Macau, baby! The Las Vegas of the East!

Macau, rightly called the Vegas of the east, is a tiny nation.

We visited Macau in day trip from Hong Kong.

There are 24/7 ferries from the Central HK or the Island side of the HK.

We got up early and took the ferry at 8 AM at the Hong Kong Macau Ferry terminal.

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The Taxi will drop you here. Take the elevator up the terminal. Locate the ticket booth and book the ticket for the next ferry. No need to advance book. Ferries run every 15-20 min. Also dont buy from any of the sources other than the ticket window.  One way fare economy on Turbojet Ferries is around 25 SGD.
Check the schedule and fare table here  .


Emigration was swift. We left HK. Indians dont need visa to enter either countries. It is as good as travelling within two states of one country. No visa, no stamping.

Once on ferry we tried catching a wink. On the other other side Immigration was quick as well.

Soon we were at the bus stand. The taxi drivers pestered us to opt their sightseeing services. Pay no heed!
Who wants to spend 1000 HKD for something you can do for free!

There are escalators which take you underground and on the other side to bus stand.

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There will be buses which will take you the casinos FOR FREE!

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We took a bus to Lisboa Casino and it dropped us near the casino.

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Within a short walk around, we had our first stop, the Margarets Cafe e Nata, for breakfast.

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The breakfast was french toast and lots of Tea, just like we have back in India, in kettle.

Next stop was the Senado square or the Central Square.

Its not a square in real sense but its a central place where pedestrians can walk peacefully soaking in the Portuguese setup of buildings left behind as legacy.

Just go with the crowds at Senado square and you will soon reach the ruins of St Paul.

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The narrow alleys have several shops selling you pork delicacy for trying. I opted to watch from a distance.

The ruins of st Pauls are of a once important church. Several attempts to restore the site were dampened by many accidents.

Time to hit a casinos as the afternoon sun was getting hotter.We headed back to the Lisboa casino and asked for the free shuttle back to Ferry terminal.

 To take the ferry shuttle back you need to collect a piece of paper-like ticket from the front desk of the casino.That means you need to show your presence inside the casino.

Once back at ferry terminal we transferred to a bus heading Venetian Macao Casino.

Had an indian thali at the food court there. Food cost was on the higher side, but was filling.

By evening we had to be a Macao Tower to see the evening lights. It was foggy but quite clear to see the buildings around. There is shuttle just across Venetian, from the Galaxy Casino which goes to Macao Tower. 

Timed it right and we are at Macao tower. Entrance fee is around 25 SGD. It features an indoor and outdoor platform. There were bungy jumpers at the outdoor platform.

One the way back from Macao Tower, we visited the Galaxy Casino, the interior was somewhat attractive than other casinos. It had a big LCD screen inside with mesmerizing mermaids swimming around!

WARNING: - The video may not be suitable for all age groups.     :P

There is also a Hard Rock cafe nearby, so had dinner and headed back to the ferry terminal by another shuttle.The ferry ticket can be booked in advance or on the spot. The night ferry tickets are bit costly. Make sure you get rid of all the Patacas you may have collected during the trip. Patacas are not of much value outside Macau. Alternatively you can  transact in HKD all along. We only spent for food as transport was all free. No need of Sim card in Macao as Wifi is free at casinos. One can stay back in Macao if wish to. We were tired and so returned back to Hong kong by 11 PM ferry.                                                                                       Another day, another place accomplished! Feeling content!

Lantau Buddha

Lantau Buddha is the big Buddha Statue sitting on the Lantau Island in Hongkong.
It is also known as Tian Tan Buddha.
Easily reachable by public transport, this Buddha statue is at the top of a mountain peak.


That day Me and Prasha got up early by 7 AM and went for breakfast to the nearest McDonald.

Some breakfast places were serving some wierd looking food stuff.

I didnt dare to step in, preferred McDonald instead.

Converted some SGD to HKD at the Wing Lung Bank. The bank is exactly opposite to the McDonald Outlet.



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At left at around 9 AM.
We headed to the Tung Chung station MTR station from Central Station.

