DAY2
It’s our second day in HK and we are so ready to see more about this country. We woke up as early as 6:00 am and had breakfast at McDonald’s, luckily, there is one just down the street. As a part our the tour package we paid for, they gave us breakfast coupon good for 2 days. I was actually expecting a buffet breakfast in Emperor Hotel but that did not happen. 😛 We are on schedule and the tour shuttle bus picked us up in the hotel lobby.
McDonald’s Breakfast Coupons
McDonald’s Happy Valley
McDonald’s Deluxe Breakfast
A Chinese lady named Jackie Mak who works for Ann’s Travel Services Corp. is our tour guide for this trip, she is also the same person who picked us up in HK airport. So she started telling stories about HK while on the way to tourist locations. As per Jackie, their country is really small compared to their total population, that is the main reason why all of their buildings are high rise, because they don’t have enough land to build wider ones, even their roads are narrow which causes traffic especially during peak hours. Also, condominium units in HK is too pricey, even the Government Housings costs too much for an employee whose working on an average salary. So most of them are still living with their parents, typical Asian set up. I can say British Government did a great job improving this country before it was sent back to China.
First stop is in Hong Kong Convention Center facing the Kowloon Harbour. We also saw the Golden Bauhinia Square. Jackie said that is HK’s most famous landmark; Bauhinia is similar to Orchids but bigger, it is their National flower and that’s the same one you see in Hong Kong’s Flag.
Tourists of Hong Kong 🙂
Kowloon Harbour
Golden Bauhinia Square
Ann’s Travel Services, our seat in coach for the day tour
Next is the Aberdeen Fishing Village, we tried the river taxi operated by the locals in HK who speaks Cantonese language only. The youngest fishermen in the Village is 62 years old now, so they can no longer paddle and that’s when they came up of putting a motor engine in to the boat and easier to maneuver. Tourists who visits the Village is tipping $60 HKD per person and that’s what they do for a living. We saw the Jumbo Floating Restaurant which is pretty famous in some Jackie Chan’s films. Expensive yachts are also parked in this Village and they are huge and shiny! Total boat ride is about 25 minutes.
In Aberdeen Fishing Village
The Famous Jumbo Floating Restaurant
Me & the Cantonese Local
Expensive Yachts & High Rise Buildings
This City Tour is part of the package, so it is compulsory. The total duration took us 5 hours and 30 minutes. Whether you will participate or not, you are required to pay the tipping of $50 HKD, it’s adding up..hmm. Spent most of the time in Hong Kong Jewellery Shop and I’m starting to get hungry. I just can’t wait to get this tour done and we have to get ready for our Macau Tour .After the Jewellery Shop, we went to some Buddha temple and outlet store where the tourist can buy some local foods, it costs $150 HKD for 4 and can choose variety. They also have Disney items which they claimed way cheaper than buying in Disneyland since they transact directly in the factory who makes it.
Buddha Temple
What annoys me is the tour guide keeps on selling items in the coach like key chains and a plate with my picture on it which I am not aware of until they hand it over to me. They are selling it for $200 HKD which i found total rip off. I did not buy it anyway. I asked the tour guide to drop us off at the China Ferry Terminal which is located in Kowloon, from here, we bought the ticket going to Macau via Turbo Jet. It is actually convenient for the passengers because the ticketing booth is located exactly inside the mall that connected to the boarding gate. As soon as you get to the ticketing area, you will see several booths that sells tickets to Macau, they are in same price range but I am wise enough to walk on the right corner of the mall to find a cheaper one! We got it for $278 HKD instead of $340 HKD for round trip ticket .Thanks to the blog I read about getting a not so expensive ticket but using the same ferry, saved me money! 🙂
Boarding Pass to Macau
Macau Ferry Terminal, in Portuguese Language
The ferry trip took 55 minutes to reach Macau, went through Immigration and got a Macau permit to entry. Macau did not stamp my passport and they only give a landing slip/visitor pass like what I got in Hong Kong. Too bad my Macau permit to entry already faded few days after I taped it on my passport 😦
Free Shuttles in Macau
Transportation going to casinos and hotels are free in Macau, each of them have their own shuttle service whichever destination you want to go first. Since it’s getting dark, we only had limited time to do some sight seeing and we have to make sure we will be able to catch the last trip back to Kowloon. We decided to go to The Venetian Hotel, it is very beautiful!! Like a huge golden palace! I took some nice photos while inside the hotel.
The Venetian, Macau
The Venetian Hotel Reception Area
Beautiful Ceiling Design Inside Venetian
Hotel Lobby
Night in Macau
One of The Venetian Wall Design
I’m an Angel!
Upscale Mall with Artificial Cloud Ceiling Design
It’s Always Daylight here!
Inside the Venetian Mall
Gondola Ride at The Venetian
Too bad we weren’t able to go to the other side of Macau where Wynn, MGM, Sands are located. I also heard that St. Paul Ruins is one if the tourist spot you must visit when you’re in Macau, I guess you really have to spend an entire day to maximize your time with other tourist spots in here. That means there’s going to be next time ya? 😀
Other Hotel & Casinos in Macau
We headed back to the ferry terminal for the 10:45 pm trip back to Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, we had a Chinese dinner at Noodle & Dim Sum Kitchen located at the 3rd floor of the terminal and again, it’s another yummy Chinese food! NOTE: (Macau Pataca is = HKD currency)
Restaurant’s Menu
Neat & Organized Table Set-up
Steamed Rice w/ Beef Brisket & White Turnip in “Chu Hou” Sauce, MOP 50
Me & Joy, My Travel Buddy
Shrimp Wonton Noodles , MOP 36
Iced Soya Drink , MOP 10
I fell asleep the entire boat ride and reached Kowloon terminal before 12mn, we are already tired and only our option to get back to the hotel is by taking a cab. It sure is too dangerous to travel in a foreign country in wee hours especially for us two girls, it’s going to be a long drive from Kowloon to Happy Valley area and we are just thankful enough that nothing harmful happened. It’s been a long day so I had to sleep as soon as we got into the hotel room. Watch out for my Day 3 blog which talks about Disneyland & Disneyland Hollywood experience 🙂
LittleMichelle 