My Grandma

8 March 2016 was an extremely long day for me and my family. We lost someone whom we love very much.

In the morning, I noticed that Grandma was not eating her breakfast nor was she able to swallow her medicine. Grandma was warded into TTSH just one week before that for bacteria infection. Ever since she came back from hospital, she had fever and had not been eating very well. That very morning, she was feeling quite uncomfortable. Aunt YY said that she will get the doctor to come by and take a look at Grandma. Hence, I left for work at around 1030am. 

When I reached Bugis Junction, headed to run some errands for my business trip departing the next day, Aunt YY called to ask me to cancel my business trip as Grandma was not looking too well. After finishing up with my errands, I quickly called Aunt Cindy for more clarification. She said that the doctor was on his way to our house to look at Grandma and Aunt Cindy will give an update after that. I spoke to my GM and decided that I should just cancel my trip and arranged for another colleague to go on my behalf regardless. I quickly headed to office and explained the situation to my Boss. He was agreeable for the replacement. As I was frantically reaching out to the airline, ferry company and my HQ colleague to make the necessary arrangement for name change, Aunt Cindy called at around 1215pm. I missed that call but I could sense that something unusual had happened, otherwise she would not have called but texted me instead. I quickly called her but the phone was engaged. I was even more convinced that Grandma was really not doing good. I called the home phone instead and Aunt YY picked up the call. She said " The doctor is certifying now." I replied "ok, I will get home ASAP!" Staring at my computer screen, my mind is completely blank and I do not know what to do. At about 1240pm, Aunt Cindy updated all of us in our family group chat that Grandma has passed away at 12pm and the undertaker will be taking away Grandma's body at 7pm. With that, I knew that I still have a few hours and I should finish up what I need to do before heading home to say my final goodbye to Grandma. While my colleagues asked me to go home immediately, I clearly know that Grandma was well taken care of by my aunties and I need to finish up my work on hand so that I can handover to the colleague who was replacing me on the business trip. This is also something that Grandma will expect me to do as she always said that we should be responsible for what we are supposed to do and complete. 

After handing over to my colleague, I headed home at about 5pm. While the taxi took the usual route, I felt that the journey was longer. Along the way, I kept asking myself "Did Grandma choose to leave only after I left the house so that I will not sit at home to sob and not able to finish up my work-on-hand? Did Grandma choose to leave on the day before my business trip so that I will not miss out in saying my final goodbye and feel guilty about it for life?" With all these thoughts running in my mind, I finally reached home. I headed to Grandma's room straightaway. She was lying motionlessly in bed, looking so peaceful as if she was asleep. My tears just kept rolling down uncontrollably as I sat by her side, holding on to her icy cold hand and calling out to her. Ever since Grandma was sick for the past few years, I tried to imagine how will I react when Grandma leaves. While in my mind, I knew that Grandma's departure was kind of a relief for herself as well as her caregivers as she had been fighting with dementia for the past 6-7 years, I just can't bear to see Grandma leaving us for good. I just cannot imagine life without the lady who had been taking care of me since I was born. After spending a good 1 hour of alone time with Grandma, I finally calmed myself down. Together with Cousin SW, Cousin SY and my Brother, we said our final goodbye to Grandma with our usual bickering and "suan-ing", something that we had been doing since young in front of our Grandparents and something that Grandma will enjoy, I'm sure. :)

My brother and I have always been very close to our Grandparents as we were taken care by them since birth. As our parents were busy at work, we spent most of our time with our Grandparents and we had been staying with them since young. Grandma had the 重男轻女 mentality, hence she had always sided my brother while Grandpa will always stand by my side. Being the youngest in the family then, Grandpa naturally doted on me the most, bringing me along to wherever he went. I was therefore closer to Grandpa. 21 years ago, after Grandpa passed away when I was 11 years old, I even had the thought that no one will dote on me anymore. However, I was wrong. While Grandma was very stern with me since young, she had never let go of my hand in fact. After Grandpa passed away, she had to shower my brother and I with even more care, concern and love as she was doing it for my Grandpa as well. Grandma had always been strict, stern and never go easy in canning us. Deep down inside her heart, she has also never stop caring for us. 

