Off to Macau

Macau

     First off, I would like to greet all of you a Happy New Year! 2013 has been a great year for me and this trip is absolutely one of those. Let's proceed.

Facade of St. Paul's Cathedral Ruins

     The Venice, Rio and Las Vegas of Asia. MACAU. It is not an overstatement when they referred Macau in that way. It is a relatively small country under China, but let it not fool you this is actually a Filipino filled country. 

     I was able to venture the beauty of Macau in less than 8 hours. You bet how limited our time was. It was on Sunday so we did expect a large volume of people, and we did, in fact, a huge volume of Filipinos. It totally feels like they rule the place. I have my itinerary well prepared for this occasion. Since the lack of time everything was changed, crossing out the least appealing among the sceneries. 

Sands

     On the Las Vegas side of Macau we go. The first destination we arrive was the City of Dreams Hotel, it lived up to its name. The place was spectacular! The façade of the hotel is so  beautiful and amazing. They genuinely understand the characteristics of the water as the architecture was amazing. Fact: Macau is partially a desert. The indoor is surreal with a huge centerpiece with a virtual mermaid and tons of large dragon figurines.

Venetian Grand Canal

      Off to the next destination was the Venetian Macau. One word, elegance. Gold is the color of this hotel. I haven't been to France but this will suffice the need. We did able to witness the poster of the Pacquiao fight last November. 

 

Elegant Ceiling of Venetian Macau

     This is where I was amazed, I never thought that the Venetian Grand Canal is an indoor sanctuary! Yes! The Grand Canal is situated inside the Venetian Macau itself. 

    How amazing is it to place a beautiful scenery inside in a closed environment. No wonder it appears clean and always sunny in the travel blogs I have read. We would have availed to ride one of the boats that comes with a singing operator but due to lack of time we may not be able to see the other attractions. 

     The Venetian is a hotel and casino. I am 19 but they require age 21 and above, my heart suddenly fall apart. I'm of legal age! I would love to try my luck on those slot machines, I could have won a million dollar. Haha! Oh and a kind Filipino employee helped us on our way back to the port. It's so handy to be a Filipino sometimes.

     This time we headed to see the Brazilian and Spanish side of Macau. We moved back to the port to acquire a city bus going to the ever famous Senado Square of Macau. The ride to the square was superb. Every major attraction was included in the route of the bus and I really enjoyed it. Especially the fact that I was technically roaming the city just by sitting on those comfy chairs after those casino and hotel tours. To my amazement we missed the Senado Square, nonetheless, we did arrive on the next bus stop. A relatively long walk it was but it is worth it for we witnessed the intricate designs of the sidewalks which are made of colorful marbles. 

 

Egg Pies!

     Then we arrive at the Senado Square! Nothing but pristine heritage. Feels like reliving old times that I only encounter through history books and tv shows. Everything is classic (not old). The buildings along the square are with Spanish appeal to it due to the colonization of Portuguese decades ago. It is comparable to Vigan and some parts of Intramuros in Manila.

     There is always time for food! We tried some egg pies made of croissant. It was so tasty! Yum! It taste like egg pie with some kind of flaky texture which it stands out. It only cost around Php50 each. Worth every buck if you ask me.

Grand Lisboa Tower

     Then there's the St. Paul's Cathedral ruin. This is the Most famous structure of Macau it represent the whole country. There's nothing special about this landmark.

Casino Lisboa

     Night comes, LIGHTS! The neon lights of the casino totally feels like I'm in Vegas. Lights everywhere. The casinos seems to have a friendly competition when it comes in lighting their establishments. Cool bright lights. :)

Claimer: I own all the photos.

All about Hong Kong

 Hong Kong: The First Chronicle

     This thread will be helpful for you if in the future, are planning to go to Hong Kong. I hope you're willing to join me on my travel adventure upon engaging in another culture very distant from our own for the first time.

