Trip Young & Dangerous (HK, Macau & Shenzhen) : Day 2 - Macau Day Trip (THE VENETIAN MACAO)

ii) The Venetian

Continue from my last post where our 1st destination once arrived in Macau was to The Venetian.

A bit about The Venetian, it is a luxury hotel, casino resort and shopping mall in Macau, owned by the American Las Vegas Sands company. The building is HUGE located on the Cotai Strip in Macau. It is known as the seventh largest building in the world. In addition, the Venetian Macau has the largest casino in the world and the largest single structure hotel building in Asia. Do not miss the Venetian Macau if you are visiting Macau, put this in your bucket list

The Venetian is very near to the ferry terminal, it took us about 10-15 minutes to reach there via free shuttle bus.

We arrived at The Venetian around 11am and started our tour.

Arriving at The Venetian, we were amazed with it's grandeur decoration. Very impressive!!

The entrance area once the busses left.

Entering the hotel.

The tourists are greeted by the magnificent interior design at The Venetian Macao hotel lobby.


The hotel’s interior is a sight to behold. It’s like going in Italy in a snap. Those yellow tame lights give the dramatic look to the structures on the lobby and even on the paintings on the ceiling.

Roofs have beautiful carvings, paintings you can constantly look up to.

It’s a totally different universe within the massive and pompous Venetian.

Every corners in the entrance lobby is good place for photo ops. The yellow gold structures are just dramatic and full of artistry.

Splendor design at the Lobby of Venetian Hotel.. It was really AMAZING.


One thing I found amusing once our visit in Hong Kong was, there were lots of costumed performer that fixed with the theme of the place they performed. Like yesterday at The Peak, as it was Halloween so they became a Zombie. Here, we found one wearing a renaissance era costume and very much into his character. He scared some of the visitors by following them and gazing straight at their face.

Nevertheless, he was very much willing to have your photo taken with him.

Hallway to the Hotel Lobby.

The Venetian Hotel offers hotel accommodation to gamblers from around the world. These rooms come in a variety of different price ranges so there is something for all visitors.

The Venetian is not only a hotel which offers luxury suites, there are basically two main areas in The Venetian which is the Tourist area and the Casino area.

The casino is located in the first level of the building. Make sure If you’re going to/passing by the casino that you have an ID with you, as they do ID inspection to see if you’re legally allowed to enter. Due to the local laws, youths under 18 years old are prohibited from entering the casino area.

The major tourist attraction in The Venetian Macau (of course apart of the Casino itself) is definitely The Grand Canal Shoppe. Can you imagine canals inside a building?? Not one but three!! More impressive is that these indoor canals have been made to resemble the ones in Venice, with the gondola rides available to take people along the three canals. The Grand Canal Shoppes here is known to be occupying twice the size of Las Vegas Canal Shoppes including a wide variety of restaurants, stores and performances.

These Venetian styled buildings, canals and plaza are obviously inside the Tourist area. The most amazing thing is that all of these are located on the third floor. So as we are not into gambling, from the lobby, we went straight to this level.

We were greet by this magnificent view. It was totally different atmosphere inside here.


The 1st few minutes in The Venetian, I was just taking my time and walked slowly to fully adapt the Venice feel. The sight is just mesmerizing and one of its kind. Felt like I was teleported in Europe with all the intricate European inspired design evident in all corners of the hotel. Not forgetting also the smell of the air-freshener inside there. It was very nice with the scent of lavender and roses.

Standing over one these staircases will give a great view of the man made canals and the gondola boats passing by. The Venetian canal district comes complete with gondolas, gondoliers and canals with ceilings painted to photo-realistic perfection to create an internal sky.

The painted sky that hangs over the Venetian Macao’s canals is truly breathtaking and many visitors are surprised that it’s not actually real.

It never gets dark inside.


The man-made blue sky can produce sunrise and sunset effects under the control of a computer. So it somehow kinda hard to figure out if it is day or night if you are inside the Venetian Hotel not unless you step out of the hotel premises.

Though the gondola may have originated in Venice Italy ,but you don’t have to wait for a trip to Europe to ride the traditional, flat-bottomed row boat. The Venetian Macau offers Italian gondolas with serenading gondoliers gliding through the San Loco, Marco Polo, or Grand Canals (3 canals).

Gondola Ticket Price
Adults : 118 Macau Pataca (MOP) Children : 88 MOP
Ticket counters : Boutique di Gondola (shop 2301) & Emporio di Gondola (shop 2660).