Over the few days of funeral, I had been thinking to myself and recalling valuable memories between Grandma and I:  

-  As she was taking up the role of my primary caregiver since I was born, she fed me, bathed me, ran after me when I refused to sit down and finish my food, cared for me when I was unwell.

- When I first went to Nursery, I didn't like it. Just like other children, I felt uneasy and scared. I cried and cried until I saw Grandma standing outside the classroom. I was assured by Grandma's presence. 

- After learning how to cycle, I joined my brother in an unofficial bicycle race in the neighborhood. Being the youngest among the neighborhood kids, I was not as fast as the rest of the big brothers and sisters. To make matter worse, I even lost control of my bicycle and rolled down the steps together with the bicycle. I had a big bump on my face near to my right eye and quite a number of cuts and bruises on my arms. My brother and I were scared to be scolded so we didn't dare to tell anyone after reaching home. I ran into the room immediately and hide under the blanket. When Grandma saw my face during dinner, she did not utter a word. All she did was prepared a hard-boiled egg and rolled on my bruises. She did that for about a week until the bruises went off. 

- When I was in primary school, Grandma will always be the one to go to school with my books and belongings, should I forgot to bring. 

- I had chicken pox when I was in Pri 2. Grandma prepared food everyday for my recess as she was afraid that I would take any food that may contain soya sauce or any other ingredients that I should not consumed then.

- One day after school when I was in Pri 4, I was playing with my friends my way home. Without realizing that there was a puddle of water on the floor, I slipped and fell. I dirtied my uniform. Feeling embarrassed with my dirty and wet uniform, I didn't dare to take the bus home . Thus, I walked home and ended up reaching home later than usual. I thought Grandpa will be home then and there would be someone to shield me from Grandma's scolding and canning since I was home late and was in dirty uniform. However, Grandpa was out and only Grandma was around. I was prepared to be scolded and caned but to my biggest surprise, when Grandma saw me, all she did was to ask me to take a shower and clean up. She took my dirty uniform to soak and prepared my favorite minced meat with noodles for lunch. I explained to her what had happened. She said "as long as you are safe and okay, everything else does not matter."

- Whenever my secondary school friends gathered at home after cross country day or sports day, Grandma would prepare a feast for them. I know many of my friends still miss Grandma's fried bee hoon very much. :)

- During AMKSS' school carnival, Grandma helped to prepare a big tub of fried bee hoon for my class' food stall. Though my aunties tried to persuade her not to do it as it was a lot of hardwork, she insisted as she wanted to help me.  

- During polytechnic days, there was once when I was involved in a charity event that was held in the old National Stadium. I had to go around to sell charity vouchers to the event attendees. Grandma was one of the event attendees. She used her 人情牌 and asked her group of friends to buy the vouchers from me. 

- Grandma was pleased that I went to Australia for university studies. For the first time, I truly felt that she was proud of me. Whenever I came back for holidays, I heard how she will boast to my relatives about what I was doing in Australia. Grandma and her gossip khakis... :)

- In 2007, Grandma went for her last overseas trip. She attended my convocation in Australia. I was very grateful that she managed to be there to witness one of my important moments. I was very thankful that at the age of 79, Grandma was able to travel all the way to Australia.  She was grinning from ear to ear as I received my degree on stage. After a full day of walking around, Grandma was very tired. Her hands were shaking as I held on to her while we walked back to the hotel.

Me in my graduation gown with Grandma at my faculty, UQ Business School

- In 2008, when I came back from uni studies, Grandma was so delighted that I 学成归来.

- In 2009, when I went on my first business trip, Grandma kept reminding me to be careful. She even stayed up to wait for me to be home after my late flight arrival into SG. 

