Ngong Ping and Avenue of Stars - Winter Hong Kong with Children Day 6

One of the most enjoyable activities in Hong Kong! We went to Ngong Ping 360 (昂坪). We took MTR until Tung Chung (东涌) MTR station. Wow, it's a long way, past bridge and over to Lantau Island (大屿山), last station after Disney station. The cable car station is a short walk (with clear signs from MTR exit).

Before Ngong Ping ticket station and waiting for cable car

In the morning, before bertolak, we had breakfast at Pacific Coffee near the hotel. We're just tired of eating in the hotel room, as we didn't have breakfast included in hotel rate. See photo below, somehow, 姐姐's hair is tame and manageable even after washing in the HK weather. However mine became terribly frizzy after washing. My poor hair, totally not manageable thus have to be tied up all the time.

Breakfast near hotel at Pacific Coffee

Ok now back to the cable car ride. 爸爸 bought round trip tickets for the Crystal Cabin, costs total HK$790 for 2 adults and 2 kids (from their website, it's HK$235 per adult, and HK$160 per child). Thank goodness we had the Crystal Cabin tickets, as the queue for standard cabin is really long. The standard cabin is of course cheaper and I think most tour groups take that. The children get cartoon stickers of the mascot, so they are planning to ask for more when they reach Ngong Ping.

Inside Crystal Cabin cable car to Ngong Ping - stepping on glass :P

You can see from my expression, I'm not a fan of heights. But to satisfy the children's wishes to go on the Crystal Cabin, I still go on the ride. It's not too bad, it's still a leisurely ride. But seeing the streets from the station, and the sea after that is a little unnerving. Not for the children though, they think it's super fantastic and fun.

Once the Crystal Cabin cable car reaches Lantau Island grounds, we saw a hiking trail. There are a few people hiking and resting, but it's really hilly so we don't know how far they will go.

Ngong Ping Cable Car Terminal

Immediately after the Ngong Ping Cable Car Terminal, it's Ngong Ping Village. Not really a village but landscaped buildings selling souvenirs, food, drinks etc.

Ngong Ping Village

Bodhi Tree at Bodhi Wishing Shrine. Have to purchase a tag (from souvenir shop) to write your wishes to hang on the wishing shrine. Kids are more interested in the bear deco. 

Glimpse of Big Buddha from Ngong Ping Village

Outside a souvenir shop

Beside the same souvenir shop and International Cable Car Gallery

We stopped for some snacks at a stall after this, we had 山水豆腐花 (no photo though). The white 豆腐花is smooth and nice, but we're just not used to the ginger syrup instead of our local dark syrup version. I'd prefer it if they had it in dark syrup version :)

Loved the blue sky! And that's the stalls selling 山水豆腐花

Ngong Ping Piazza with view of Big Buddha

Stopped for more snacks of 咖哩鱼旦 curry fishballs and some fried stuff. 爸爸 spoke in Cantonese with the stall-keeper (although his Cantonese memang off-accent and teruk but still able to communicate) and she charged him HK$15 per stick for the snacks. Another Mainland Chinese tourist spoke in Mandarin and the price she ask for is HK$20 per stick. Hehe, so there are local price and tourist price :) These snacks are good according to 爸爸 and the children. Compared to the ones 爸爸 had at Mongkok street side, he said this one is larger and taste so much better. Both the children liked it too. While we're eating, we saw a dog walking around the area and wondered how did he get up the hill? Did he take the cable car as well, hehehe.

Having snack of curry fishball at Ngong Ping Piazza :P

The Po Lin Monastery Main Hall is under major renovations, so most sections are closed to public. We just prayed (outside the temple) towards direction of the Big Buddha with hands. Didn't take photo from here as it is prayer area.

That's the garden where I waited for them to climb 268 steps to get close to Big Buddha

The children and 爸爸 went to explore the Big Buddha which is a 268-steps climb. Me, resting my feet at the garden and waited for them :) It was so peaceful, quiet and cool there.

Going up the steps to see Big Buddha

Finally near the top

Around the base at Big Buddha

View looking down from Big Buddha

After they came down, they rested a while at the garden with us, then it's looking for lunch. Since we're at the Monastery and Big Buddha area, of course lunch is vegetarian food there. The sit-down place don't allow us to order for 2 adults to share among ourselves (the children hardly eat much vegetarian fare). So we went to the snack kiosk beside it. They sell variety of Chinese kuih-muih, fried bee hoon etc. It was good too, maybe we were quite hungry as well? Since the children ate up most of the fried vegetarian bee hoon, we had to order seconds. The fried bee hoon goes quite well with the vegetarian curry chicken pieces. Prices are quite reasonable too. See we sit among flowers for our lunch :)

Around Po Lin Monastery (couldn't take much photos due to renovation works) and our lunch there

Another view of Po Lin Monastery, loved the blue sky!