Daily Canal Opening Times
Grand Canal: 11:00am – 10.00pm
Marco Polo: 11:00am – 7.00pm
San Luca: 11:00am – 7.00pm

It can be a romantic/intimate experience for couples riding one of these gondolas and be serenaded with gondolier. In my case I didn’t try it because I was on a strict budget for this trip. But maybe next time I will try it and bring my love ones with me ;D

This gondolier keep shouting "Malaysia Boleh" everytime he saw us.

I never been to Venice yet, but this view made me felt like been there.

There are over 350 brand name retail stores at the Grand Canal Shoppes taking up 1.6 million square feet of retail space. The famous brands and the duty-free advantage combine to give all the best shopping experience. If you still can’t get enough of the shopping experience in Hong Kong and your credit card has still huge limit then you’d go GAGA checking out each stalls. There is a HUGE array of shops to choose from for Shopaholics but just make sure you bring enough money for purchases as the price tags are really expensive although there were few stalls selling bargain items. Too bad.. cause I didn’t really came here for shopping experience but it was really tempting.

Shops open till about 10pm, making it a good stop before hitting the table.

For MU supporter. There's an outlet here!!

Among the souvenir shops we visited.

Besides MOP, HK$ is also accepted here.


Like I mentioned before, you may spot costumed performers here and there. Some of them will play tricks or create a funny gestures to give smiles to those who are watching them.

Didn't want to miss a chance to take photo with this swordman. One of the Costumed Artist.

One of the performer playing tricks to audience.

Whoaaa... what a tall guy..!!

My favourite. With jokers!!

The Venetian offers over 30 restaurants with cuisines from around the world. There are many popular local food delicacies can also be found here like pork burger and Macau egg tart, which saves a lot of time than hunting them around Macau. You are eating in a food court inside a famous hotel so expect that the prices of food can be a little higher and of course it less authentic rather than buying it from the street side stores.

Pandang ajela... No Halal restaurant available here. :(

New Victoria Angel...

At the Plaza


Nowhere else in Asia will you find the finest in luxury suites, world-class shopping, sensational entertainment and irresistible dining- all under one roof so DO NOT leave Macau without visiting The Venetian ok.

After spending about 2hours here, we decided to make a move to our next destination. I will continue in my next post, but before I end this post, I leave you with SOME FACTS ABOUT THE VENETIAN:

– The volume of sand used in the reclamation of land for The Venetian Macao, is enough to build one of Egypt’s largest pyramids

– They poured enough concrete to fill 318 Olympic swimming pools

– As many as 11,000 construction workers and 990 trucks entered the site each day. Twenty-two mobile cranes, 41 crawler cranes and 552 mobile platforms were operating on site at the same time during construction

– The total size of The Venetian Macao is equivalent to 56 football fields. That’s big enough to park close to 100 Boeing 747 jumbo .

Till then, BYE.


Trip to HK, Macau and Shenzhen Fast Link Here
Preparation
Day 0 – Departure to Hong Kong and First Night at Chungking Mansion
Day 1 – Star Ferry Ride from Kowloon to HK Island
Day 1 – HKCEC and Golden Bauhinia Square
Day 1 – Repulse Bay and Stanley Village
Day 1 – Lunch at Islamic Muslim Centre, Ammar Mosque and Tram Ride
Day 1 – The Mid Level Escalator
Day 1 – The Peak Tram and Night at Victoria Peak (Sky Terrace 428)
Day 1 – End of Day 1

MACAU Day Trip
Day 2 – Journey to Macau by TurboJET Ferry
Day 2 – City Of Dreams and Hard Rock Hotel
Day 2 – The Galaxy Macau
Day 2 – Grand Lisboa and Senado Square
Day 2 – The Ruins of St. Paul’s
Day 2 – Macau back to Hong Kong

Shenzhen Day Trip
Day 3 – Starting Journey to Shenzhen, China from Hong Kong
Day 3 – Window of The World
Day 3 – Shopping at Shenzhen and back to Hong Kong

Hong Kong Trip Continues
Day 4 – Ngong Ping 360, Lantau Island
Day 4 – Aberdeen Floating Village and Jumbo Kingdom
Day 5 – Disneyland Part 1
Day 5 – Disneyland Part 2
Day 5 – Disneyland Part 3
Day 5 – Shopping at Ladies Market, Mongkok
Last Day – Avenue of Star
Last Day – HK Museums, 1881 Heritage and Back to Malaysia
Total Expenses

Trip Young & Dangerous (HK, Macau & Shenzhen) : Day 2 - Macau Day Trip

On HK day 2, we went on a one-day trip to Asia’s well-known gambling mecca and paradise for gourmands – Macau! Macau is a city with a combination of Portuguese historical heritage and traditional Chinese culture. It was an awesome one day trip from Hong Kong that’s only take a 55 minute boat ride away as Macau is completely different vibe from the big city of Hong Kong. Think of Macau as Asia’s version of Vegas but with old town Portuguese flare mixed around it.

