My job really takes to places I would never have thought of going, Macau is one of them… when we moved to Japan we traveled a bit around; Seoul, Pekin, Shanghai, Hong-Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia… but Macau wasn’t really on our list. And I wasn’t planning to go to the conference until I was invited to give a keynote talk…

I can’t really say I have visited Macau but I have for sure seen a lot of casinos and shops, shops, shops all in mazes of corridors with no exit, so oppressive that you feel trapped. I lost my way many times until for a second I thought I made my way out, only to realize that it was a trompe l’œil…

So I didn’t have time to see the historical places, but as I was looking for a real place outdoor to have lunch I found this interesting Michelin street food ranking and there was a few shops and cafes in Taipa, so I took a cab to grab my lunch there at Sei Kee coffee. I don’t know what I was expecting… probably something like Japanese pork sandwiches from Nagasaki, the famous kakuni manju. What I found was a pork bun a lot less refined, yet it was using these spices that you can smell everywhere in the city and are really smelling nice. It was tasty and good but too meaty and fat for me… The milk tea though was really good!

Continuing my walk in the small touristic streets where shops sell mainly some kinds of what looks like dry meat, I smelled a nice custard odor, milk and eggs, probably from some egg tarts, a very famous Macau’s food but I actually found a biscuit shop, also with the Michelin street food sign and decided to stop to buy some almond cookies, their specialty, to bring back to Japan. There was no English either there, but good I know how to read kanjis and many are close enough to Japanese so I know what I buy and what is inside the products before buying them!!

Well that’s about what I saw from Macau and tried… Now time to go back home! Though I love the morning swims when I live in a hotel, I prefer bodyboarding in Ohara. I am tired of hotel life, room service and being far from A..