It was already afternoon by the time we reached there. We had packed our subway sandwich at the MTR station.
The bus terminal is just outside the station. Take the bus no 23 to Ngong Ping.
Below is the location where the bus stand on the inside of the terminal.


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It takes around an hour to reach the top by bus.
The road is windy and made me throw up, almost!

The weather was cool. We could see the gleaming and shining buddha at a distance.

 The bottom of the mountain, near the bus stop is a touristy Ngong Ping village setup with shops selling you touristy stuff, seven elevens and the Cable car final station.

Buddha as seen at the top of mountain.

That's the PO-Lin Monastry at the foot of the mountain.One needs to walk a fair amount of stairs and reach the top.

That's the Po-Lin monastry from the top. The view from the top is amazing. Green mountains all around and statues of goddesses around the Buddha. They add to the atmosphere.

One can also spot the cable car from far away.
By the time we felt content with the place, it was already 4 pm.
We started our descent. We were at the bus station for the second-last bus. It was filled completely.
The last bus was around 7 PM. So we didn't want to waste time, we started the journey as standing passengers. The bus ride back was thrilling, with we falling all over the fellow passengers.

That was a day well spent!
Next day we had plans to travel to Macau...

Date with Donald @ Hong Kong Disneyland!

On 2nd Jan, we got up early and headed to Hongkong Central Station for our MTR ride to Sunny bay.
This time time we took Tram from our hotel directly to Central....


From Central one needs to take the Tung Chung Line. Then Change over at Sunny bay for the Disney line.
Take a look at the MTR Map here.

Disney has its own separate line to take all us adults to the childhood dreamland, the land of Disney!

Once inside, make sure you chart your whole days plan! There are lots of parades, shows and rides to look out for.

The queue at the ticket counter was not that long considering it was holiday times.

We started off in the anticlockwise section once inside.... 

We did Tomorrow land ride and Space Mountain by lunch.

Space mountain was a stomach-churning, neck crunching ride in the black-void space like setup...

Beware ones with Migraines and neck ailments!  

It has option of Disney fast-pass. 

We had lunch at the food court near to the TomorrowLand! We later found an Indian outlet at the Adventure land.
There were few shows we took notice of while walking from one section to the other.

Post lunch, we moved towards the Grizzly Gulch..

 and then moved towards Toy Story land...

The Parachute ride was not that exciting, but may be fine to ride with your young ones. 
Since we were only 2 persons, we opted to ride single riders. The queue otherwise was expected to be 2 hours + long....

The RC Racer ride is worth the wait time.... more like a giant see-saw.

In the adventure land the river safari is highly recommended.

By the time we finished the Mystic point it was evening

We ran to catch the Disney's "The Golden Mickeys".

And now it was time for the famous Disney Fireworks. Fireworks were dreamlike.... Absolutely amazing! Exactly how we expected.

One day is never enough! It was too crowded on holidays and still more we wanted the dream to never end! 

The park closes shortly after fireworks!

After a tiring a day at Disney we headed back to Central. It was already too late and we headed to midlevel escalators to have a sumptuous dinner at a Turkish restaurant.



We called it a day after a short taxi ride to our hotel.

Tip:- 1. Always get your hotel name written down in Chinese by the  Tourism Board person at the Airport.
The Chinese name will help the local taxi driver decipher your hotel name.

        2. 7-Eleven near your hotel should be able to provide you with fresh milk and bread/butter for next day breakfast. If your hotel doesnt provide you free breakfast then you should stock the juices and milkshakes for next day.



Next Day... Macau....

The day we traveled to Hongkong

Hong Kong was on my minds for months and years...

Firstly I had a visited there before for a short 8 hours transit trip and had made up my mind to come back again. 

Secondly it was perfect location for celebrating my Marriage anniversary. 

Hong Kong is mildly cold in January and has a perfect festive atmosphere around New year. 

So we booked a Jetstar flight for 1st Jan, which I boarded from Singapore.

Indians dont need a visa for Hong Kong, so immigration was a like a breeze.

Once out of the terminal exit we bought the reliable octopus card from the Tourism Board queue.