Macau is one of the two Special Administrative Regions of China and is bordered on the province of Guangdong. There’s nothing that connects Hong Kong to Macau so a ferry is necessary although all that will change when they complete the bridge that will link the two cities.

What makes Macau unique is that it was former Portuguese colony and administered by Portugal from the mid-16th century until late 1999, similar to how Hong Kong was administered by the United Kingdom. However what once was a sleepy colonial city has now ballooned to become Asia’s gambling capital. There are many huge themed casinos there and the number of new ones will keep increasing.


i) Ferry to Macau - HK China Ferry Terminal

As mentioned in my previous post, visitors of nearly all nationalities (including Malaysia) can enjoy a visa-free stay of between 30 and 90 days. There are two ferry terminals in Hong Kong which provide ferry services between Hong Kong and Macau. We have chosen to go for the ferry terminal which is nearer to our hotel, Hong Kong China Ferry Terminal (Address: 33 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon). The other ferry terminal, Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal is located in Central (Address: 3/F Shun Tak Centre, 200 Connaught Road Central, Sheung Wan).

Direction to China Ferry Terminal :
1. Go along Haiphong Road (Haiphong Road located next to Grand Mosque Kowloon)
2. Walk straight forward to Horbour City (Will pass Kowloon Park on your right)
3. Continue walking until reached junction infront of Harbour City building
4. Cross the junction to be on the right side of the road and go along Canton Raod
5. Walk straight until reached to China Hong Kong City Shopping Mall on the left
6. Enter the shopping mall, go up the escalator to Level 1
7. Follow sign inside the mall to the ticketing counter

Direction to Hong Kong Ferry Terminal :

1. Take the MTR to Sheung Wan station.
2. Take exit D which will lead you to the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry terminal in the Shun Tak Centre (you have to take several escalators up).


Macau was geographically divided into three regions: the Peninsula and Taipa and Coloane. However, reclamation of the area between Taipa and Coloane has created the fourth region of Cotai. There are 2 ferry operators sail from Hong Kong to Macau where each departed at different terminal as follows :
TurboJET (www.turbojet.com.hk) - The Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal (Macau Maritime Terminal) at Peninsular
CotaiJet (www.cotaiwaterjet.com) - Macau Taipa Ferry Terminal

The islands and the Peninsular are connected by three bridges in Macau. Most people choose to take the ferry to Macau Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal in peninsular, where Macau Tower and historical sites like Senado Square, The Ruins of St Paul and Macau tower are. For those who chose to go to the outlying island, you may take ferry to Taipa Ferry Terminal instead. The attractions at Taipa include several extravagant casinos such as The Venetian and Studio City as well as the Old Taipa Village where most of the famous eateries reside. Shuttle bus services are available to connect tourists between the attractions in Macau.

Ticket Fare
TurboJET Economy = HK$164 (HK - Macau) / HK$153 (Macau - HK)
CotaiJet Economy = HK$165 (HK - Taipa) / HK$154 (Taipa - HK)

Operating Time
7.30am - 10.30pm (ferry operates every 30 mins)


We decided to take TurboJET to peninsular as it is close with the most of the attractions in Macau. We went out from hotel quite early around 8.30am to grab the morning ticket. The walk to the Ferry terminal took around 20mins.

Walking from hotel to ferry terminal. Kowloon Park is on the right.

Price on weekend is slightly higher than on weekdays at HK$180 (HK-Macau) and HK$189 (Macau-HK)


Once successfully purchased the tickets (including returned ticket at 8.00pm), we passed through the immigration to the waiting hall.
Photo inside the terminal before entering the immigration counter. Don't forget to bring your passport!!

Gate to the waiting hall.

With the ticket.


It was Saturday, however not much people here at the terminal. At least not as crowded compared to amount of people at the Peak Tram on the day before. We expected more people as it was weekend but good for us as we managed to buy ticket before it's sold out. Please mind that it is advisable to buy ferry ticket earlier especially during public holiday/weekends as the ticket selling very fast during that time.

Quite empty. Probably most of the people already went out early to Macau.

