Day3 - Macau and Wan Chai (July 30, 2010)

This is a solitary trip. Mom and company have gone back to Cebu. I'll be roaming Macau on my own, or maybe with someone if Ate Ging's friend is available. She contacted her friend, Chris Stratford who works at the Venetian. Chris is an English guy in his fifties who designs shops/spaces etc at the Venetian Macau.

I took off on the 10AM trip of the The First Ferry from the TST ferry terminal since I was staying in Kowloon. The trip was approximately one hour. I already then texted Chris that I was on my way to Macau and if he had time off to see me or better show me around Macau.=) Well, his reply didn't arrive till my two feet stepped on Macau.
During the entire one hour, I did try to take a nap, read the print outs about Macau, tried to plan how to start my tour, first stop, next, etc. I know in my mind my first stop had to be Senado Square, and just go about where my feet would lead me. On my list were Senado Square, Fisherman's Wharf, The Venetian Hotel, Sands, MGM, Wynn, and whatever other casinos I will see along the way.

As I got off from the ferry, I was kinda roaming around a bit, not entirely knowing how to get a bus - should I cross across the street? where the heck is the bus stop. Well my huge wandering eyes found a bus stop. I asked a local how much the bus fare was so that I could prepare my coins. Since he didn't speak English and he just said something like "Hongkong money OK". I tried showing him a map and pointed to Senado Square to ask how to get there but he just pointed at the bus stop. So I waited for the bus to arrive and hopped in. Now, where was I gonna get off? I asked the passengers sitted next to me but oh my goodness, they couldn't understand me. This is a big problem for tourists in China - majority don't know English. Unlike the Philippines, majority can speak English, maybe not fluent, but could understand English and speak a few. So what I did was just watched out for the cobble stoned floors of the Square like what I saw in pictures. When the bus stopped at a place which I thought was the Square, I got off and only to find out it wasn't!!! So I walked and walked until I met some tourists who was able to show me where Senado Square is. And I was truly far far from my destination. So I walked and walked till I got to the Square. Oh dear me! I took my camera and started taking pictures when 3 tourists approached me and asked me to take a pic of them which I obliged smilingly. I also asked them to take a pic of me. =) And then it hit me that maybe I should go with them, I was all alone and needed some company! And they were so kind to accomodate me! I learned then that they were from Switzerland and were on a China trip - mainland China, HK, and a quick tour of Macau. They were on their last day and will be leaving in the afternoon. They spoke Italian but know how to speak English. So there I made new friends. Though they couldn't stay long as they had to leave by noon, I was alright with it. As long as I didn't feel alone...So there we explored the square and then went to the Ruins of St Paul, the church that was burned some years ago and what was left was just the facade. After this we then went to The Venetian Hotel. I didn't realize that inside the Venetian they were trying to replicate Venice. Inside, they really made it look like Venice - w/ all the architecture, river (minus the smell as my Swiss friends say), the boats, etc. The Swiss didn't appreciate it very much as they say it was all FAKE! hahaha...Well, I who hadn't been to the real Venice appreciated it. =) It was good, a good replica. I didn't really get to explore the Venetian but we got to play at the casino. We just wanted to try maybe bet a 10 or 20 HKD. And it was my lucky day, coz my 10HKD bet made me win 300HKD! And I no longer played after winning 300HKD. I cashed it out right away. This is enough to pay for my ferry fare! Luv it!
It was also at the Venetian that I met up with Chris. He said that he was awfully busy that day and couldn't really get the free time to show me around Macau. So he just met me and I introduced him to my companions. It was really cool, I had an English and Swiss companions. The Swisses had to leave early, and I was back to my own self again. Chris asked to take me to my next destination. I said it would be City of Dreams. Chris had a two-door car and was kind of enough to show me the little town of Tapia and then brought me to City of Dreams.
At the City of Dreams, I watched the Dragon's Treasure show at the Bubble Theater. It was a 10 min multi media show, really unique and something that I've just seen for the first time. It's not to be missed! Besides, it's free. According to their website, "This 10-minute multi-media experience combines high-definition video, a sweeping musical score and over 29,000 theatrical LED lights. This 360 degree multi-media experience was honored with the 2009 THEA Award for Outstanding Achievement." Truly amazing!

After exploring City of Dreams, I hopped on the free shuttle back to the Macau Ferry Terminal where there are free shuttle service of other casinos. I went to the Sands casino. Just passed through and got myself one bottled water. This was also free!

I then went across to Macau Fisherman's Wharf, w/c according to Wikipedia, is the first theme park in Macau. It is near the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Pier. The construction took 5 years, before an opening ceremony by the Chief Executive of Macau and trial operation began on December 31, 2005. After one year of trial operation, the wharf was officially opened on December 31, 2006. The complex includes over 150 stores and restaurants in buildings built in the style of different world seaports such as Cape Town, Amsterdam and Venice, six rides, a slots hall, a 72-room hotel, and a casino.

It was here in the Wharf that I met two Pinoys. They were workers in Macau and were on their day off. Since I had a camera, I offered to take pictures of them and they were so nice to accompany me and take pics of me on my cam. =)

After wharf, I wanted to go back to Senado Square and explore the areas around there where according to Ate Ging sold really nice shoes at bargain prices. And then maybe buy some more pasalubongs. So I did get to buy some pasalubongs but not shoes...

It was beginning to get dark already and since I so wanted to see the lights of the casinos, I really stayed up till 8PM. And took pics of the night lights. I just wanted to feel Vegas-y! I went inside Wynn as they say there is a beautiful fountain show and a dragon show inside. Unfortunately my camera's batt was fully drained so I never got to take pics of these.

After watching these shows at Wynn, I then took off to the Macau Ferry Terminal for my trip back to Hongkong, where I will meet up with my colleague in DB London named NIck, who will be working permanently at the DB Hongkong office. He was going to take me out for some drinks in the Wan Chai area, to which he said was more of like the Burgos area in Makati. Hmmm.... Well, I was pretty sure I will see Pinoys in this area and yes I did, a bartender and some ladies of the night. This makes me sad seeing this kind of girls.

I met up with Nick at Four Season's Hotel where he was staying. And then we headed off to Wan Chai area.

If I could recall so well we went to four bars that night. I had one pint of beer at the first bar. I think I got really drunk that night but I was still able to hold me myself and able to get back to my hostel in complete piece. It was during this hang out with Nick that he told me was getting married and he hasn't told anyone yet! OMG! I was so honored! He was going to make the announcement soon so I just better zip my mouth till that official announcement comes out. Congrats! Finally!

I went home taking the cab, as I was from travelling from Hongkong island to Kowloon, I paid a good deal of the taxi fare. I probably got home at around 2am.