MACAU/HONG KONG

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.

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.

Golf In Chiang Mai, THAILAND

Day 1 (3 April 2007)

We left KLIA at 8.50am on board Air Asia flight AK896. The departure was on time. It was about three quarter full and this was supposed to be a low season. Zack, Datuk and I managed to find seats next to each other. The flight to Chiang Mai normally takes about 2 hours and 50 minutes. This time, we arrived 20 minutes earlier.

The Custom and Immigration clearance at Chiang Mai Airport was a breeze. I spoke a bit of Thai and that went well with the officers. We boarded our waiting transport and went to check in at the hotel first. The driver’s name was Num. Our hotel, Central Duangtawan was a reasonably good hotel. This 4-star hotel is located next to the night bazaar. After changing to our golf attire, we went to have lunch at a Muslim’s restaurant in front of the mosque. It was just ordinary Thai food.

Then, we left for Highlands Golf Club. It took about 40 minutes’ drive to get to the golf course. I noted that the area was dry and very hot. Even the grass by the roadside turned brown. We happened to come to Chiang Mai during its hottest month of the year. Highlands GC was Chiang Mai’s latest addition. This new course was well maintained and a nice course. We walked during the 18-hole game and it was really hot day. I played a round of 98. My caddy was a young girl and new to the job. She was not of much help other than carrying the bag. The club house was huge and nicely built. The driver, Num told us that the golf course belonged to Thaksin’s sister.

This new course was a pleasure to play. From left, myself, Datuk and Zack.

We decided to go for a massage and asked Num to take us to a good massage. He took us to a place called Sawasdee something. The entrance to the place had running water at the entrance. You had to walk on steps surrounded by this water. Good idea for an entrance. The place was run by middle age masseuses and I had quite a good 2-hour massage. By then, it was already late and we went for late dinner at a restaurant located next to a river. It was a nice restaurant and we settled for sea food.

After the meal, we went back to the hotel. Zack was tired and went straight to the room. Datuk and I decided to check out the night bazaar. We bought shirts and I bought some CDs. The bazaar stretched along the street in front of our hotel. It branched off to other streets. There were a lot of stuffs on sale, mostly Thai stuffs like shirts, souvenirs, the things you could find in Thailand. There were vendors wearing hill tribe costume selling souvenirs. I bought 2 bracelets from them. By the time I reached my room, Zack was already asleep. I had stomach trouble and spent quite a while inside the toilet. I went to bed at almost 1am.

Day 2 (4 April 2007)

We woke up quite early today. I didn’t have much choice. Zack was up by 5am and the TV was turned on. We had breakfast and by 6.30am we were ready to leave the hotel for Gassan Khuntan Golf Resort. The journey to the golf course took about one hour, enough for me to catch forty winks. The golf course was situated in a valley about 50 km south west of Chiang Mai.

That's me at Gassan's final hole (18th). The club house is at the back.

The fairways were long and narrow. Water was everywhere. Every hole was unique and offered a different challenge. Some common features included teeing off over water, island greens, narrow and elevated greens and severe doglegs. Even the bunkers were distinctively Gassan’s, 3 small and deep fairway bunkers with similar rounded shapes. After nine holes, Zack was asking everybody to tee off from the white tee boxes as the fairways were too long for comfort. I played a good round of 88. Gassan Khuntan now ranked as one of the best golf courses in South East Asia that I have played.

Zack and I (right) from the club house with a view of Gassan's 10th. Hole.

After the game, we asked Num to take us to a better Muslim restaurant than the previous day. He brought us to a nicely furnished place called The Whole Earth. Sure enough it was a pricey place. We paid about 10 times the price of yesterday’s lunch. Then, we dismissed Num as he would charge extra for taking us to dinner or any other place. We figured Chiang Mai was not big enough for us to need a guide. Then we walked around the night bazaar and had dinner at the place called the Market. It had 2 Muslim restaurants. We tried out one of them that looked a bit more Thai than the other which looked more of an Arabic one. The food was just ok but the price was reasonable.

After dinner, we went around the night bazaar and bought a few things. We went to look for a place to have a good massage and ended up next to our hotel. The massage was not that good but enough to ease the muscular pain. It was already late. I had a drink at the hotel lobby and went back to sleep.

Day 3 (5 April 2001)

We left at about the same time to play at Chiang Mai Lamphun Golf Club. It was more of a trip down memory lane for Zack and I. About 7 years ago, when we first started to play golf, Chiang Mai was our first golfing trip outside Malaysia and Lamphun GC was one of the two courses that we played. The club house was not as grand as Highland or Gassan. The changing room looked more like high school locker room. Every body was a bit tired after 2 days of golfing so we decided to take a buggy each this time.

