20 June,2011 09:43 AM IST | | Urmimala Banerjee
It was a recent awards ceremony which got Pooja Gor the chance to visit the very famous and popular tourist attraction -- Macau. "It was my first trip outside India. I had a blast with my friends from the industry.u00a0 However, our shooting schedules and rehearsals, didn't let us explore much," rues Pooja. She recounts her fun days:u00a0
Indoor ride
Immediately after we landed in Hong Kong, we took a one-hour ferry ride from Tapei terminal to Cotai. Staying at the Venetian was amazing, as the huge hotel is a tourist spot in itself. The third floor of the hotel has been made like an entire city where they have a stream of water flowing with a bridge and we could take Gondola rides to experience the beauty of Venice.u00a0
Splurge on
I went crazy buying souvenirs for friends and me. And though I didn't wantto splurge, I did end up buying a couple of watches for myself and a few perfumes from Ed Hardy and Issye Miyake. And the one thing that I bought for my mom was coffee mugs and coffee beans from Starbucks as she is a huge coffee fan!
Time to gamble
Casinos are 'the place' to be in Macau, so I made sure I hopped in along with Jay Soni, Pearl Gray and Ashita Dhawan. But, I didn't gamble because I am really scared of losing money. However, my friends were saying that I was their lucky charm (smiles).u00a0
Dinner drama
I found it tough to adjust my taste buds to the food in Macau. Though I eat non-vegetarian occasionally, their non-vegetarian food consisted of roasted ducks, prawns, squids and pork. I just couldn't make myself eat it. Chicken isn't a common ingredient there and I would just lose my appetite seeing uncut piglets hanging down from food counters. Thankfully, the channel had arranged for Indian food and so I stuck to the traditional and safe dal chawal and aloo ki sabzi.u00a0
Learning the language
Since I was hosting the awards, I wanted to speak a few Macanese words. But I didn't know the right pronunciation. However, the locals were extremely helpful in improving my pronunciation and making me understand what I was saying. It was a great confidence booster for me.
