Macau Day 3: Walk In The City
Hello everyone!
So it's my last night in Macau. Checking out of my lovely hotel after lunch and clearly I'm reluctant to leave since I've only been here for a few days. I won't have much time to do anything interesting tomorrow and that's not very fun is it?
My tour guide and her symbolic white flag.
I woke up extra early and despite being the laziest bum in the world, I managed to get up and out with my parents and grandpa for the Macau Discovery Tour by Cotai Travel.
My tour guide was really nice and she had a pretty good sense of humour. The tour had to be in both english and chinese due to the different languages that the people in the tour bus spoke. She spoke fast but we all somehow managed to catch what she was saying. I definitely had fun!
The tour itself was relatively rushed in certain areas, we didn't have much time to wander around in the middle few stops but in the first and last few stops, I'd say we has adequate time to wander around and snap away with out cameras. But I guess a 4 hour tour shouldn't really get any longer or else everyone's going to get really really lethargic.
First stop: A Ma Temple
This is not the same temple as the one I had visited yesterday. Apparently there are two A Ma temples. I think this one is in the Tai Pa disctrict or in the older Macau. I couldn't be to sure since most of the tour was held in the older part of Macau.
This temple is more accessible than the one I visited yesterday, no hills to drive up, whatsoever, just a short walk from the car park and we were there! But within the temple, there were various shrines(??) that required quite a steep climb to reach. I wasn't used to the incense smell so my nose was acting up and soon enough, I was choking on smoke. But I got some pretty nice photos so it was worth it!
I don't know what these are for but I find them very very pretty.
Since I headed out on an empty stomach, it's mandatory that I grabbed a bite.
Well the street ice cream wasn't really anything special, I loved the Hokkaido Milk ice cream from the food court at the Venetian (I had it twice today..) and the ice cream I bought from the little shop near the temple failed to reach its standard, the texture just did not suit my liking.
Now, on to the famous portuguese egg tart. I'm not a massive fan of egg tarts but it's mandatory to try one while I'm in Macau. It's soft of flakey and crispy on the outside (unless you don't eat it fresh) and its soft and sweet on the outside. So it's a nice little treat but I wouldn't have more than one while I'm in Macau.
Snapped a few photos while we drove to our next destination.
The next three stops required us to walk so I was quite thrilled since I was so so excited about the buildings. It's not exactly architecturally special but I just liked the look of the streets. I don't think I'd be able to live somewhere so cramp, but they sure gave me good photographs!
Second Stop: Ruins of St Paul's
In case you're wondering, that lady smiling in the photo is my mum.
So apparently this place perished in a fire within two hours because the base of is was all wood. It's really beautiful and to think that this is all that's left of it is pretty sad.
We didn't spend much time there since that piece of architecture was the only thing to see. There were so many people and it make me feel slightly uncomfortable, plus it's a potential place for pick-pockets so I had to be on guard the whole way which was honestly really.. tiring?
The rooster apparently, is regarded as a omen of good luck.
The gift shop sold loads of these in different colours and in two styles: the local style and the original portuguese styles. The portuguese styles are more expensive since they are imported from there, but honestly I found them a lot prettier, then again they were all made from different materials so there's quality right there.
Third Stop: St Dominic's Church
I guess it was just the exterior that we were meant to see. We didn't go in since we only had a few minutes to wander around the church and Senando square. I don't have much to say about the church honestly, it's simple and pretty, but I guess it's just a regular church. I didn't get to hear much about the history of it so I guess I missed out quite a bit on trivia.
Fourth Stop: Senando Square
This was supposed to be where the shopping was supposed to be, but I must say, I'm quite disappointed. They did have the regular shops like Giordano, Levis, SaSa and maybe the slightly higher end shops like Swarovski in the corner as well as the street stores selling clothes or gadget accessories. We did walk past the food shops too but we didn't really stop to look, though the fruits did tempt me for a short while.
Fifth Stop: Macau Tower
To lay out the facts, I'm a wimp and I hate heights. Obviously, I didn't really enjoy myself at this stop. I was suffering from sweaty palms half the time and I refused to lean on the hand bars in fear that I'd fall off for some strange reason. Even if I knew that there isn't any way for the glass to magically disappear like in Harry Potter.
The view was pretty cool though.
This was my reaction to people bungee jumping.
Clearly I'm a lot happier on the ground.
The tower has 61 storeys. People bungee jump (this place, apparently has the tallest bungee jump in the world) from the top floor and there's and enclosed observatory on the 58th floor. The lift rides were kinda claustrophobic and terrifying in my opinion, they squash as many people as they can into the lift and then it moves more quickly than I'd like.. Not too fun at all.
Final Stop: Tai Pa Houses Museum
Well these were meant to be the smallest houses in the world but honestly these houses are a whole lot bigger than m house in Singapore so I don't really get what they're playing at. They aren't much of museum either since they're just three seafoam green houses that are extremely pretty, but aren't allowed to be entered into.
I present: the most expensive land in Macau. Just opposite the houses.
I did like the short time we spent at the Tai Pa Houses Museum, though I admit that I was hoping for a lot more than just being able to see the mere exterior of a house. That marked the end of the tour, dad and grandpa had left the tour half way and had headed to the casino, leaving mum and I to follow the tour and wander around at our own time.
With that time, we wandered to the hotel room after a quick lunch at the food court for a nice little nap, only to head out for dinner later on in the evening. Dinner was at the Imperial House Dim Sum restaurant. I wasn't too thrilled with the food there, but they had decent dim sum. I wasn't too clear on the price but I'm guessing it was in the middle range? Perhaps leaning towards the slightly expensive side maybe?
After dinner treat: a gondola ride!
I was ecstatic to finally get to ride the gondola! Grandpa was already in his room slowly packing his stuff so he didn't join us, so it was just me and my parents! Tragically, I had left my camera in the hotel room so the rest of the photos were taken with my mum's iPhone 4s.
Grainy grainy photos, but better than having no photos at all.
We got ourselves a ticket for the private gondola which holds a maximum of 4 people. The shared gondola holds a maximum of 6 people and I wasn't too fond of having strangers that close to me for 15-20 minutes so I insisted on the private gondola ticket for my parents and I.
No regrets because we had a wonderful gondolier, I forgot her name but she had a wonderful singing voice which I was just so impressed with. She told us that most of the entertainers at the venetian were filipino and if you haven't guessed, she's a filipino but mixed itallian (how exotic!!!!). I enjoyed the ride very much thanks to her, talking to us and telling us that she majored in music and like I mentioned, she had an amazing voice and was a real professional entertainer. I'm sure the rest were too so I was really really impressed!
I don't know about you guys, but I get motion sickness easily, but even if she rocked to boat from side to side, I enjoyed the ride so much! It was 15 minutes worth of the rocking but I had a great time. That's how much I loved the gondola ride. It's a must-go if you visit the Venetian! I'd like to ride on in Venice next time, that'd be the absolute real deal!
That's all for day 3 and probably all for my Macau holiday. I didn't buy much but the few things I bought did burn a hole in my pocket. Then again, I'm not really regretting it because everything is duty free in the Venetian and that is the perfect excuse to shop! Keep a look out for the haul post tomorrow!
xx
Shayne
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