Woke up recharged and ready for a new day.  That, of course, meant ready for the buffet breakfast spread at the Club Lounge.   We eagerly filled-up on waffles, cold cuts, omelets and lots of free coffee, so that we’d be ready to face the Macau tourist scene.  We knew we wanted to visit a temple and try have some real Macau egg tarts, so we interviewed our waiter to ask for some tips.  He told us to visit A Ma Temple because there weren’t many tourists and to go to Coloane for some authentic egg tarts.  We decided, why not?

First stop, A Ma Temple.  The cab driver let us off some random corner and started waving his finger, I guess to tell us where it was, but he was kind of waving his finger in 3 different directions, so we said thanks and crossed our fingers.  We realized that we were back in the corner where A Lorcha was, so we figured, if we got lost, we’d ask the friendly Pinoy waiters where we needed to go.  We started walking towards one of the alleys the driver sort of pointed to and found some interesting backdrops for photos, so of course, we stopped and posed.  We kept on walking and discovered a souvenir shop.  My mom asked me to buy poker (aka majong) chips with a 5000 denomination.  I was already giving up because no one we asked had any idea what we were talking about and the casino stores only sold them individually as souvenirs and not as actually playing chips.  I was looking around the store and was going to leave already when I spotted a box under a shelf and there they were! Only MOP3 each!  So I bought 25 chips for less than Php400! Not bad!

A few more yards ahead and we found the temple.  And what else did we find, tourists, lots and lots of tourists.  So we looked at the temple and promptly turned around and just posed for lots and lots of photos in the courtyard.  Soon it was time to go back where we came from and on to our next stop, Coloane.

The cab driver dropped us off in the center of Colane Village, a few feet from Lord Stow’s where you can buy authentic Macau eggtarts.  You can also go to the 3^rd Level of the Podium in Ortigas Center, but hey, we were in Macau.  We went in and for a moment thought we were in Podium because the bakery staff were all Pinoys who told us which of their other products to buy.  We bought some cake slices to munch on, soft drinks to sip and cookies to bring home.  And yes, because we were already there, got some egg tarts.  We walked across the street, sat under a tree and had a picnic.

After filling up on our snacks, we decided to take a leisurely stroll around the village.  We found cute little houses painted in a variety of colors, we encountered other tourists who, like us, were posing in front of the brightly colored structures.  I was excited to find a purple colored house and gladly posed in front of it.  It was a good thing my friends humored me and took my picture.

Soon it was time to head back to our hotel for dinner and more TV viewing.  Tonight’s showing…The Face and Project Runway.

The next morning, we only had time for a quick breakfast before it was time to start heading to the airport.   We weren’t in much of a rush because the airport was only 5 minutes away, but just our luck, the bell hop who got our bags got lost somewhere in the hotel and took forever to bring our bags down.  By the time we got to the airport the check-in counter was closed! But thankfully, they let us check in since our bags were all carry-on anyway, and the plane hadn’t arrived yet.  Thankfully also, the ground staff were all Pinoys who were very helpful!  It wasn’t long before we were on the plane back to Manila and planning the next trip.  Dubai perhaps?

And so ends Macau Madness. Bow