At the boarding hall while waiting for the ferry.

Our ferry arrived.

The gate and passage that link to the pier where the ferry boarded.

Still waiting.

Information on our ferry and its terminal/berth.

View outside the terminal.

Lots of ferry and ships.


Finally, we were allowed to board inside the ferry. My first impression was... it was big. Infact, it was the biggest ferry I've ever boarded (compare to ferry to Langkawi and other islands in Malaysia). Quite comfortable also. You can also buy meals inside the ferry. I saw most of the passengers ordered instant noodle... and it was very tempting as we just had an instant 3in1 milo and biscuits that morning. However, as it was not Halal so we didn't order and just distracted ourselves with looking the view outside the ferry and chit-chatting.

Inside the ferry to Macau Taipa.


The journey from Hong Kong to Macau will take around 1 hour. Usually, the immigration forms will be distributed on the ferry. But if you missed-out or made mistake when filling the form, there is no need to worry. There are enough forms located at the immigration counter once you reached Macau.

Some of the views along our journey.

Massive construction in Kowloon peninsula.

Hong Kong island. Can you spot The Peak from here??

Another view of Hong Kong Island.


And these were among the views from the ferry when we nearly approaching Macau.

Bridge connecting islands in Macau. Spotted Macau Tower at the back.

The connecting bridge.

Bridge and buildings in Macau.

One of the building with unique shape like a spaceship.

The Cotai Strips where The Sands, The Venetian and City of Dreams located.

Approaching Macau Maritime Terminal.

Finally after about an hour of journey, we reached the Macau Maritime Terminal.
Basically for this Macau trip, We had listed few places to visit here as follows :
1. The Venetian
2. Hard Rock Hotel
3. City of Dream
4. The Galaxy
5. Grand Lisboa
6. Senado Square


How to get around Macau

Most hotel-casino in Macau offer free shuttle bus services, so it was very easy to get around the city. Simply hop on and off the complimentary shuttle buses operated by the casinos to get to most of the major casinos and into town.

Once we cleared the immigration, we went to search for the shuttle bus services to go to our first destination, The Venetian.

Just follow the instruction to exit the terminal.


There is no clear indication of the shuttle bus waiting/pick up area, so we had to ask around and found out that the line form near the immigration building exit was the queue for The Venetian shuttle bus.

The shuttle bus is free and you don't have to wait so long for the next bus. This is one of their marketing strategy to attract visitors to their hotels/casinos by providing free shuttle bus. So why not utilized it to the fullest once we got the opourtunity right ;D

Inside the bus.

Looks like a stadium over there.

Macau city.

The bridge again connecting to other island in Macau where Grand Lisboa is clearly spotted.

Another view.

Finally we arrived at The Venetian.

About 15 minutes ride, we arrived at our first destination, The Venetian. As ussual, I will stop my writing here and continue on The Venetian on my next post. Be prepared for lots and lots of photo ok. Till then.....


Trip to HK, Macau and Shenzhen Fast Link Here
Preparation
Day 0 – Departure to Hong Kong and First Night at Chungking Mansion
Day 1 – Star Ferry Ride from Kowloon to HK Island
Day 1 – HKCEC and Golden Bauhinia Square
Day 1 – Repulse Bay and Stanley Village
Day 1 – Lunch at Islamic Muslim Centre, Ammar Mosque and Tram Ride
Day 1 – The Mid Level Escalator
Day 1 – The Peak Tram and Night at Victoria Peak (Sky Terrace 428)
Day 1 – End of Day 1

MACAU Day Trip
Day 2 – The Venetian, Macao
Day 2 – City Of Dreams and Hard Rock Hotel
Day 2 – The Galaxy Macau
Day 2 – Grand Lisboa and Senado Square
Day 2 – The Ruins of St. Paul’s
Day 2 – Macau back to Hong Kong

Shenzhen Day Trip
Day 3 – Starting Journey to Shenzhen, China from Hong Kong
Day 3 – Window of The World
Day 3 – Shopping at Shenzhen and back to Hong Kong

Hong Kong Trip Continues
Day 4 – Ngong Ping 360, Lantau Island
Day 4 – Aberdeen Floating Village and Jumbo Kingdom
Day 5 – Disneyland Part 1
Day 5 – Disneyland Part 2
Day 5 – Disneyland Part 3
Day 5 – Shopping at Ladies Market, Mongkok
Last Day – Avenue of Star
Last Day – HK Museums, 1881 Heritage and Back to Malaysia
Total Expenses