Macau - Winter Hong Kong with Children Day 4

Macau is a totally new experience :) I've been to Hong Kong but never to Macau, so I'm really anticipating it.

We took MTR near our hotel, changing lines several times, all the way to Sheung Wan (上环) MTR station. The Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal (港澳碼頭) is just at the MTR station, and there are quite clear signs leading to it. It does seem like being in the same building (I don't know if it really is) as everything is connected. When we reached the ferry terminal, it's already slightly past 11am, and the earliest ticket we manage to get is for 12:45pm. We bought ferry tickets from Turbojet counter, HK-Macau ferry fare is at HK$172 per adult and HK$157 per child. We got return tickets Macau-HK too (8:30pm) at the same time so as not have to worry about scurrying for ticket counter when return. The Macau-HK tickets are HK$184 per adult and HK$169 per child. No idea why the ticket prices are different :P

At the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal, on ferry and upon reaching the Macau Ferry Terminal

We had early lunch at the ferry terminal before boarding time. This time we try a random 茶餐厅 local-style cafe. Oh, the 奶茶 milk tea and 鸳鸯 (coffee/tea mix) are super good at any 茶餐厅 at Hong Kong. This one is good too :) Surprisingly, the service is pretty nice. Of course I'm comparing to my last visit many many years ago when HK is super obnoxious during the good economic times. Nowadays the service staff are much more humble and probably speaking Cantonese helps.

餐蛋面 and French toast at 兰芳园

It's a Sunday so there were really many visitors to and from Macau. The queue at immigration counter is quite long for visitors (but not local residents). This time to Hong Kong and Macau, we didn't get any stamps on our passports, everyone's going digital nowadays even immigration. As the frequency of ferry is quite packed, we have to ask around the counters after immigration for the correct boarding gate. They put a sticker of our seat number on the tickets when 爸爸 approach them for the correct boarding gate. They do voice announcement when it's boarding time, but the staff do not actually check our ticket before boarding haha. I really don't know how they manage to get everything going smooth, I mean, someone could board the wrong time, so it just depends on the passenger to be vigilant and honest.

The ferry ride to Macau took about 1 hour. Not sure if it's because of the lunch/breakfast or because of not enough sleep, 弟弟 suddenly told us he don't feel well during the ferry ride. Way after we got back only he revealed that he actually vomited but he swallowed back as he didn't want to spoil our moods. Poor boy, he didn't want to take another ferry ride like this. After enduring the ride, he still manage to smile for the camera after we disembark upon reaching Macau Ferry Terminal 外港客运码头.

First thing we notice from Macau Ferry Terminal is the Portuguese language signs. By the time we got out to arrival hall it's past 2pm. We were stopped by tourist guide and we booked a half-day tour with them. Our itinerary is simple as we have limited time, we just wanted an overview sight-seeing trip (mix of historical/modern type) and I'm not up for much waiting/walking anyway. Next time if we do visit Macau again, we could plan and do it on our own :)

First stop at Macau Fisherman's Wharf. I had in my mind something like San Francisco Fisherman's Wharf but it turns out to be a shopping place :P It's modeled after Portuguese style buildings so it looks quaint and pretty (it's not those historical ones just made to lookalike).

Colosseum lookalike at Macau Fisherman's Wharf, called Roman Amphitheatre

Marina front at Macau Fisherman's Wharf, I think it's called Legend Wharf

The quaint looking shops at Macau Fisherman's Wharf, Legend Boulevard

Fountains and statues at Macau Fisherman's Wharf

Outside Aladdin's Fort and the middle top photo seems to be Marco Polo statue

We stayed for a while just to look around. Shopping is after all, not on our agenda this trip.

Our next stop is Guia Fortress (free entrance!). This is a more interesting place for me. I love the atmosphere, the natural surroundings and the historical value. Guia Fortress is located on top of a hill. We went through a "secret military tunnel" which is now a gallery. Then it's a short hike up to Guia Lighthouse and Guia Chapel. The view is nice. Even someone who can't walk much like me can make it up to the Lighthouse :) It's cool so you see the children still zipped up their jackets.

Around Guia Fortress. Cannons, military tunnel and walking up the hillslope

Guia Lighthouse and Chapel. Loved the blue sky on this day.

Guia Chapel is truly beautiful sight, especially for girls. It's with pinkish walls inside, with many delicate carvings and decorations. No wonder, as it's originally established by nuns. I've no idea why they don't allow photos as it would be so nice to have a memory of the beautiful decorations.