- After celebrating Grandma's 80th birthday, Grandma's health started to deteriorate. Her dementia set in.

- From 2010 to 2016, Grandma's health went from bad to worse within a few years. With dementia, Grandma went from an active senior citizen who likes to move around to cooping herself at home all the times as she did not want to see anyone. In 2013, we almost lost her when she suffered from brain herrmonge. She completely lost the ability to look after herself since then. 

Here are some photos of Grandma and us at the various family outings: 

 

Family in Australia for my convocation
Grandma's CityCat experience in Brisbane

Family in Australia for my convocation
Grandma loves marketing afterall. She was sulking because she can't buy the fresh produces home! :)

Family in Australia for my convocation
Grandma exploring Surfers' Paradise

Family in Australia for my convocation
Grandma is an ice cream lover too! :) 

Family outing @ The Hakka Festival

Grandma and Little Lynnette... 1st generation vs 4th generation! :) 

 Grandma with Cousin SW and Little Lynnette

Grandma happily sipping the tea served by my Brother and Sis-in-law

Grandma's 80th Birthday! 

Brother, Cousin SW, Cousin SY and myself with Grandma @ Grandma's 80th Birthday! 

Eldest Grand Auntie and Grandma in 2014, a rare photo of Grandma smiling so happily ever since she was down with illness

Eldest Grand Auntie and Grand Uncle with Grandma in 2014.Eldest Grand Auntie and Grand Uncle have always doted Grandma very much and always make it a point to visit her once every few weeks and keep updated on Grandma's condition by calling up to check on her regularly. Somehow it is fated, they visited Grandma on 8 March morning after knowing that she was sick. Coincidentally, they were just in time to send Grandma off in her final journey. Thank you, Grand Auntie and Grand Uncle for always keeping Grandma in mind and make a point to visit her even when Grand Uncle is not feeling well. Grandma is very fortunate to have you guys as her younger brother and sister-in-law. 
舅公，舅婆，谢谢您们对奶奶的关怀与照顾。虽然舅公的健康欠佳，您们还是不辞辛苦，经常来陪伴奶奶。感谢您们这一段时间给予我们一家人的支持与帮忙。

1 week has passed by and I am still trying to get used to not seeing Grandma when I reach home everyday. I really misses Grandma very much and will never forget the good and bad times spent with her. As I walked down the pathway that she used to walk and go to places that she used to visit, I can't help to think "it will be good to have her with me". I know that we can't turn back time and we have to move on with life. Grandma is now reunited with Grandpa (someone whom I misses very much as well though he has left us for more than 20 years). I always believe that Grandpa is my guardian angel watching over me all these while. Now I have another guardian angel. :)

"Ah Nei (Grandma), I really misses you very much. I know you have reunited with Ah Da (Grandpa) and will continue to watch over us from wherever you are. Don't worry about us as we have all grown up and capable of taking care of ourselves. Thank you for taking care of me for the past 30+ years. I will continue to do my best in whatever I am doing so that you will always be proud of me."

"奶奶，感谢您这些年来的照顾。您的教导，我没有忘记。您对待他人的态度，我会学着。您在我心里永远有着重要的位置。对您的想念，我会放在心里。和您相处的美好时光，我会锁在记忆里。答应要让您为我感到骄傲，我一定会做到最好。奶奶，您一路好走。和爷爷相聚时，别忘了想念我们哦!"

Farewell, Grandpa Lee! May you rest in peace. 李爷爷，请您一路好走！

For the past 1 week, it has been a difficult and emotional period for us in Singapore. On 23 March 2015, Monday, we woke up to a devastating news that our 1st Prime Minister, who is also the Founding Father of Modern Singapore, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, aged 91, has passed away peacefully in the Singapore General Hospital after being admitted for more than a month. I was definitely shocked by the news as I just shared a note of well wishes for his speedy recovery on my Social Media platforms the day before. Though it was reported that his condition deteriorated further as days passed by, I was still hoping for a miracle and that I can see him waving to us with his radiant smile during our SG50 National Day Parade in August this year. However, the miracle didn't come.

