The day had finally arrived when we had to say goodbye to Hongkong. For even though we were going to come back to Hongkong International Airport (HKIA) the next day this would be the last we would be on HK soil.
We had had so much fun and we knew were going to miss it a lot.
I had not booked the ferry tickets (onward journey) to Macau since I didn't want us to hurry or miss the ferry. We just decided to get the tickets at the counter.
Check out at Holiday Inn was a breeze since we had already started the procedure the previous day. We hailed a taxi and left for China Ferry terminal where we would take the ferry to Macau. There are 2 primary Ferry operators that sail between HK and Macau - TurboJet and Cotai Ferry. I had already booked the return with Cotai so I thought it would be nice to sail with Turbo one way.
There is not a huge difference between the two except that the Cotai is probably a little more plusher than Turbo.
The one thing we found a bit tough was to lug around our heavy suitcases at least to and from the ferry point. There were no trolleys at the China Ferry terminal and even though all our bags came with wheels it still proved to be a bit of a challenge. But luckily there was an option to pay and get our luggages checked in which we did. We got our tickets and proceeded towards immigration. Once cleared we boarded the Turbo ferry to reach a new destination - Macau.
The journey was roughly an hour long and we reached the Ferry station at Macau and collected our bags. We were going to be staying at the Venetian hotel and we knew that there would be free shuttle buses taking us there. With great effort we lugged our bags to the shuttle bus (via a subway) and boarded it.
For those who are unaware, Macau is a resort city which is peppered with Casinos and luxury hotels. It was once ruled by the Portuguese until the late 1990's and you can see the remnants of the Portuguese rule by looking at the architecture of all the buildings around the city.
Unlike Hongkong (which was a British colony until the late 90's), people of Macau are not very comfortable with English. Most can't speak it. They have a separate currency - Macanese Pataca distinct from Hongkong but mercifully they also accept HKD everywhere.
We reached the Magnificent Venetian hotel which was HUGE. It has many casinos and shops within it and it is no surprise that the Venetian features as a tourist attraction in itself. In fact left to my mom, we'd have spent our entire stay at Macau within the hotel. Which wouldn't have been a bad idea except I wanted to venture out at least for a short time.
Coming back to the hotel, however much the hotel is gorgeous and fancy, the check in process sucks big time. It is painfully slow and leaves everyone impatient and angry.Even though there are multiple check in counters the process is still slow any time of the day. We joined a long queue which snaked its way slowly. It took us more than 1.5 hours to finally reach a check in counter and by this time we were tired, angry and totally vexed with the hotel. But once we got inside our room, all our anger evaporated. The room was what dreams are made of. And the bathroom was uber luxurious. And this after staying the last few days in a much smaller and less luxurious room !
My mother was dying to eat something Indian and we ordered Dal chawal and rotis via room service and the way they served the food was akin to a star hotel.
We were in heaven.
As we had less than 24 hours to explore Macau and it was already evening, we could not venture out much. We had to pick one place to visit and we decided to visit Senado square - a historical place where once important meetings, flea markets and large events were hosted. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage site.
It was a captivating place with Portuguese style buildings all around.
We looked around, saw some nice shops (things are cheaper in Macau than HK) but didn't want to buy too much.
We got back to the hotel for the big night - we were ready to hit the casinos. Click this link to read the final part of the blog.
Here is the link to Part 1 of the blog series: HK and Macau - Part 1
We had had so much fun and we knew were going to miss it a lot.
I had not booked the ferry tickets (onward journey) to Macau since I didn't want us to hurry or miss the ferry. We just decided to get the tickets at the counter.
Check out at Holiday Inn was a breeze since we had already started the procedure the previous day. We hailed a taxi and left for China Ferry terminal where we would take the ferry to Macau. There are 2 primary Ferry operators that sail between HK and Macau - TurboJet and Cotai Ferry. I had already booked the return with Cotai so I thought it would be nice to sail with Turbo one way.
There is not a huge difference between the two except that the Cotai is probably a little more plusher than Turbo.
The one thing we found a bit tough was to lug around our heavy suitcases at least to and from the ferry point. There were no trolleys at the China Ferry terminal and even though all our bags came with wheels it still proved to be a bit of a challenge. But luckily there was an option to pay and get our luggages checked in which we did. We got our tickets and proceeded towards immigration. Once cleared we boarded the Turbo ferry to reach a new destination - Macau.
The journey was roughly an hour long and we reached the Ferry station at Macau and collected our bags. We were going to be staying at the Venetian hotel and we knew that there would be free shuttle buses taking us there. With great effort we lugged our bags to the shuttle bus (via a subway) and boarded it.
For those who are unaware, Macau is a resort city which is peppered with Casinos and luxury hotels. It was once ruled by the Portuguese until the late 1990's and you can see the remnants of the Portuguese rule by looking at the architecture of all the buildings around the city.
Unlike Hongkong (which was a British colony until the late 90's), people of Macau are not very comfortable with English. Most can't speak it. They have a separate currency - Macanese Pataca distinct from Hongkong but mercifully they also accept HKD everywhere.
We reached the Magnificent Venetian hotel which was HUGE. It has many casinos and shops within it and it is no surprise that the Venetian features as a tourist attraction in itself. In fact left to my mom, we'd have spent our entire stay at Macau within the hotel. Which wouldn't have been a bad idea except I wanted to venture out at least for a short time.
Coming back to the hotel, however much the hotel is gorgeous and fancy, the check in process sucks big time. It is painfully slow and leaves everyone impatient and angry.Even though there are multiple check in counters the process is still slow any time of the day. We joined a long queue which snaked its way slowly. It took us more than 1.5 hours to finally reach a check in counter and by this time we were tired, angry and totally vexed with the hotel. But once we got inside our room, all our anger evaporated. The room was what dreams are made of. And the bathroom was uber luxurious. And this after staying the last few days in a much smaller and less luxurious room !
My mother was dying to eat something Indian and we ordered Dal chawal and rotis via room service and the way they served the food was akin to a star hotel.
We were in heaven.
As we had less than 24 hours to explore Macau and it was already evening, we could not venture out much. We had to pick one place to visit and we decided to visit Senado square - a historical place where once important meetings, flea markets and large events were hosted. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage site.
It was a captivating place with Portuguese style buildings all around.
We looked around, saw some nice shops (things are cheaper in Macau than HK) but didn't want to buy too much.
We got back to the hotel for the big night - we were ready to hit the casinos. Click this link to read the final part of the blog.
Here is the link to Part 1 of the blog series: HK and Macau - Part 1
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