Outside Guia Chapel as no photos allowed inside. Inside, it's really beautiful!

Posing around Guia lighthouse, too bad visitors are not allowed inside the Lighthouse.

Children's playground at Guia Fortress.
We only photographed the nice portion as some parts are still under construction.

After that, we are dropped off at Senado Square. The guide was telling us something about big something in Cantonese, which we thought is a shop name :P More about this later. Senado Square is maddeningly crowded on this day. We thought there'd be food stalls, there's no time to stop for a sit-down meal. As we're quite hungry by now, we just took a few photos of some interesting places.

Holy House of Mercy 仁慈堂 and at the front of Senado Square

St Dominic's Church, with it's beautiful interiors

Finally, eating Portuguese egg tarts and snacks by the roadside!

Everyone at Senado Square seems to be carrying a tote bearing the name 鉅記 Koi Kei. Turns out it is a popular Macau shop selling Chinese biscuits and other confectioneries which has shop branches everywhere. We also bought some biscuits here. See the sea of people along the street where Koi Kei is located. Tourists from a certain country is hollering here and there, really deafening and beh tahan when the guy in front suddenly holler in your ears since it's so crowded.

Went back to our van and the tour guide asked did we see something called Big something. Now only she told us Ruins of St Paul's is just right after Senado Square. So we were driven there instead of walking. We laughed so hard as 爸爸 didn't know she meant Ruins of St Paul's when she said 大三巴牌坊. We thought she meant some branded local shop. Haha, come on, she knows we are not local, so why mention the local name, we have been telling her Ruins of St Paul's mah. And it's really crowded on the narrow street where the biscuit shops are located, plus the signs are super small around Senado Square. So we didn't even reach the end of the street where we'd have seen Ruins of St Paul's in front of our eyes.

Ruins of St Paul's. This is the only photo that didn't have too many people swarming around.
The street where zillions of people are walking links to Senado Square.

Looking down from Ruins of St Paul's

There's Mount Fortress 大炮山 right beside Ruins of St Paul's but we're too tired to climb up. It's getting a little dark and we didn't want to be late so we left in a hurry after photos.

About the last stop at Lotus Square, it's just a little field with this giant golden lotus and flowers. By the way, the flowers surrounding the golden lotus are real :) Sky is turning darker and darker by now and it's getting cold.

Lotus Square

Last stop at Venetian Macau. It's on another island of Macau called Taipa where the Macau International Airport is located. We'd be dropped off here and our tour guide showed us where to take the shuttle bus from Venetian Macau to Macau Ferry Terminal.

At Venetian Macau, we only wanted to take the Gondola Ride Experience (this from watching too much Boys Over Flowers Korean drama hehehe). We bought tickets from this shop called Boutique di Gondola. Boy, it costs a bomb of MOP$472  (MOP$ to HK$ is 1:1 now). This is the price for private gondola ride as we didn't want to wait around for other guests (no time! and if I remember correctly it's a MOP$50 difference with normal tickets for 4). No wonder it's so pricey, our "driver" actually sings like opera singer :P The shop sent someone to take our family photo but we were not allowed to use our own camera to snap out from the gondola (apa la, try to make more money from tourists).

Inside Venetian Macau, along man-made canal. Sky is fake, buildings are shops.

The Gondola Ride Experience

The children enjoying gondola ride

After the gondola ride, it's time to rush to take shuttle bus to Macau Ferry Terminal. By this time it's dark and it's windy and cold waiting for the bus. The queue is really long too. It seems there are more buses to Macau Ferry Terminal compared to other stops, so it's not too bad.

The Venetian Macao casino from outside.
And waiting for shuttle bus.

No one asked for tickets or anything when we boarded the shuttle bus. Got to Macau Ferry Terminal on time. Waiting area from Macau is much less before the boarding gate, it's tiring standing around after walking around practically the whole day. Inside the boarding gate there are more seats for tired people like us. For the trip back to Hong Kong, 弟弟 slept once he is on the ferry so he was ok. We were seated at 3-person side so it's not so convenient this time.

We made it back to Hong Kong near to 10pm. As shops at the terminal is mostly closing, we just wolfed down McDonald's burgers as supper, only 弟弟 got special burger made with pork :P

Loved Macau for its diversity compared to Hong Kong. If we had found this map from the 'net before going it would help lots in terms of planning our itinerary. Perhaps we could be back in the future? :)

Map of Macau heritage trail