honeymoon getaway : episode 2 part 1 (Macau)

hey guys...been really bz this week with piles of work in office...had to even continue doing at home...phewww~....what a week...nevertheless, as promised, will be sharing my honeymoon trip to Macau & Hong Kong...due to the length of my vacation plus the various places we've visited, i'll be splitting my honeymoon trip to several posts, otherwise it will be a very, very, very long post.... :P

friday past 2 week, woke up at about 3 am...yeah, u heard me, 3 am...it's becoz our flight was at 6.25 am in the morning, so need to be at the airport early....got out of the house at about 4.15 am...it was so early that there were almost no cars on the road...but as we arrived at LCCT, it was totally different....the amount of people there was like any other hours...they were full of other people...probably their flight is early in the morning as well...we went into the boarding area and at about 6 am, we boarded the plane and the plane took off as scheduled...lucky thing...

arrived at Hong Kong International Airport at about 10.30 am....we then headed straight to the Sky Pier where we can straight away board the ferry from there to Macau without even checking out from the airport, no need to go thru the customs and don't even need to claim our luggage as the Ferry company, which was TurboJet arranged everything for us...they will be collecting our baggage into the ferry and to macau...was really impressed with how good their transportation & service was....HKIA also was very big, very convenient and the system was very good...2 thumbs up HK government...

we took the 12.15 pm ferry from HKIA and arrived at macau around 1 pm as the journey took about 45 minutes...as we exitted the Macau Ferry Terminal, instantly we felt the cold breeze of climate in Macau...it was damn cold...it was around 13 degree celcius at that time i think...plus the wind...brrrrr....we then took a cab from the terminal to the hotel...the moment we entered the cab, our 1st language barrier challenge started....my mandarin was a total crap...has been rusty years ago...i tried to pronounce M-E-T-R-O-P-A-R-K hotel but the guy still doesn't understand...good thing he has a hotel directory where the name of the hotel was also written in mandarin writting...thank God...in about 10 minutes i think, we were already at the hotel...it's that near, really...

the hotel that we were staying was Metropark Macau...the hotel wasn't bad at all...the room was quite big with a king size bed and was cozy...was satisfied with the hotel that we booked thru agoda...after putting our bags in the room, we then straight went out to head for the Ruins of St. Paul...1st time tried to get a cab to there but the driver did not understand where we wanted to go....showed the brochure of Ruins of St. Paul but he say can't go there...probably he got the wrong idea that maybe he thought we wanted to go to Paris or Italy or something.... :P we then went back into the hotel to ask how can we get there...luckily the concierge guy knows a little english and gave us a map of Macau and showed us how to go there...again, thank God...he said that it'll take 30 minutes to get there by walking...so me & my wife decided to walk there....we walked till the Golden Lotus Square and when we checked the map back, we were actually heading the wrong direction...so, for the 2nd time, we tried to get a cab and showed to the driver the map where we wanted to go...luckily there was mandarin writing in the map and he understood....thank God we had the map...eventually the map became the most useful tool for us in Macau...then about 15~20 minutes, we were at the Senado Square...from there, we must walk to the Ruins of St. Paul...it was an ocean of people there at the Senado Square up till the Ruins of St. Paul...on the way to the Ruins of St. Paul, there were also a few interesting buildings there...also bought some souvenirs on the way to the Ruins of St. Paul...after that, went to the Ruins of St. Paul and walked around there...took several snaps of pictures, went into the preserved area where there are skulls and also drawings, pictures and statues...then off we went to the Mount Fortress next to the Ruins of St. Paul...it was a little bit tiring as it was on top of the hill...my wife had a hard time climbing the stairs as she was already exhausted...alas, we made it to the top...the view on top foreseeing Macau was just beautiful...we can even see the other part of Macau from there...after walking around up there, we then sat for a while on the bench to catch our breath...after about 10 minutes, we went down back and stopped for a drink at Starbucks...

after that, we headed straight to The Venetian Macau...we took a cab since we did not know how the bus transportation works....as per before, showed the Venetian in the map to the taxi driver...the Venetian is located at the other island of Macau, so it was a bit more further and the fare was much more expensive...but, no choice since it's the only mode of transportation that we can rely on....the journey took around 20~25 minutes...then we arrived at The Venetian Macau...at first we thought it was located in another building which at the other side....so we walked there foolishly only to find that the building was still under construction and that the place where the taxi dropped us was The Venetian Macau....hahahaha... :P so we headed back there and got to know that the Venetian is actually inside the hotel there...not sure what was the hotel name but there were a lot of people there going in and coming out of that hotel....we should have tried to go in there first earlier...what a waste of energy...when we entered the hotel, there was a huge casino place there...that was the nearest that i got to see a real live casino...we then headed to the floor above following the sign shopping area...when we arrived on top, we were mesmerized by the architecture, scenery & landscape of the Venetian...it was like we were in Venice...in there, it felt like we were outside coz they made the ceiling look like the sky...it was just so beautiful...can't really describe it with words...if u guys are going to Macau, then this is a must visit place....at there, we walked around there, bought some souvenirs and the best part was took a gondola ride...yep, there is a man made river in there...hehehehe....the queue was quite long...we had to wait about 30 minutes for our turn....but i must say it was a really memorable experience...especially for couples....the gondola ride was from one end to the other...the gondola navigator even sang several songs during the ride....the guy really had a superb voice...seriously...the ride was about 15~20 minutes...the ride cost us around RM40++ per person but the ride was really worth it...a very interesting experience...for those who have watched the famous korean drama series Boys Over Flowers, this is where they shoot for the scene at Macau....even in the souvenir shop, there was a picture of them....hehehehe~...

after the gondola ride, we went back to the souvenir shop to purchase our picture taken before the gondola ride and a few other little souvenirs that had our picture...after that we walked around for a little while and then decided to head back to the hotel to call off for the day as tomorrow we need to head back to Hong Kong...the next day morning, we checked out and headed back to the Macau Ferry Terminal to board the ferry back to Hong Kong...

next post will be the 1st day at HK (Ngong Ping 360 and Avenue of Stars)....stay tuned...