[Continued HK series #6 of 10]
At FCC I was a part of a women's bible study with some great gals. It was here that I met Heather.
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| Heather is the one sitting on the far right. |
We continued to grow and share. Then we both got pregnant... me with Hannah, her with Ben.
...along with some other ladies in our group. (Must have been the water!)
Then she had to move down to SoCal. (Got to follow your husband's job you know?) To prepare for her big move to HK. After HK it was back to LA. Then to Macau. Now she's in Shanghai.
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| Reunited 9 years later... |
Yes she has been in Asia way longer than me and I think is probably more Chinese then me considering her being able to live, survive, and enjoy her time in China as a red-headed beauty! I nicknamed her my red-headed sister... a true egg... white on the outside and yellow on the inside!
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| Her beautiful family with hubby, Michael and boys, Benjamin and Nathan |
When I planned this trip a year ago, I planned on seeing Heather and her family in Macau. You see, I've been keeping up with her life through her wonderful blog that she writes. You can check it out here:
My Wandering Life
I've never been to Macau and at that time Michael was working on a fancy show there that I soooo wanted to see. But I remember that fateful email on May 1 that she told me that she's moving from Macau.
OHHHNOOOO!! My whole trip was ruined!! (Ok.. I'm being dramatic but it felt that way for a few minutes.) She said it was not by choice and will try to see if she can come to HK during the most expensive travel time of the year to see me. Of course, I did not expect her to. But she DID!!
She proceeded to email me a full page detailed itinerary of what we will do in Macau when she takes us on a one day world-wind tour of the city she just so hated to leave.
So we headed out before 7:00am on a Saturday to catch the MTR to take us to the Ferry Terminal cuz got to stay on her time schedule, which is listed below:
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| Never seen the MTR so empty but of course it was before 7am on a Saturday morning |
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| No crowds to wait for the train |
7:30 a.m. Meet at HK-Macau Ferry Terminal. This is located at the Sheung Wan MTR station on the Island line. If you are taking a taxi, it is Shun Tak Centre, 200 Connaught Road Central, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong. Exit the MTR station and follow the signs for “Macau” or the Macau ferry. As you get closer, you’ll see the big floor to ceiling ads for places in Macau. Continue going upstairs. You’ll come to an outdoor area, but just turn around and continue going up a few more levels. You are looking for Cotai Water Jet. Their colors are Royal blue and yellow with stars. Continue until you find the ticketing booth (ignore the scalpers, say you already have tickets). I will advise you of our new sim card numbers when we get there so you can contact us. My texting app that give me a US number to send and receive SMS is #######. If you have an iPhone with iMessaging turned on, you can add my gmail account and you can iMessage me through your phone for free. Yes, we are leaving early however we’re trying to fit in as much of what makes this tiny country so unique, quirky, and beautiful. Plus you’ll be jet lagged and likely up early. The nights will get you… Once you find the Cotai Water Jet ticket booth, present your passport, credit/debit card used to book, and the transaction number. There is a Starbucks and a McD’s at the terminal down a floor if you choose to give yourself extra time.
7:40 a.m. Walk as a group to clear immigration and customs (Macau is 100% duty free) and then go downstairs to check in and get our seat assignment (they do it the old fashioned way with peeling stickers up and placing them on your ticket.)
8:00 a.m. Ferry Departs. We’re all in Cotai First for the trip to Macau, so we get served food (I’ve never been served anything nasty).
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| We boarded this high speed hydrofoil boat so we can be in Macau in about an hour. |
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| We sat in first class seats too! (regular seats were sold out) |
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| I've never sat in first class anything so this was a treat! |
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| We had a meal served to us! Instant noodles and a drink! |
Unfortunately, since this was a 'jet boat' the ride was quite bumpy and Heather has told me that she has never ridden on it without seeing someone on board 'lose it'. And she was not disappointed. My little Hannah 'lost it' and the boat didn't even leave the pier yet. She is prone to carsickness so I gave her a Dramamine pill but unfortunately it made her gag which brought on the vomiting earlier than expected. Oh well... I tried to ease her discomfort.
Once we were off the boat... we jetted to the buses!