Actually while trying to get around, we walked the wrong way right smack in the middle of construction area. They didn't actually fence it up and we just kind of followed people who were walking around. Some pieces of small rocks fell in front of us and that's it, we are out of there :P

The children had fun doing some craft that is available (complementary!).

The children trying out DIY good luck charm and hand-twisted balloons

As we're about to leave, we saw the Koala mascot and had to wait for his break before get the opportunity to take photo.

Children lazing around waiting for Koala March

Koala March by Lotte

Poor Koala March have to jump from Ngong Ping Cable Car Terminal until this area, difficult for him to move around as he's so bloated :P

Then it's time to go back to the city. Again Crystal Cabin queue is much more bearable than standard cabin. The gimmick at tourist attraction nowadays seems to be take your family photo then try to sell you all sorts of trinklets at the souvenir shop. Same thing here, as in Disneyland and Ocean Park. So tired of them taking our photos which they plaster all over the souvenirs which we didn't purchase.

We loved Ngong Ping for its fresh cool air (compared to city area) and the interesting activities here. There are more diversity of visitors too, not only Chinese tour groups (there still are, but much less than Disneyland or Ocean Park, they're everywhere there).

It's nearly 5pm by the time we depart from Ngong Ping, so we head straight for our next destination, Avenue of Stars. This is smack in the middle of the city, so we took MTR to East Tsim Sha Tsui station. We thought there'd be lots of food outlets on the way, but not really after we exit from the MTR. So we ended up having early dinner at Sogo and the food we ordered is not good at all. It's difficult to find a place to sit at the Sogo food court (not sure if it's really food court, or Japanese food court or whatever).

By the time we finish dinner it's about 6pm, so we went to Exit J of East Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station for Avenue of Stars. Sky is dark by now, and it's cold.

First shot after arriving, of the Hong Kong Film Awards sculpture. So difficult to take photo with swarms of visitors. Later we just realized it's Christmas Eve, that's why probably such a big crowd there. For some unknown reason, everything including sculpture, seats etc is barricaded.

Very bad photos of Hong Kong Film Award sculpture due to over-crowdedness 

Walking around trying to find the sculptures at Avenue of Stars. Someone that 爸爸 asked pointed us to Holland (means going nowhere). At one point along the way, it is a very narrow space and people are pushing back-to-back. We had to fight the crowd to move back to where the sculptures are after asking one of the many Hong Kong policemen on duty. They are friendly and nice, and look very smart in their winter uniforms.

With Chinese junk boats in the background

Hong Kong city night view 

Another night view of Hong Kong

After squeezing through back to where we started, we started seeing name plates of Hong Kong stars with their hand prints and signature on the ground. Then we also reached the other sculptures along Avenue of Stars.

Film-making sculptures and McDull (麥兜) sculpture

Bruce Lee sculpture, more film-making sculptures and Jackie Chan print

After that, we make our way back to near Hong Kong Museum of Art, where there some steps at least to sit on. Feet are really sore and aching walking back-and-forth along Avenue of Stars. To make the situation worse, why did they barricade up the seats along the promenade? Sigh.... And only one measly toilet near where we entered.

Then we waited for Symphony of Lights that goes on at 8pm. We sat at the area near Hong Kong Museum of Art. No toilet available here even though we saw mobile toilets, but they are not operational or not open to public yet. Luckily the children didn't ask to go to toilet. It's not like we can have them pee anywhere here in the open :P

Waiting for Symphony of Lights at Hong Kong Museum of Art. Dimsum supper near hotel again. 

A Symphony of Lights show is totally not up to our expectation of a light show. It's just the buildings which are lighted up along are having moving lights, and some green laser lights beam here and there from the top of some random buildings. I think we watch too much HK drama and those fancy ones were reserved for special days (or maybe this is a cost-down version?). The children said the fireworks and light show at Disneyland is nicer, even the one at Ocean Park is better. Of course, those are paid as part of the entrance tickets.

