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

This is my last post on our one day trip at Macau. From Senado Square, we walked back to Grand Lisboa. It was easy to locate this building as it is the highest and most lighting in this city area. Once reached at the Grand Lisboa, we couldn't resist to take more photos here.


It was so happening with the lights, crowds, visitors coming in and out the hotel and casino... totally felt like in Vegas (I never been there though but I bet Vegas is definitely more happening)...

Lets the photos do the talking ok..!

The area infront of the Grand Lisboa was crowded with visitors who also didn't want to miss a chance to take photo of the hotel.

It really has its charm at night.

The Casino with colourfull lights to attract visitors.

Brighter version.

The dome.

It's quite tough to take photo in this angle. Luckily Nor was good at it :D

In front of the Grand Lisboa replica, a pineapple shape tower.

More close up.

Posing infront of the casino.

The Dome and Tower. Magnificent!!

I love this photo!

Final post in Grand Lisboa.


Once had it enough at Grand Lisboa, we went infront of the lobby to catch the shuttle bus. It was already very long queue there and we started to panic either we could make it on time to the Ferry Terminal (tu la bergambar tak ingat kan...). We also noticed that everyone must have a receipt/ticket to get into the shuttle bus which made us more worried. We asked the information counter inside the hotel and being told that we needed to collect the receipt at the casino's counter. What!! Actually, the free shuttle bus only applicable for member or if you spending money in their resort (casino, hotel, restaurant, etc). As some people (like us) who used their free shuttle bus but not going into their resort or worst go to their's competitor resort like Wynn Hotel which located opposite the Grand Lisboa (that definitely not us), so they implemented this rule. Well you don't really have to play, just go to the casino's counter and asked for receipt (as like you want to play in the casino). Once received the receipt, go down back to lobby and present the receipt to the bus conductor. Then you are free to board into the bus.

Note : Starting 2015, some of the resort hotels like Wynn, City of Dreams and etc, already suspended their free shuttle "departing from" the resorts between 5pm-8pm unless you are member, hotel's guess or spending money in their resort. However shuttles "to" the resort still work as usual.


It was totally a new experience to us!! Imagine, as a Muslim we are prohibited to gamble but in Macau, we entered the casino hall. People who saw us might think, what are these muslim's ladies doing here (as it's quite obvious since we wore "shawl" and covered our hair). We were like an alien there. Of course, we felt a bit afraid and guilty to enter the casino hall however all that provides me with one in a lifetime experience and at least I got a chance to witness the gambling scene in LIVE. (Kat Genting tak bole masuk casino kannn...)

Once successfully got the receipt, we back to the queue and waited for the shuttle bus.

While I was in the queue, Nor got off the line and took photo at the area nearby. Trishaws are also available here in Macau for sight-seeing around the city.

Another casino located nearby.


Around 15mins before 8pm finally we managed to board into the bus and reached Macau Maritime Ferry Terminal just on time before our departure.

Went up the escalator to departure hall.

Immigration counter for custom clearance.

Departure hall was quite deserted that time. Not much people went back to Hong Kong, probably because it was already late at night.


Night ferry ride was not very pleasant to me. Maybe because I was already tired, I had nausea. Just tried to sleep along the journey back to Hong Kong. After an hour, we reached TST Ferry Terminal, Kowloon and walked back to our hotel.

Passed by Kowloon park. Since we didn't get a chance to take photo here before, so we did now.

As it was night already, we didn't enter the park.

The TST area is still happening at night.

The city that's never sleep. Still lots of people hanging around this time.


Finally we reached our room nearly at 10.30pm. We were really exhausted plus our feet started to pain. Nor's condition was the worst as she got blisters on her feet (That's why comfort shoes is very important when you had a long walking distance). Luckily I brought "minyak gamat", so Nor put on the oil to her blisters (remember in my earlier post on preparation, I mentioned that medicine is one of important things to bring along during travel. We never expected when we could get injured right?). After took shower and performed Jamak prayers, we made a Maggie mee and Nestum drinks for supper before went to bed.

Tomorrow would be another long journey with of course... lots of walk, walk, walk.


Well, this was basically how we spent our one day trip in Macau. We really enjoyed ourselves and it gave a different experiences as this trip was full of glamorous, glitzy and lavish places. But there's also historic places with different culture like in Senado Square. It was impressive. Not forgetting our 1st time visit to casino hall.... However to be frank, for me one day is just enough as besides the majestic hotels and building, nothing much attraction there. One day should be enough to cover all places. Unless you want to spent quality time in the lavish hotels and gambling, then you can spent more time. So that was it, finished my post for 2nd day.

Signing off...


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 – 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
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 (The Ruins of St.Paul's)

vii) Ruins of St Paul's

Still at Senado Square, I continued from my last post where after about 10 minutes walk down the street, we reached the Ruins of St Paul's Cathedral.