Mr Lee's great vision has initiated and created several legacies which have benefited many people over the different generations. For the past 1 week, as people shared about their memories of Mr Lee and how their lives have been impacted by his legacies, I was thinking "What about me?". While I was not born in the years when he fought hard to transform Singapore into a metropolis, and I don't know him personally (Closest "personal encounter" was a photo taken with his wax figure in the Madame Tussaud Museum in HKG. Even it was just a wax figure, I tried to hold his hand like a granddaughter holding onto the hand of a grandfather. ^.^), my life and my family's well-beings are greatly impacted by his legacies. 

Photo with Mr Lee's wax figure at Madame Tussand Museum in HKG in 2012

In fact his legacies can be seen in our everyday life. Not going to list them all but just going to share those that I can personally associate with: 

1) My mother and her family were formally staying in Kampong Bukit Ho Swee. When the Bukit Ho Swee Fire broke out in 1961, my mother's house was burnt down and they became homeless. Mr Lee promised the residents of Kampong Bukit Ho Swee that they would be able to move into their new homes within 8 to 9 months. He and his team delivered the promise by building public flats with proper sanitation to house these residents within 9 months. All thanks to Mr Lee, my grandma and her 7 children (including my mother) managed to have a roof over their head within such a short period of time. 

2) Both my parents only had education up to primary school level. With that, they are not able to hold jobs with high salaries. Therefore, owning a house and starting a family back then were challenging tasks for them. All thanks to Mr Lee for introducing the "Home Ownership Scheme" (居者有其屋), my parents were able to have an asset of their own and started a family shortly after. As they aged, they will be able to retire and stay comfortably in the 3-room flat at Bukit Merah which they had bought in the early 80s. And with the scheme, I know I will be able to afford to get my own flat and be a proud owner in a few years' time as well. 

3) I went through 10 years of pri and sec sch studies in both English and Chinese (Mother Tongue). All thanks to Mr Lee's education legacy of Biligual Education which laid a good foundation for me in both English and Chinese. I am able to read, write and speak comfortably in both languages. Hence I managed to converse with people from the Western and Eastern worlds easily during my overseas uni studies in Australia. My schoolmates from China were impressed when I was able to write in Chinese as I helped to translate some of the lecture notes for them. When I started working, being biligual provided an advantage. I was able to communicate with my overseas counterparts confidently in both languages. Especially with associates from China, speaking in our Mother Tongue has helped to establish closer working relationship with them. 

4) As I travelled down the roads in Singapore, I felt sense of serenity and happiness as I looked at the greens along the sides of the roads. This is more evident whenever I'm back from overseas trips. As I travelled from Changi Airport to home along the expressway, I will always be greeted by the greenery on the sides of the roads. They seems to be smiling to me and giving me a warm welcome back to home. Whenever I was hosting overseas guests in Singapore, they would always talk about our greenery. They were surprised to see so many tress and shrubs growing along the sides of the roads as they travelled down the expressways from Changi Airport to their hotels. They were even more impressed when these greens are not limited to the roads to/fro airport but they can also be seen in every corner of Singapore. With that, I am always proud to share with my guests that Singapore is a "City in the garden" and that make us uniquely different from many city states in the world. All thanks to Mr Lee, our "Chief Gardener". 

As we moved on after 1-week of mourning, I would like to pen my thoughts for the great politician and icon of Singapore in my blog by recognizing his hardwork, honoring his spirit and continuing his legacies. 

When my grandpa passed away 20 years ago, I was greatly affected. Till date, I can vividly remember his daily practices and characteristics and I believed that he will always be somewhere around to make sure that my family and I are doing well and good. With Mr Lee, I believed that he will still be watching over Singapore as he simply cannot let go of his country and his people. And we have to continue to work hard in our own ways to bring Singapore's success forward in order not to disappoint him. 