Lamphun golf course was quite an old and matured course. The fairways were narrow fringed by tall trees. Having the buggies enabled us to finish the game in a very short time. I was not hitting well and lost a lot of balls. I decided to quit the game and not continue with the remaining one hole which we skipped because of slow walking flight of golfers at that hole. The rest decided to join me at the club house. It was there that we met the club sales lady named Khuon. She was quite friendly and we took photo with her and exchanged business cards. After shower, we drove back to Chiang Mai looking for a place to eat near the mosque. We had lunch at a restaurant called Sophia and Sophia happened to be a lovely Muslim lady. The food was surprisingly good and the price was reasonable.

After lunch, everybody decided to go for another 18 holes at the nearby Green Valley Golf Club. The golf course was surprisingly well maintained but it was more of a flat layout. We truly enjoyed our rounds here better than Lamphun. After the game, we had completed 4 rounds of golf in 3 days, quite a fete for a bunch of old men. I wasn’t even feeling tired.

We decided to go back to Sophia for dinner but Sophia was not there. We had good meals anyway.

My stomach was already in trouble. I got back to the hotel room just in the nick of time. After spending quite sometime in the toilet, I got an SMS from Zack to see whether I was interested to go for another round of massage. I said ok, after I settled my trouble first. We had another massage at the same place near the hotel. I retired immediately after the massage, getting ready to leave Chiang Mai the next day.

Genting Highlands, MALAYSIA

GENTING HIGHLAND, Malaysia

We decided to spend one weekend in early March 2007 in Genting Highland. We were attracted by the numerous advertisements in the local newspapers of the cheap hotel rates available. Being budget conscious traveler, room that costs less than RM100 a night seems like a good bargain. We tried online booking and to our frustration, we discovered that the promotional rates only apply on low seasons and weekdays only. Nonetheless, we decided to proceed to book a deluxe room in First World Hotel (FWH) at RM169 a night inclusive of breakfast.

Upon arrival we were impressed by the huge size of the hotel lobby. After all, FWH is the biggest hotel in the world. We were more impressed by the even bigger weekend crowds. We had to get queue number just to check in.

We got our room, a deluxe room. The room was a lot smaller than what we were used to. There was no view as it faced another building real close. It looked directly into someone else’s room. For privacy, we had to close the curtain all the time. There was no refrigerator, no coffee making facility, no complimentary bottle of mineral water and no closets for our clothes. The bathroom was small, and there was no shower curtain. One shower was enough to make the whole bathroom real wet and I hate wet bathroom.

We decided that it was time for us to check out the outside facilities. Genting boasts of outdoor as well as indoor theme parks for entertainment. There were a lot of people. Some were foreigners. I could tell from their lingo that they were Indonesians, Filipinos and Thais, all eager to lose money at the casino. There were a few Mat Sallehs. Somehow, being Malay Muslims, we were forbidden to enter Genting Casino by a decree laid in June 1983 by the Sultan of Pahang. That could have saved us a lot of money indeed. Most rich Malays go overseas anyway to gamble away their easily earned millions.

It was time for lunch and our 10 year old son decided that pizza should be the choice of the day. Since his word is final when it came to meals, we the parents had to oblige. Actually my wife and I wanted to try Torcello, an Italian restaurant. It opens for business only in the evening. Pizza Hut was the closest thing to an Italian restaurant. For a set menu of pizza for two and an extra order of garden salad and iced milo, the bill came to less than RM50. Not bad for a place like Genting.

After lunch it was time to check the outdoor theme park. After getting the entrance tickets, we walked into the park past the latest attraction called the Flying Coaster. Genting has a few signature attractions and of course you have to pay separate charges for some of these attractions. We tried Pirate Train since it was the first one that we came across. It looked very adventurous from the outside. While inside, we waited and waited for things to happen, they never came until we exited the place. The pirates must have gone away on their looting trips. Next we tried the Spinner. It was just a spinning swing and it was quite a ride. With our heads still spinning we decided to get out of the place for a drink. The tickets enabled us to enter and exit anytime until 10pm for that day.

You can’t go hungry in Genting. Eating places are everywhere. The only thing is they cost you many times more. The trip uphill must have contributed to the increase in cost significantly.

Next, it was time to check the indoor theme park. SnowWorld looked like a worthy venture especially for our son. Tickets cost RM17 for adults and RM14 for children. That was the price we paid to get the taste of freezing winter.

We stopped by a shop selling toys promoting up to fifty percent discount. My son picked a miniature car toy that carried a price tag of RM22. Since it came from the 50% discount lot, it would logically be RM11. Was I wrong! The discount was applicable to certain merchandise only.

Then it was dinner time. We decided Kopitiam looked like it’s worth a try. We ordered very light dinner indeed. After dinner, we went back to the outdoor theme park again. After a few rides, we were ready to call it a night.

Genting as I discovered, is a perfect place for weekend escapade. It may be a bit expensive, but you can experience the vibrant atmosphere by just going around the place. You have the choice of whether to go on the rides at the park, the casino or even be selective in places to have your meals to suit your budget.