Even since i saw the Ruins of St. Paul photo somewhere, i have always wanted to visit Macau just to see that piece of wall in real life and since i was at Hong Kong for 6 days last December, i decided to plan a 2D1N stay over at Macau!
Wasted no time and woke up early in the morning, traveled to 港澳碼頭 Hong Kong - Macau Ferry terminal located at Sheung Wan to get our ferry tickets to Macau at HK$163 which is about SGD25 for one way, got the 10.05am slot!
That's our turbojet ferry to Macau! If you are intending to travel to Macau via ferry, do cater some time to clear the customs before boarding the ferry and you can expect a queue at the customs. That's something we forgot :(
You will be allocated seats no. upon "checking in" and the whole journey takes about an hour.
Brought KFC breakfast up the ferry and Matthew giving the stupid face, LOL
Because it's my first time to Macau, i wasn't very sure what to expect and did not do much research prior to the trip so we were quite lost upon reaching Macau! Had to ask around how to get to Ruins of St. Paul from the ferry terminal and was directed to take a bus (3A i think), stop at some street near Senado Square and walk over to the Ruins. Seriously?
Managed to stop at the correct stop after asking some of the locals on the bus and made our way to Senado Square! This place is definitely a must visit when in Macau - It's something like our town or central area i think, LOL
Passed by a couple of cathedrals along the way. Apparently Macau is somewhere related to Portugal (i'm not going into the history part) which explains the buildings and street signs. Their official language is Cantonese but all the signs are in Portugese which makes it VERY DIFFICULT for us to navigate! I wonder how the locals remember their roads :(
Stopped by one of the stalls to try their famous pork chop bun!
Not forgetting the famous Portuguese egg tarts! Really not bad but then again, like our KFC one leh.
This is another famous food item in Macau, i think it's something like our Ba gua. Abit scary, LOL
Matthew saw this ice cream man and offer to treat me so that he can see me kena "tricked" by the ice cream man but in the end, the man just scoop the ice cream without doing anything! I think he quite pissed with him, AHAHAHAHHAHA
FINALLY we saw the Ruins of St. Paul. In my heart i was like, "Finally i get to see it in real life. Right in my face."
That's our turbojet ferry to Macau! If you are intending to travel to Macau via ferry, do cater some time to clear the customs before boarding the ferry and you can expect a queue at the customs. That's something we forgot :(
You will be allocated seats no. upon "checking in" and the whole journey takes about an hour.
Brought KFC breakfast up the ferry and Matthew giving the stupid face, LOL
Because it's my first time to Macau, i wasn't very sure what to expect and did not do much research prior to the trip so we were quite lost upon reaching Macau! Had to ask around how to get to Ruins of St. Paul from the ferry terminal and was directed to take a bus (3A i think), stop at some street near Senado Square and walk over to the Ruins. Seriously?
Managed to stop at the correct stop after asking some of the locals on the bus and made our way to Senado Square! This place is definitely a must visit when in Macau - It's something like our town or central area i think, LOL
Passed by a couple of cathedrals along the way. Apparently Macau is somewhere related to Portugal (i'm not going into the history part) which explains the buildings and street signs. Their official language is Cantonese but all the signs are in Portugese which makes it VERY DIFFICULT for us to navigate! I wonder how the locals remember their roads :(
Stopped by one of the stalls to try their famous pork chop bun!
Not forgetting the famous Portuguese egg tarts! Really not bad but then again, like our KFC one leh.
This is another famous food item in Macau, i think it's something like our Ba gua. Abit scary, LOL
Matthew saw this ice cream man and offer to treat me so that he can see me kena "tricked" by the ice cream man but in the end, the man just scoop the ice cream without doing anything! I think he quite pissed with him, AHAHAHAHHAHA
FINALLY we saw the Ruins of St. Paul. In my heart i was like, "Finally i get to see it in real life. Right in my face."
Was supposed to visit Macau during my last Hong Kong trip in October 2011 but due to time constraint, we cancelled our plans but this time i'm finally here! That's one destination off my travelogue check list! Now to our hotel!
Had a hard time looking for our hotel even though the website stated that "it's xxx mins away from Senado Square and major attractions blah blah blah" However, we had no idea which direction to go from the Ruins of St. Paul. Had to keep asking around and even though we had a map, the street names and signs were literally un-pronounce-able, you have no idea unless you experience it for yourself. I wish i could explain better in words here but i really can't. Seriously.
Checked into our hotel. Was too tired to take any photos but we wasted no time and headed out again!
This time to Macau Fisherman's Wharf to take a look! By the way, the name for the Fisherman's wharf is "Doca dos Pescadores". SERIOUSLY YOU TELL ME HOW TO PRONOUNCE. This place is supposed to be themepark with roller coasters, shopping malls and such but then it was closed -__- No idea close for good or we suay, that day never open.
They have this Volcano replica, a Colosseum, a Fortress and more! Quite cool! But it's closed.
Took the free shuttle bus from Sands over to the famous Venetian!
First impression when i stepped in was, IT'S EXACTLY LIKE MARINA BAY SANDS! Then again i realised, the management of Venetian, Las Vegas Sands won the bid during the integrated resort saga in Singapore few years ago thus the concept of Marina Bay Sands is the same. Now i get it! No wonder people keep telling me it's like MBS is like Macau.
One of the cool Ferrari on display and everyone trying to take a photo with it.
How can one visit Macau and not go into their Casinos! This is the second time i stepped into a casino (first one was Genting) and it's was quite an experience! You would want to try your luck when in the casino so i took out HKD1000 and got 2 chips back - HKD500 each. Apparently each bet was HKD500 and i was lucky enough to win another HKD1000!
But after which, i lost all the HKD2000 and decided to continue playing. Lost about HKD3000 over and i come to realised that i lost about SGD500! Each bet was about $80, which is quite a lot. I don't know what got into me but i went ahead and withdrew 2000 HK dollars from the ATM and try to "recoup" my losses and thankfully in the end lady luck was shining on me and I managed to win back everything that i lost initially and a little bit more. Decided that's it for the day! Phew.
Went on to explore the rest of The Venetian. Totally forgot about Lunch while gambling :|
Matthew's aunt recommended us to go over to The City of Dreams mall opposite the Venetian to watch this "Dragon's treasure" show in a specially built theatre. The shape of the theatre is hemi-ellipsoidal reaching 27 meters in height and 40 meters at it's longest points. The 15 minute show is all about different element dragons and a special pearl. Not bad.
It was getting late so we decided to take the free shuttle bus back to the central area, find some place for dinner and also to explore around before heading back to the hotel. Honestly speaking, there's nothing much to do at Macau in the night other than gambling... so i would recommend Macau to be a day trip instead if you are considering staying.
Casinos are everywhere in Macau so we decided to go in and take a look since entrance is free and we realised how grand and posh The Venetian is compared to these casinos. The bet stake is also much lower, you can easily find like HKD100 per bet compared to HKD500 at The Venetian. I went in TO TAKE A LOOK only, never gamble again hor (:
Some of the exterior of the casinos are really pretty at night with all the lightings!
Walked back to Senado Square and decided to take a cab back to our hotel, lazy to walk all the way back.
Woke up early the next day and went back to Hong Kong! Overall i would still say it was a nice experience at Macau since it's my first time there and if you ask me if i would visit Macau again, i would say Yes, but not for an overnight trip. Perhaps just for a day for the food
That's all for 澳門 Macau!