Macao holiday, one night not enough

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Think Macao (澳门) and food comes to mind.
Portuguese egg tarts, pork chop bun yummy!

Thrill lovers love Macao Tower, walking around the perimeter edge or even bungy jumping (233m tall only crazy!)
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At a recent #MACAOonWheelsSG event (organised by Macao Government Tourism Office), we were introduced to more Macao delights. Besides the photo opportunities with the nostalgic Kombi van, we got to try some Portuguese egg tarts too 🙂
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Good food, lucky draw and instant photos.
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3D2N, 4D3N itinerary, the travel brochures caught my wanderlust attention. I always thought Macao visitors are mostly day trippers from Hong Kong!
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Google help me realised that there are many activities (food and shopping not inclusive yet) to keep families engaged for at least two nights. If you are a cultural lover, Macao is packed with much UNESCO Heritage sites! (Singapore only got Botanical Gardens)

Macao is a small city, 25 times smaller than Singapore, separated into two main pieces of estate.
You have Macao Peninsula in the North, and in the South, Taipa, Cotai strip and Coloane Island.

Macao is really a mix of old and new, traditional and modern. Just look at the heritage buildings and the bright skylines. I would go to Macao just for the food and cultural explorations, but let me share some more family friendly attractions which I just discover.

Entertainment and Activities

1) Anim’Arte Nam Van – This is the latest attraction in Macao. Imagine pedaling in the famous Nam Van lake (南湾湖), or enjoying art, leisure, recreation and dining around the waterfront. Enjoy special performances and fun festive-liked activities over the weekends too. Checkout the video here to find out more!

2) The House of Dancing Water
World’s largest and most spectacular water-based show, theater and acrobats takes the audience through 7 emotions – Joy, Anger, Sorrow, Fear, Love, Hate and Desire.

Spectators seated around the “pool” can expect to see action from all corners of the “stage”, I mean pool.
The House of Dancing Water_1

3) Pier 16 Macao 3D World – Kids and families should enjoy posing with 3D landscapes, think TrickEye and Alive museums.

4) Macao Tower – I would never imagine myself spending good money to tempt fate haha, but there are a lot of daredevils out there. My leg wobbles just by looking at the Bungy videos (Youtube)!

You can attempt the slightly less-harmless skywalk!
Bungee Jump
SkyWalk

Arts,Cultural Heritage
So many UNESCO Heritage awards in Macao.

5) Senado Square
Traditional Portuguese buildings and pavements made of pretty mosaic. The “Fountain” in the center of Senado Square is a popular photo spot, and the whole town looks like somewhere from the Mediterranean.
Senado Square

6) Ruins of St. Paul’s
We always see this famous backdrop in movies or in friends’ selfie photos.
Ruins of St. Paul's

7) Mandarin’s House (top) and A-Ma Temple (bottom) are very near to each other.

Built before 1869, Mandarin’s House was the home of a famous Chinese ideologist in modern times and late-Qing celebrity (Zheng Guanying)
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A-Ma temple is dedicated Mazu, fishermen pray to this Goddess for safe passage.
A-Ma Temple

Coloane Village – Travel further South and you will reach some laid back “village” lifestyle.
Popular attractions will be Coloane Pier, Chapel of St. Francis Xavier, and the famous Kun Iam temple.

8) Rebuilt in 1873, Coloane Pier was an important pier before the bridges were built. Ferries ply between Coloane, Taipa and Macao Peninsula.
Ancient Temple of Kun Iam in Coloane

9) Chapel of St. Francis Xavier is shaped by Chinese architectural influence. This is similar for most of the “places of prayers in Macao. Even food are a fusion of Chinese and Portuguese cultures.
Chapel of St. Francis Xavier

Watch the world pass by as you enjoy the famous Portuguese Egg Tarts from “Lord Stow Bakery” 🙂
1.Portuguese Egg Tart

What about shopping requests from my Mrs 🙂
Tourists will be happy with street shopping at S.Domingos District or Three Lamp District.

10) S. Domingos District is a shopping magnet for locals and visitors alike. Fashion, bookstores, sports, outlets and electrical appliance chain stores for everyday needs.
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Three Lamp District is one of Macao’s most popular shopping areas and the best place to see how locals live and experience the city’s day-to-day life. Small shops and street vendors sell everything from jewellery, clothes, shoes, cameras and electronic gadgets.
Three Lamp District

With so much activities and food, one day is never enough to cover Macao 🙂
Taipa Food Street

Additional materials :
– Macao Walking routes
Macao World Heritage

Do pop by Macao Tourism Website, Fanpage and Instagram account for the latest updates and promotions.
* All Tourism images above credit “Macao Government Tourism Office”.

~~ ~~ Macao Instagram Contest ~~ ~~

Good news! Macao Tourism is sending some lucky folks to “Experience Macao your own style”!
Pop by their FacebookPage Experience Macao – SG to leave a comment.

– indicate which attractions or food would tempt you to take the next flight to Macao!
– Remember to hashtag #MacaoOnSocialSG
Macao contest

Hello Robi, our first humanoid friend

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Hello Robi! Someone visited our family last week.
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We can understand why Robi is so adorable and captured so much attention and affection.
My kids were all eager to “chat” with Robi.

“Hello Robi.
How are you?
Walk to me.
Dance for me, Robi
Robi are you boy or girl?
Robi how old are you?”

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Robi is a fusion of sophisticated design and advanced Japanese technology that was designed to provide interactive companionship with the entire family.

Robi is programmed with up to 250 phases, providing fun and interactive engagement for families. Singapore’s Robi can even understand both English and Mandarin instructions 🙂

As ours is a prototype unit, we need to recite the instructions in clear tone for Robi to pickup.

My own encounter with humanoid robots was in the movie Alien (staring Sigourney Weaver) more than 30 years ago. Some of the spaceship crew were actually humanoids (or droids), they look, talk and function exactly like humans.

Mention Japanese Robots and Astro Boy comes to mind. A Robot boy who helps protects Japan.
And Robi does remind me of Astro Boy when I first saw him. Watch his eyes glow as he received and acknowledged our conversation.

Video (link) : Checkout the kids dancing and doing pushups with Robi 🙂

Do take note we cannot buy Robi over the counter. We need to subscribe to Robi weekly publication and build Robi from scratch. There are 70 issues to collect.
Robi magazines

The weekly educational magazine will come with Robi parts and construction instructions. Kids will also learn about Robotics and Science in each issue.
Robi subscription

First issue has a promotion price of $9.90, and subsequent issues are $28.90 each, excluding the list below:
Issue 43 (CPU): $55
Issue 62 (Physical sensor): $42
Issue 63 (Physical sensor): $42
Issue 67 (Speech recognition board): $55

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I can see Robi as a companion for old folks (perhaps)?
In the near future, we humans might have to get used talking to robots, and robots doing our everyday tasks.
Robi can operate the TV and do some “mopping” today, I am sure Robotics will take over more mundane roles soon.

At the moment, Robi is still a fun novelty for our kids.
They keep saying Robi is cute and adorable, which I agree.

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I attended a Robi roadshow last week, and the inventor himself Professor Takahashi shared his insights on Robi.
Robi demostration Singapore

Live demonstration of Robi building. We just need a screwdriver.
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More details about Robi :

– Checkout www.robi.sg to know more about Robi
Catch him performing on Youtube, Instagram and Facebook.

– Robi will be retailing at 7-Eleven, Books Kinokuniya, FairPrice, FairPrice Online, Giant Hypermarket, MPH Bookstores, Popular, SPC (Singapore Petroleum Company), SPH Buzz, Toy Or Game, Warehouse Club and Times Bookstores.

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