Graduation Trip (Day 2)

Continuing from Day 1's post ...
So we were back at the hotel that fateful night. Imagine my astonishment when cr4zyb3autiful told me that she couldn't find the hotel card. Now, for those of you who doesn't know her, she's like the keeper within the Bitch Clan. You see, she would always be entrusted with our movie tickets, hotel cards or whatever important documents.



Ha ! It seems that her reputation does not hold true ya ? Muahahaha ...

Thankfully, the hotel gave us 2 hotel cards and she decided to let me keep one.

So back at the hotel, we were searching frantically for the missing hotel card but to no avail. We decided that she might have dropped it at the Yi Shun dessert store, where we had the milk curds.

So we called them the next day. Nope it wasn't there.



We were worried that we might be fined for losing the card. So she started devising ingenious strategies to find out how much is the fine without already reporting that we've lost it and ways to get us off the hook. Haha, you'd be surprised to know how 'resourceful' she could be. Anyways, all went well and we were not fined.

***

Alright, the second day we went for a half-day tour around Macau (inclusive in our ground arrangement package). As we waited at the hotel lobby, we were expecting for some chinese man or woman as our tour guide.



To our surprise, a Caucasian man came to us and introduced himself as Mario. He is born Portuguese but have migrated to Macau for over 20 years. Proud of his nation, he kept on blabbering on how the Portuguese discovered Malacca, Macau and many other places.

A straight-forward guy, I must say, one who could easilly offend people, but nevertheless a great tour guide. Oh and he speaks rather good Cantonese, much better than some Chinese I know. cough *Christine* cough



First stop was the Kun Iam statue (Goddess of Mercy). Located on a man-made island at the outer harbour, this statue is 20 metres tall and made of special bronze. According to our tour guide, it is the only Kun Iam statue made to face the city instead of the ocean as it would normally be. This was because some Feng Shui master said it would only be prosperous this way.

As it seems, his words had been true. The statue was erected in 2002, after of which Macau has grown rapidly, evident by the increase in the number of casinos.

Bridge connecting Taipa island and the peninsular.

After receiving the blessings of Kun Iam, the tour took us to a spot along the edges of the island for a scenic view of Macau Tower and the Penha Church.

Stupid photographer took the picture before I was ready. Made it looked like I was trying to kiss her. Does the tower look familiar ? You'd remember this tower from Amazing Race Asia 3.

Penha Church

Every year, on the 13th of May, thousands of pilgrims join the image of Our Lady of Fatima for a procession and pilgrimage. Our Lady of Fatima is the title given to the vision of blessed Virgin Mary by those who believe that she appeared before three shepherd children at Fatima, Portugal on the 13th day of six consecutive months in 1917 starting on 13th of May.

Santo Domingo Church

The procession begins from Santo Domingo church and ends in the courtyard of Penha Church.



Next, we went to the A-Ma Temple. This temple is how Macau got its name. It was said that when the Portuguese sailors landed in Macau, they asked for the name of the land, which the natives misunderstooded, thinking that they were asking for the name of the temple, and they answered 'A-Ma-kok' (Bay of A-Ma). The sailors however, pronounced the word 'kok' as 'cau' and so came the name Macau. (If I did not recall wrongly)



The A-Ma temple is the oldest temple in Macau. It was constructed in 1488 of the Ming Dynasty, to commemorate Mazu, the sacred sea goddess who blesses the fishermen of Macau.



Within walking distance from the temple, is the famous bakery 'Koi Kei' (I'm not sure whether it's famous actually, it's what the tour guide said)



The bakery sells a selection of flavoured barbequed meat, Macau's famous cookies like the almond cookies, wife & husband's cakes and portuguese tarts.

I like the portuguese tarts here better. The taste of the eggs is more milky and the crust is extra flaky and buttery.

We had complimentary buffet lunch at Holiday Inn.

Here, cr4zyb3autiful found her first love. The driver of the Rolls Royce. At first she actually wanted to dive into the car and camwhore with him. Luckily I managed to stop her in time.



After lunch was the craziest rush ever. You see, we were supposed to take the ferry to Hong Kong earlier, as most of the roads in Hong Kong would be closed due to the New Year's Eve celebrations. So we couldn't complete the tour which include entering a designated casino in Macau. Thus, our last stop became the St. Paul's Ruins.

St. Paul Ruins

Once the tour bus stopped, we were literally running to the ruins without the tour guide. We snapped a couple of pictures and quickly ran back to the bus to get our luggage. When our so-called driver came, we were running while dragging our luggage towards the van. It was already 3.30 pm then and our ferry was leaving at 4.15 pm.

You will remember this place from the TVB drama 'Return of the Cuckoo' (澳门街), where Uncle Hoi Keng passed away.

To make matters worse, the roads leading to the main roads was extremely narrow, like those streets in Petaling Street, allowing only one lane of cars and there was a massive traffic jam. Luckily, we still made it on time. We were at the ferry terminal at 4.05 pm.



The cruise from Macau to Hong Kong took a little more than an hour due to bad weather.

Finally we were at Hong Kong. My only regret is that I didn't get to see the Venetian Casino. Can you imagine it ? Going to Macau and not visit a single casino ? Hmmph.



We stayed at the Dorsett Far East Hotel, Tsuen Wan. I doubt you can see how small the room is from this picture, but I can tell you it's extremely small. Even smaller than the First World hotel. But of course the bathroom is not as pathethic as First World's though.



After we've set our luggage down, we took the MTR to Tsim Tsa Tsui station. We got ourselves the Octopus card, available at HK $150, with storage value of HK $100 and a returnable deposit of HK $ 50. It functions exactly like the Touch & Go but is way more convenient. It can be used at the MTR station, on public buses, on electric trams, at most stores and you can even use it to give donations.



Imagine buying mineral water at 7 eleven. You just pass the mineral water to the cashier and after he/she have scanned it, place your Octopus card at the scanner and ... voila ! You are ready to go. So bloody convenient.

Ok so at Tsim Tsa Tsui, we randomly picked a Chinese diner for dinner. Now in Hong Kong, no matter what restaurant I went to, the food is always rightly flavoured. The soup is never too bland or too salty. And I always feel that the food has just the right ingredients.



I ordered Beef Balls with noodles while cr4zyb3autiful ordered Wanton Mee. Of course we also had Hong Kong's famous milk tea. The noodles is cooked to al dente, the beef balls are huge and springy and the soup has just enough saltiness. (Though cr4zyb3autiful reckons it was a little bit too salty).



After dinner, we walked to the Avenue of Stars, the site along the harbor overviewing the Hong Kong island. It is the place to be on New Year's Eve, to witness the fireworks being released from buildings on the Hong Kong island, when the clock strikes 12.00 am.

We were there around 8 pm, and it was already really packed.

Waiting for 12 am was incredibly painful. It seemed like time dreaded the coming of 2009. Although there were many people around us, giving the right atmosphere, but there weren't any performances. So it was kinda boring.



Luckily, we were granted with a Caucasian eye-candy who sat right beside me. And so staring at him became our sole entertainment.

Before long, we were counting down to 12 am. And then ...




It gets a little boring after a while.

The countdown was not as happening as I thought it would be. Maybe it's cause we couldn't really hear the fireworks. Or maybe it's cause the cheerings weren't as loud as it is in KL. And the crowd dispersed almost immediately after the fireworks.

Yeah, so the New Year's countdown was a little disappointing.

Going back was such a task. The crowd was crazy ! Getting to the MTR station alone took almost 10 minutes. Then, getting from the MTR station entrance into the MTR took another 25 minutes.

And that was Day 2. Stay tuned for Day 3.