BEEF AND PORK JERKY AND PORTUGUESE ALMOND COOKIES, GOOD COMBINATION?
As for the second day of our overseas trip, we headed to Macau – a country located southwest of Hong Kong, about an hour by ferry. Macau’s main attraction is the casinos and it is now considered as the world’s top casino market, surpassing Las Vegas. But we didn’t go there for the casinos, we were there for the sights and food, what else?
First off, there’s the language barrier. It was quite difficult to communicate with the locals here because unlike in HK, a lot of them do not know how to speak English. Oh, well…we’re the tourists, it’s all part of the adventure to get to that one particular street where those meat products and pastries were sold. And yes, my left thigh still hurt but it was tolerable at that moment.
We finally made it to Senado Square – and yes, we walked to get there from one very luxurious mall (I forgot the name, sorry), making BNU building as our landmark. Senado square is an area in the center of the former Portuguese colony in Macau. It is in one of the streets here where we managed to get to Rua do Cunha, a very long stretch of street where stalls and stalls of beef and pork jerky as well as Portuguese almond cookies are being sold. You know you’re in the right place when you smell the sweet, mouth watering aroma of the freshly cooked cookies.
This is the perfect place to go to when you’re hungry and want a free snack. Why? The moment you start walking, every vendor will offer you their products, literally forcing you to take a piece of jerky or a cookie. From the beginning of the street to the end, where you can find the Ruins of St. Paul’s, there are stalls that are filled with different flavors of pork and beef jerky, boxes of those yummy, but not too sweet Portuguese almond cookies. Oh, and these cookies are sometimes handed to you still warm – newly cooked!
The pork and beef jerky are sold by pound, with different prices for each kind. There is only one shop here which have English labels on their meat products and it was one of the largest shops there – it’s name is Koi Kei and it is the second shop I saw. The first Koi Kei shop I saw was near Senado Square, and it is also filled with tourists buying boxes of meat products and different pastries.
When you buy beef or pork jerky, they place it inside a resealable plastic bag and then they seal it with a heat press. These jerky can be eaten as it is, but we like to fry it for less than a minute, the flavors really come out when you do this. They also give discounts if you buy more than one box of almond cookies. Make sure you have a bottle of water with you, all that walking and eating at the same time will make you thirsty.
These are not the only stores found here, there are also souvenir and trinkets shops, jewelry shops, clothes and shoes boutique, ice cream shops like Dairy Queen and Haagen Dazs and other shops that appeal to tourists.
Next destination in Macau, the Venetian hotel. Yes, there are a lot of hotels here but we chose this one. Inside the hotel, there is an area here where you can ride a gondola, just like in Venice! And just like in Venice, the gondoliers sing an Italian song too! You wouldn’t really think you’re inside a hotel when you’re in this particular area, as well as the food court area, where the ceiling is painted like the blue sky and the stalls are designed like buildings in Italy.
Going back to the ferry dock is no problem, since hotels provide free bus transfers, even if you’re not actually staying in a particular hotel! Rather than get a taxi, just use the free rides provided by these luxurious hotels!