Goodbye, Mr Lee! (Source: Instagram)

Farewell, Grandpa Lee! May you rest in peace. 李爷爷，请您一路好走！

Bloggers Trip to MACAU - Day 2

"Bloggers, are you ready for the interesting Mini Macau Amazing Race?"

Yeah! is Race Day today! Early in the morning we set off to Senado Square area within the Historic Centre of Macau for a mini amazing race around MACAU's heritage area. I told the bloggers that the race will be very relaxed. However, at the end of the day or rather along the way, they had been cursing and swearing. Haha.. in the Whatsapp group chat, one of them said that I bluffed them by saying that the race is easy. Oh well, the race questions were indeed manageable. I guessed it was because of the hot weather that made all of them perspired a lot. Most of them were soaking wet at the end of the race. Deeply appreciate their great efforts in completing the race within the designated time frame. In fact, I didn't want them to go beyond 12pm as the weather will only be hotter and it was really not wise for them to be racing under the hot afternoon sun. Glad that everyone made it back in a piece! Haha... Great Job, guys! :)

Questionnaire for the Race

Side Track: after washing my hair in the morning, I decided to look for the hair dryer to dry my hair. As I was looking for the hair dryer, I found this flowery bag. Mmm... what's in it?

Haha... is the hair dryer! what a lovely bag for the hair dryer...

Off we went when everyone gathered on time at 10am! After I flagged off the race at Sofitel @ Ponte 16, I decided to slowly walked to the ending point to wait for all of them as they were supposed to complete a task at the ending point. As I walked along, I decided to detour to fill my stomach ( I didn't eat breaky!!). Actually, this is part of my plan - to enjoy some street food for breaky. I planned to have a cup of bubble tea + Lok Lok for breaky. However, to my disappointment, Come Buy Bubble Tea was not opened yet. Haiz.. not fated to drink bubble tea, so I just settled for Lok Lok from my favourite stall, 恒友. I sat down to enjoy my Lok Lok and checking out Instagram for updates for their race. As I have asked them to answer some questions via Instagram so reviewing Instagram was part and parcel of my task. As I was enjoying my Lok Lok, I realised that their speed were faster than I expected. Before I could finished my last piece of Lok Lok, the first few teams were already more than half way through the race. So I quickly went to the last stop @ Margaret's Cafe to prepare for the arrival of the teams. :)

恒友 Lok Lok Stall

Yummilicious... You can even buy the sauce from the stall owner and try to make "Lok Lok" at home. I shall get 1 bottle during my next trip!

Egg Tarts for the task to be completed by all teams @ the ending point

Finally when the first team - Willy & Valyn arrived, I knew that the rest will slowly strolled in too. As they sat down, I could see their tiredness and shagness. I didn't mean to torture them by asking them to race under such hot weather. This Amazing Race was specially designed by me and I really hope that they have enjoyed MACAU in an amazing way and be able to know more about what MACAU has to offer in terms of culture, heritage, food and sightseeing. :)

Group photo after the race... All look kinda tired and shag.. haha...

As I didn't followed them during the race, I had to look into the Instagram photos to know what they have done and where they have been. I decided to include some of the photos to show the real action. All these photos are courtesy of all the bloggers via Instagram.

After flagged off at the starting point at Sofitel @ Ponte 16

First photo to be taken with any 1 local cookies shop located along Rua da Felicidade (Happiness Street)

Wow... Joey is like superstar with so many cameras taking a picture of her (or actually they are aiming the shop name behind her. :p) *Photo courtesy of Jerome

Chun See was asking for directions to the next question?? *Photo courtesy of Jerome

Yes! Of all people, why did Kaika asked a half-naked guy for directions? Hmmm.. according to her, there were no one else then. However, we weren't very convinced. Haha...

Rui Long's remedy to fight the HOT weather... Smart girl!

