Photos when Jane comes back from her India trip.
Another of my highlights was not actually in HK, but Macau; an island off of China. I didn’t need a Visa however as Macau was a Portuguese colony in 1887, and is both the first and last European colony in China.
Getting there was a bit dramatic. We took the ferry which, when inside looked more like a plane with its fold down food trays, plush seats and television screens and I had more leg room there than on the airplane. It was getting on the boat that was trouble. Going through immigration was a doddle for Ruth – she just flashed her passport and went straight in. Me?
“Madam, you cannot enter Macau. You need paper!”
Paper. WHAT? Eventually I worked out I had to fill in several forms. It didn’t help that a random lady kept on telling me, “You can’t enter Macau. Hurry!” Ruth got in without any of this stuff, so trust me to pick the queue with the strictest immigration official.
Eventually I was let through and we made it on the ferry this time. Whilst having a nap on the trip, Jane snuck up behind me and said in her funniest deep voice “EXCUSE ME MADAM!” which made me think the officials had come after me. Much to Ruth’s annoyance, it became a motif and catchphrase of the trip and we even acted it out later in the hotel. XD
Ah, the hotel! A short coach ride (where we got a free key ring) took us to our place of residence for that night; The Grand Hyatt. And Grand it was. We took so many pictures of the lobby but the staff were still smiling and friendly and even took some for us! It was easily the most posh place I’d ever been to and looked like 5 Star luxury. It had its own patisserie and ballroom, and even a water fountain in the main hall. I can’t thank Jane’s parents enough for taking us and paying.
More photos and gasping in awe later and we were in our room. What a room. The view from the windows was of a building site, but other than that I couldn’t fault it. I willingly made the ultimate sacrifice and slept on the sofa whilst Jane and Ruth took the beds (although I recreated the Travel Lodge advert and did a big leap back onto one) but I couldn’t care less as it was MASSIVE! The bath could fit all three of us in (not that we used it together) and there were massive wardrobes, sinks and a flat screen TV on the wall. Traditional tea, slippers, postcards, toiletries – all were provided. There was even a tiny sewing kit to fix my leggings when they ripped.
We took another coach (free of charge for hotel users J) across the bridge into the main city area. There were Sasa stores, pretty buildings and decorations and loads of noodle shops one of which where we had lunch. There were the huge casinos (tourism and gambling are Macau’s main sources of income) in the distance and many high end shops. We decided to sight-see, and like good tourists went to St Pauls Ruins which I learnt to pronounce in Cantonese much to Jane’s delight. Hilarity ensued as we strolled up the streets, ate all the free samples of the ‘*Something* Kok’ bakeries and generally had a good time. We took the coach back and gained another free key ring, and were told that we could use these to enter a prize draw with the chance to win a million dollars.
That night we were seeing a show that cost over 2 billion dollars to create. ‘The House Of Dancing Water’ was very similar to Cirque De Soleil only it had a storyline, and also involved a 50 gallon swimming pool that doubled as safety net and performance space. It truly was an awe inspiring show that was stunningly beautiful and a visual treat. I didn’t take videos/photos of the show on principle, by Jane’s father took some lovely shots. Just when you thought you’d seen it all, the pool was drained and they bought on Motorcycles and did impressive stunts. Wow. I’d definitely recommend seeing the show – it’s one of a kind!
We had a lot of fun in the lobby as well. I was wearing orange and black and merged perfectly with the colour scheme. We took lots of hilarious ‘Where am I?’ pictures of me hiding on the carpet, in the curtains etc. Other tourists were laughing their heads off. We then went to see a show in the bubble – a giant dome which had screens all around where an animated movie about dragons was shown. It got us all in the mood for the up and coming New Year nicely and it was free to enter for hotel guests! ;)
Our hotel was part of a trio of hotels – The Hard Rock Hotel and The Plaza being the other two. They were all connected by a set of high end brand stores like Prada, Ralph Lauren and Gucci with the theatres in the centre. And of course, there was a massive casino. At one entrance, there was a giant waterfall spanning the whole of the wall of which behind was a projected screen showing scantily clad mermaids and other sea creatures frolicking. There was even a very solemn looking lady paid especially to mop up any water that spilled onto the jet black stone flooring. In the evening, ladies dressed in red gowns enticed people inside. It was truly magical.
