Marvelous 4D3N Macau 2015 (#DreamTripComeTrue) - Day 1 |Being Lost On Greatness

Nuffnang

Wednesday 28 January 2015

Marvelous 4D3N Macau 2015 (#DreamTripComeTrue) - Day 1

Whoa..looks like travelling in 2015 is off to a good start!
The day is finally here! Me, Sueann, Carrine and TT will be leaving to KLIA 2 in while. The excitement is building up. TT has been tasked with preparing the itinerary because he has been to Macau 3 years ago. We met up in Penang last week to have a discussion on the trip. The girls were mostly into shopping while the guys wanted to explore the city by foot as much as possible! Somehow we reached a consensus on a balanced itinerary and we also decided to skip going to Hong Kong (rest assured that trying the food was #1 on each of our must do lists!). We all agreed that HK needs a separate holiday by its own (bye bye Disneyland plans) *sob sob*

Click here to download my travel checklist for free!
Our flight is scheduled to depart KLIA 2 at 6:30 am and arrive at the Macau International Airport at 10:15am. That means we need to be there 2 hours earlier as it is an international flight! *sweat* Oh ya, for those who are looking to travel, a travel check list is an essential item. Click on the image to download a travel check list for your perusal :) A special mention to Yap Hwee Ling from MGTO for helping with my hotel selection, providing suggestions and making my flight booking smooth!

By participating in the contest by Nuffnang and Macau Government Tourism Office, i have gained a lot of knowledge on Macau by doing a reasonable amount of reading. Do read my contest winning entry to equip yourselves with some vital information before visiting this tiny peninsula :)
Mr. TT giving is a quick overview on our plans for the trip before we leave to the airport.
Day 1 Itinerary (all currencies in Macau pataca unless stated:
3.30am Wake up
4.30am Reach Putrajaya Sentral
5.21am Arrive at KLIA 2
6.30 am Take off
9.50 am Arrive at Macau International Airport
11.00 am Take bus to Macau Peninsula ($4.20 each)
12.00 pm Check in Towns Well Hotel
1.00pm Beef Noodle Soup ($80 for a bowl shared by 4 of us)
2.00pm Lunch at Seng Heng Chinese Cuisine ($215)
3.00pm Dessert (Margaret's Cafe Portuguese Egg tarts) ($45 for 6pcs)
3.20pm Start Historical Trails free walking tour
6.00pm End walking tour
9.30pm Dinner ($134)
10.30pm Take a walk to St. Paul's Ruins
11.00pm Witness a live proposal
11.30pm Buy McD ice cream ($4)
12.00am Back to hotel

Sunrise above the clouds :)
Summary of Day 1:
It was a bit of a rush as our flight was at 630am. We planned to park at Putrajaya Sentral and take the train to KLIA2. (Parking per day is RM4 compared to RM48 per day at KLIA 2!). Only a few days ago we realized that the train does not run 24/7 and the first train is at 4.51am! (it takes approx. 21 minutes to KLIA2). This is crazy because we need to check in our luggage by 5.30 and be at the boarding gate by 5.50am! Missing the first train or any delay will surely cost us the flight. Fortunately, all went well. I was amazed at the speed of the check-in counter as well as the immigration officers. Kudos to them.
To Macau we are going!
We pre-booked our in-flight meal and it was served at 7.15am. I would highly recommend the Roast Chicken with Smoky BBQ sauce. It was served hot and tasted good. After the heavy breakfast, we all took a quick trip to dreamland. The plane was about to prepare for landing when we woke up. We franticaly waved to the stewardess and asked if we can get out visa forms to be filled (we thought they didn't wake us up when distributing the forms). The brown-haired stewardess smiled politely at us as she said, " No sir, you do not have to fill up the forms for entry into Macau". Wow...that's a first time....Anyone been anywhere that does not require foreigners to fill up a visa form?

