Day 2 is all about Macau!
The day started at 8am with us having a hearty dim sum breakfast before taking the ferry to Macau at the China Ferry Terminal.
Outfit of the day: thought it was going to be cold so I purposely dressed in layers
Went to this restaurant called Hao Cai which is located in the building in front of our hotel. Sis tried it during her HK trip and highly reccommended it to us.
Most of the customers were elderly patrons and the two of us seemed like the youngest of them all. Hongkongers really love to yum cha. They can sit there for hours with just one order and a newspaper and the waitresses will not chase them away. But I guess they patronise the restaurant every day so this is fine to them.
A wide selection to choose from
Beancurd roll (very oily because I think they did not drain off the oil after frying)
Century egg porridge (lukewarm)
Prawn and char siew chee cheong fun (I prefer the Singapore version where the sauce is slightly sweet whereas those are more saltish)
Lotus root cake (texture is crunchy)
Char siew bao (not bad)
Har Gow
Siew Mai
Honestly, the food was average. I think Singapore has better dim sum but you can find more varieties in Hong Kong and yum cha is definitely cheaper than in Singapore.
Then we took the train to Tsim Sha Tsui where the ferry terminal was.
A rather peaceful Tsim Sha Tsui (morning and evening sights are totally different)
Canton Road (like Orchard Road)
Tickets bought for the 10.30am ferry to Macauuuuuuu
Excited! First time travelling out to another country from a foreign country!
I specially set aside S$100 for gambling! Talk about that later...
Action!
I was afraid that I will get seasick so I took the motion sickness pill after breakfast. The sea was choppy that day and I felt as though I was on a roller-coaster ride and my heart literally dropped when the ferry went up and down. But after a while, everything was back to normal and I think I dozed off.
Reached Macau and off we went in search of the shuttle buses that will take us to the various hotels and casinos!
Decided to go The Venetian first since it was the furthest away from the ferry terminal on the island of Taipa
Similar to HK, Macau is separated into three islands/parts: Macau (where the ferry terminal is), Taipa and Coloane. See, I did my research!
Babylon Casino (too many casinos in Macau)
Grand Lisboa in the background (the place which I will never forget)
Macau tower I think (where you can bungee-jump from the peak)
One of the three bridges (highways) in Macau that links islands
And we reached! What a great day to travel to Macau because the weather was fantastic! It was not too cold but windy enough.
We had such a heavy breakfast and yet mum was complaining of hunger! Had to quickly search for a place to settle our lunch.
Love the decor!
ooooh, casino! My second time IN a casino! First time was a horrible experience where my cousin wanted me to do something embarrassing. :/
Found the foodcourt. Many empty tables but not enough chairs.
Soy chicken rice (YUM!)
Went to explore the place before hitting the casino...
WAAA, the sky is soooo blue....
Murals
The Casino!!!
What a huge Christmas tree! This place looked so grand but it allowed indoor smoking! Terrible! And you know most gamblers are heavy smokers!
We didn't stay long. Just watched some china men played roulette before we set off for our next destination which was the Pork Chop Bun Street. After watching people gambled, I was even more convinced that I will visit another casino after sightseeing.
Wanted to walk to Galaxy Hotel or City of Dreams but they were too far away so took a cab to the Pork Chop Bun Street instead where the famous pork bun stall was. We ended up going to Ruins of St Paul instead as the driver told us that the stall was closed down as the vendor did not have a proper license and it was already 3pm so we had to visit Ruins of St Paul before going to a casino. We had already bought the return tickets to HK and it was scheduled at 8.30pm. With such a tight schedule, we can only exclude certain places from my initial itinerary.
Driver was a nice guy which kept chatting with us about the difference between HK and Macau. He was telling us how much cleaner Macau was. He could only dropped us off at Senado Square where we were supposed to walk to Ruins of St Paul. My only advice if you want to visit Ruins of St Paul or Senado Square? Well, these places are over-rated. Nothing special as the shops that you see along the way are almost the same and you have to walk damn far to see the Ruins which I am sure, you will not even want to climb up further to take more pictures. This was exactly what we did.
