Well today was the big trip to Macau. The LasVegas of the East. I am happy to say we did not do any gambling except for gambling on which boat to try and get on to get home earlier. Anyway I should start from the start.
We had an early get up as we wanted to get to the ferry terminal early. We arrived there later then I had hoped but still managed to get on a Turbo Jet at 10;15. We went through immigration and customs and waited for our boat to arrive.
The ferry trip to Macau takes about an hour. Anthony slept for most of it and I watched a TV show in Chinese where they went and tasted food in Tasmania. It is pretty funny watching the looks on their faces when they were trying foods I considered very normal. When we arrived in Macau we had to go though immigration again on their side and then we were free to go. Hungry we stopped of at Macca’s and Anthony had a prosperity burger in honor of Steve. We have missed having Steve and Sarma on this trip.
When we got out to the buses I have never been more lost in my life. Macau is not an easy place to get around unless you are going to a casino in which case it is simple. Finally I figured out what bus to get to the center of macau. Then I had to frantically try to look at the map to know where to get off. There were no stop Numbers.
Luckily we found our way to Senado square. It looks much pretty in photos however their was a huge Christmas tree in the middle of the square and heaps and heaps of people. We wondered first to the church of st Dominic. It was a beautiful church built many years ago by the Portuguese. We continued up a street to try and find the ruins of st Paul’s.
The street up to the ruins of st Paul’s was sooo crowded. On the side were so many shops selling Portuguese tarts, jerky, and almond cakes. The three things Macau is famous for. We tried some egg tarts which were yum and sampled some jerky and almond cakes. (Anthony did buy some Jerky later) then bought some fresh juice and headed to the ruins.
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The ruins of st Paul’s was an old church built back in the 1830’s I think. Fire burnt everything except the facade down. The facade is beautiful. It has a mix of catholic, Japanese and Chinese symbols and carvings on it. It was really pretty to look at. While we were there we also headed down to look at the crypt and the museum. Which were OK.
Satisfied with what we had seen we found our way back to the ferry terminal which was a miracle and caught the free shuttle bus to City of Dreams casino. I really wanted to go to The Venetian Hotel but I was worried how long it would take us.
We arrived at the city of dreams and I was excited to see the the Venetian is actually right across the road. We went into City of Dreams first as we were going to The House of Dancing Water at 5 and we wanted to know where it was. While we were in the city of dreams we saw the bubble theater which was showing dragons treasure. We decided to go in.
The bubble theater is a huge 360° screen which is a full multimedia show. The show took us into some different places with dragons and was pretty impressive to watch.
As we had a fair amount of time left went to explore the Venetian. As we approached their was a lady singing opera in Italian and many people in masquerade to take photos with. We got a few photos and continued on.
The main hall in this hotel is truly beautiful it is designed with painted ceiling like something Michelangelo would have done. After taking pictures we headed to the shopping complex which was based around Venice. It was painted like a Venice street with sky included. It also had huge canals in which gondolas were being driven. We decided to hop onto a gondola and it was heaps of fun. They guy even sang. he he.
We did a bit of shopping here and headed back to The city of Dreams as it was nearly time for the show.
The House of Dancing Water was truly amazing. I think it would be one of the best shows i have seen. The tricks and diving were amazing, but the actual set was awe inspiring it was incredible. We thoroughly enjoyed the show even though it got stopped mid way due to an issue. If you are ever in Macau you should go and see this.
We decided to head to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner as we had been in Sydney and really enjoyed it. Although a bit pricey it was a good meal and we got some Hard Rock Macau souvenir glasses to go with our Sydney ones. After dinner we caught the shuttle bus back to the ferry terminal. We were booked in for the 10:45 ferry to come back and it was only 9:15. We joined a standby like for the 9:45 ferry as sometimes if there are spare seats they let people on and this time we were in luck. We got a spot on the ferry.
It was a fantastic day although Macau is not an easy city to travel in by a long shot.