Michi Photostory: Macau

Showing posts with label Macau. Show all posts

December 06, 2016

6 Days in Hongkong and Macau

Hong Kong is on my bucket list and I was happy that I finally ticked it off on my list. Whenever there’s international seat sale, I always check Hongkong but I wasn’t lucky in booking a flight. It took me years before I was able to score a cheap fare during P1 seat sale and would you believe it was only P2000+ for 3 persons.

One way fare only because I booked another flight from Macau so I could save time and ferry fare. I'm sharing with you, our Hongkong and Macau itinerary when we went there last November 2012, I’ve revised it so many times because of the weather but still, we enjoyed our stay especially in Hong Kong Disneyland.

They say one week is not enough to enjoy Hongkong but since we want to do Hong Kong and Macau in one trip, I need to choose the tourist spots that we’re going to visit in four days.

Hongkong

Upon Arrival in HKIA, we immediately went to Yiu Fai Guesthouse to check-in our luggage before starting our tour. We rode A21 bus going to Tsim Sha Tsui (TST) fare is $HK33. From bus stop we walked to the Golden Crown Building where the guesthouse is located.

Day 1 City Tour at Tsim Sha Tsui and The Peak

We visited 1881 Heritage, Clock Tower and Avenue of Stars which are all walking distance from TST area.

From TST, we took the MTR going to Central Station and head to Exit J2. We just follow the signs going to lower Peak Tram terminus where we will ride Peak Tram. We rode the Peak Tram to reach “The Peak”. My husband was not interested in Madame Tussauds so we did not buy package ticket just a roundtrip Peak Tram ticket.

Day 2

Chin Lin Nunnery
Nan Lian Garden
Ngong Ping Village

We woke up early on our second day because we will visit Chi Lin Nunnery and Nan Lian Garden. It was surprising that there is a garden in the midst of a busy city.

After that, we proceeded to Ngong Ping Village.

Shopping is not included in our itinerary but we did a quick visit in City Gate Outlet because we need to buy some clothes. We need warmers to survive the coldness of Hongkong weather.

Day 3 and 4 Hongkong Disneyland

From Yiu Fai Guesthouse we transferred to Disney’s Hollywood Hotel for our next accommodation. We spent our two remaining days in Hong Kong Disneyland. We let go the Ocean Park because we’re more interested in Hongkong Disneyland and my son really adores Mickey Mouse.

Read: Disney's Hollywood Hotel
Day 3 Hong Kong Disneyland
Day 4 Hong Kong Disneyland

Tips: If you are on a budget you can eat at Chef Mickey’s Restaurant for breakfast but if you want the meet and greet experience with Disney characters, book your breakfast in Enchanted Garden.

Read: Chef’s Mickey Restaurant

If you are looking for affordable fast food in Hong Kong, you can try Cafe de Coral, they have branches everywhere.

Read: Cafe de Coral

Now I know why people always go back to Hongkong, if only I have the budget, I will go back again. Bitin ang 4 days.

After Hongkong Disneyland, we went straight to the Sheung Wan Ferry Pier. We refunded our money on the Octopus card and bought a ticket at TurboJet Counter.

Read: Travel Guide: Hongkong to Macau

Macau

We stayed in Hotel Sintra, I chose this hotel because of the location. It is walking distance to New Yaohan Mall, Tourist Spots and Hotels.

Read: Hotel Sintra

We had two whole days to roam around. Macau is not only for people who love casino because there are several things that you can do in Macau. Sharing with you our Macau itinerary.

Day 5 Macau City Tour

Walking Tour

We visited the famous tourist spots such as Senado Square, St. Dominic Church, Ruins of St Paul, Macau Museum and Monte Fort. Then we went back to our hotel to rest.

Then we went to Michael Jackson’s Gallery in Sofitel, no entrance fee. We're not really a fan of MJ but since this is a free museum, we paid a visit. We went back to Senado Square for night photo.

Day 6 Fisherman’s Wharf and Hotel Hopping

We woke up early to finish our itinerary. We were not able to watch Prosperity show because it was under maintenance so we went straight to Fisherman’s Wharf. It is a tourist spot near Macau Ferry Terminal.