Guess what my mum encouraged the auntie to do over here?
Very smart move: to buy little mandarin oranges back to HK! Can you believe it?! We have not even walked to Ruins of St Paul and the two old aunties decided to buy oranges to carry all the way to the place and then buy more souvenirs and then carry to casino and back to HK!
So, who will carry all these things in the end? DESMOND AND I! Wahhhhhhhh.....
But my mum said the oranges were very cheap. Only S$1 plus for a BIG bag. Yes, you heard me. A BIG BAG was what she bought! *sobbing uncontrollably*
See that white plastic bag? The auntie hid the other half behind my mum's backside. LOL
Alot of pretty architectures...
attempting to take some artistic shots: failed miserably
Found this egg custard thing... no filling but very nice. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside...
the spokesperson! LOL
A rather unappetising pork chop bun we got from a stall along Senado Square
Still walking
Ok, spotted it.
The aunties went to buy some local delights as souvenirs.
Des looked like he was super-imposed onto the background LOL.
Me with a almond biscuit in my hand! Yay! I made it and I can proudly say "I have been to Macau!"
Ok, next.
One of my fav pics taken in Macau!
We were tired from all that walking and just quickly took a few shots before hailing a cab. When I told the aunties that we still need to climb up those stairs you see in the background, their jaws dropped! LOL. It was a scare la! I just wanted to get out of this place. Super packed and getting a cab from here wasn't easy too. We got to walk up a slope and snatch whatever cab we saw or we had to risk walking down the same way we came.
The slope that we climbed up to hail a cab. The students just ended school at 4pm!
Next stop: Grand Lisboa (the more oriental Entertainment Centre)
Their washrooms
Ok, story time! Are you ready for the most absurb story of the year?
So, I said I brought S$100 for gambling. In case you don't know, when it comes to gambling, I can be a bit stingy. If I win money, I am very happy. If I lose money, my heart will ache like mad and I will make myself promise that I will not gamble again which I always break my promise. Anyway, since I have never played at a casino before, I thought I would make this one exception. So, when we went to the casino at Grand Lisboa, I was particularly interested in roulette but was reluctant at playing with others as it can get pretty stressful for a beginner like me. I asked des if there was a electronic roulette where I can play through a computer or something like that. He went to find and finally found one where there were four terminals. Just insert the notes and place your bets by touching the screen kind you know?
There were two roulettes: one green and one red. So, to begin, I inserted a HK$20 note (which is around S$2 plus). Mum asked me to bet on whatever number I wanted and so I just placed HK$10 bet on the no. 26. Then, I waited for the roulette to start rolling. All along I thought I placed my bet on th green roulette. So when the number on the red roulette was revealed and it was 26, I was shocked and deeply disappointed! I mean, how can it be so coincidental! 26 on the first try! Damn, I should have placed my bet on the red roulette.
The number revealed on the green roulette was 10 I think. So, while I was recounting to des and my mum, I heard, WAIT FOR IT, money cashing in from my terminal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I won 36 times!! SO, I placed my bet on the red roulette and not the green one! How lucky can it be!!!!!!!! There was a total of 35 numbers on the roulette and on my first try, I hit the right number! What is the probability of that!
So with HK$10, I won HK$360. Yes, in a few seconds' time. WTH!!!!!
I went on playing a few more games and ended up winning HK$540 (which is ard S$80 plus) in less than half hr's time. Now, I know why people get addicted to gambling.
My win.
How proud I was on that day!
Went on to watch other people win and lose more money. A guy decided to try his luck and changed about S$500 of chips and played a round of roulette. None of his bets won and he lost S$500 in just one game.
A proud winner!
That marked the end of Day 2.
If I can visit Macau again, I want to check out Galaxy Hotel and maybe other attractions. I think there are more places to explore in Macau such as a panda conservation centre, some other famous streets, artistic hotels and museums.
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