Hong Kong Side Trip: Macau

Read Day 2.

Good morning! We had to get up early to catch our 8 AM ferry to Macau.

We were joined by an Asian man in the elevator on our way down. "Heading out?" he asked.

We told him we're going to Macau.

"Just like that?" he asked, and already I was thinking What do you mean just like that, what's wrong with what I'm wearing, this is a nice scarf!--when he said, "No bags?"

"No," I said. "Just a day trip."

"Oh, good. Enjoy!"

So sino ang judgmental ngayon?? (So who's judgmental now??)

Haha. Anyway.

The ferry was also at the Shun Tak Centre. We had breakfast at KFC and went up to the boarding gates on the 3rd Floor. We weren't quite sure where to go. Let me save you some time: the TurboJet boarding gates are to your left. The one straight ahead from the escalators is CotaiJet. (Which is not your ferry, so don't line up there.)

I got worried because we got stuck in a long line to Immigration, and it was already 10 minutes to 8 AM. I was sure we were going to miss the ferry. (Which meant we had to buy another set of tickets. Hassle!) Then another Immigration gate opened up, and the moment we got through we ran all the way to our gate.

Smile like you're not trying to catch your breath after that early-morning sprint!

The ferry trip will take more or less an hour.

This was a part of the trip that I didn't really prepare for. Our only goals were: egg tarts, Portuguese food, and the Venetian. 

That's about it.

Macau was a former Portuguese colony that reverted to Chinese rule in 1999, two years after Hong Kong was handed over to China by the British. It became a major gambling hub in Asia after it opened up its gaming sector in 2002, ending the four-decade casino monopoly of tycoon Stanley Ho.

Relevant link: TIMELINE-Macau's rise to world's leading gambling hub (Reuters)

Grab some maps while you're here!

When you leave the terminal, there will be several free shuttles to various casinos within Macau. We took the one to Grand Lisboa. Senado Square would be a quick walk from there.

I was just telling J that after a while, every casino looks the same, when Grand Lisboa greeted us with these!

We spent 30 minutes just looking at the displays--at the same time becoming acutely aware that the Sunday crowd and the heavy, humid weather were going to exhaust us.

We walked into a side street and found Margaret's Cafe e Nata! We had egg tarts and milk tea.

They take HKD in Macau. Some storeowners might just give you Pataca (Macau currency) as change, so make sure to spend those before returning to Hong Kong.

Photo from here: https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g664891-d1103906-i52474067-Margaret_s_Cafe_e_Nata-Macau.html

Photo from here: http://thesydneytarts.blogspot.com/2011/04/margarets-cafe-e-nata.html

(I wasn't able to take my own photos because I was covered in sweat and trying to wrestle for a seat!)

Right next door was a stall selling pork chop buns. We just split one.

We got lost going to Senado Square! Hay. We found it eventually.

 

 Ruins of St. Paul's. All that's left of this 17th century church are its facade and main stairs.

I couldn't move any closer because of the heat and the sheer volume of tourists.

 

After buying pasalubong (Portuguese-style nougat, biscuits, etc.), we had lunch at Restaurante Escada, a Portuguese restaurant where almost all the servers were Filipino. Haha.

I had African Chicken and J had Grilled Steak with Garlic and White Wine Sauce.

This is not a very good food photo, but I enjoyed our orders.

We wanted to have another stop before heading to the Venetian (which is in Taipa). I couldn't figure out the map, so we relented and got a taxi. (Taxis are cheaper in Macau naman compared to HK.) I wanted to go to the Macau Museum, but taxi drivers here didn't speak English, and I pointed at the wrong location on the map. We ended up at the Macau Tea Museum, which was closed for renovation. Hahahay! 

We just looked around and rested our feet.

 

 That's Sun Yat Sen in the middle.

 

If you want to save money, you can just head back to any nearby casino, get on a shuttle back to the ferry, and ride a shuttle from the ferry to another casino. Rinse and repeat. But we were tired, so we just got on a taxi again to get to the Venetian. I didn't have to point on the map this time; everyone in Macau knew where it was.

"It's ostentatious," J said. He wasn't kidding.

(To be continued.)

Read Macau Part 2.