Then we started our Hotel Hopping, we visited Grand Lisboa, Wynn Hotel, City of Dreams Hotel and Venetian Hotel. We watched Bubble Show at City of Dreams. We only experienced Bubble Show because Dragon’s Treasure, Prosperity Tree and Fountain Show are under maintenance.

Finally, we went to Macau International Airport. Back to Manila, Philippines.

Tip: Take advantage of the free shuttle bus of different hotels. We did not spend any money for our transportation in Macau. We just walk or ride shuttle buses.

There are free food tastes on your way to Ruins of St Paul. This is also the place where you can buy pasalubong.

Do not forget to taste the famous Portuguese Egg Tart and Lechon Macau.

Read: Food Trip in Macau

Hongkong and Macau Itinerary

Day 1 City Tour at Tsim Sha Tsui and The Peak
Day 2 Chin Lin Nunnery
Nan Lian Garden
Ngong Ping Village
Day 3 Hong Kong Disneyland
Day 4 Hong Kong Disneyland
Day 5 Macau City Tour
Day 6 Fisherman’s Wharf and Hotel Hopping

January 21, 2013

Food Trip in Macau

I don’t have any list of must-try restaurant in Macau all I wanted is to taste their Lechon Macau so we eat whenever and wherever we want. During our first night, my husband bought food here.

Macau Recipes

Second day, we took our breakfast in McDonalds and we took advantage the free taste on our way to Ruins of St. Paul.

We tried the famous Portuguese Egg Tart is Pastelaria Koi Kei.

We’re already full so we just bought dumplings here for our lunch and went back to Hotel.

For dinner, we went to New Yaohan Mall to look for the food court so I could taste Lechon Macau but we could not locate it so we ended up in 7-11, they have rice meals which we like so the following morning, hubby bought rice meals in 7-11 for our breakfast. 7-11 is few minutes’ walk from Hotel Sintra.

I finally tasted Lechon Macau in Venetian Hotel Fastfood.

We bought Portuguese Egg Tart again but this time in Lord’s Stow Bakery and Café. I have no idea that Lord Stow’s egg tarts have been available in the Philippines since 1999. They have branches in Madison Square, Banawe and MOA. #pambihira.

For dinner, we ate at the airport. Macau International airport is not that big, so if you’re planning for Hongkong and Macau trip, book Philippines to Macau and Hongkong to Philippines because HKIA is big, there are so many restaurants and shops so you will not get bored while waiting for your flight.

Note: Hongkong Dollar is widely accepted in Macau so we did not exchange our money to MOP. 1HKD = 1MOP

January 18, 2013

Day 6: Macau Hotel Hopping

This was our last day in Macau so we still woke up early to finish our itinerary. After our breakfast we went to Grand Lisboa Hotel and Wynn Hotel, we were supposed to watch Prosperity Show and Dragon Show but unfortunately, it was under maintenance.

Imagine we’ve been in Macau for three days already and natapat pa sa Maintenance Schedule yung pagpunta namin. I don’t know the schedule of maintenance; if I knew it we will visit this on our first night or second day. Waah! Sayang, there is no entrance fee for this show. Pinoy Security Guard told me,

SG: Ma’m balik na lang kayo.

Me: Uwi na kami mamaya.

SG: Balik na lang kayo sa Christmas.

If I’m rich, I will definitely go back. hehe! So we went back to Grand Lisboa to ride the free shuttle going to Macau Ferry Terminal.

Next stop is Fisherman’s Wharf, which is walking distance from the Ferry Terminal.

Then we went back to Hotel Sintra for check-out. You can leave your baggage after check-out but we did not leave our baggage because we know that other hotels have their own storage area. We took advantage of the free shuttle bus from Hotel Sintra to City of Dreams.

City of Dreams

We left our baggage in City of Dreams’ cloak room and watched Bubble Show, this show is not free. MOP50 for adults and MOP25 for kids.

Venetian Hotel

We were hungry already so we picked up our luggage and transferred to Venetian Hotel. Again, we took the free shuttle bus from the City of Dreams to Venetian Hotel. Finally, I was able to taste Lechon Macau.

Venetian is quite big and sometimes we feel that we’re lost, good thing that there were so many Pinoy working in Macau, so may napagtatanungan kami. Pinoy Hotel Staff even gave a Venetian Hotel Map and assisted us in transferring our luggage from one storage room to main lobby storage room.