9:00 a.m. Ferry Arrives at Mo-Taipa Ferry Terminal. We’ll take five minutes or so to clear immigration and then go out front to catch a bus. We’ll be taking Bus 36 eight stops, then transferring to another line (which ever bus comes first) to get to San Ma Lo.
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| Bus stops and times are listed on this rotating sign |
Heather immediately knew which bus to board at what time to go to where she wanted us all to go... I have to say she was an incredible tour guide... she continued to describe what we were seeing on the bus just so we would not miss any part of Macau. It did not bother her one bit that she was also talking to strangers on the bus too but I'm sure they appreciated the impromptu free tour!
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| St, Domingo's Church, built in 17th century by Spanish Dominican friars, located in the heart of Senado Square |
First Macau..a brief history... better yet I'll let Heather tell you since she is my expert tour guide/writer extraordinaire: "Macau was a Portuguese colony up until December 20, 1999. On that day,
it was handed back to China and made a "Special Administrative Region,"
meaning that while technically part of China, it has high autonomy in
all areas except foreign relations and defense."
Check out her more detailed post on how Macau came about:
A Brief Geography lesson from Wandering Macau
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| Walking towards the Ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral |
Next stop on our tour:
10:00 a.m. Arrive at Senado Square/San Ma Lo. We’ll be exploring some of the building and churches as we wind (and snack) our way up the unique black and white tiled alleyways up to our ultimate destination of The Ruins of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Behind the remaining façade is a crypt which contains the visible bones of the Jesuit martyrs who gave their lives over their beliefs as well as some religious artwork (and one of my favorite sculptures in the whole world!). Next we’ll walk to the left to go to the top of the Monte Fortress which successfully defended Macau from pirates and the Danish years ago. We’ll note how the waterline used to be much closer, and is now filled with land upon which casino perch, and see right over the border into China.
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| St. Paul's Cathedral- Southern stone facade |
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| View from the top of the Ruins |
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| Behind the facade |
The Cathedral was built from 1582 to 1602 by the Jesuits. It was one of the largest Catholic churches in Asia at the time. It was destroyed by a fire during a typoon in 1835. The stone facade was intricately carved between 1620 and 1627 by Japanese Christians in exile from their homeland. There is also a crypt where you can see the skeletal remains of the Japanese Christian martyrs.
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| Painting of the martyrs who died and are buried among these ruins. |
The Monte Forte or Mount Fortress was built by the Jesuits from 1617 to 1626 as a defensive structure to protect this (at the time) Portuguese colony from invasion. It was built on top of Mount Hill and was strategically located in the center of the Macau Peninsula overseeing the city in all directions. It successfully held off the Dutch invasion of Macau in 1622.
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| Behind the facade is the Monte Forte. |
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| As you look out from the fortress, you can see the People's Republic of China right across the waters. That is as close to PRC as we got this time around. |
Heather mentioned 'snacks' on our tour.. and she did not disappoint!
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| All along our walk we saw one after another of these jerky stores that were doling out freshly made jerky samples. They were delicious! Hannah especially loved eating them and proceeded to stop at every store front to partake of their free samples. |
We loved them so much that we got a few packs to take home for friends and family. Unfortunately when we arrived to go through customs they threw out our bags stating that no meats were allowed in the States. Ohhhh .. did my heart break at seeing those packages get tossed into the garbage bin! (My dad says that afterwards the custom workers probably take what they confiscated home.. UGH!)
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| She also took us to this very popular homemade dumpling street stand... their potstickers were delish! |
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| Hannah and Emily eating their potsticker while Shawna got a very hot tea-soaked hard boiled egg. |
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| There were quite a few of these 'outdoor' restaurants where you can probably get a steaming hot bowl of noodles! Yum... These are not your European sidewalk cafes though.. |
Lunch
12:00 p.m. Head by bus down south through Taipa, the Cotai Strip, and through the curvy parts of Coloane Island with our destination being Fernando’s Portuguese Restaurant along Hac Sa Beach. They only take cash, by the way, Hong Kong Dollars and MOP. The food there is amazing. I’ve not tasted anything I haven’t enjoyed. We’ll all at least sample what Macau is famous for, the pork chop bun, with a fried pork chop served on extremely fluffy Portuguese bread (they are huge, we can all share). If you like wine, they serve Macau’s best Sangria. My friends from Macau will join us for lunch. After lunch, we can walk across the beach with the (hopefully) gorgeous views of the South China Sea and stroll along the waterfront at the start of some of the hiking trails.
