intricate carvings. The authorities have built a couple of rooms to showcase some of the paintings and ornaments used by the priests and church people of that time. All quite nicely done. 

It’s raining when we arrived there, a slight drizzle that seemed to go on forever. I’m told it’s like that at the start of spring. The cobble stones are firm, not slippery but do watch out if you’re wearing old shoes. The steps and lane that led out of the church grounds into the small alleyways full of shops are kinda steep. One woman fell and landed on her bump. Her beau next to her wasn’t fast enough to prevent her fall! 

The shops lining the alleys sell clothes, traditional chinese medicine, gifts etc. Many were shops selling almond cookies and other savoury stuff. What my attention was the huge bbq pork - ba kua - they were twice the size of what’s selling in Singapore. Different types, spicy and sweet, peppery or garlic. Apart from pork, there’s venison, chicken and veal. I did have a taste but I didn’t buy cos they sure tasted of ajinomoto. 

My friends snorted when I told them I was going to Macau for the “history and culture”. Well, they’re quite right or I didn’t make the effort to see more of the place. Apart from the ruins which seemed to attract hordes of Filipinos and mainland Chinese, there’s the casinos. I do suppose they’re an attraction. Macau has the largest concentration of casinos and they’re the Las Vegas type - OTT - over the top. There’s the venetion, four seasons, crowne, mgm and wynds. 

Personally, venetian is just too crowded. I like Wynds, so did my friends. It’d a bit more class, not so OTT and quieter. I didn’t drop any money at the casino but if you’ve made big bundles of $$$ at the tables, then you surely can afford the Chanel bags, Tiffany rings and Rolex watches. Most of these brands could only be found in Wynds. 

There;re 3 things I like about Macau. Food, food and food. The Portugese-Macau food is really good and affordable. For the four of us, each meal costs us about HK$250 -HK$300, that’s about S$50 to S$60. Plus alcohol is really cheap. 

We bought wine at duty free (hey we’re on holiday) and picked up a couple bottles of Portugese wine 2006  which were about $20 each. Dry but allow it to breathe and it tasted good. Best restaurants to go to are the popular Pinnochio and Fernando, I prefer the latter. Located at the beach, about 20 minutes from the venetian, it’s got ambience and good food. Try the clams and crabs, finger licking good. If you’re in for chinese food, then the Lei Garden in Venetian is simply yummy. Very good service, I was impressed. And the quality of the food, superb. The steamed fish was done just nice, so was the garlic green veg. 

Ok, so where did we stay? I didn’t like the casinos, it would be too crowded and noisy. So since I was booking the hotels, I chose the Westin Resorts which was on the beach. An older hotel, but bigger rooms, more spacious, good service. 20minutes from airport and town centre ie the venetian. 

Also if you’re a gym fan like me, it’s free. In the casinos, you’ll have to pay at least HK$200 - S$40 - for use of the gym. Don’t bother with the spa. Too expensive. We found one in town called Nirvana. Doesn’t put you in nirvana, but not bad and the prices were reasonable. 

Would I go back? Macau was a one-time experience. I rather wing over to Hongkong, anytime.  Yes it’ll be noisier but the food is really out of this world.

Reading is about enjoying a plot. It’s also about holding a book and turning pages as you read to the end. It’s about the convenience of being able to carry it with you all over the place - cafe, car, airplane etc. Books are meant to be read, not listened to as in an audio book. 

Well, there’s so much discussion about E-readers and audio books that I tried it out. I bought a digital copy of Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink and downloaded it into my iPod. I was in the gym when I tried it out. 

The experience is interesting. I mean, reading on the treadmill when you’re walking very fast is quite tough, what with the treadmill vibrating from the way I’m pounding on it as I try to beat my own 41-minute timing for a 5km walk. Books are out in this instance. Only magazines but it’s quite strenuous to focus on the tiny fonts on a magazine when you’re walking, breathing heavily and sweating a lot. So the reading can’t be continuous; I’ve to stop from time to time otherwise, I’ll get a headache. 

Of course with the audiobook, the experience is of a different kind. You listen to the book. Okay, so I bought a kinda dry book, not the usual thriller or sci-fi that I’ll read. That’s another problem which I’ll discuss later. First the experinece of an audiobook. It’s quite good, if you’ve the right volume up and if the reader has an interesting pitch and tone and isn’t monotonous. Malcolm Gladwell read his own book, and he’s quite good. Plus it’s not that dry as he had several interesting case studies and examples. So I quite enjoyed listening to the audiobook…. except I haven’t continued to listen to it outside of the treadmill. I guess, it’s because it’s not a thriller and I’m in no hurry to find out who dunit! 

Now the earphones - you need a good one which fits nicely. In-ear noise-cancelling devices would be good because it’ll cut out the very loud music they play in the gym. I’d the Apple earphones which did the job quite nicely. Even then, I’m not used to earphones - I play the iPod on a dock with speakers. So I’d to get used to the earphones plus you need a pair which won’t slip out as you walk cos it can be irritating if they don’t fit. 

Right, title of the book. I chose Blink cos it’s the most interesting. There’re thrillers but I didn’t like the ones that were available. Problem is there aren’t many titles for audiobooks. Choice is limited. I guess it’s a chicken and egg thing - more people need to buy audiobooks before authors and publishers would be interested in putting out audio versions. 

Now I’m wondering about the Kindle and the Sony E-reader. They are like books since they’re devices you hold in your hand except that the pages you turn are digital. It’s all the more attractive since there’s a Kindle reader on the iPhone which would make it really easy for me to start reading on the Kindle and continuing it on the iPhone if I want to read on-the-go. But I’ve to figure out if Amazon which is selling the Kindle will sell i-books outside of the US. 

I’m ready to go - I’ve the Kindle app on my iPhone, now it’s just finding out if I can buy the digital books. Stay tuned while I try this out.

Zach, my jack rusell terrier, has a new trick. He likes to burrow and he’s doing it with the throws on my sofas. See the picture here. 

I first noticed this two nights ago. He managed to get underneath the throw and curl himself up. I can play hide and seek by throwing the cover open but at night, he’s one grumpy JRT. So I leave him alone. 

In these 2 photos, you only see his butt or hind legs. But he’s actually a cutie but can be a monster too. Here’s what he looks like: 

I’ve noticed lately that several TV episodes are now sporting Apple equipment. These TV episodes like CSI, Lipstick Jungle, Lie To Me and Bones are using spanking new iMacs, keyboards and iPhones. Wonder how much these product placements cost Apple? Or are they free? 

Does a lot for the brand because in all these instances the Macs are used in the office.  Of course, some applications are familiar to Apple like photo management in Lie To Me. This TV serial hasn’t made it out to Singapore yet but for those who have Apple TV and access to iTunes, it’s a nice one to watch. It’s about a psychologist who understands micro-expressions - how an eyebrow twitches, or hand clutching - to tell if a person is telling a lie or is hiding something. So the Macs are used to show all the photos of various people. 

What else have people seen anyway?

There’ll be a couple of big smart phone launches this month. Just heard that the Blackberry Storm will be launched end this month while the HTC Diamond 2 will be launched mid-month. Looks like smartphones this year will be the hot stuff.

The Blackberry Storm is quite hot going by the recepton in the US. I haven’t used it but from what I read, the interface is different from the Apple’s iPhone. For one, you’ve to tap quite hard - and the phone gives a feedback - to click on something.

Hoping to get in touch with someone who have used it overseas to get their feedback.