Macau - 28 July 2011

Taking the Tiger Airways flight TR2908 to Macau. Scheduled for takeoff at 1.30pm. Reached Budget Terminal by 1130am (yeah, I know its kindof early.. I have a phobia of not arriving early enough for airports and stuffs...).

will the Tiger roar or whimper?

Met the group at 1215pm, and we proceeded to check-in. So far so good.

the group (missing Guo Wei in the picture)

We then proceeded to the departure gate.

is that our plane?

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to board the plane. Somehow, the people at the back of the queue turned towards another gate so we followed suit. Apparently, we had to change plane due to some problems. So another 20 minutes of waiting time.

Finally, our plane is ready and we went into the cool comfort of our A320 plane.

inside the Tiger

Our plane ride was uneventful and we sailed past beautiful cotton-candy-like clouds.

cloudy day

But towards the last hour or so of our plane ride, we hit turbulent air pockets. So it was quite bumpy at times. Then the captain announced that our plane will be preparing for arrival. Woohoo! But was quite concerned when the plane flew so low that it was nearly touching the sea (well, it did look like it was!) I think I was paranoid...!

plane landed at Macau, surrounded by brown coloured sea

Looked like it had rained earlier in Macau, as everywhere was wet.

Macau International Airport

Yay! Reached Macau finally! Time of arrival: 630pm. Looked like we were delayed by an hour or so. Never mind. We took a cab from the airport to our hotel. It took us some 15 minutes to reach Beverly Plaza Hotel at 70-106 Avenida Do Dr. Rodrigo Rodrigues. Note that it would be easier if you tell the taxi driver the Chinese name of the hotel. For example, Beverly Plaza Hotel is 富豪酒店 (Fu Hou Zhau Dim in Cantonese). It costs us 75MOP (~SGD12.50) for the cab fare.

saw Macau Tower as we travelled along the bridge heading towards Macau island

Beverly Plaza Hotel is located along the roadside, and opposite of Grand Lisboa. They have Cantonese and Mandarin speaking staff, and can converse in simple English. I was 'volunteered' by the group to become the de-facto Cantonese speaking translator.

hotel lobby

check-in counter

We went to our respective rooms to put our luggages before heading out to find food.

my room

very hard bed

bathroom

toiletries included comb, toothbrush, shampoo, shower bath, body lotion, shower cap

quality tap

aircond temperature control

minibar item prices

only Chinese tea is provided

Our hotel is near Senado Square, so we walked there. It took about 10 minutes. Just cross the road, walk under the bridge and head towards Grand Lisboa. Then exit from Grand Lisboa and walk straight.

inside Grand Lisboa lobby

night view of the rows of shops

not sure what that is but it was everywhere....

at Senado Square

Holy House of Mercy

St Dominic's Church

Decided to have dinner at Wong Chi Kei (黄枝記). Very touristry but hey, I am a tourist!

shopfront

The shop has one grumpy lady manning the queue. She 'ngiam-ed' us when we were abit slow in responding to her...

We were seated at the basement and they have a dedicated waiter to serve that section. Ordered the shrimp eggs noodles with wanton  (云吞虾仔捞面) to try.

shrimp eggs noodles with wanton (42MOP)

The noodles were very dry and abit too hard for me. Preferred more sauce. Saw a lady (probably from Hong Kong) who drizzled her noodles with vinegar. I tried, and it was not bad.

closer view

After dinner, we went to walk abit to recce around the area. It was real quiet as most shops were closed by 930pm on a weekday.

parking meter!

dog loo

some back alley.. looks eery hor?

some shops still open

stopped for a snack, 牛肉胡椒饼 (beef pepper puff) @ 20MOP for 2 (pic showing quarter only)

Walked towards the ruins of St Paul but it was all dark.

Ruins of St Paul (大三巴牌坊)

many steps

looking back at Senado Square

Chanced upon a shop selling herbal drink at one of the alley. Drank a chrysanthemum tea to quench the thirst after the pepper puff.

pretty and friendly lady boss, just don't say the herbal tea bitter.. it is "回甘"

After all the exploration, it was time for us to head back to our hotel. On our way back, we chanced upon Yee Shun Milk Company (義順牛奶公司).

had to wait outside if doing takeaway

Tried abit of the double skin milk pudding (双皮顿乃). It really tasted like condense milk~ Hahaa, a likeable taste. Too bad we're too stuffed from our dinner and post-dinner snacks and drinks.

'double skin' probably dissolved because we ate this after we reached our hotel

On our way back, we passed by Grand Lisboa again. It was brightly lit.

Grand Lisboa Hotel

bright lights to entice you to its casino~

Made a detour to 7-11 nearby the hotel to grab coffee for the next morning. The store staff was friendly and wanted to offer me their styrofoam cups if my hotel did not provide any.

bought a box of Mr Brown's Coffee (Blue Mountain 3-in-1) that was on offer at 18.5MOP

It was quite difficult to sleep on my first night at the hotel because the bed was so so hard! It felt like sleeping on the floor! Geez. The tv had quite a bit of channels, so I watched TVB channel till tired.