Macau/ Hongkong/Zhuhai/ Shenzhen (Part 1)
This ought to be an enjoyable trip - shopping and eating, what can be more relaxing?
However, a lot of hiccups here and there, first the weather ~ it was practically raining from Day 1 to Day 5; then the stupid agency ~ I'm gonna condemn ASA, and I'm going to explain why, and it was a BIG mistake to cover 3 countries ( Macau, HongKong and China) in 5 days ~ all the custom clearances were taking up so much time!
But on a positive note, I know how to travel to Macau and Shenzhen from HK now le.. *weak smile*
If you are keen to know:
HK - Macau:
If you are going straight to Macau from HK international airport: Proceed to TurboJET SeaExpress counter located at E-2 zone before immigration counters. Please click on the link for more ticketing information.
Just a note, you will need to take a 2minute train ride from HK IA to the ferry terminal, so do remember to factor in travelling time!
If you are going to Macau from HK Tsim Sha Tsui: Take a ferry from China Ferry Terminal. Please click on the link for more ticketing information
HK - Shenzhen:
Just take the MTR and alight at Lok Ma Chau ( East Rail Line). So easy!
Our A380 flight to HK
I know I'm sua ku ( mountain turtle), I dint know Terminal 3 so exciting! There are butterfly garden, movie theatre and resting area etc. If I get to fly from Terminal 3 again, I will make an effort to check in earlier so that I can use the facilities lor... No wonder we are back as No 1 again! Keke
I cant help but to take a snap of this guy. He was so ready to go HK! =p
I thought we can at least pass through the business class seats, but cannot lor.. the entrance that we took was directed straight to the economy class sector. I went to the upper deck, nothing interesting since it was still restricted to the economy class sector. I cant really tell how much difference between economy class in A380 and that of say 777. Perhaps the screen slightly bigger?
After 5 hours flight, we finally reached HK!
It was relatively easy to find the way to the Macau ticket counter ( where we got our ferry boarding pass), just followed the signboard!
Boarding the ferry, will take around 45min to reach Macau
The weather was quite bad, starting to storm when the ferry departed from the pier, and the water seemed rough.. But dun worry, the ferry was stable enough, if you are concerned about seasick. =)
I dun meant to scare you, but you are now looking at the "baggage claim". Ya! No conveyance belt! Luggages were conveniently scattered around on the floor, you just have to use eye power to search for your own luggages. Argh.... Culture shock lor...
View of Macau City
Kinda gloomy hor? Weather bad leh.. kept raining & raining & raining... *Sigh*
I took this when we were crossing the bridge to Taipa from Macau.
Macau is basically made up of 3 portion - Macau ( location of Senado Square, Ruins of St Paul's etc), Taipa ( location of Venetian Casino, Hard Rock Hotel etc) & Colane.
Hard Rock Hotel ( opp Venetian Casino Resort)
Our itinerary included a show called The Bubble Show plus a buffet dinner at Hard Rock Hotel.
I dunno how much was the show, but if you are watching it on your own expenses, you might wan to reconsider. Well, personal opinion lah coz I dun find it fancinating. I know.. I'm hard to please!
I will upload small videos of the show later, you see for yourself lor..
There wasnt bubbles in the show, so I guess it's called The Bubble Show it is located in a dome shaped place? Haha... Just a show of dragons, sea creatures, fishes etc. Last about 15 - 20 minutes.
Some snaps of the show...
Btw, the buffet dinner was only passable. I will suggest to go to those small shops along the street to try their local food, coz that was what we did AFTER our buffet dinner... =p
Venetian Casino Resort
Casino inside Venetian
We were not suppose to take photo of the casino, this was taken when I was going up on the escalator.. hehe
Venetian Shopping Area
Nice blue sky ceiling, reminded me of one of the casino at Las Vegas.. I went there when I was still a teenger, so I oso dunno which casino was that... oops
" River ride" inside the Shopping Area
The boatwoman was nice enough to wave at me when I said " Say Cheese!"