NICE jump by Joey! :)

According to Leo, he was faking a smile as he was soaking wet after going around under the sorching sun!

One of my favourite photos of St Dominic's Church as it captured the whole facade itself.

Photo of part of the Old Section of the City Wall which is one of the heritage site of MACAU!

Lovely photo taken by Kaika, capturing not only her 大头贴 self-potrait but also the landmark of MACAU - Ruins of St Paul's in the background.

Time for Egg Tarts!!! :)

Leo was not really enjoying the tart as he was too tired and sweaty to think. haha..

Of course, together with the video captured by omy.sg, I had a clearer picture of how's the amazing race like when the teams were going around. For the very first time, I felt that MACAU is so beautiful, even more beautiful than I thought of. The local street scenes were nicely captured in the video. :)

After the race, the bloggers had free & easy session to roam around. Most of them decided to further explore Senado Square area for good food and more photos. GOOD for them! :) I didn't joined their lunch @ Cheong Kei & Yi Shun as I had to join Grace and the guests for GTEF for a quick lunch. After lunch, I re-joined some of the bloggers to explore MJ Gallery @ Sofitel @ Ponte 16. I wanted to take some decent photos of the gallery for future promotional purposes. When we were done @ MJ Gallery, the bloggers went back to Senado Square while I went for some retail therapy @ my favourite outlet in MACAU. heehee...

Sau Jun, Joey, Rui Long and Ai enjoying the milk pudding @ Yi Shun. Yummy!!

MJ Gallery dedicated to the King of Pop - Michael Jackson

New items on display...

A time passage that showcased the timeline of MJ

The iconic white gloves of MJ..

If you are a MJ fan, do not miss the MJ Gallery. Quite a compact gallery which is good for a walk down memory lane with the idol's favourite outfit, accessories, music CDs and more. It is FREE admission!



My loot from Espirit Outlet in MACAU! Retail therapy didn't really work though I spent about S$90 in about 2 hours. haha..


After a long day going around, I went back to my hotel room to have a good night rest before a hectic schedule on the next day. & as I entered the room, I was wondering what kind of surprise will I be getting from the hotel? Mmmm...

Here you are! Yummy Macaroons of different flavours! Thanks, Grand Lapa Hotel for the hospitality! :)

Last but not least, for more information and photos of the trip and what did the bloggers do, please log on to My MACAU Travel Experience 2012 official website.





Bloggers Trip to MACAU - Day 1

As shared in my pre-trip entry, this trip to MACAU is supposed to give me a total different experience as it will be the first time for me to travel to MACAU with a group of bloggers. :) Being inspired by them, I decided to blog about my trip (usually I will be very lazy to do it as I have to write post-trip report for official submission and I have enough of writing. haha...) Anyway, I shall keep it simple by giving day by day update on what we did.

On departure day, our Tiger Airways flight was due to depart at about 10.25am and I have asked the bloggers to check-in at about 8.25am and to meet me at the boarding gate at about 9.30am. After my flight check-in, my body was aching and I was feeling very tired. My eye lids were heavy and I felt that my eyes were a bit swollen. I guessed these were the after effects of not sleeping well or rather not sleeping at all the night before. But as I shared in my post trip entry, once I wore my MGTO t-shirt, I know I have to be professional and be able to brace through any situation with a smile.

After the flight check-in, I decided to go into the main area earlier as it was the last opportunity for me to explore the terminal and depart from this terminal. Budget Terminal had ceased operations as of 23 Sep and will be making way for the new Terminal 4. I had been travelling to MACAU from Budget Terminal for the past 3 years and I am certainly going to miss it (though the infrastructure is simple as compared to other terminals). Here's a photo I captured before heading to the board gate:

Strolling slowly to the boarding gate to meet up with the rest and to start the adventures in  MACAU! The PR rep from Tiger Airways met up with us and we decided to take a group photo before departure. When the request was asked, we heard many unwilling responses "oh no, I didn't put on make-up! So unglam looking! So shag looking" haha... oh well, though without make-up and with the panda eyes, all of them still look good la... :)