Typical casino. I took joy in the fact that although I didn’t win anything, I had only lost the equivalent to about £5. Ruth on the other hand played a machine called “Heart Of Gold” whose rules no one understood. She put in 10$ (less than £1) and won 1,324$. 0_0 How?!? Everyone couldn’t believe it, and after vigorous checking of her ID she was presented with her winnings. She didn’t by us a drink (or cake ) though. Bah.
We wanted to use our key rings (between us we had amassed quite a few by now) so headed to the desk we were directed to. I can’t remember how it happened, but we all joined the ‘City Of Dreams’ (name of the whole hotel/entertainment area) Club. I got a posh loyalty card with my name on, which when inserted into the machines, welcomed me by name. It all felt so official and exciting! We finally got to do the prize draw (which is why we’d got our membership in the first place) and our prize was displayed on a screen. I went first and won… a pack of transparent playing cards XD That was one of the better prizes we won though, as my friends walked away with a pen and a phone strap. We stood by the desk and made oooooing noises whenever someone entered the draw, and consoling awwwwwing noises when they walked away with a tissue. Needless to say, we may have annoyed one or two people and no one won the million, but it was such good fun that I felt I got the best prize of all. It was the happiest I’d been in ages.
It was very late by the time we got back, so after a quick bath using as many free products as I could I went straight to bed (on the sofa). An uneventful night led into our last day in Macau. T_T We took a cab past our hotel and into a very old street. After a very interesting breakfast of egg sandwich in a family run Café, we headed to an old Portuguese settlement with the buildings beautifully preserved and turned into museums. There were some really old, but pretty pieces of furniture and many religious items and old black and white photographs. The houses themselves were a powder blue and had a view that spanned a rather sorry looking lake, and our hotel poking up in the skyline. XD My favourite part of this area were the gardens. Lovingly kept, there were so many different types of flower in bloom despite it being January (the fish in the pond weren’t moving much and seemed a bit cold though). My favourites were the hyacinths and the massive flower shaped topiary archway.
We saw our first wedding party of the day! The Bride looked lovely in a long traditional dress in the flower garden, and her Maid Of Honour was having some pictures taken in a hot pink number. We left the area and went straight into a slightly unkempt but impressive temple.
We decided to explore a few other hotels in the area, and stopped off at the Venetian. No words I can ever write will do the place justice. Its outside was built like an 18th century European building, and looked big, but not overly large. Inside however, the architect had recreated Venice; the ceiling was painted sky blue with realistic looking clouds. The shop fronts which seemed endless were European Boutiques. There was a ‘river’ (chlorinated pool but you get the idea) with bridges running over it, and you could travel by gondola to get the full experience. The streetlamps were dimmed to give the illusion of night. The pavement was cobbled. It was all indoors! I heard about amazing, wondrous buildings such as this one in Las Vegas etc., but I never thought I would visit one myself. Being in the midst of such splendour was an experience I will remember and treasure my whole life.
It didn’t end there. Also containing a grand hall with escalators, a massive water fountain and a casino (of course), its top displayed a painted mural which would make any artist jealous. It was like the kind you would see on the ceilings of old castles only lit up with chandeliers and surrounded by art and carvings so gorgeous that I for once and almost lost for words to describe their beauty. Somewhere in there was the hotel, but I was too busy admiring my surroundings.
I was still having a wander when an Asian lady came up to me and asked ‘Photograph?’ whilst miming taking a picture. Whilst believing they wanted me to take a group photo of her and her companions I nodded and reached out for the camera. She then said, ‘No, no, with you.’ My fans reach Asia ;) XD
And so began a photo session where each of her friends took a photo with me, and then passers-by decided they would like one to. I was a little bewildered by all of these cameras and camcorders going, but they seemed happy enough and I love feeling like I’m famous so I had a ball.
When we left and enjoyed the fountains and water features we saw our second wedding. The Maid Of Honour was bravely wearing a turquoise and bright pink dress (which looked very beautiful) and the Bride again was in traditional white, but had vivid pink heels and matching leggings on underneath her dress. J It was pretty cold I suppose. She and her new husband went to their car decorated in flowers and drove off before the traffic lights could turn red.
We returned to the hotel to collect our belongings, but I had unfinished business. I went to the Grand Hyatt’s patisserie and bought a Portuguese egg tart (a speciality in Macau) and a chocolate brownie slice cake complete with gold leaf decoration. All put in a wonderful orange box as she could see we needed to leave and catch the ferry.
Fortunately this time, I got back to Hong Kong without any problems from immigration although everyone was on stand-by for another ‘Excuse me madam!’ XD
No comments:
Post a Comment