Arguably Macau’s most famous landmark, the Ruins of St. Paul’s was officially listed in 2005 as part of the UNESCO World Heritage site, the Historic Center of Macau. Originally built in the 16th century, the complex of St. Paul’s College and the Cathedral of St. Paul burned down and was rebuilt multiple times before the third and final fire during a typhoon in 1835 left it beyond repair. All that remains are the iconic stone facade and the grand staircase leading up to it.

Admission Fee :
Admission to the museum is free every day between the hours of 9 am and 6 pm.

Sitting atop sixty six granite stairs, the Ruins of St Paul Cathedral is probably the most crowded place in Macau. There were really A LOT of tourists taking photos on the long staircase. It wasn’t easy to take photos without including some random people in the frame.

See, it's very hard to take photo without being "Photobomb"ed

The crowds started from the bottom of the stairs up to the ruins... Bertabahla yer


The facade is 27 meters tall, 23.5 meters wide and 2.7 meters thick. The top floor is a triangle lintel under a cross; in the middle of the lintel is a copper dove. The dove is surrounded by the sun, moon, and stars. There is a statue of the baby Jesus Christ with the tools that were used to nail him to the cross. The major figures portrayed in the lintel are the Virgin Mary, the Holy Father, some Holy Saints, and Jesus Christ. The middle two floors reflect missionary endeavour.

Details of the facade.

Judging from the facade, the original church must have been huge during its heyday.


We went to the back area of the ruins which restored into a museum. The facade is buttressed from behind, allowing tourists to climb up to the windows to get a closer look at the stone carvings and to enjoy a panoramic view of the city below.

Paul's Cathedral was destroyed by a fire during a typhoon in 1835 and only the front wall, facade and granite stairs of the church remains..

Back wall of the facade.


As the ruins located on a hill site, it offers a good view of the city. Can see the Grand Lisboa clearly from here.

Grand Lisboa close up.


Being one of the major tourist attraction in Macau, the Ruins of St Paul is undoubtedly a must-visit.

Our camera was almost out of battery resulting this poor quality of photo. Banyak "entiti" hehehehe

Looking from the front side, people might think it is a one complete building while it is actually only one wall remains.

Martial art pose. Mcm2 gaya.

Closer photo. Look at the details. Impressive!

Another attempt to take photo in front of the facade.


Most people come to Senado Square and the Ruins of St. Paul in the day time for the photo ops, but coming here during the night has some benefits. For one, it isn’t crowded. During the summer you can’t even squeeze through the throngs. Secondly, the weather will be more pleasant at night. Imagine with the crowds and hot weather... one might faint with such conditions. Third is a bonus where the lighting is very beautiful at night.

The city already illuminated with lights. Grand Lisboa lighting looks like a fireworks!


I recommended you to come here in the evening to experience both day time and night view like we did!

Managed to ask help from people there to take our photo together.

Like I mentioned, camera's battery was weak. Semakin banyak "entiti" appeared :P


It's almost 7pm so we started to make a move back to the Ferry Terminal as our ticket's back to Hong Kong was at 8.00pm. We went down the staircase and back to the alley of shops.

Arch of love


Walked down the lane back to Senado Square.

What a nice place to hang out with families and friends.


The Holy House of Mercy of Macau (Portuguese: Santa Casa da Misericórdia,) is a historic building in Senado Square. Established as a branch of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia, it was first built in 1569 on the orders of the Bishop of Macau as a medical clinic and several other social welfare structures in early Macau. It later served as an orphanage and refuge for widows of sailors lost at sea.

Now, Santa Casa da Misericórdia is also part of the Historic Centre of Macau, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Finally we reached the main road at Grand Lisboa where we needed to find shuttle bus back to Ferry Terminal.

Read my final chapter on Trip to Macau on next post. 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 – 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 – 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 (Grand Lisboa & Senado Square)

Our next destination after The Galaxy Macau was to Senado Square, however since this place is not a hotel, there is no free shuttle bus service to Senado Square. But then how to go there? Besides taking a taxi, there is cheaper way to get to Senado Square as below :

Direction to Senado Square
- Remember that you can still hop to every hotel in Macau for free by using their free shuttle bus service. As Senado Square located not very far from Grand Lisboa hotel, so take shuttle bus to Grand Lisboa.
- Then walk about 5 minutes. You will reach your destination.


I'd mentioned in my previous post that The Venetian, City of Dreams and The Galaxy are located in TAIPA region, while Senado Square located in Peninsula area. Since there is no bus from The Galaxy to Grand Lisboa due to different territory, we had to take shuttle bus back to Macau Maritime Ferry Terminal (Peninsular) then take shuttle bus to Grand Lisboa which also at Peninsular from there.