From the main lobby, we took a free shuttle bus again to reach the Macau International Airport. We did not spend a single centavo on transportation. Thank God for the free shuttle bus.

January 16, 2013

Day 5: Macau Walking Tour

I’ve realized that I haven't finished my Macau series and it’s been more than a month already. #boo

As I mentioned in my other post, we slept early but I promised myself that we will wake up early so we could start our tour. We started our walking tour in Senado Square; it is really walking distance from Hotel Sintra. My son was not in the mood to walk so good luck to our walking tour.

Largo do Senado (Senado Square) – has been Macau’s urban center for centuries and it is still more popular venue to public events and celebrations. The square is surrounded by pastel-colored neo-classical buildings, creating a consistent and harmonius Mediterranean atmosphere.

But before anything else we took our breakfast in McDonalds.

We visited some stores and St. Dominic Church.

Igreja de S. Domingos (St. Dominic Church) – founded in 1587 by three Spanish Dominican priests who originally came from Acapulco Mexico, this church is also connected to the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Rosary. It was here that the first Portuguese newspaper was published on Chinese soil, A Abelha da China (The China Bee) on September 12, 1822. The bell tower at the back of the building has been modified in to a small Museum of Sacred Art, now exhibiting a collection of around 300 artifacts.

Then we walked towards to Ruins of St. Paul, before you reach the ruins I’m pretty sure busog na kayo sa dami ng free taste. =D

Ruinas de S.Paulo (Ruins of St. Paul) – refer to the façade of what was originally the Church of Mater Dei built in 1602-1640, destroyed by fire in 1835 and the ruins of St Paul’s College which stood adjacent to the Church. As a whole, the old Church of Mater Dei, St. Paul’s College and formed what can be perceived as the Acropolis of Macau. Nowadays, the façade of the Ruins of St. Paul’s functions symbolically as an altar to the
city.

Don’t forget to drop by at Monte Fort and Macau Museum at the right side of Ruins of St. Paul.

Fortaleza do Monte (Mount Fortress) – built in conjunction with the Jesuits from 1617 to 1626, this was the city’s principal military defence structure. The fortress was equipped with canons, military barracks, wells and arsenal that held sufficient ammunition and supplies to endure a siege lasting up two two years. The fortress covers an area of 10,000 square meters in the shape of trapezoid. The four corners of the fortress protrude to form bulwarks.

We wanted to visit Na Tcha temple but we can’t locate it and our feet is already aching so we decided to go back to our hotel and rest.

We bought pasalubong in Pastelaria Koi Kei. We enjoyed our free taste and free drinks. Sayang, no free taste sa egg tart. Hehe!

After our rest, we went to Michael Jackson’s Gallery at Sofitel. 20-30 minutes of walking from Hotel Sintra. No entrance fee.

Then we want back to Senado Square for night photos.

Source: Macau Tourist Map

January 10, 2013

Macau: Hotel Sintra Review

One of my dilemmas while I was doing our Hongkong-Macau itinerary is our Macau accommodation. I know that there are so many hotels that I can choose from but I dislike the rates, it is too expensive for my budget.

I have few lists of different affordable hotel, hostels and guesthouses but the problem is they don’t have website and I’ve read some not so good reviews. Some people reserve a room through email but when they arrived in Macau they have no room. Some people even called long distance to confirm their booking but the hotel/hostel staff can’t speak English. I don’t want to experience that.

I was thinking of going to Macau on the day of our departure so I can save on accommodation but I don’t want to take risk like, what if there’s problem with ferry and we can’t travel to Macau. Are we going to enjoy our tour if we’re always in a hurry because we need to finish everything before our flight? So after several months of thinking I booked our hotel which is four months before the trip.

Hotel Sintra is one of the most recommended hotels in Macau so I booked here. It was an online reservation and there’s no down payment. You can reschedule or cancel your reservation two or three days before the trip.

Tip: If you are going to Macau, as much as possible don’t visit during weekend because the rate of the room is very expensive, the rate from Sunday to Thursday is cheaper than Friday to Saturday.

I did not know this before and our Macau trip falls on Friday and Saturday so the rate is high. Waah! If I knew this before I should book Clark to Macau and Hongkong to Clark.