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| Fernando's runs by their own rules! |
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| Ben holds up a Portuguese bread roll! Yes they are huge! |
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| Grilled Chicken with fries |
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| Portuguese sausage |
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| Grilled Squab |
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| Pork Knuckles with Beans |
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| Fried Rice |
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| Stewed beef with potatoes |
After lunch we skipped the beach walk and headed towards our next planned destination.
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| Can you guess where we are? Take a peak at the ceiling.. |
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| Does this help? |
Yep we checked out the Venetian Hotel & Casino. Pretty similar to the one in Las Vegas except the casino is closed off to minors. We didn't see it but we 'smelled' it... full of smoke! We also got the chance to taste their famous Portuguese egg tarts called 'po-tats' for short at Lord Stowe's Bakery.
2:00 p.m. We’ll grab a bus to go north to the Cotai Strip, stopping at the Venetian Hotel and Casino. It’s very similar to the one in Las Vegas, but on a much grander scale. It boasts the record for the largest hotel in the world while we lived there, things may have changed. We can walk through and see the Grand Canal, take a Gondola ride by an opera singer singing Christmas carols under the amazing acoustical ceiling if you choose. Then we will sample the other delicacy that Macau is known for, their egg tarts from Lord Stowe’s bakery, which has an outlet inside the Venetian. If you are interested (and there is time, we’ll see), you can view either the Bodies exhibit or the Titanic exhibit with us. If not, there is still plenty to see and a great huge food court with some of the best choice in Macau (they have a Fat Burger! Not quite In N Out, but another So Cal staple). Side note: unlike Las Vegas, the casino area is very strictly set apart and heavily guarded. Minors are not allowed on the gambling floor and there are family areas to walk to avoid it. I was never bothered by the fact that these mega complexes are houses of gambling because it wasn’t “in your face” and unavoidable like Vegas.
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| Po-tats in the making |
4:00 p.m. Then you will walk directly across the street to City of Dreams and head to the box office to pick up your tickets to see one of the most amazing shows on earth. It’s quirky and strange and beautiful and memorable and you’ll be on the edge of your seat the whole time.
5:00 – 6:30 p.m. You’ll watch House of Dancing Waters while we run the errands we needed to run.
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| The House of Dancing Waters' stage is amazing! |
The House of Dancing Waters
(check out it's trailer here: Trailer) is created and directed by Franco Dragone of Cirque de Soleil fame.
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| The Ship scene |
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| The Human Chandelier |
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| Diving in the Air |
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| Flying Motorcycles |
It was an amazing performance. One that I am very proud that Michael was intricately a part of before they left Macau.
7:00 p.m. Chase’s depart Macau for Hong Kong in time to catch a viewing of Les Miz (months and months before it will make it to Shanghai, if ever).
What a superb tour guide Heather was... she
really can make it a profession since she can even talk while walking backwards... only thing missing was a flag!
She even gave us important tips on how to travel through Macau..
8:00pm You will depart Macau for Hong Kong, right back to Sheung Wan MTR station and then back to your hotels. I recommend you take a taxi from City of Dreams to Macau-Taipa Ferry terminal. Give yourself an hour from the time your ship sails to get there, including looking for a taxi, driving there, getting your return tickets, going through immigration, etc.
Remember to save your coins for bus fare! And don’t bother exchanging HK dollars into Macau Patacas (MOP) because HK dollars are used one-for-one in Macau, but MOP aren’t used anywhere but in the eighteen square miles of Macau. You don’t want to get stuck with them!
I’ll have lots of fun and exciting tidbits of information about Macau as we go along. I’m so excited. I truly fell in love with the quirkiness of Macau and love introducing it and its fascinating history and culture to visitors.
You know when you got a great tour guide when they absolutely love what they are showing you. I only wish I can go on vacation with Heather all the time!!
Love you sister!! Thank you for a memorable time CHASEing you through Macau!
NEXT UP: ReconnectiNG