HK Food

Noodles on local HK restaurant

     Hong Kong style foods flourish the Philippines, not to mention the stalls of shomai and the noodles, which I really adore. Ordering food is not the best part of our food tripping, imagine  yourself in my situation, hungry as we are, we have to communicate with the waitress that do not speak english! It was totally challenging with our roaring tummy. The first local delicacy we ate was some sort of noodle (I don't know what it is called but I categorize them all as noodles.) It was good. Served in a huge bowl which can be served to three people of my size.  Full of pork chops, which is tender, thick noodles and the most noticeable of them all, what seems to be an unlimited supply of Chinese cabbage. It actually feels like they are serving salad bundled with noodles.

     It is hard not to notice that their McDonald's are extremely cheap when compared to ours. In fact, Coca Cola is CHEAPER than a Big Mac, yes, that double patty, triple bun, TLC, burger. In addition to that madness, the fries are also cheap, Php20+ for a medium fries! I know right, its a darn deal. That is one of the two reason we have done half of our eating routine there, the other being, as I stated earlier, for their not-so-appetizing foods.

Big Mac in downtown HK

     Lets tackle their drinks, water is expensive, in a sense that it is a necessity. In fact, soft drinks like Pepsi and the likes are much more affordable than water, as 1 liter of water is equivalent to 2 liters of Pepsi! I only noticed this when I drop by to a local grocery store in the last day of our trip! Tea is everywhere, I know that you know how torturous that may be. You can observe that even the local's water containers have atleast one tiny sack of tea to accompany it. I like lemon iced, actually it's my favorite drink, but plain and lonely tea? Cmon! Give me a break. I have stated that Coca Cola is expensive when compared to the Big Mac, so why? The only reason I can clearly observe is... IT'S SUPER TASTY! It was delicious and as an effect, addicting. A little trivia, their Royal is called Fanta, so don't expect to find Royal in the beverage section of the grocery.

     Foods in Hong Kong in general is the biggest disappointment I had in my trip, to be the supposedly food haven I dreamt of. I assumed that food stalls are everywhere and ideally all tasty, to my disappoint, it was not, not at all. The noodles and the fried rice are visually enticing but the moment it touched the tip of your tongue it taste weird, I guess you should be a month of stay there before you feast and appreciate the goodness of their food.

HK Shopping

     It is prominent that Hong Kong is synonymous with shopping. I am here to actually state that it surely is accurate. Let me change that statement to give emphasis, Hong Kong is Shopping! It is true enough that I myself was lure by their merchants. As soon as you took your first step in Hong Kong stores will shine it's bright neon lights that indirectly says "SALE".

     I am a thrifty person, but I am not an exception to the rule, I like shopping especially when they attract me with their dirt cheap deals. As a proof, I actually bought a number of items like HK shirts, key chains, flash drives, whitening strips (not available in the Philippines) and a Bag! I should have bought more but as a common hindrance to shopping, money was short. I would have bought a ton of stuffs like shoes and electronic stuffs that seems heaven for the nerds.

Tsim Tsa Tsui

     To give you an idea of how cheap the items there are, I'll tell you the value of some items I bought. Let's start with the flash drives, a piece of dslr-style flash drive with a metal casing and has a capacity of 8gb was only for a cheap price of Php50+! Rubber shoes are also cheap, original Nike rubber shoes only carry a price tag of Php2,000+! Consider it cheap bcoz it was being sold at an authorized outlet.

Umbrella Vending Machine

     It is fun to shop if you know how to haggle. Haggling is my thing, so ALL the items I bought was not the retail price but rather a portion of it. As an example, a sales lady offered me a bag for HKD $280 I got it for HKD $150! She couldn't resist b'coz I was about to leave the stall (pretending to be not interested) then she grabbed my offer and a good day for me.

     Shopping was not all that ideal. Of course, in a country where inhabitants are mostly grumpy, stall owners will evolve into monsters the moment you asked for a price of an item and you have no intention in buying it. I personally have experienced this, I asked for a price of those adorable key-chains but it was expensive for me, but in fact was already cheap, I said no, then rest is history, she let her voice out with some Cantonese language that I couldn't understand. All I can hear was "blah blah blah" but I can totally feel her anger. In the end, I still didn't bought it (hahaha!). I just brisk walked as fast as I can.

     As far as Shopping goes, It is definitely a valid reason to come back to Hong Kong any day. There are cons but heck! It was cheap.

