UTOPIA: Macau, Day 2 - Part 3 (Evening)

Continuation from previous post

From the Venetian, we took a public bus to a small village down south - Coloane.

Alighted in front of 'Lord Stow Bakery' hoping to get a taste of its Portuguese egg tart.

Unfortunately the shop was closed...

We were shocked to learn about this coz it should be open 'Daily' as stated on its website....

The staff told us that it is closed for cleaning (after the typhoon) coz there were no water & electricity for the past 2 days.

We were about to leave with disappointment....

but then.....she told us that there is a café that is opened....which is jst a few steps away

Great!

so, it wasn't closed entirely!

we found our way to the café, grab a seat and ordered these - ice lemon tea and tarts....for our desserts!

delicious looking Portuguese egg tarts!

while we were there, lotsa tourists/patrons came to buy egg tarts in bulk!

Brisk business in this outlet, these customers might have been directed by the staffs (from the original bakery) to get their tarts here, I tink...

The tarts were indeed good, creamy egg custard with flaky crust...freshly out from stove! so aromatic!

most customer here are foreigners - Korean, Japanese...only a few locals

after a cooling drink and satisfied dessert, we went out for a walk

along the coast ....

It was a sunny day but perfect for photo taking

we strolled along 'Av.de Cinco de Outubro' (according to Google map)

and see some typhoon aftermath ruins....yes, we got to see not just the Ruins of St Paul, but also ruins of Coloane!

fallen trees and debris everywhere...

Since we can't get in, we walk thru the back alley to check if it brings us anywhere...

most shops in the back alley were closed too....I tink the electricity has yet to be restored...And they only started to get water supply earlier that day, hence the locals were busy cleaning their premise...

In one of the church, the 'sisters' were busy washing and cleaning the furniture and floor

these century-old trees couldn't withstand the strong wind and fell onto the building (tis place has been cordoned off). I was there illegally!

this is how calm the sea looks like on a normal day...

Not sure what this building is, but it's architecture resembles some old buildings in Shanghai....

it has occupants (could be hotel or homestay?) but it was all dark inside when I peeped in....

after done with sight-seeing, we took a bus to Taipa (north of Macau island)

This quaint staircase leads us to the Taipa Houses Museum

as Taipa is situated nearby the Venetian, you can see the gigantic hotels/casinos afar from the hill...

and a garden nearby

Taipa & the casinos are bordered with a huge swamp area

the swampy pond

the entrance to Taipa House Museum is FOC, here you will see 5 houses which have been converted into house museum/gallery/souvenir shops. They are 'Macanese Living Museum’, ‘Exhibitions Gallery’, ‘Creative Casa’, ‘Nostalgic House’ and ‘House for Receptions’ (see http://en.macaotourism.gov.mo/sightseeing/sightseeing_detail.php?c=2&id=27#.Wl9CQOTHPIU for details)

tastefully painted in green

the house museum

inside the house, you'll see a display of olden days Portuguese house furniture

which is exactly like some kind of 'show house'

From there, we made our way to 'Rua do Cunha', which is a pedestrian street in Vila da Taipa, the town centre of Taipa.

We saw this shop selling local street foods for half price.

and decided to try this out - beef offal!

it was served hot & boiling from their huge pot...

we also tried their milk tea....all for half price!

we were curious as to why all items were priced at half price that day...

Their staff explained that they are doin charity deeds for the locals as most people do not have food to eat during the past 2 days (without water & electricity)....such thoughtful!