After which, we were off to MACAU for surprising moments! :)

Flight to MACAU was good as I slept throughout the journey (what's new! thats usually what I do and especially when I didn't sleep well the night before). Upon arrival, we were transferred to Grand Lapa Hotel for check-in. It was my 2nd time staying in this hotel. Personally I quite like the hotel. While the hotel building itself is relatively old, the decoration at the lobby, lift lobby and cafe are elegant and classic. The in-room decoration is simplier as compared but it gives people a cosy feeling.



nice & cosy room... :)

lovely view from my hotel room at 17th floor

After a short rest in the hotel, I met up with the group and brought them to Macau Tower for dinner and to enjoy the 24th Macau International Fireworks Display Contest. Along our way to Macau Tower, I was giving some simple introduction about MACAU and pointed out a Kun Iam Statue which clearly display the East meets West elements of MACAU. Yeah, it is a statue of Kun Iam with westernised features. Being a Westerner, the scupltor of this statue did not know how the real Kun Iam looks like. Hence, he designed  the statue of Kun Iam who has features that are similar to Mother Mary. Interesting indeed. :)

Finally we arrived at Macau Tower. The sales rep from Macau Tower brought us around for a quick view. Having been to Macau Tower for numerous times, honestly I am no longer fascinated by the tower itself. I am more interested about my delegates' reaction when they are taking the lift up to 59th & 61th storey and their reactions towards the see-through glass panels on the floor and their reactions towards dare-devils playing the bungee jump. All these reactions are unique, precious and definitely varies from person to person. Without much doubts, there were someone within the group who did not feel comfortable walking on the see-through glass panels and someone who sat down and refused to move. The bloggers were also fascinated by the panaromic view of MACAU and parts of Zhuhai. When we inspected the outdoor observation deck, they even had a chance to witness the bungee jump in action. Guess it iwas a fruitful trip for them in terms of photo taking. When we proceed to Cafe 360, instead of going for the food immediately, most of them started to take photos of the wide variety of food. Until when they finally cannot resist the temptation, they decided to put down their cameras and held on to their fork & knife and FEAST!

Group photo of the 10 famed bloggers @ Macau Tower

The see-through glass panels which can hold weights up to 200 tonnes.. so it is 100% safe standing on it. Try it when you are at Macau Tower.

before I feast (my 1st meal for the day!!!), I decided to take an illusion shot of the M&M Bridge!

After dinner, the bloggers left the restaurant unwillingly as they were enjoying the dinner so much. They said that the variety was great and there were so many selections of international food. Even the dessert selections were marvelous and they felt so pampered. Unfortunately in order to be on time for the 9pm fireworks display, we had to leave! Sorry guys! We joined the judges and MGTO guests at the VIP section specially set aside for MGTO guests. Seated down, we decided to chit chat among ourselves while waiting for the fireworks. & of course how can we missed out in taking photos of the tower, the surroundings and the seafront areas.

this photo of M&M Bridge was captured by my iPhone 4. how amazing...



where i was seated, i took a photo of the tower from bottom up

Fireworks Display Contest started at 9pm sharp when all the GOHs went on stage to announce the opening. First team to start: Korea. 2nd team: Thailand (first time participation). Personally I like the fireworks display by Team Korea. However, Team Thailand was able to incorporate many interesting elements into their display although the interval from section to section was a bit too long. Winner of the 24th Macau International Fireworks Display Contest will be announced on 1 Oct.

My video of Team Korea's Fireworks Display

My video of Team Thailand's Fireworks Display

After a tiring yet fruitful day, we went back to hotel for a good night sleep and be prepared for an exciting Race Day on Day 2! Upon going into my room, I was greeted by this little surprise.. Thanks, Grand Lapa Hotel!

Last but not least, wanna look at the real action at Macau Tower, here you are:

Video footage is courtesy of omy.sg