After a disappointing light show (and waiting 2 hours for it), we moved with the crowd back to the MTR station. To our surprise, the street is off limits to even pedestrians. After moving with the ridiculously suffocating crowd, we find they closed off exit J of Tsim Sha Tsui station. What??!!! How do you expect us to balik then? No signs, nothing to show you where to go. The few policemen who are manning the MTR exit just tell us to move ahead with the crowd. Apala..... You'd think this would be the norm in third-world countries but apparently in big city like Hong Kong it's still the same. There are people pushing their way on the opposite side as well as there is no sign and no one there to tell them the MTR station exit J is closed. After going around with the crowd, finally there are some policemen, and we asked them for directions since we are totally lost. They say just go straight to look for the MTR station. It's stopping and asking another 2 more groups of policemen along the way before we finally made it to one of the MTR station exit/entrance. Phew! Hey we are tourists, how do you expect us to watch news or read news? There are no warnings at the MTR station when we go out at 6pm that it will be closed.

Finally we made it to one of the toilets at the MTR (long long queue). And later back to hotel for late-night supper. Never ever ask me to go to Avenue of Stars :P

Ocean Park - Winter Hong Kong with Children Day 5

Been so looking forward to this day for Ocean Park~ I've been there many years ago when I was in my late teens (OMG that was like so long ago!). So it's changed a lot since then, it became bigger than what I remembered of it.

I woke early and tried to shoo the children out of bed as early as possible. 爸爸 bought tickets from 7-11 store near the hotel to save some queue time (HK$320 per adult and HK$160 per child). Later it seems there is a ticket counter at Admiralty MTR station that sells tickets to Ocean Park at slightly discounted price? Not sure as we didn't stop to find out, just saw a sign in front of the counter.

Our way of going about HK is easy, just hop on the MTR (using Octopus card, very convenient), and change lines until the required station. So end up we arrived at Admiralty MTR (金钟) at 10am. From Admiralty station, there are signs showing which exit to go for Citybus 629 which will take us directly to Ocean Park. Bus fare is HK$10.60 per adult, HK$5.30 per child (not free, ok!). We paid with Octopus card so it's still convenient. Bus driver will keep a hawk eye on you while you are scanning your card, don't even think of cheating :) Even though it's a Monday when we visit, there is a long queue building up for bus 629 :P

Citybus 629, we manage to get top level front row seats!
However 姐姐 looked like frowning in the photo as she knocked her head on the TV display when scrambling to 弟弟's side.

We reached Hong Kong Ocean Park in about 20 minutes of bus ride. It stops right in front of the park since it's a dedicated service. See the crowd is already building up, there's quite a long queue for tickets. Luckily we already had ours and went straight to the entrance. My sympathies to a foreign family (not sure what nationality), they printed online tickets and were having problems with the barcode, don't know what happens then. But our poor quality 7-11 tickets went through without problem. They checked our bags again (just like Disneyland) and I think they are looking for canned foodstuff too (hahaha are they expecting us to bring canned curry chicken? Just joking).

Direction of the sun is not suitable for photo, but no choice :P

I think we didn't really research the layout and map properly, so we just went for the Ocean Express first. As Ocean Park opening hours is from 10am to 8pm (this is for the time we visit, seems like opening hours might be different so check their website), there's not much people yet (they're probably still queuing for tickets outside).

Ocean Express - we took this train throughout the day. 

We took the Ocean Express several times throughout our visit. There's no way to walk to the Summit area other than taking Ocean Express unless you take the cable car (think long queue again).

This breathtaking view is from Summit Plaza, Hong Kong Ocean Park

Christmas decorations around Summit Plaza

Then we went around exploring the North Pole Encounter and South Pole Spectacular. No flash photography allowed here so our photos didn't turn out nice :P

We manage to see walrus feeding, but it's just throwing food at the animals so it's not as interesting as in Siam Ocean World. It's much colder inside North Pole Encounter and South Pole Spectacular.

Walrus feeding (see the two brown walrus right at the back?) and Arctic fox, cute, it's looking at us and take photos with the children.

Arctic Fox walking around its den. Penguins and a mock penguin. 

Penguin deco around South Pole Spectacular. Met Penguin mascot, but no time to wait for photo :P

It may be called Polar Adventure but there's no polar bear at Hong Kong Ocean Park.

There's still some time before show time for Sea Lion Fun Time Show, so we went to see the pandas. The big pandas were sleeping away, and everyone is asked to be keep their voices down.

Red panda and sleeping panda -they are all cute!

Around the same area, there's alligator.

Gator - fake (above), real (below)

Family photo with panda mascot

After that, it's the Sea Lion Fun Time Show at Whiskers Theatre. 姐姐 was called to the stage to mimic how the trainers train sea lions hehe. Poor girl she was jumping around as she didn't understand Cantonese.

