MACAU/HONG KONG
18 – 21 APRIL 2007
We left our house early to the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) to catch our flight at 1.30pm. Even though it was a mid week flight, it was full. The crowd was also a bit different compared to the usual travelers on other Air Asian flights. It was very noisy. People got in line waiting at the departure door one hour before time despite an announcement made on a slight delay. People were really rushing to board the plane as Air Asia doesn’t provide seating arrangement. We were the only Malay family on board with one Mat Salleh and an Indian. The rests were Chinese. Having Anas with us enabled us to get priority boarding for family with children. Even this didn’t stop some people from overtaking us as we were walking to board the plane.
The flight to Macau took about 3 hours 40 minutes. I met the captain, N.S. Chin on board. I had long conversation with him during my flight to Chiang Mai two weeks earlier on a golfing trip there. He still remembered me. We reached Macau at about 5.15pm. We hailed a cab to our hotel but the driver seemed to have some problems in understanding our hotel name in English. He called his company and let me talk to his colleagues and then his colleague told him the hotel name in Chinese.
We checked into our hotel, Hotel Golden Dragon upon arrival. The hotel was located close to the ferry terminal to Hong Kong, Yaohan (the latest and biggest shopping complex in Macau), the Fisherman Wharf and Sands Casino. As with other big hotels in Macau, it has several floors of casino.
After taking a short rest, we decided to check out the nearby attractions. We walked to the Fisherman Wharf. The place was nicely done with buildings fit for photo taking. Then, after a short walk, it was dinner time and we settled for some Thai style seafood. It was the safest way to eat for us Muslims in a non Muslim country. Since it was still early, we checked out Yaohan which was within walking distance from our hotel and the Fisherman Wharf. It was the latest and biggest shopping outlet for Macau. There were not much interesting stuffs on offer. Only the usual departmental store stuffs. They were very expensive compared to KL.
When every body had settled down nice and easy at the hotel room, it was my turn to hit the casino trails. A visit to Macau wouldn’t be complete without experiencing the gambling atmosphere of a casino. The casinos were everywhere. I went downstairs where the hotel casinos were located but there was not much action there. So, I decided to check out the Sands Casino, one of the biggest and latest gambling attractions in Macau. It was full with gamblers, floors after floors of them. I spent most of the time watching the big stake gamblers at the roulette table throwing away their money.
DAY 2
We decided to go to Hong Kong Disney Land on our second day in Macau. There was not much to do in Macau except for the casinos.
After breakfast, it was already after 10am, we walked to the ferry terminal which was quite close to our hotel. We got our tickets to Hong Kong and boarded the next ferry available, the Jet Star. We arrived at Shung Tak Centre Ferry Terminal on Hong Kong’s side after about one hour ride. We took the MTR, Hong Kong’s equivalent to our LRT, the subway, from Sheung Wan Station to Disney land.
18 – 21 APRIL 2007
We left our house early to the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) to catch our flight at 1.30pm. Even though it was a mid week flight, it was full. The crowd was also a bit different compared to the usual travelers on other Air Asian flights. It was very noisy. People got in line waiting at the departure door one hour before time despite an announcement made on a slight delay. People were really rushing to board the plane as Air Asia doesn’t provide seating arrangement. We were the only Malay family on board with one Mat Salleh and an Indian. The rests were Chinese. Having Anas with us enabled us to get priority boarding for family with children. Even this didn’t stop some people from overtaking us as we were walking to board the plane.
The flight to Macau took about 3 hours 40 minutes. I met the captain, N.S. Chin on board. I had long conversation with him during my flight to Chiang Mai two weeks earlier on a golfing trip there. He still remembered me. We reached Macau at about 5.15pm. We hailed a cab to our hotel but the driver seemed to have some problems in understanding our hotel name in English. He called his company and let me talk to his colleagues and then his colleague told him the hotel name in Chinese.
We checked into our hotel, Hotel Golden Dragon upon arrival. The hotel was located close to the ferry terminal to Hong Kong, Yaohan (the latest and biggest shopping complex in Macau), the Fisherman Wharf and Sands Casino. As with other big hotels in Macau, it has several floors of casino.
After taking a short rest, we decided to check out the nearby attractions. We walked to the Fisherman Wharf. The place was nicely done with buildings fit for photo taking. Then, after a short walk, it was dinner time and we settled for some Thai style seafood. It was the safest way to eat for us Muslims in a non Muslim country. Since it was still early, we checked out Yaohan which was within walking distance from our hotel and the Fisherman Wharf. It was the latest and biggest shopping outlet for Macau. There were not much interesting stuffs on offer. Only the usual departmental store stuffs. They were very expensive compared to KL.
When every body had settled down nice and easy at the hotel room, it was my turn to hit the casino trails. A visit to Macau wouldn’t be complete without experiencing the gambling atmosphere of a casino. The casinos were everywhere. I went downstairs where the hotel casinos were located but there was not much action there. So, I decided to check out the Sands Casino, one of the biggest and latest gambling attractions in Macau. It was full with gamblers, floors after floors of them. I spent most of the time watching the big stake gamblers at the roulette table throwing away their money.
DAY 2
We decided to go to Hong Kong Disney Land on our second day in Macau. There was not much to do in Macau except for the casinos.
After breakfast, it was already after 10am, we walked to the ferry terminal which was quite close to our hotel. We got our tickets to Hong Kong and boarded the next ferry available, the Jet Star. We arrived at Shung Tak Centre Ferry Terminal on Hong Kong’s side after about one hour ride. We took the MTR, Hong Kong’s equivalent to our LRT, the subway, from Sheung Wan Station to Disney land.
Hong Kong Disney Land was quite small compared to other Disneys. It was made up of 3 main attractions, the Adventure Land, Tomorrow Land and Fantasy Land. We finished the whole area before dark. We tried the ride at Adventure Land and I went on the Space Mountain just to travel down memory lane. I had uneasy feeling of nausea and headache after the ride. Perhaps I was too old for this kid stuff. We spent the rest of the tour taking photos especially of Anas and the Disney characters.
We took the MTR to Mong Kok to check out Hong Kong night market. There were too many people at the night market area. After buying some souvenirs and t-shirts, we took the MTR back to the ferry terminal. It was after 11pm when we got to our hotel rooms. It has been a long walking day and everybody was tired.
DAY 3
It was tour Macau day.
We took a cab to Senado Square, where the Macau tour started. It was here where you were supposed to walk around Macau’s historical places that included mainly old Portuguese buildings, churches and temples especially the A Ma Temple. We walked to the ruins of St. Paul and in between sneaked out to the street markets nearby to buy some souvenirs and of course t-shirts. We had lunch at Anas’ favorite MacDonald. The tour was short and we decided to go back to our hotel. Again, we decided to go on a full walking tour of the Fisherman Wharf in the evening. We walked from one end to another. There were not that many people around. It was quite a nice place to take a stroll.
We had dinner at the same place on our first day but different menu. After dinner, another visit to Yaohan and the family was ready to call it a night.
DAY 4
On our last day in Macau we decided to check out early and go for another walk at the Senado Square. Where else could we go? It was Saturday and the hotel did not allow late check out. Our flight was at 5.50pm. Anyway, the hotel allowed us to leave our bags there and off we went on another historical walk.
When we arrived at the Square, there was a group of tourism students offering free walking guides to tourists. We signed ourselves in and took photos with the group. It took a while for our guide to explain things and she looked very nervous. Ton and I decided to break away from the group and started our own itinerary, street shopping. Again, lunch was at MacDonald. It was about 2pm when we got back to our hotel, and by 3pm it was time to go to the airport.
