Finally a backdated trip on the recent family trip! Snagged the Cathay sale ticket of ~$289 for a round trip to Hongkong! How awesome is that (: And I think many people bagged that deals with the massive updates of hongkong photos on facebook :p
We chose the midnight flight which lands us in Hongkong at about 6am. A pity it is too early to check into the hotel ( upcoming hotel will be shown at the end of the post), so we deposited our bags at the counter and headed out for some breakfast first before heading to Macau
We wandered into an eatery around the hotel and settled with a couple of breakfast sets. A simple maths calculation proved that the set which includes noodles,egg, bun and a cuppa tea is more worth it then ala carte items.
And spot that complimentary tea that was served in the eatery. According to my understanding, locals usually use it to wash their utensils, while all of my silly boys drank them :p It's not hard to differentiate locals and tourists just by looking at the tea now (:
Now, this, is for drinking.
And after the tummies have been settled, we made our way to the habour for Macau!(:
There are a couple of ways to head to Macau, and below is our route if you are keen(:
Credits: Very thankful to my friends and Instagram kind souls for sharing their itinerary!(: Super useful!
Hong Kong Macau Ferry
Terminal港澳碼頭
Address:
202 Connaught Road Central
Getting there:
Sheung Wan Station MTR Exit D. Take Exit D towards Shun Tak Centre, the
HongKong-Macau Ferry Terminal is on the 3rd floor right above the Sheung Wan
MTR Station.
By: CotaiJet
And it's super useful to have a metro map on hand
And yes, we are in Macau now! We hopped onto one of the complimentary hotel buses to the hotels. Love how all the ceilings in the hotels are so magnificent. Couldn't stop admiring at the works.
General
Info
Macau Currency is Macau Patacas (MOP).
One (1) USD = 8.02543 MOP or one (1) MOP = 0.124604 USD. Hong Kong Dollars
(HK$) are accepted in most places. We didn't change any MOP as we didn't want to be stuck with them when we return to Hongkong where the currency is not accepted.
Strutting in my boots. One of the perks of cool weather is comfortable layering
Love the colonial touches in Macau, with injections of forest green and gold dotting the streets
When in Hongkong/Macau, how to not have roasted meat? We spotted this random store in one of the little streets across the road and decided to give it a try.
With my love
And I couldn't get over how adorable the spoon is! Peter rabbit in Macau! Pardon my #cheapthrill
It was a meaty affair of roasted goose (of course, how can we miss this out!), duck, pork and char siew, mitigated with chye sim and salted veg soup.
Love how juicy the slabs of roasted pork and char siew are, unlike those in Singapore which are usually dry and segmented. And it's a winning combination with their spring onion x ginger x salt concoction. Though a tad too salty, but I totally love the sweet and savoury marriage.
The lunch set us back about SGD 40, which is very reasonable given the quality of the meat. yummylicious.
Love to see the mountains of abalones at a random store. And they smell sooooo goood
And a heritage site that cannot be missed when in Macau is St Paul's cathedral.
Ruins of the Cathedral of Saint Paul ( From friend's extract)
A
staple Macau postcard, the 16th century stone Ruins of the Cathedral
of Saint Paul punctuate the Portuguese landscape of the island and serve as a
powerful symbol. The Ruins of St. Paul's refer to the facade 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 Mount Fortress
were all Jesuit constructions and formed what can be perceived as the Macau's
"acropolis". Close by, the archaeological remains of the old College
of St. Paul stand witness to what was the first western-style university in the
Far East, with an elaborate academic programme. Nowadays, the facade of the
Ruins of St. Paul's functions symbolically as an altar to the city.
Some macau snacks for you? Fret not if you need to buy some gifts back as lots of confectionary stores dot the streets of Macau, flooded with tourists. It was more of window shopping as none of them appeal to our tastebuds
Doesn't this look like a scene from Venice? This gorgeous place is none other then the Venetian Resort Macao right in Hongkong, one of the biggest and most popular hotels there.
And that's my poor love squinted from the sun's rays
And if you are here, this is one place you definitely cannot miss!
Lord Stow's bakery! They have magnificent egg tarts! Housed in the Venice hotel, you can satisfy your tummies after a day's roaming in Macau.
Look at that glamorously torched babies calling out to you
*drools*
And that's my tired daddykins, who refused to admit he is tired, but totally slouched onto the sofa the moment we found seats <3 He's a walker when we are on holidays, and a potato couch back in singapore ;
And I ate 2 of these yellow goodies. Hello calories(:
*waves*
Playing a game of pretending that we are in venice. Love the colonial architecture in the hotel. And that's my daddykin's photobombing behind
And that marks the end of our one day Macau trip.
Curry fishballs, or more affectionately known among locals as 咖哩鱼蛋, is a common local delight in Hongkong. Recommended by my brother, this stall sits around the corner of the hotel, right outside Yau ma tei mrt.
Love the chewy balls soaked in the spicy curry broth, perfect in this cold weather.
Brrrrrrr. Hundled in a corner outside the stall to enjoy these golden balls, now, we really feel like we are Hongkongers
And finally, hello beds! We checked back into our hotel Cityview at about 8pm.
In an extremely convenient location in the heart of the city, and right outside the metro station, this is one of the top choices I believe for Singaporeans at least. My brother bumped into his friend around the corner of the hotel, and the bf spotted his friend's brother at the hotel lobby.
The wonders of Cathay sale flights (;
We requested for a connecting door for the rooms
The aftermath of dinner. We are not gluttons! Listen my explanation :p
Dinner was really bad at one of the local noodles stalls for us. Though it boasts of newspaper cuttings and is packed with locals, we found their noodles soaked with the 'starchy' taste which we cannot stomach. Perhaps it's just a matter of different taste
And poor dad forced himself to finish the dinner. Being unsatisfied from the earlier fare, we roamed around the streets and settled with roasted meat for takeaway.
And oh boy, this is what the tummy wants.
And that marks the end of Day 1 for HongKong!
xx