Trip Lang #19 - Two days and One Night in Macau - Day 1

April 21, 2015. It's my partners birthday. Around 5AM we were on our way to NAIA Terminal 3 for our 8:45AM trip to Macau, out first ever international trip. Just like any of our previous travels, this was planned several months back where we took advantaged of airline promo fares and combed the world wide web for great hotel deals.

Upon arriving at the airport, we queued and waited for Airasia's check in counter to open. Good thing we were able to do web check in because it made our check in process easier. They have a separate counter for people who've done web check in. We were asked to pay the travel tax after and we queued once more to pay for it.

When we've completed the check in process, we headed straight to immigrations counter where we were interviewed for departure. The officer asked questions like, when are we coming back to the Philippines, where are we staying in Macau, why we purchase Manila-Macau-Hong Kong-Manila ticket instead of a round trip Macau ticket, what are we doing in Macau and Hong Kong and many more. Basic security questions that would make sure we are traveling as tourists and not illegal workers on these countries. When the lady officer was satisfied she told us that our return to Manila will be monitored since this is our first out of the country trip. I gladly said "no problem" and smiled at her.

Then after immigration, the final security check where we had to strip ourselves with everything except our clothes. I was having second thoughts of bringing the tripod for our camera but I gave it a shot anyway. I wasn't sure if they will allow it in the cabin. Good thing they did so we went to our designated gate and waited for boarding.

During our flight with Airasia, we tried hard to fall asleep and reserve some energy for our Macau tour. It was roughly an hour and fourty five minutes when we landed in Macau International Airport. As customary, a picture in front of the airport's arrival entrance has been taken. I wanted to take more upon entering the building but there were signs all over the place that picture taking is not allowed in the immigration part of the premises. While others were lining up for entry, I took advantage of the time to go to the loo. It was good timing because when I was done, there were only few people on queue and we didn't have to wait long.

At the immigration, we presented our passport, the officer looked at our faces and gave them back to us with small paper indicating the maximum days we can stay in Macau. No security questions whatsoever.

Departure stamp from NAIA and our visa in Macau valid until May 21, 2015 only.

Our next mission after immigration was to find the exit and look for the shuttles to some of the famous hotels. Along the way we found a money changer where we exchanged one hundred US dollars to Hong Kong dollars/ The exchange rate at the airport was 1USD=7.23HKD. Of course, like the kids we were, very much excited with the new currency we have on hand. We can't get enough checking them out, flipping them here and there. One thing I noticed, the bigger the value of the money, the bigger it physically appears. It's kinda cool actually. My favorite is the 10HKD. It has this see-through circle and the color of the bill is great. =)


So, while searching for the exit, we asked information for a map and they gave it to us for free. Though their english is not that straight, the lady at the information desk managed to tell us where the shuttle buses were located.

Upon seeing them, we waited for a bit and look around observing the whole place. There were buses going to The Venetian, Sands Cotai Central, Wynn, City of Dream, etc... We decided to hop on the Venetian shuttle. It did not wait for any other passengers. It left the airport with just the two of us on it. We felt like royalty of course. One big bus for the two of us. Amazing!

About 10 minutes bus ride and we arrived at the Venetian Hotel's entrance. We followed the flow of the people towards the huge entrance door. Upon entering, one thing I noticed right away was the flowery-velvety-powdery-elite like-royal blood-smell of the place. It was very pleasant to the nostrils, very nice. And of course, who would miss the gold structure in the lobby and the grand paintings on the ceilings. There's also this lady dress in a grand venetian ballgown who gladly poses for the guests. Everything's adjective was GRAND!

My pictures didn't do justice to the beauty of the place.

By the lobby you'd also find a rack with maps and brochures of the place. We took one and walked around to check out the place. We came across the casino area at the end of the grand hall way. More paintings on the ceiling, different kinds of people, grand stair or rather escalator and all. We were looking for the canal inside the building and pass by a food court so we decided to eat at Phoa Hoa.

Got this Macau Map and Shoppes Directory from Venetian

After lunch we continued looking for the grand canal and finally found one near the food court. There's one canoe with two Filipinas on it. The boat man as expected was singing his Pavarotti-like song and it echoed all over the place.

