One of the greatest thing I did in Macao this August was spending hours taking notes and searching the archives inside the Central Library.

My priority that day was to search more about Chen Kun Pei, an architect in Macao during the 20th century. With the help of the friendly Macanese librarian, Luis, we finally found a book called “Encyclopedia of Macau People” where Chen’s name was listed alongside with a short passage about his life and works.

Everything was in Chinese and as I need to translate them into English for my essays and research, I had to do some extra tasks like finding the corresponding name for some places, roads, and governmental departments where Chen once worked. While I was still wondering where to start, Luis handed me a few copies of “Directorio De Macau” published in years 1934-1936, when Chen worked in those departments. We searched through all pages for the corresponding name, but unfortunately, we ended up not knowing the answer.

However, I discovered something that’s quite interesting while flipping the pages of the 1935 directory; a very detailed introduction of Colegio Santa Rosa de Lima, my alma mater. It gives us some ideas of the school back then, the site itself, the school curriculum and regulations, uniforms, and school fees in which students only pay an additional $3.00 for Piano Lessons.

Here are some excerpts from the advertorial-like introduction:

The picturesque city of Macau, with its splendid climatic conditions and natural beauty, is an ideal resort for students who desire to pursue their studies in an atmosphere of tranquility……

The College is situated on an elevation overlooking the sea……

The building the directory refers is the one that situated in Rua da Santa Clara. From what I’ve read, I think the stone building was constructed in early 30s.

I wish Santa Rosa is something like what it was before. Values have changed over the years, and the College was divided into 2 sections, one English and one Chinese. Moreover, the building no longer overlooks the sea but some ugly residential blocks built in the 90s……

That’s all I wanted to say this moment. Please click here to read the documents. Worth to spend some time on!
Cheerio,
Stchatterboxxx

I am very please to announce that I’ve joined Fall 2006 CSS Reboot and changed the look of my site again.

This is actually the 5th time I’ve changed the site’s look within one and a half years since the site’s operation.

Compared with the previous versions, this one is more minimalistic with some moofx effects to make it more dynamic. The flickrRSS is displayed as a photoblog, a “leading role” now in the blog since I got a camera and will shoot lots of pictures. The first, or latest blog entry is displayed in full while previous ones are just displayed in their respective titles. To view it, click on the blog title and experience the effect yourself! Announcements, “Asides” or entry in brief is displayed with a yellow background and a red loudspeaker.

To maximized the use of spaces, I’ve hidden all other extra links into a shelf and to view it, click the “NAVIGATION” blue button on the top right-hand corner and it will……just see it yourself.

This theme will bear the name as Silas Version 3, as an upgraded version of my site’s second look, and is partially inspired by the layout of some newspapers. I’m now more satisfied with this look and hope to use it for the coming year so I can concentrate with more writings than the designs which takes me lots of time.

Please comment and give me some support (Talk!). Thank you for dropping by.

Hi guys, how was your summer break? I hope you’d enjoyed yourself. I did, and in fact I’m back for a month! Unfortunately, work kept me so busy that I can only make some updates until now.

I did some wonderful things and the 2 that worth mentioning is that I spent part of my holiday inside Macau’s historical Central Library located at Avenida Conselheiro Ferreira de Almeida, known as the “Dutch Court” by locals. I searched and read through lots of archives, and the librarians are very friendly. In fact I’ll write some articles and put them up here soon after I finished them.

Another thing that I did was: I finally got a camera (A Nikon D70s) at a discounted price!

— That’s all for my Macau trip
— and What’s up…

Last night, I attended a cocktail at a complex modelled after Shanghai’s Xintiandi, just a more modern version at Zhabei District. Some celebrities like Karen Mok and Leehom Wang were present but the place was so crowded (with people and paparazzi) that it’s quite impossible to take a few shots of these famous folks. Uncle Joe, who was involved in this project, gave me a work permit and showed me around some places that were allowed for staff and I took a couple of pictures. Check them out at my Flickr.

Just a few hours ago, I finally had the opportunity to try a Shanghainese restaurant I’ve always wanted to: Shanghai Uncle (The Westin Outlet) and it is again, very disappointing. A picture of this little place:

On a hot summer Sunday, when one doesn’t have any mood shopping under the hot sun, a great meal at a charming place would be the perfect thing to do.

So I decided to try out one of Shanghai’s most rendy and talked about spots, the newly opened Mediterraneo Restaurant and Bar.

Like many hungry diners, the reasons for this choice are simple: First, it’d won praises from insiders, diners and positive comments on recent magazine reviews (the latter a thing my mother tells me she never trusts), and the second is obvious for me; it is housed in an old villa outside the former French Concession, where most of Shanghai’s beautiful houses are.

Tucked away in a quiet street called Wudingxi Rd (the former Kinnear Road (Western)), near Jiangsu Rd (the former Edinburgh Road) located at today’s Changning District, this area was first discovered and settled by the British more than a century ago and later by the Americans and wealthy Chinese like the Kwok Family and the ownders of the department stores at Nanjing Road.

This restaurant would be a lovely place for a cup of coffee on a cool autumn afternoon, but definitely not on a hot summer day like this as there’s no air conditioning. Fortunately, I still find it tolerable but not the two middle-age Singaporeans ladies sitting next to my table who kept flapping their Shanghai City Map for some wind. There’s no a la carte for lunch during weekends, and instead, they offered a brunch buffet (RMB198) that has too little varieties. With an additional RMB70, you can have free flow of beverages, otherwise the only glass soft drink included in this brunch package would not be enough for a second sipping.

They offer some good choices of main courses, but the steak recommended by the captain was truly disappointing as well as the soups and desserts.

Nevertheless, it’s a lovely spot for those who have extra time to explore the city as it is one of the few decent outlets that opens until 2am; specially for those who don’t go to discos, KTV and bars at Maoming and Tongren… …