Day 2: Yes, We're Here... in Macau....

~ 15th March 2014, Saturday ~

We have arrived!~

The last time I was in China, the same problem of not having enough Visa to leave the mainland was a hindrance for me to get myself to Macau. This time round, I traveled differently. Now, I have been thinking whether I should split the posts like how I split the photo albums in my Facebook account. Then, you can see the different parts of Macau, rather than thinking that Macau is just a big gambling den like Las Vegas. It is Asia's Las Vegas after all. 

Just hop on the shuttle bus provided by various casinos...

Well, I decide not to split, so come. Let me take you around Macau, but I did miss out some of the parts as I only have less than 12 hours there after deducting the ferry ride. And since we were all on foot, you get to see more things. For a start, you do not need to take any public transportation unless you really do not have the stamina to walk. You just need to board the shuttle buses provided by casinos. Don't even ask where they are going to stop. Obviously the shuttles will stop at the entrance of the casino, don't bother to ask the shuttle to drop you off along the way. If you want to do that, get yourself a public bus. There's bus number 11 that goes around Taipa. Serious, bus number 11 not my foot. We went to Grand Lisboa first to drop off a luggage. Another aunt was going back to Guangzhou after taking us around. 

The garden of IACM....

I don't really remember much except that right opposite Senado Square, there's this government building. Is it still active? I'm not even sure. I do have the brochure with me but sad to say, I can't even read a word of Chinese. So, we went in for awhile and took some photos. There were so many people, you wouldn't go missing. Just follow the crowd. 

That's Senado Square....

The fountain at Senado Square...

Then, at Senado Square, we bought the most delicious Portuguese egg tart that I've ever tasted from Kok Kei Bakery. 

The Portuguese egg tarts from Kok Kei Bakery...

According to the aunt, that's the most famous egg tart. Before that, we saw the first shop selling only the egg tarts with many people queuing up to buy. But anywhere with long queue, we were not that keen to try it out. There was a fountain there, but looking back at the photos, I don't really remember what or who were we waiting for. Unless we were waiting for Pinky's mom to arrive. She traveled from the mainland while we came over from Hong Kong.

Don't remember what church was that...

Ignore the photobombers behind.... 

The Ruins' of St. Paul...

Do you know that the only highlight of Macau that I have in my mind was the Ruins of St. Paul. It was like we were just following the crowd in an endless march. The moment I saw that slab of concrete front still standing tall, I was really excited. But to get up there, there were mighty flight of stairs. At first mi mama said we could just see from the bottom but since it might be our first and last visit to the place, I wouldn't want to stand so far when I was already so near. So we braved the storm humans that blocked our path, and went straight ahead. Some people were so stupid that they stood right in front of my camera when I was trying to take photos. See how selfish some humans were. In order to have a great pic, you ignore those butts that were facing you. You have no choice. You can never have a clear picture unless you have an editing skill with a smarter-than-thou software that could remove every single object, but then, that wouldn't be an original photo and I will not appreciate such editing work.

Ended up having a simple pork burger... no vege, no mayo, just bread with the meat...

The giant diamond performance

After getting enough of photos, we walked away and continued our long march to freedom visit other casinos. We were suppose to have lunch in one of the best restaurant but the wait was for 1.5 hours. For me to wait for lunch for more than an hour, I would be eating your chairs. Thus, my host decided that we shouldn't make ourselves go hungry and you know what, we went to another casino and managed to catch the big diamond performance. Right on time. It was really beautiful. I love the interior designing of the casinos. It's like plastering the ceiling and the whole place with glittering diamond. Even the restrooms are decorated beautifully and because it has such class in the restroom, no one dares to even wet the floor. It's super dry in the restroom, you can sleep there. 

Braving the human storm...

The ceiling design of The Venetian

The forever daytime feel in the Venetian...

The best casino design was The Venetian. Amazing. And in there, you will always feel that it's daytime. Then you can gamble away your wealth thinking that you have achieved something in life. The food court... the food is just so normal, it would have been only RM5 back home or even less, but over there, they charged exorbitantly. I should have ordered the burger instead of eating rice but Pinky's mom has bought rice. 

Miserable plate of rice... that cost a bomb

That's Macau Tower where you can bungee jump...  

Probably the locals live here.... in old flats....

The lady with her trade on her shoulder...

The buildings at the ground of Cotai

You wanna see the streets of Macau? There's buildings and more buildings but somehow, I prefer modern buildings than walking through dilapidated wooden shacks. There were just too many people along the streets. And we did go to Taipa and walked around the park and then we were trampling on the grounds of Cotai. I think we covered quite a huge area in one day. It was just my second day of holiday and it looks like I've been walking for a month. 

At one of the parks...

Hohoho.... suddenly I don't remember what's this building.... A famous museum I think...

More food sample....

By the way, they have lots of food samples while walking to get to the Ruins of St. Paul's. We're stingy people, we don't buy anything, We tried out the samples. By the time you walk to the end of the street, your tummy is half filled. You'll never go hungry there with all the almond cookies for sampling, the dried meat and black sesame cookies. You will be spoiled for choice. 

The night view of I cannot remember what casino is that...

I did not get to snap the night views of Macau. Simply because we're not the night person. I just managed to snap some photos while the bus ferrying us to the ferry terminal was moving along the road. We were taking our ferry ride to go back to Hong Kong. Really tired. By the time we reach, it was already midnite. The next day we had to wake up early for the next destination. Anyway, I prefer travelling this way. I might miss out a lot of things to say about Macau, but well, it's better that you visit the place yourself. In travels, I find that whatever information you get online or from travel magazines, it's just not the same as experiencing it first hand. A picture tells a thousand words. But what you see might not be the the real thing. You are just looking at a fraction of the entire scene. But if you do not have the chance to go through the experience of travelling, reading about it is a good enough.

Happy to be there.... 

Macau, I suppose, is a rich territory. I do not get to see the old place of Macau but my other friends did. Different people, different experience. It depends on what you want from Macau. I only wanted to see the Ruins of St. Paul and I saw it. I was completely satisfied and everything else that came forth was considered as bonuses which I appreciated very much that my hosts from mainland took their time off to march along with us.   

I don't mind going to Macau again to get the full view. We did cover quite a big number of area on foot.... proud of myself for being such a walker.... but mi mama is a better walker....