There are different boutiques and stores of different kinds. We got ourselves contented by looking at these items because they were expensive! Yeah, we don't have that extra dough to spend for these kind of things so we just enjoyed and let our eyes be contented with all the extravagance surrounding us.

We walked some more and then decided to went out of the Venetian. But before we moved to our next destination, we took bunch of photos of course. Lol! Camwhores.

Just across the street, City of Dreams can be seen from the grounds of Venetian. After picture taking we walked towards the building. We planned to see the Jade Dragon and the virtual aquarium with mermaids and different kinds of fishes and magical creatures.

 

  

If you're the type of person who loves modern architecture, you'd go loco. Most of the hotel destination in the area are eye-gasmic. We've visited Sands Cotai too. There's one construction near the area that looks like a replica of Eiffel Tower in Paris. I'm sure that's going to be one great attraction when its done.

We went back to the airport when we felt tired of walking to catch a shuttle bus going to Wynn Hotel in main island of Macau. That's the closest hotel to our accommodation that offers free shuttle from the airport that I know of. One thing I've learned; google map is kinda deceiving. The places we wanted to visit seems close to each other and truly they are. What I failed to keep in mind before this trip was how big the area of each of these places and how far you have to walk from one attraction to another. We were supposed to visit 3 more hotels but my feet screamed for help.

So we went back to the airport and boarded a shuttle bus. There were three of us on board going to Macau Island. Roughly 20 to 30 minutes after, we arrived at Wynn Hotel. We walked around the area and tried to figure out how to get to Royal Hotel by public bus. We went round and round and found several stores along Avenida Sir Andres Ljungstedt with neon lights. By the looks of it, they sell watches, jewelries and those kind of things. There are also restaurants in the area that serves fresh seafood dishes. They have aquariums where live sea creatures are displayed for customers to choose from. We passed by a 711 store and bought some refreshments. In front was a bus station where we decided to linger for a bit and observe how people commute in this country. We were supposed to board one bus but we got intimidated so we walked away and grabbed a taxi instead. Our trip to Royal Hotel was a short 10-15 minutes ride.



Upon arriving, we were greeted by a Filipina staff by the front desk. I believe her name is Cathy. She told us that our room was upgraded from Superior to Deluxe with the view of Vasco de Gama garden. Very nice, isn't it? After a short introduction to the place, we went up to our room.

Starting on the upper left to right, complimentary coffee and tea, electrical adapter, free toiletries, bath tub.

Upper left to right, bedside table and chair, toilet, beds, closet with safe and flat iron.
Lower left to right, water heater, face towels, hair dyer and tub mat.

We decided to freshen up and rest for a bit before continuing our tour around the city. Even though we didn't get to sleep the night before, we were to excited to see so many places to just rest inside our hotel room.

In front of Vasco de Gama Garden

The hotel concierge gave us tips on how to get to the nearest attractions from the hotel. Our next destination, Ruins of St. Paul. Along the way, we saw infrastructures and some interesting things like the ones below.

It was easy finding the place because there were signage's strategically placed all over. Then after, we reached St. Paul Ruins from the backend.

Below the ruins is a street full of stores selling the famous egg tarts, dried meat or jerky famously known as Bakkwa, Phenix roll and egg roll, and many more. We also tried a funny looking ice cream from Sweet J-stick. The cone was shaped to look like letter J and filled with vanilla and chocolate ice cream at both ends. Also, there's this one store that sells street foods with curry sauce. It was really delicious I have several sticks.

There are so many Portuguese buildings in the area, churches, offices, parks... Most of them have Portuguese influences.

Church of Our Lady of Macau
Igreja da Sé

Bishop's House beside the Church of Our Lady of Macau

We walked to much that we reached the Grand Lisboa area.

Found this alley on our way to Senado Square

A blurry shot at Leal Senado Building

We traced our foot prints to back to the hotel. There was this local store that sells beer. And since it's Alvin's birthday, we bought some and some more crispy prawn crackers to end our first night in Macau.