Hong Kong trip – 9 Mar 09

We woke up at 8am today and left at around 8.30am. We bought a sandwich for breakfast from a shop below which cost HK$8 ~ S$1.50.

View from our room

We board the MTR to Sheung Wan. The train was extremely packed as it was the peak hour but the frequency is quite fast at about 2min. Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal is located above Sheung Wan MTR station. There are 3 ferry companies offering ferry services from Hong Kong to Macau and vice versa - Turbo Jet, Cotai Jet and First Ferry. Turbo Jet and Cotai Jet runs ferries from Sheung Wan, Hong Kong Island while First Ferry runs the operation from Tsim Sha Tsui. I choose to take Turbo Jet as it has the most frequency and offer ferries round the clock.

Purchase of ferry ticket

The ferry ticket cost HK$134 ~ S$26 per pax. We bought the ticket at 9.15am for the 9.30am ferry. If you are concern about rushing through the immigration clearance, it would be better to give an allowance of 30min to clear the immigration. Luckily, there were not many people since it was a weekday. We cleared the immigration clearance and board the ferry. Before boarding the ferry, there would be someone from Turbojet pasting seat no. on the ferry ticket.

Ferry ticket
My breakfast
Foldable table
Inside the ferry
Sheung Wan
A bridge in construction

The journey from Hong Kon to Macau takes about 1 hr.

Reaching Macau

Turbo Jet

There were quite a lot of toursit at the immigration clearance especially the mainland Chinese. We took about half an hour to clear the immigration counter. After exiting the immigration counter, there are booths of the casinos outside so I went to Venetian counter and enquire whether there is free shuttle bus from here. This lady told me to cross the underpass and the shuttle bus is waiting there.

Macau Ferry Terminal

Other than Venetian shuttle bus, I also saw other casino's shuttle bus. These shuttle bus are free cos the casinos want to entice people to their casino.

Shuttle bus to Venetian
Macau Ferry Terminal
Sands casino
Venetian casino

The Venetian Macao is a Renaissance Venice-themed luxury hotel owned by the Las Vegas Sands. Now I know why there is free shuttle bus between Sands casino and Venetian. It is the largest single structure hotel building in Asia and the fourth-largest building in the world by area.

After I have been to Genting casino, I don't find anything special about casino anymore. We visited Venetian cos it is one of the grandest in Macau and we wanted to take a look at the roof. According to what we watched on the television, the sky at the roof will change its brightness according to the weather outside.

Inside Venetian

I only gamble HK$200 at the lucky wheel cos I dunno how to gamble the others. -_-" Well, I didn't win so we left Venetian.

We board a taxi at Venetian to Taipa. One thing I don't like about Venetian is that there is no public transport here except the free shuttle bus and taxi.

We reached 大利来记咖啡室 (Address: 氹仔巴波沙前地18号 Largo Governador Tamagnini Barbosa in Taipa Village) within 10min. The taxi fare is HK$15 ~S$3. We ordered 2 sets of milk tea & pork chop noodle which cost HK $52 ~ S$10. The milk tea is quite special, it came in the metal container and a filter which you pour into the cup yourself and add the amount of sugar you like. I found that the tea taste quite different from the tea I drink before. The pork chop noodle is delicious. The noodle is QQ and the pork chop is quite tender.

Milk tea 奶茶 & Pork chop noodle 猪扒面

After our lunch, we walked around at the surroundings and seated at the public bench waiting for the pork chop bun which will only be sold from 3pm.

What a unique name
Post box
A nice Macauese style house
A new casino in construction

At around 2.45pm, there are people starting to queue up and I join the queue. Soon the cafe start to sell the pork chop bun and I bought 4 pork chop bun. My mom and I share 1 pork chop bun as we were still quite full.

Queue starts to form
Super delicious Pork chop bun

We board a bus at the bus stop opposite the cafe to Sintra Hotel. The bus fare from Taipa to Macau cost a flat fare of HK$3.30 ~ S$0.60. I noted that the buses also have a machine which the passenger can tap their card which is similar to our Ez-link card. But if you are planning to visit Macau for a day, I don't find that it's worth to buy such card and I don't know where to purchase such card.

The green machine for tapping the card
Macau tower
Lisboa casino

3 casinos standing side by side

We alighted at Sintra Hotel and walked to Avenida D Joao IV where Margaret's Cafe is located. We bought 8 egg tarts cos the egg tarts has shrank in size compared to the one I bought 3 years ago.

After that, we walked back to the bus stop to board bus to Av. Almeida Ribeiro. It's only 1 bus stop away but I'm concerned about my mom walking to much so we board the bus. The flat fare between Macau Peninsula is HK$2.50 ~ S$0.50.

We went to 义顺 to eat steam milk. However the standard has dropped and the steam milk does not taste as nice as what I had eaten previously. Now i wouldn't recommend 义顺 anymore.

冻双皮炖奶 & 炖鸡蛋

We walked around at Senado Square. I bought a pink jacket cos the weather is quite cold. Had I knew it, I would bought the ones which I had previously bought in Macau too. Next time I'll bring my coat and jacket to places where the temperature is below 20.

We walked and walked and reached the Ruins of St Paul. There were so so so many people, must be many tourists buses reaching here the same time. We sat at the bench at the bottom of the steps. We just sit here and enjoy watching the people walking, enjoy the cold weather and rest our legs.

Senado Square 议事亭
Ruins of St Paul 大三八牌坊
Statue near Ruins of St Paul
People mountain people sea
Senado Square at night

At around 7pm, we head to Restaurante Vela Latina which is across Senado Square (Address: Av. Almeida Ribero No. 201, Macau). This restaurant offers authenticate Macauese cuisine.

Restaurante Vela Latina

We ordered two dishes - Codfish of Cream Portuguese Style and Grilled Lamb Steak. We don't really like the Codfish of Cream Portuguese Style. There is strong fish smell and my mum comment that the fish is not fresh. Initially, we didn't want to order the Grilled Lamb Steak as my mum is concern that the lamb would have a smell. The waitress recommend pork ribs and curry but we had pork chop this afternoon and eating curry at night is not good for stomach. I suggested to my mum to try it loh. The grilled lamb steak is perfectly grilled and the portion is huge.

Codfish of Cream Portuguese Style

Grilled Lamb Steak

By the time we finished our dinner it's almost 8pm and we decided to return to Hong Kong. I didnt went to the Greyhound (dog racing) again this time.

Couple taking wedding photo
Av. Almeida Ribeiro at night

We board a bus at Av. Almeida Ribeiro to the ferry terminal. We reached the ferry terminal at around 8.10pm so the next ferry timing is 8.30pm. The ferry ticket is more expensive at night, costing HK$176 ~ S$35.

Bye bye Macau

We reached Sheung Wan after 1 hr and board the MTR back to Mong Kok. There are free internet access offered inside the MTR station. I don't know whether is there any time limit for each user or not.

Free internet access

Finally, we reached the hostel at around 10.20pm. By the time we took a bath and ready to sleep, it's almost 12am. ZZZzzz...

>>Day 3: 10 Mar 09