TT on a nap
At the airport, we passes immigration and posed for a group photo with the tripod (thanks Syaz!) at the first "Welcome to Macau" sign we saw..hahahah! We then proceeded to the information counter to get a map and ask how to get to our hotel, the Towns Well Hotel. The information counter lady was very helpful (she drew the direction on our map and wrote down the bus numbers too) and spoke good English. Oh ya, she also told us that we need exact change for the bus and our smallest note was the HKD100! Sueann and i tried to get smaller change by buying something cheap at the airport convenient store but everything was super expensive. We finally settled on a drink when a security guard advised us to change the HKD to Macau Pataca because for purchases in Macau HKD1=Macau Pataca 1=Chinese Renminbi 1! We made our way to the money changer beside the store and managed to change to smaller notes (Ps: Just change enough for the transport to your hotel. The rates outside is much better. Do pay using Macau local currency so that you can get the most for your money).
Our first photo on Macau soil 
Do remember to stop by here before leaving the airport for some good information and a free map of the city.
You can check out the buses from the airport here
Check out the prices at the airport!!
We got off at Praca Ferreira Amaral (just in front of the Grand Lisboa Hotel). We made our way to the hotel after asking a few locals (apparently most of then don't read much English and we had the address printed in English). My darling fiancee to came to the rescue with her Cantonese and within no time we arrived at our hotel. There is nothing much to the hotel apart from it being super strategic. It's just a few minutes walk to all the main attractions including the stops for the Free Historical Trails Walking tour and Ruins of St. Paul.

My fiance-The map expert!
It was nearly 1.00 pm and we were feeling hungry. TT suggested we take a walk along the street and look for a place to eat. While walking we came across this Beef Noodle (with additional choices of fish ball, vege, meat, etc.) stall that had a long queue and many people sitting opposite with a while styrofoam bowl. My fiancee chatted up one of the customers who told her this is a must try in Macau! We ordered one to try and the taste is similar to our lok-lok in Malaysia but cost 5 times the price! We then decided to stop by one of the Portuguese tarts shop (not Lord Stow) as there was a long queue when we were walking to our hotel. Can you believe it if i told you the queue was still as long we reached? Our tummies were already making weird noises so we decided to have lunch before returning here for dessert. The lane right behind Margaret's Cafe Portuguese Tarts had a few shops and we sat at Seng Heng's Chinese Cuisine. This was to be the first big mistake we made! The food was below average (the portions were small, the Macanese shrimp paste fried rice tasted like our local Chinese fried rice) and it was extremely pricey! None of us expected the food price to be that high in Macau and a quick Google confirmed that an average cost for an inexpensive meal in Macau is $30-40. A double cheeseburger McD set cost $30.50...hmmm....But stilll.....$215 that we paid for lunch was not worth it...i do not recommend eating here....In the words of Carrine, "Restaurant's price for stall quality food!"The Macanese fried rice cost $68 (that's RM34!)
Buses with speed meter for the passengers
After the unhappy lunch, we decided to try our luck again for the tarts. Unfortunately the queue was still as long but we decided to join the queue and snap a few groupies...Surprisingly the queue moved really fast and in less than 15 minutes we were already ordering our tarts!.First bite of the tart instantly removed all memories of our horrendous lunch! It was still hot and the texture of the filling was just right. We all agreed it was worth the price. TT also joked that we can have 2 tarts for each meal instead of eating at the restaurants...lolz!
Our first taste of Portuguese egg tarts in Macau-Delicious! Can't wait for Lord Stows :)
The 4 tours we plan to cover
Do buy from this couple ya! Tasty and cheap.
The historical walking tour starts off at Avenida da Praia Grande and ends at Praca de Ponte e Horta.In the brochure, the tour estimated time is 100 minutes but we took close to 3 hours! Why you ask? Apart from the the girls being distracted by some crazy sales at Sasa, we also stopped at a few of the gold shops to look for our wedding ring (didn't know they were so many gold shops with 3-4 franchises in one area!). We also took time to try out the free almond cookies along Senado square and admire the Chinese New Year decorations being set up. Oh, if you fancy buying the cookies for a cheaper price but the same quality, i recommend buying from the old couple along Travessa do Mastro. They hand make each cookies and the price is much much cheaper. For example, the peanuts cookies sell for $68 in Koi Kei bakery but the uncle only sells them for $30 minus the fancy boxes. There are a few other mini stalls along the alley but not all taste as good.
We also found out that one can have their daily fix of dessert just by walking through Koi Kei bakery. They have so many testers and it is replenished every time it finishes...To be honest, we tried walking through a few during the walking tour to get our sugar fix before buying them at the end of the tour.
The yummy beef noodles (with extras) along Travessa Dos Anjos
Us in front of Macau Cathedral
Roasted duck and steam chicken was in the menu for dinner. The portion was again small in comparison to the table beside us! We began to wonder if serving size is different for locals...hahahah! After dinner, we took a leisure walk to see St.Paul's ruins at night (Thanks to the central location of the hotel every main attraction is only minutes away!). While walking, we came across a bunch of teenagers arranging electronic candles in a love shape. They told us that they are helping their friend out with a proposal at 11pm. Wow! The setting was at Largo Da Se by the water fountain...Soooo romantic! We looked at the time and planned to be back to witness the moment :) [Quick Trivia] Do you know any movie where the guy proposes in front of a water fountain?