Anyway, fast forward to our trip. We took TurboJet ferry from Hongkong to Macau; it was more or less one hour trip. Hotel Sintra has free shuttle bus unfortunately there was no shuttle bus at the time of our arrival.

Thank God for casino free shuttle, we rode Grand Lisboa free shuttle bus and from there we walk on our way to Hotel Sintra. We had a hard time looking for the location because people can’t speak English.

We’re all tired and exhausted and my son doesn’t want to walk anymore so ang daming buhat. After checked-in, my husband bought some food for dinner and we slept immediately.

Likes

1. Good location. It is located near New Yaohan shopping mall, commercial area and tourist spots so you can save on transportation.

2. Free shuttle bus.

3. Service is good.

4. Free wifi

5. The room is nice. The bed is comfy and we have four fluffy pillows.

6. Towels and toiletries replenished every day.

7. They have a free shuttle bus going to COD or City of Dreams.
8. Free Macau Booklet and Tourist Map

Dislikes

1. Shuttle bus is not always available. During our 2 nights and 2 days stay, I haven’t seen their shuttle bus so we have to walk to Grand Lisboa to avail free shuttle bus.

2. I paid our hotel upon arrival and I don’t understand why they have to charge my credit card again. I received SMS message that there are unusual transactions (floating charge) on my credit card.

Hotel Sintra

Address: Avenida de D.João IV, Macau

Tel: +853 2871 0111

Fax: +853 2856 7769

E-mail: rsvn@hotelsintra.com ( For reservation )

eo@hotelsintra.com ( For general )

Website: http://www.hotelsintra.com

Toll-Free Hotline:

Hong Kong: 800 969 145

China: 4001 20 0225

10 800 153 0025 (China Telecom)

10 800 853 0025 (CNC)

January 08, 2013

How to Get to Macau From Hong Kong

When I was still starting to travel I will just book a roundtrip flight and tour one city or one country but now I’m learning to visit two or more places. It started last year when we celebrated our wedding anniversary in Bacolod, Iloilo and Guimaras. It was a four day trip but I was able to visit three places so when I booked our flight in Hong Kong, I booked Clark to Hong Kong then I’ve made another booking from Macau to Clark because I know I can go to Macau via ferry.

Traveling in two or more places will give you more savings, we are aware that travel tax and terminal fee are not cheap so if ever you will go out of the country, as much as possible try to visit two or more countries or spend more days in that country.

I realized that when we went to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, we don’t even had two whole days to tour the country and if I just book a 5-day trip I can still visit Brunei because there’s a ferry from Kota Kinabalu going to Brunei.

Anyway, there are three ferry terminals in Hongkong going to Macau, Sheung Wan, Tsim Sha Tsui and the Airport. Since we are from Hongkong Disneyland we took the ferry from Sheung Wan Ferry Pier to Macau Ferry Pier.

How to get to Sheung Wan Ferry Pier:

Take the MTR from Disneyland to Sunny Bay, then Sunny Bay MTR station to Hong Kong MTR station on the Tung Chung Line. Once off the station walk towards to Central Station, take the Island Line to Sheung Wan Station and look for Shopping Center where you will find Sheung Wan Ferry Pier.

It was a long walk especially if you have kids in tow. Since we’re going to leave Hongkong, I refunded our money in Octopus Card.

There are several travel agencies in Sheung Wan Ferry Pier where you can buy your ticket but I bought my ticket in TurboJet Counter.

$HK185 adult

$HK170 child

I bought our economy ticket past 6PM and our trip is 6:45PM so we immediately went to the gate. We’re really walking fast because we’re afraid to miss our ferry. I filled out the immigration form and prayed while waiting for our turn. Honestly, I still feel nervous every time I need to pass Immigration Officer because I’ve read a lot of not so good experience with IO. It was like an amazing race trip because I have no idea how far the gate is but we’re not late.

Immigration form

sarap ng upo namin dito, mali pala naupuan namin, nung nagtayuan lahat lumabas din kami, lounge area pala yun. hehe!

dito pala ko tinuturo nung guy para sa seat number. hehe! magkatabi kasi e.

dito pala ang mga economy ticket. hehe!

inside the ferry

Macau has two ferry terminals, Macau Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal or Macau Maritime Ferry Terminal and Taipa terminal. Macau Ferry Terminal is near Fisherman’s Wharf while Taipa Terminal is near the Macau Airport.