We gave this a miss coz it was abit expensive, approximately S$10+ or S$20+, cant remember, for a 10mins ride. I guess when I'm travelling on my own ( meaning without bf or parents), I tend to be more thrifty. Keke
Art Ceiling
This was right above the Casino. I would say, it was a big contrast..Art & Gambling.. hmm
I was stopped by the security guard to check my passport when I wanted to just pass through the casino. So do bring your ID/passport along. But if you looked chao lao (old) enough, then forget it lah... Hahaha
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We went for some munch munch nearby our hotel after Venetian. I wanted to visit another pork chop bun outlet recommended on the Internet, but we dun really have much F&E time so bo pian lor, "no fish, prawn oso good"...
Pork Chop Bun ~ HK12
Imagine freshly deep-fried pork chop sandwiched between hot bun, mmm, pretty nice combination. Although, it was abit oily...hhaha. But we still finished it.
Dumpling Mee ~ HK15
The dumpling were good, big with fresh meat and prawn. Not like those tiny ones, you are almost eating the skin nia, in Singapore. The noodles, on the other hand, so so only.
If you are travelling on your own, you may want to try Pork Chop Buns at these places:
1) Tai Lei Pork Chop Bun 大利來記豬扒包Rua Direita Carlos Eugenio, Taipa (6am – 615pm)
2) San Hou Lei (新好利咖啡饼店), located at Rua de Regedor (地堡街), just opposite McDonald's, Taipa
3) Jin Ma Lun (金马伦咖啡饼店）at Rua dos Mercadores (营地大街）
Then again, if not nice, dun blame me! I oso surfed net for these de...
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Some tourist attractions that were also part of the itinerary:
1) Ama Temple
2) Ruins of St Paul's
Here, is practically the "Great Wall" of Macau. You must come here to take pictures if you are visiting Macau!
It was a challenge to take a decent photo with so many people crowding area. And of coz, the rain was not making it better...
Near the Ruins, you can get nice portugese egg tarts. Although, a lot of people were recommending Margaret's Cafe for egg tarts.
Venue: Margaret's Cafe, Gum Loi Building, 2871-0032) Edifício Kam Loi, Nam Van, Macau
Time: 630am – 8pm
Direction: Walk into Hotel Sintra ( Opp Grand Emperor) and ask for directions. Basically exit the hotel, turn left into a northeasterly direction, cross Avenida Infante D. Henrique, and then look for the first alley on your left - there should be a sign pointing in the direction of the cafe too.
I dint manage to find time to go there, which was a great disappointment. I hope I can go there if I'm back in Macau. Then again, if you have tried the egg tarts there, let me know whether they are really nice! =)
The egg tarts @ Senado Square were selling at HK$6 each. Really nice, it was quite different from those selling in Singapore, the egg custard especially. However, it was slightly more oily, so one at a time suffices. Just eat it many times lor! Hehe
Some other snacks ( curry fish balls, sotong balls, corns) nearby...
The tiles on the floor were supposed to symbolise waves. Why ar? I forgot what did the tour guide say liao... Hahhaha...
Oh ya, there suppose to have a famous cantonese noodles shop called Wong Chi Kei枝記. I dun get to try bec of the time constraint. Sobz. Try out for me also.......... ~_~
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Zhuhai
Zhuhai is pretty near Macau. In fact, it was just a bridge away. But if you are going on your own, I'm not too sure how you can cross over, we took the coach mah... Well, figure out yourself.. =p
We went to this shopping area called Gongbei Underground Shopping Malls, which is a sheltered shopping area make up of many small shops. Things were quite cheap, since transactions were done in RMB. I managed to buy a pair of boots for RMB55, approximately S$11.50.
Well, my tour guide said things were cheaper in Zhuhai than Shenzhen, which was proven wrong. As we saw that the same dress that my fren bought in Zhuhai was selling at a cheaper price, without the need to bargain at Shenzhen. Then again, maybe it depends on what you are buying bah...
Again, we were brought to some tourist attractions at Zhuhai..
1) Fish Women Statue
2) Shijingshan Park
Something I dun like about ASA, the itinerary was always planned in such a way that you are being "forced" to join, otherwise being left aside.
Apparently, the tour included viewing at this Shijingshan Park which will have a bird eye view of Zhuhai. However, the cable car (cost S$10 to & fro) which was the only way up the top (unless you wanna spend hours to climb up the mountain) was not included in the package. Since the whole tour group needs to go up, why isnt it included? Anyway, more complains later on...