Watching the proposal unveil was a wonderful experience. This is the first time i am witnessing one live! Flower petals and candles, arranged in a path, framed with friends singing a romantic tune while holding pink/white balloons with the words "Will You Marry Me", leading to the guy holding a bouquet of 100 red roses was too much to handle for the girl! She broke down into an uncontrollable river of tears as he got down on his knees with the ring. The crowd went "aaaaawwwwwhhhh" as she said YES and we all broke out in applause!
A sweet wedding proposal in Macau
Compare the prices of McD and our lunch restaurant
Before returning to the hotel, we took a leisure stroll along Senado Square and got ourselves some McD ice cream...They taste the same but cost double the price. lolz...For your reference, i took a picture of the McD menu...This is the cheapest type of meal you can find in Macau...So if you are planning a trip there, do factor in the cost of food ya..It is better to go in a group because you can order a few different types of meal and try since they is so much on offer in Macau :)

On our way back we stopped by an exhibition at Leal Senado Building (Portuguese for Loyal Senate). Here we spent some time looking through the exhibits and left a little Malaysian touch :)
Yaaay! Ours made it to the wall! :)
A unique tile design at the entrance of a wet market along the walking tour route.
A glimpse of the fooooood!
Some of the attractions we visited on Day 1 in Macau Peninsula
Day 1 was a tiring but very satisfying day. Looking forward to Day 2...I wonder where people got the idea "There is nothing to do in Macau"! hahaha...  Only into day 1 in Macau and it feels like our 4d3n trip might not be enough...Stay tuned!

10 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. yeaaa....Lots to see, eat and do in Macau! The tarts were delicious! You should try :) errrmmm...actually i think the prizes are different la...i didn't get the shopping dollars or any shopping vouchers..You also have lunch free with is another plus! lolz! Yes food is expensive but we usually order for 3 and share la...Hmmm...if you are planning to do some major shopping and gambling, maybe won't be enough la..but depends oso...We only changed about MOP1500 each and we had extras :)

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    3. Yeaps...i didn't know too until i read your blog :) Have a wonderful trip...Send my regards to Macau....missing her already!

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  2. Hey! You've written a long post!

    Great to see that you enjoyed the trip in Macau but so sorry to see that you have such bad experiences in the makan-makan part :(

    Undeniable the cost of dining in Macau is higher compare to KL, similar to Hong Kong.

    But there are also a lot of small stall / road side restaurant, which may look not so attractive from the outside, but they serve excellent food!

    For Potato Queen, perhaps can try to walk around Cunha Street at Taipa, you will find a lot of food there.

    Macanese Food - Litoral Cafe (try Bacalhau (pronounce as Ba-Ka-Liao, made by Cod Fish, grilled Beef / Pork Rib, Clam Soup, Seafood Rice!)

    Chinese Food - Hong Kei 红记 (At Cunha Street, passby Koi Kei bakery on your right, the first junction on the left turn in then you will see this restaurant - Roasted Pork, Steamed Pork with Shrimp Paste)

    Many more..!!!!

    Regards
    Hwee Ling (MGTO)

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    1. Hieee Hwee Ling....Honored that you left a comment :) Yeaps...Macau was superb! Missing her already :( True...but the mistake was on us too for not researching the price of the food before going...lolz...The following days were much better- do look out for the next posts on the trip.... :) PS: We did as much as we could... :D

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    4. Yeaaa...Carrine Chan...she remembers you too ;) will surely send your regards. Enjoy Macau :)

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