(Travel) Macau

Love and I were so excited for our first overseas trip that we arrived at the airport (NAIA Terminal 3) at 5:00 PM and our flight was not until 7:30 PM. Good thing though because the line from immigration took us about an hour yet we still had some time to sit around the boarding area.  The plane left at 8:00 PM

We arrived at Macau airport around 10:00 PM, immigration was short and we got a taxi right away (the driver will add 10 HKD/MOP to your fare since it's a ride from the airport).  We checked in at our hotel (Regency Hotel - located near the casino area) at 11:00 PM.  Lots of Pinoys in this hotel's staff.

Tip 1:
Don't exchange money at airports.  The difference is quite big.  
NAIA: 6.7 PHP per 1 HKD
Macau Airport: Didn't bother to look (I'm guessing it's better than NAIA)
A ForEx shop we saw near Senado Square: 5.83 PHP per 1 HKD 
Hong Kong Western Union: 6.36 PHP per 1 HKD

Tip 2:
HKD is valid in Macau.  It's what the casinos prefer rather than MOP.  Use up all your MOPs before leaving Macau.

Tip 3:
Buses don't give change so a lot of coins and centavos are nice to have.

We woke up the next morning earlier to try out the pool area of the hotel. 

We then had our buffet breakfast.  If you happen to talk to a Filipino receptionist, ask everything you want to know about the tourist spots and transportation but if you want to have some fun, talk to a Chinese one.  After my fun conversation with the concierge, I had all the info I needed for our tour (lots of maps and bus diagrams). We left the hotel at 11:00 AM (bringing an umbrella is a good idea).

Senado Square

Transportation:
Bus 11 from Regency Hotel to Barra (4.20 HKD) - we got lost, we should have gotten off at an earlier terminal.
Bus 5 from Barra to Armeida Ribiero (3.20 HKD)


We found a nice ForEx shop with a good rate so we exchanged our PHP there.

What can I say about Senado sqaure?  Lots of people, lots of stores, lots of free taste foods.

Square Tocino

Ruins of St. Paul

We walked until we reached the Ruins of St. Paul.  It's nice if you like historical stuff and there's a small museum inside (sarap sa loob, aircon).

We then decided to go to Macau Tower next.
Transportation:

Bus xx (sorry I forgot) from Armeida Ribiero to Hotel Lisboa (3.20 HKD)

After seeing Hotel Lisboa, we can't help but take a selfie.
Bus 32 from Hotel Lisboa to Macau Tower (3.20 HKD)

Macau Tower

This is where all the extreme activities are done.  If you have 20K PHP to burn then try the Sky Jump - highest bungee jump in the world.  I told myself if I ever went to Macau I will definitely try it, maybe next time (no moolah).

City of Dreams

It's now time to casino-hop.  We took the free shuttle from Macau Tower to City of Dreams and hoped we can buy tickets for the House of Dancing Water show, turns out, these are the tickets you should book early if ever you're planning on watching it.  So there were no more C class tickets and the tickets left were double the price so I just said "isugal nalang ang pambili". 

Sands

We walked around from casino to casino then found ourselves at the Sands. We didn't do much but pass through, then we saw the garden there and it was nice.

The Venetian

Our last stop was The Venetian.  Compared to the others, this one had much more visitors.  Lots of stores, mostly watches and high-end stuff. The ceiling was nice, it made it seem that it's still early even though it's already dark outside.

7:00 PM na nyan.

We tried the gondola ride (118 HKD per person). We thought we were going to ride a love boat on the river outside the casino but it was just the indoor river (di sulit - pinang-sugal ko nalang sana).  The boat man sang Italian songs to make it more like Venice - pero di parin haha...

We had dinner at the food court to maximize our gambling money then we marched to the casino.  To cut the story short, I lost T_T...  But Love enjoyed her first casino experience.  The baccarat minimum there was 500 HKD, good thing we saw the virtual one with 100 HKD minimum.

We got back at the hotel via taxi at 9:00 PM, no night life for losers (parang ang laki ng natalo).  

The next morning, after we ate, we left the hotel at 10:00 AM aboard the free shuttle of the hotel to the ferry terminal.  We bought our tickets to Hong Kong then and there (148 HKD - no need to book early) and bid Macau farewell aboard a TurboJet Ferry.  The trip took about an hour and a half.    

Hello Hong Kong!