The Tourism department at the exit provides you free maps and helpful advice of which airport bus to ride upon, and which is the nearest alighting/boarding point for the bus.

Shortly after that we bought a CMHK sim card with a week long data plan.
Airport is nice to spend 20-30 min.

The ride to the city by bus was comfortable. During my last visit I had used the airport express which is twice as costly as the bus journey. 

The bus journey took us over many tall bridges and also had a nice view of the ports scenery of Hong Kong

We had booked our stay at Hotel best Western and it was a sea facing room.  

MTR is the metro system of Hong Kong.

So we had to first travel by tram to nearest MTR station. The tram gives you the feeling of a century old mode of transport. The tram is not that spacious but its double decker in HK and you can pay using the trusty Octopus card.

Below is a video of our first encounter with a tram in real life. 

We took the MTR from Central station to the TST or Tsim sha Tsui east station. 
The Modi road was decorated with hugh christmas decorations.

 The air was cold and we opted for a hot coffee and a stroll around the Modi street.
Then we turned towards the Esplanade heading to Avenue of stars.

The laser show was a bit dull but it is ok if you are watching it for the first time.

The synchronized show of laser lights and music introduces you with the important tall skyscrapers of  Hk skyline and then keeps doing random flashing of lasers. We left just in time for dinner.

We had dinner at a Indian restaurant on Nathan road.

Was too excited to visit Disney Land the next day.......

Day one to Hanoi....

Its fun to run away from home....

This time we ran from offices....

All four of us..

To Vietnaam....

Flashback....

Long back Abhijeet had a wish to visit Ha long bay....

He incepted the idea in my mind and the plan was hatched.

Ashish and Nihit followed..

So May 13 2011 was the day when we planned to fly for Hanoi....

Some say Friday the 13th is unlucky but not for us.

Cause we were heading towards a Heavenly place..

We left Singapore and reached Hanoi airport by around 7 PM in the evening.

Hanoi Airport is called Noi Bai. Quite a name...
The Visa has to applied online here. The Visa on arrival was as smooth as silk.

We were granted a year and month of Visa instead of a Month as normal.

The immigration realised this mistake and promptly corrected this in about 15 min.

Its wise to book hotel once you are in Hanoi... If you are landing in Hanoi during morning and dont worry much about staying in a backpackers hotels. You can then find hotels for as less as 8USD. Its up to you.

If you have booked hotel before landing here then you better opt for 15 USD taxi ride offered by hotel..

10-12 USD is norm, hotels earn a commision of 2-3 USD for the taxi ride.. but at the airport you will be charged anything between 15 to 20 USD.. So be wise..

We enquired about the sim card but found international calling a bit costly as compared to other countries we had stayed. Instead we planned to rely on the wifi offered by the hotel.

Taxi ride was fun.. The driver knew only limited English which served his purpose...

The drive here is left handed as in the US of A.

I was having a funny feeling that I was driving the vehicle but I was not..

Kinda strange to sit in the front seat after being in countries where cars are right hand driven .

Car was a hatchback and seating was cramped..

The driving sense in Vietnaam is as good as it is in India.

We saw few mishaps on the way to the City from Airport.

When we reached Hanoi's Dong Xuan Market, we realised we are in the third world country really. The roads were not in order, not at all having enough street lights. No Order to traffic.

Saw only Hatchbacks and Luxary cars on road. Most of the capital was infested by two-wheelers. Yes! Infested I should say...

We found our hotel quickly thanks to the taxi driver. We checked in and headed for dinner. The Streets of Hanoi were filled with a plethora of tasty dishes. Presenting few here.

 Prawn Fried Rice

Chilli Frog with spring onions.

After the dinner on roadside we headed back to hotel to login to Fring! and call home that we reached safely.

The planning...

The trip was planned in the first week of May, the travel dates were fixed as 13th May to 17th May 2011. A simple 10 line gmail by Abhijeet started it all.

The wheels turned and we applied for leaves, we had a long weekend in Singapore and the plans were on.

Nihit and Ashish confirmed that they would join me in what could be probably the last trip in ASEAN for Abhijeet. What a way to bid farewell to a place where you have stayed for quite a while!