It's not difficult to find the shuttle bus to grand Lisboa. All you need to do is find a group of people with green shirt displaying Grand Lisboa signboard, so just follow them and board the bus.

The shuttle bus also in green colour.


The shuttle bus stopped right in front of the old Lisboa Hotel, which still operating until now.

Lisboa Hotel.


v) Grand Lisboa Macau

Standing at 58 floor, 261 metres tall, the Grand Lisboa is the tallest building in Macau. It is owned by Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM) and designed by renowned Hong Kong architects Dennis Lau and Ng Chun Man. The casino and restaurants within Grand Lisboa were opened on February 11, 2007, while the hotel was opened in December 2008. The exterior of the building is very attractive and eye-catching, where the reflective gold tower sits atop a dome-shaped structure.

Grand Lisboa has become one of the famous landmark in Macau.


The new Grand Lisboa Casino is located at the right side of the old Lisboa Casino. It was build with 5,000,000,000 Hong Kong dollars. It has been completed after three years of construction. The new Lisboa Casino is grand, splendid, magnificent and majestic; the great egg-shaped new Lisboa Casino is decorated with many crystal chandeliers and large-scale decorative lighting.

Lisboa Casino and Grand Lisboa located next to each other.

An impressive and iconic skyscraper


Spotted Macau Tower from here. We didn't managed to visit there due to limited time we had.

Wynn hotel, also one of the luxury hotel in Macau located opposite the Lisboa Hotel.

Zoom in the Grand Lisboa.


Enough with photos we took at Grand Lisboa, we continued our journey to our main intention here which to visit Senado Square.


vi) Senado Square

Macau was previously a Portuguese settlement and many of the buildings around the Senado Square were deeply influenced by the Portuguese style. There is a saying that goes "If you have not been to Senado Square, you have not been to Macau". That was also why we have put Senado Square on our must visit list.

From the Lisboa Hotel area, just walk towards the Grand Lisboa. Don't worry if you're unsure as there will be lots of people coming to and from Senado Square. Just follow the crowds like we did!!

Can you see lots of people infront the Grand Lisboa Dome? Just walk to that direction.

Jalan skit amik gambar, jalan skit amik gambar bila nak sampai... :P

Main street.

You will need to cross this junction.


The streets are narrow and crowded with people, luckily it was nearly dusk, so the weather was chill a bit. Quite a pleasant walk. After a 5 minutes walk, we finally arrived at Senado Square around 5pm.

Senado Square is an elongated triangular shaped town square and is part of UNESCO Historic Center of Macau. The long street starts from Leal Senado Building and ends at Ruins of St Paul Cathedral, another famous landmark of Macau.

Historical Building.

As we made our way around this square, we got a chance to explore the city’s historical and cultural heritage.


In the center of the square is a fountain. This is also where a statue of a Portuguese soldier named Mesquita originally stands. He was known to be responsible for the death of many Chinese soldiers during the hostilities with Qing Dynasty. The statue was destroyed and replaced by the fountain after Macau was returned to China in late 1999.

The main square is surrounded by elegant Baroque and Portuguese style buildings.


The square is covered with this porcelain like tiles you see all over the place. Along the sidewalks they make patterns / motifs like fish or boats. We walked across the wave patterned mosaic floor of Senado Square. The streets around Senado Square is full of historical colonial building with Portuguese influences, housing small boutiques and shops selling local snacks and souvenirs.

Located in the heart of Senado Square, you will find the St. Domingo's Church, a 16th century Baroque-style church established by three Spanish Dominican priests, who arrived from Acapulco, Mexico. Built in 1587, the church was listed one of the 29 sites that form the UNESCO Historic Centre of Macau World Heritage.

The church is opened to the public with a sacred museum featuring treasured religious relics, church regalia and sculptures.

On the last stretch of walkway, there’s a narrow strip packed with shops selling local confectionery, beef jerky and souvenirs. Everyone comes here at least once if you are in Macau.

Can you see the mass of people in here.


Macau Egg Tarts are different from the Cantonese egg tarts. You can easily find these egg tarts everywhere in Macau. Besides that, The Pork Chop Bun is another well-known specialities of Macau.

The Portuguese egg tarts is one of the famous local specialities to try when you are visiting Macau.

Souvenir shop. We bought some fridge magnets here.

Well, kau dah kenapa?? Lots of way to attract customers.


At the end of the street, we reached the Ruins of St Paul's Cathedral which is Macau's most famous landmark. As this post is long already, continue in next post ok. Quite a lots of photo also.

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 – Journey to Macau by TurboJET Ferry
Day 2 – The Venetian, Macao
Day 2 – City Of Dreams and Hard Rock Hotel
Day 2 – The Galaxy Macau
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