Macau 2012 - Day 3 (Part 2)

From Flower City we took a cab and went to The Venetian at Cotai for the Gondola ride. Once we got into the valet of this grandiose hotel, again I was left in awe, admiring the largest single structure hotel building in Asia. 

The Venetian

We went to play a bit of game at the casino and then looked for the main feature of the hotel - The Gondola ride which is located on the 3rd floor. After we bought the ticket, we thought it was going to be a long line on the ride's entrance. Fortunately, we were second on the line and we get to take our turn right away as the family before us were waiting for a requested Gondolier who is a Filipino. 

For 118MOP we enjoyed the 25-30min. ride while being serenaded by our Gondolier. We noticed that most of the Gondoliers are Filipino. Our Gondolier was a Filipina from Caloocan City! I forgot her name.. (sorry!!) lol. 

Listen to her as she sings Bella Notte from the Walt's Disney's Classic film, Lady and the Tramp. We really enjoyed her rendition of the song actually, our Gondolier was really chatty and entertaining, of course that's her job description and she's really good at it. She was even happy to know that our school are neighbours at Intramuros, she went to Lyceum and we're from Mapua.

Now that we're done with that ride. It's time to check out the boutiques for some window shopping. lol.  But eventually, we ended up with buying things narin. Hahahah! Cosmetics and some Eu de Toilette for me while for the others went to buy some gadget accessories and other stuff. lol. 

Mark at Four Seasons Hotel

We found our way exiting the Four Seasons Hotel as we decided to check the City of Dreams located just across from where we were. Walking along Cotai strip 

City of Dreams

It was already late in the afternoon so we're feeling famished that we all agreed to eat at the City of Dreams. And there we saw a very familiar food logo taunting us. lol. Yep! McDonald's!! lol. 

So just when everybody's going gaga now on their Big N' Tasty, it was in fact the one I had back in February. Lol. So, that's why I thought it looks and tastes familiar when I had it here a couple of months ago.. lol. Oh I swear, how I have been wishing that McDonald's Philippines would serve CORN! I just love corn! lol. 

We stroll around the place and visited another Apple store as my friends just can't get enough of their iPhone accessories. lol. So, we ended up exiting the Grand Hyatt hotel. We waited for a cab at the valet and decided to go to the Grand Lisboa located at the Macau Peninsula. Our taxi fare was like 35MOP. 

Mark, Val and I were the first one to get into the place as Jaydee and Patrick were on a different cab. lol. So while waiting for them, we take the liberty of posing for pictures!! lol. 

As soon as the other party arrived, we hurriedly check out the hotel and from a far we can see people checking something at the lobby - like there's an exhibit. On the display is what they call the "Star of Stanley Ho", it's said to be a 218-carat diamond that cost more that $US100 million! And it's just in the lobby! lol.

And what else are you going to do on this place? lol. We played at the casino, lol. A guy even approached us and told us that he's willing to fund our games provided that if we win, it's gonna be a 70-30 split. lol. We declined the offer as from my mom's travel precautions, never entertain anybody/anything strange. Besides, we went there to just have fun and not to be a casino junkie! lol. 

Val, went to the restroom and when she came back she told me to check place and take a picture of it. lol. I got curious so I immediately went to see the place. I have been to a lot of hotels in my life as my mother would always bring me on their gigs, my mother used to be a lounge singer and I mean jazz and standard music on not just any ordinary hotel, I'm talking about 5 star hotels. I remember going in and out of the hotel kitchen and I can just get anything I want. How the Chef would let me taste their cooking, maybe I'm just too cute when I was a kid that's why people were being kind to me. lol. It was awesome though! Oh! Also the free room accommodation we could get, where I could just wait for mother to finish her set! Yeaaahh.. I remember those days. Anyway! the bottom line was, it was beyond what I have expected. lol. 

I only get to take three pictures as I felt like conscience-stricken that time. lol. Imagine taking a picture of what supposed to be a "sanctuary" for women. Nevertheless, I had to! I know... I know... lol. 