HK City Life

     The Skyscrapers actually defined how economically advanced Hong Kong is. You can never deny the beauty of their sky even on the absence of the sun due to the luminescence of their neon lights. The malls are all over the place. Well for me, the Hong Kong is a mall on itself because the streets were crowded by outlet stores everywhere. Almost all the typical components of the mall are there minus the air conditioned enclosures. The city life of Hong Kong can easily be forgotten due to the fact that you can simulate the experience here in Manila. The only experience that stand out among the rest is their escalators, it was fast, but in a good way and they will not occupy the left side of the escalator unless in a hurry. They are super organized, I hope that mentality can soon be applied here. 

HK Transportation

Cable Car with my Sister (Keep your Smiles)

     The mode of transportation that mostly led us to our destination is the MTR. This train transport is huge, branching out nearly anywhere in Hong Kong. We have utilized this transportation 80% of the time we need to be on our next destination. The ambiance is the same as our LRT line 2 plus some additional air conditioning system and most of the time useless television (which is boring and incomprehensible)  in a portion of the price. It was expensive but we don't have any choice, we are not familiar with their bus systems.

 Be sure that you have read the previous thread Off to Hong Kong.

Claimer: I own ALL the photos! (l0l)

Off to Hong Kong

 Hong Kong: The First Chronicle

     Only two years have past since my first airplane experience, I was so happy I can finally figure out what does it feel to technically "fly". Now, I found myself being on my first international flight. You can barely imagine how sleepless I was a week before.

 

View from The Peak

On my way to Hong Kong I actually wrote something on my phone's Evernote, it quotes: 

"I carry a huge bucket full of expectations on my first trip abroad. Expectations like, slightly colder weather, fresh air, less pollution, ultra clean streets, considerably friendly commoners and to sum it all up, I would just like to experience their culture that in theory is significantly different from my home country, Philippines."

     Let's see if these parameters are met on my most anticipated trip outside the country.

     The first impression I had before arriving on the soils of Hong Kong is that their airport is effin' huge, like enormous, seems like ten times the size of our arguably worst airport. In fact, you have to ride a tram-like bus to roam around to reach your boarding gate. In the airport alone, you will be in contact with different races that almost feels like rushing towards you.

Avenue of the Stars

     Leaving the airport is the biggest indicator that you're in another coast, you don't know any of the modes of transportation! Unlike in our country where the routes are clearly indicated, their buses feels like you're playing bingo, the sign only indicates A41, B22, etc. It drove us crazy. We later found a huge billboard-like routes so it didn't take us long before commuting to our first destination the Ngong Ping 360. By the way, the double-decker buses sure is an experience in itself. The second floor of the buses will ensure you an almost 360 view on your journey.

I'll discuss Ngong Ping, Disneyland and Ocean Park on another blog. Please stay tuned!

#selfie at the Regal Hotel

     It is after Ngong Ping did we have the chance to be checked in on our hotel (Regal Hotels International: 5 Star Hotel). It was exhausting! Sore as we are, we have manage to walk to the hotel from MTR on the longest possible route, which we found out on the second day.  This "walk-to-the-hotel" was the biggest hindrance on our vacation. The soles of my feet have never been this tired on their whole life (my Crocs are partially to be blamed). The hotel room have managed to reward us with it's bathtub, the view and most specially the softest bed I've been in.

     Last Impression, It's more fun in the Philippines. As the saying goes, "There's no place like home." Everything is generally good in Hong Kong but forgive me but I don't like their food, their smell (hahaha!) and especially their PERSONALITY. They are grumpy as hell, they work and live as if someone is torturing them to death. I cannot emphasize that more and I'm not over-exaggerating here. All of the experience there have an equivalent counterpart here in the Philippines or even better. As for those who are looking forward in visiting this country, lower your expectations because you can never compare the Philippines in terms of its cultural complexity, economic factors set aside. As for doing so you'll enjoy Hong Kong as much as I did. I do enjoyed it nonetheless but still, disappointed. Especially on the theme parks so stay tuned!

     I'll discuss the foods, shopping, city life and so much more here: All about Hong Kong. I have to separate these topics to another thread to express my archive of stories, I have so much to say, so please bear with me.

Claimer: I own ALL the photos! (l0l)