When a friend asked me what was the highlight from the recent trip ~ Macau came to my mind. I can't remember how it happened..but I actually totally forgot about planning for Macau. I kept thinking that I'm gonna let this trip be a free and easy one since I've been to HK a few times..but I totally totally forgot thatI've never been to Macau. And..Macau ain't HK.
My sis and a few friends had been to Macau but it never once occurred to me that I should ask them for some advice , suggestions or recommendations. All I had in mind was..I wanted to try the Pork burger and Portuguese Egg tart. What was I thinking....? No idea.
The hotel staff offered us the map of Macau..and I didn't even bothered to look at it. SH was looking through it the night before..and I was still saying the same thing to her..I only want my Pork Burger and Egg Tart..other things can be free and easy. I must be so irritating :D
Well I did try to look at the map..but..I'm not so much of a map person. I need to feel and touch ... the map doesn't give me that. Normally, I'd look through blogs and write ups to get a feel of what, where and how to get around a new place. This time I totally blew it.
I kind of only realised that I actually 'need to do something' when I boarded the ferry ..haha. So..I was frantically surfing the net from my phone and whats-app-ing my sis for suggestions. Fortunately, the ferry has wi-fi access :P
We had a 'culture shock' upon arrival. Well, I was expecting Macau to be like HK..transport wise..at least, e.g. proper instructions and guide to where and how we should get to the city from the pier, etc.
I was wrong of course. We had no clue where and what to do. There were many 'offers' from transport operators, similar to our Pudu Raya...but we dare not take up any as we were still hoping for something equivalent to airbus or airport express...at least a counter for proper transportation advice?!
There was None :D
Only rows of hotel buses...from different hotel ...or casinos.
Out of desperation, we chose the 'hotel brand' that we were most comfortable with and hop onto it without knowing if they will charge and where it will take us to :D :D
The bus dropped us off at a Sands hotel, unfortunately it was situated slightly off the city centre...so we were lost all over again. In the end we decided to flag down a taxi near the hotel and headed straight to Senado Square.
At Senado Square..I had to take care of another immediate need. I needed a new pair of pants :D :D cos the zip of the pants I was wearing...broke :S After getting the pants at Bossini....our next target was to get food. Again..I was expecting it to be like HK..where you can find food at every corner.
Unfortunately we took a left (heading to the famous St Paul's wall) instead of right turn...(there were more food on right, we discovered much later)
Road names in the map are all in Portuguese. How authentic. And they all sound alike! And what long names they have. Till now I can't remember nor pronounce any Portuguese word. I found out later from the locals that they don't use the language neither. They're just there for tradition sake. Portuguese ain't really the first language although it seem so..in all the public areas.
Even basic signs like EXIT are in Portuguses.
OK..back to our food search. As I was saying..we headed to the direction of St Paul's wall..thought we were being smart..by killing two birds with stone i.e. to arrive at the main attraction at least while looking for food. It was a Sunday..Macau is P A C K E D on weekends!
Another culture shock. This is worse than Causeway Bay in HK. Sea of people all the way. Retail outlets selling almond cookies, dried meat, etc etc..were swarmed. So good meh? We were close to passing out...so many people..no food...so hot..and tired.
Even the sight of St Paul didn't excite us. Crowded!
Yea...we saw the famous Ruins of St Paul's Cathedral. I'm not a history person..so all I did was snapped some pics..and ready to go :D SH on the other hand had lotsa patience reading the description, etc. You can ask her for a summary. Ai ya..."can always Google what"....that's what I kept telling her..and she will forwn at me :D
Food? We downed some egg tarts and juice to keep us alive. Though we might as well finish exploring the area since we were already there. Visited the Mount Fortress which is just next to the St Paul's Wall.
Was telling SH that I actually prefer taking pics of current livelihood rather than historical monuments, for instance..current buildings...
Well..we did find settle down eventually for a late lunch. Tried the pork burger, some interesting snack dishes ..we even found Nam Peng a popular local coffee shop! Love it. Will talk about those in separate posts :)
Basically, we found lots of food on the other street. Unfortunately we were too full to take in all. We strolled to the other end of town on foot..hoping to digest in time to have a second round ..but we were still full by dinner time.
Well..at least we caught a glimpse of the Macau tower at night. Wandered back to town to get a feel of the casino area. Stumbled upon a good dessert shop....enjoyed our steam egg.
And...that was end of Macau for us.