Okay, it was Valentine day that time. So basically, we are each other's dates that night. lol. We're still full from what we ate at City of Dreams but anyway, it's past dinner time and we felt like we need something to invigorate us more for the night's activity. lol. We then went to the upper 1/F, it says Crystal Lounge and Deli, to have like a light dinner or something since the place offers a wide variety of sandwiches and cakes. I was craving for some sweets so I was really excited, unfortunately, there was this customer before us who had to buy ALL! And I mean, A-L-L cakes and pastries left! What the heck was wrong with her?!! lol. 

Let me just share this funny story that night, there was this waitress who was getting our orders, Chinese looking girl, you know.. chinky eyed, hair is long and black, fair white skinned and skinny tall - about 5'8'' in height. She looks pretty actually. Now, because of the language barrier we have experienced from Day 1, most of the time we had to do charades with people we talked to, from cab drivers to hotel receptionist.. name it and ugghhh, charade antics were unforgivable! lol. So, we were a bit surprised that she was able to understand us immediately and we never had a problem understanding her as she does have an american accent. 

Jaydee and I was so impressed, we talked in Filipino just to comment on how good she was, primarily we were comparing her with the other waitresses we have encountered. Jaydee had commented something funny left us giggling while she was getting our orders, of course she would never know what we're talking about. Then after sometime, when the waitress was serving the food, I think it was Val who accidentally bumped on the glass and broke it! Val kept on apologising while the waitress  was cleaning up the mess.. then the waitress said, "Hindi, okay lang po" (No, it's okay). We were all like in awe hearing it! We didn't know she was a Filipino!!!! lol. It was like so obvious on our face that the joke back fires on us! lol. So I guess that explains why she has that small Philippine flag pin on her collar,  it's a shame that we never noticed it from the beginning. I can see she was grinning seeing our reactions!! Like I can totally read her mind, like she was saying "So, you're laughing at me a while ago huh.. so who's got the last laugh now?" Ugh!!! Anyway, food is ready and we cannot wait to taste it. 

I had some Grand Lisboa Chef Salad, it's actually big serving, like good for 3 people. It has variety of cold cuts (some turkey, beef and pork) topped all over the romaine lettuce with cherry tomatoes, cucumber, sliced hard boiled egg and some feta and edam cheese with vinaigrette.. and some Chocolate Milk Tea! Hahahahaha! Okay, I know it's not a perfect combination, but didn't I say I was craving for sweets?! lol. 

Grand Lisboa Chef Salad and Chocolate Milk Tea 

Valerie, ordered some Canadian Cold Shrimps w/ Capers Mayonnaise in Pita Bread! Whew!! What an endless name of a sandwich, huh?! lol. Looking at Val's reaction while eating it, I can sense it tastes good.. and it really was! 

Canadian Cold Shripms w/ Capers Mayonnaise in Pita Bread

Jaydee and Patrick both had some Chicken in Black Pepper. wasn't really too impressed with it, it's like fried chicken. lol. 

 Chicken in Black Pepper

Mark, was still full from his McDonald's at City of Dreams, so he opted for a simple sandwich called Monte Cristo (ham and cheese sandwich) lol. which was actually, again, beyond from what I expected (on a positive way) In fact, Mark was not able to finish it. lol. That melted cheese, ugh!! I had to ask Mark for one slice!! It was yum!!

Monte Cristo Sandwich

After that scrumptious meal, we had to go back to the playing area again! lol. We got out of the place at 2am. Went back to our hotel and we noticed that they have their own casino too! MOCHA! Yes, we tried our luck there.. and I won $120HK, which I eventually lost it too coz I had bet it all! lol. We went up to our room.. did a bit of horsing around.. and it was insane!! Mark had the videos of our silliness!! lol. It's quite filthy, thanks to Patrick! Hahahaha! So might as well not post the video or I'll be dead! lol =P All in all it was a fun filled day 3 of our trip and I cannot wait to share to you our day 4!! Our Panda day!!! Yay!