Then, after the show it's lunch time at Panda Cafe. Kids had kids' meal and panda steamed buns, we shared a chicken stir-fry dish (costs HK$264). The food is nothing to shout about, although the panda steam buns are cute. It's quite packed during lunch hour and we're lucky to get a table.

Panda steamed buns and kid's meal at Panda Cafe

After lunch, we went back to Whiskers Theatre for Ocean Heroes. It's a kids' musical in Cantonese :P

Children with Gator mascot. Talking Tree, we think it's actually a trash can! 

Children taking photo with Ocean Heroes mascots. Children with blue Santa at Santa's Ocean Cove

More mascots, intercepting Panda. And met a starfish :P

Now, I don't know why we went back to Polar Adventure.

These are mock animals :)

Finally photos with spotted seal!

Next we went to wait for the Ocean Wonders show at Ocean Theatre. OMG, it's so far walking there as we kind of lost our way a little and so hot waiting for the show to start under the sun (even in winter)! I'm definitely not coming here in summer hahaha :P

Ocean Wonders at Ocean Theatre, Hong Kong Ocean Park - see the dolphins' jump?
And dolphins decorations :P

To be honest, the show is definitely more geared towards being educational, it's in Cantonese so those who don't know the language, sorry. 爸爸 bought us popcorn to share while waiting for the show, but the popcorn is really bad. It's nothing compared to those even from the cinemas hahahaha. Definitely the ones at Disneyland tastes much better. We think the show at Bangkok Safari World is the absolutely most entertaining among those we had seen. So this one rates kind of boring with the children. And the children quietly said "why are the dolphins so fat, they can't even jump as high as those from Bangkok Safari World" :P

We went to Chinese Sturgeon Aquarium Yangtze Exploration after the Ocean Wonders show. No photos here however. It's really tiring walking around as it's steep uphill and downhill around Ocean Theatre. We did pass by Garden of Joy without meaning to :) It's just a tranquil garden with koi fishes and oriental surroundings. It seems that Ocean Park is more crowded in the afternoon with Mainland Chinese tours. Maybe they only do half-day for Ocean Park after lunch. The queue for cable car is extremely long now so totally no chance to go on it.

Then it's Pacific Pier where the seals are housed. Super cute, as they are snoozing under the sun.

The children loved  Pacific Pier! Oh the sun direction again :(

Seals and more seals :)

Snack at Boardwalk Cafe, only because of the seals at the tables.
The bottom one with 弟弟 is actually outside the restroom.

After snack time, we decided to take the Ocean Park Tower since the queue looks bearable by now. It's pretty nice except, again for the rowdy tourists spoiling my mood. Did it occur to people they don't have to holler at the person right in front of them? Sigh...

Top photo: Ocean Park Tower
Bottom photo: Touch pool, touching star fish at Grand Aquarium

Children and 爸爸 explored the Grand Aquarium while I waited outside (couldn't find any place to sit inside). Too tired to walk by now, but it was cold :P

Waited for the Symbio show, it's claimed to have water and fire and some laser images. Then it's boarding the 629 bus to Admiralty. We went out before the show finishes but there's still a crowd. Cannot imagine how it is if we had waited. Very tiring day!

Well, if you haven't been to Hong Kong Ocean Park, you'd be wondering what's so tiring about it? Remember it's a pretty big place, and everything is not located together. You'd have to walk and walk over hilly terrains. If you're healthy and fit, it's fine.

We also didn't plan this visit nicely. It would have been a better visit if we had studied the park map more thoroughly. There are limited drinking fountains and can be found from the map. It would be good to note where the toilets are (from the map) especially if travelling with children. Some toilets at certain locations could be crowded, so it's good to know where another nearby one is.

The children didn't get to take any rides, actually the children rides are at Whiskers Harbour. The other rides are meant for teenagers and adults. It's difficult to balance rides, shows and animal exhibits. We just tried to cover as much as we could in our limited time.

After leaving Ocean Park, we went hunting for dinner near the hotel. We tried 北海道活壽司 Hokkaido Katsu Sushi at Citywalk. It's about closing time, so we are the last order. We had 北海道叉烧豚骨拉面 which is some char siew pork ramen and sushi rice set with tempura and miso soup. Too bad no photo as too tired and hungry. The ramen is pretty good, but sushi rice is served cold :P Still food is good at reasonable price, we spent $164.1, which is price after 20% discount (some after hours discount).

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