On our second day in Hong Kong we decided to go on a day trip to Macau. The round trip ticket cost us each HK$321 which is via the 1 hr ferry. Riding the ferry is like riding a bus and is quite comfortable. There are people eating and talking so bring your own music player to drown out the noise.
Our first stop was the Grand Lisboa hotel. It featured many statues and carvings of jade and gold. It also had the largest emerald in the world! Once we were satisfied ogling the artifacts we left the hotel to walk to St Paul’s church. The pictures below were taken with my Nokia 5800 phone.
We didn’t do much at the Church. I was a bit disturbed by all the tourists taking pictures in the aisle. They were too noisy. I tried to be a bit more subdued and just sat down to take my pictures.
Our next stop was St. Paul’s ruins where we had to take this alley which was teaming with shops and bakeries. Turns out the favorite pasalubong or souvenir from Macau is the almond cookies. Bakeries seem to churn these out all the time and free cookies for tasting where being promoted right on the street. Tourists would swoop in and grab these free cookies. We munched on a few and decided that we definitely had to buy some to bring back.
It seems St. Pauls’ ruins lay elevated on a hill where you had to climb up the stairs to get to it.
Unfortunately, we were trudging uphill on the hottest part of the day which is noontime! The sun was beating down on us and I was thankful that I packed my umbrella and sunglasses with me. The place was flooded with tourists and we realized that it was Sunday so it must be doubly packed.
I went up on that hill while my mom rested a bit in the shade. My sisters had wandered off somewhere else for more photo opportunities. Due to the heat I couldn’t wait to get back down despite the lovely view and just went back to my mom and sat down beside her. When my sisters were done, we decided to go buy some foodstuffs from the bakeries. I got a batch of the almond cookies and some fried tofu snack. I then decided to pick up some pork floss for my MIL since my sister reminded me.
We decided that we needed to have lunch already since it was past 2:30 in the afternoon! So off we headed to the Venetian hotel. I always wondered why people would want to visit a hotel and stay there but it turns out the Venetian is huge! It is in fact like a hotel with a mall inside! I even took a picture of the ceiling. It was painted to look like the sky.
We ate at the food court and I had a bit of a difficult time since the food attendants didn’t speak a word of English and I do not speak Chinese. The attendant was calling out orders and I had no idea if she was calling out my order. An inquisitive girl beside me helped as she glanced at my receipt and would point to me when my order was called.
I was dead tired and famished when I sat down to eat my beef noodle soup. I don’t know if hunger is the best sauce but that beef noodle soup was good! The noodles were still firm and springy while the beef gyudon strips were tender and flavorful. The soup could have used a bit more chili but I had no idea how to ask for it.
We took turns going to the restroom and then decided to go around the mall portion of the Venetian. I saw a lot of stuff on sale but even at sale prices they were still a bit pricey. Although I think I did pick up a blouse from Bossini. After going around I was too tired to go anywhere else so we decided to head back to Hong Kong. My feet were aching and even my lower back was screaming for help. On the ferry back I noticed that almost everyone had the same packages we did. They probably bought a lot of almond cookies too.
I don’t know if I’d really want to go visit there again. Maybe if we didn’t have to always walk all over the place and could take a taxi. I’m not the gambling type so casinos don’t attract me. In fact, I was repulsed by the way people smoked everywhere including inside buildings! Ugh, not for me. So it was back to Hong Kong for me and more shopping ha ha!
Tags: Macau, St. Paul's ruins, Venetian Macau
