After landing at the Macau International Airport around 10:20pm, we changed some USD to HKD to spend for taxi fare and possibly dinner that night. Before this gets any longer, here's my Top 10:
1. Sights - particularly the enchanting Ruins of St. Paul and the Macau Tower. By the way, it's better to go first to the Macau Museum before going to the Ruins. There's a portion in the museum where they explain what the different sections of the Ruin's facade represents (which is very interesting). Special thanks to Lonely Planet's suggested walking tour of Macau :)
2. Metropole Hotel - The hotel is walking distance to Leal Senado, Senado Square, St. Dominic's Church, the Cathedral, the Ruins of St. Paul and the beautiful Lisboa and Wynn hotels. Good restaurants are located near the hotel. My requests for very late check-in (between 10-11pm) and for 2 twin beds were both accommodated. These requests were made upon booking with agoda.com. We were very pleased that they took note of these. Our first two nights were spent in Macau, a night in Hongkong and back for another night in Macau. Metropole was kind enough to keep our luggages while we were in Hong Kong which was a big relief for us. Highly recommended.
3. Shuttle bus service -- Metropole Hotel and The Venetian -- We availed of the free shuttle bus service of Metropole and Venetian. Very convenient. Tipid pa sa transpo :)
4. The jaw dropping grandeur of The Venetian where we also watched Cirque du Soleil's ZAIA!
5. Churches of Macau
Sto. Domingo Church - after a few steps from Senado Square, it would be difficult to miss this yellow church with green shutters. Built in 1828, Sto. Domingo Church remains to be one of the most beautiful churches in Macau.
Macau Cathedral - Originally built in 1576, the Cathedral has gone through a couple of restructuring. This is where we joined the Portuguese language Sunday mass in Macau.
St. Anthony Church (Sao Antonio Macau) - a good 10 minute walk from the Ruins, the church is believed to be the very first one in Macau.
That was four churches (including the Ruins). My friend Alfie commented "It's like doing the Visita Iglesia in Macau!"
6. 11 degree chillness in Macau - We caught the last few days of winter. We didn't need the hotel aircon. We needed a heater. That's how cold it was. But we loved it!
7. Shopping - We had fun shopping for bags, souvenirs, shirts, food and anywhere there was a sale!
8. New World First Ferry - For our trip to Hong Kong, we used the NWFF. Although there was a "lost in translation" episode with the NWFF staff (we asked where we should buy the NWFF tickets, they pointed to the left, when it was actually on the right), it was a pleasant ride.
9. Hong Kong Disneyland and the Sunny Bay MTR line - The main purpose why we went to Hong Kong was to visit Mickey Mouse and the gang...and we were not disappointed. Sunny Bay MTR pa lang, pwede na! (It was raining when we were there and most of the mascots were no where in sight, except for Buzz Lightyear)
10. The delicious BBQ chicken wings at the Starliner Diner in Tomorrowland (Hong Kong Disneyland). Fingerlooking good!!!
More pics here.
GO TEAM CANADA!! !