View up the cable car
There is the option to take the go-kart ride on the down journey, but we choose not to go for it as the railing seemed a bit fragile. Haha.. kiasi lah..
This really reminds me of Sentosa Sky Cable and Go-Kart. It exactly the same concept!
Cant really get a good view as the weather was bad, raining and foggy..
Wishing stone at the Park
View down the cable car
Shenzhen
Next, we proceeded to shenzhen which was a few hours ride on the coach..
Here, we sighted how inconsiderable the agency was. To illustrate my point, i'm typing out what was written in the itinerary:
" Board our coach to Shenzhen. Proceed for some shopping at Dong Men Walking Street. After dinner, our highlight of the day: "Meridian View Centre" located on the 69th floor of the Shenzhen Diwang Comm Ctr... Have a bird's eye view of the city of Shenzhen night view "
So my understanding is shopping and a night view rite? I dun think my english sucks that I mis-interpret what was stated in the itinerary. Okay, I understand that the agency has the right to reshuffle the itinerary in certain circumstances. But is it right to reshuffle to accomodate "optional tour"??
We were offered an "optional" cultural show which consists of 2 shows, at 5pm and 7pm respectively. The included dinner is planned nearby the cultural show, and in between the 2 shows. Since the show only started at 5pm and we were at Shenzhen around 3plus, we were conveniently sent to the Meridian View Centre and looked at fog instead of night view.
Foggy view of Shenzhen
After viewing the not- so- fantasic view of Shenzhen city, we were sent to the cultural show venue, which only half of the tour group was taking up. And mind you, the show was priced at S$60+.
The tour guide was selling so hard to us about how great the show was, how magnificent it was, how even Clinton loved it.. I dint go for the show, so I wont make comment of it. But I'm sure different people will have differnt interests, so not everyone can appreciate cultural dance show. It's just like not everyone enjoys musical plays etc. *Shrugged*
So for those who were not going for the show, we were told to stay and watch DVD in the coach. Grrr... Did I pay to watch DVD in the coach?? This was ridiculous.
And because the included dinner was at the cultural village, we cant go anywhere else. The place was super ulu, with only commercial buildings nearby, which means we cant really wander around since there was nothing much around the area.
So we waited for the first show to end, and had our dinner. We thought the coach can at least send the rest of us to Dong Men Shopping Area after dinner, while those watching the show can proceed with the 2nd part. Alas, the tour guide informed us that it cant be done, since it would take 1hr plus to travel to & fro. And so we continued to wait in the coach after dinner.
By the time the show ended and we were finally going to Dong Men, it was already 930pm. The tour guide had told us earlier on that the shops close late in Shenzhen. Wrong information again! The shops were preparing to close when we were there. By 10plus, we were sent back to hotel.
So in the end, we dint manage to see the night view which is suppose to be the "highlight of the day" because of the optional shows; we dint have sufficient time to shop in Dong Men because of the optional shows again, and we spent at least 3 hours waiting in the coach.
Did I pay for all these???? I cant believe it. -__-
Can I not condemn ASA?? If you are me, will you not?
Anyway, the pictures were taken as evidence of the wait.. from daytime to nighttime...
Accordance to the tour guide, it was normal to rain and be foggy in this period, we went in early April. If that's the case, why include an outdoor amusement park in the itinerary? Just because it's new? Why isnt there an alternative plan?
So we went spent time travelling up the mountain ( where the amusement park is located) to look at some flowers and a gigantic pumpkin (coz it's indoor), and then we spent time waiting for shuttle bus to ferry us down the mountain. Is that exciting to a tourist? We wasted whole morning just like that... I'm better off staying in hotel lor..
( To be continued..)
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6 comments:
Took me time to read the whole article, the article is great but the comments bring more brainstorm ideas, thanks.
- Johnson
The Bubble show fyi is FREE... it is free to public and anyone just need to get the free tickets before the show....
Ooo.. Good news for those who wanna watch the Bubble Show.
Bad news for me.. Grr, the agency packaged it as one of the items included in our tour package when actually, it's free. $%^&#
=p
Hey - I am definitely happy to discove this. great job!
Hey - I am really glad to discover this. great job!
Hi - I am certainly glad to find this. Good job!
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