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Part 4 : Hong Kong to Macau to Malaysia
9:00 AM
Part 4 : Hong Kong to Macau to Malaysia

Hydrofoiled to Macau to find that the terminal practically empty and devoid of cabs. And last year was supposed to be 'Visit Macau Year'.

Had to wait by the roadside for a passing cab. Flag-fall here is 10 Macaunese dollars(MOP) which I found pretty pricey. Luckily, Holiday Inn was only 10 minutes away.

1 ringgit = 2 Macaunese dollars.

Everyone was tired so my dad ordered room service for himself and my brother. The noodles they ordered was yucky and expensive. Good thing I ate my Tony Roma's earlier on. =p

Anyway, lounged around the next morning waiting for my dad to come back to the hotel room. And great news, half our trip was sponsored by Holiday Inn Macau. Whee!!! :)

Due to previous experiences with Air Asia before, my dad switched back to his Malaysian simcard in case Air Asia sends a message notifying us of a delay in our flight. True enough, we got a message saying that our flight has been delayed from 7.30pm to 9.15pm.

Headed out for brunch which was crappy as per first meal of the city.

Brrr...I'm starting to freeze as I'm only wearing a long-sleeve shirt and a pink shawl I bought in China as my mum very nicely snagged my pink sweater that I bought. The wind really sends icy fingers through your body.
Oh, and we got slaughtered for RM10 for a tube of 'Creamy Cheese Pringles'. Do we have that flavour in Malaysia?

Walked over to Senado Square toting a map which so marks us as tourists with a capital T. What to do, there is no MTR and we don't know the bus system.

Anyway, Macau is so small that you can probably walk to most places or you can just take a cab. And now I understand why flag-fall is so expensive at 10MOP. As the journey is usually pretty short, the cab-drivers wouldnt't be able to make a living if they charged any lower. There was once we took a cab and the journey only cost 12MOP. In Malaysia when we say flag-fall, its kinda literal because there isn't a real flag that falls, but in Macau some of the cabs have this small plastic flag-shaped thing that actually falls when you get into the cab.

Senado Square is well, a square which has loads of shops selling stuff.
At the Senado Square

I finally got my long-awaited Portuguese egg tart!

Its the most scrumptious fantalicious fabulistic Portuguese egg tart that has ever passed through my mouth. I wish I could buy some to take home but it wouldn't taste the same way as it did here as it was freshly-baked. Oooh...

This specialty shop also sold this biscuit thingy which had different of fillings. And each piece is freshly made in front of your eyes. Its like a really wafer-thin pancake, than they put the filling you want and fold it up nicely. My parents liked it so much that they bought 5 boxes and they gave some to my relatives to try during Christmas. Good news, especially good food, should always be shared. =)

Anyway, walked on to Saint Paul's ruins where there is a beautiful and historic facade which is all that remains of St. Paul's cathedral. The ruins of St. Paul's CathedralIn front of the facade.A closer view... At the cannons near the St. Paul's ruinsMy brother posing like a conquering hero atop his cannon and waving his sword. Haha.

Headed on to the Lim Iou Ioc gardens which was just okay. Nothing fantastic about it. Oh, and I got told off by the security guard because I took a picture of this flower picture exhibition they were having there. But I didn't know I wasn't allowed to do that anyway.
At the Lim Iou Ioc Gardens If the above 2 pics look slanting or weird, its because my brother insisted on taking it.A view of the lake/pond. The garden used to be a private garden by the Lim clan, I think. If you've seen those TVB shows about the olden days with the royal family in their palaces and castles that have gorgeous and humongous gardens with lakes, bridges, pavillions...well, you get the idea, don't you? The garden is something like that. I think this is a willow tree. I just happen to like the way the sunlight streams through its branches.


My brother made another new friend, a cute little girl. And her mum recommended us to go to the Guia Garden as it is much nicer.

At the Guia Garden, we took the cable car up and we left my dad watching this youngsters playing football while me, my mum and bro walked on. We went up to the Guia Fort and Lighthouse, the chapel and got lost while trying to meet up with my dad. We somehow took a different path and ended up at another exit. When we finally found the original entrance, my dad ended up getting lost too and came out at a completely different exit. All in all, it took us an hour to finally meet back at the original starting point.
A view of Macau from Guia Fort
Something we didn't quite take notice of earlier, was that the Guia Garden was next to the Municipal Gardens so it was a very large area with many exits, leading to the confusion hitherto.

Took a taxi to the Fisherman's Wharf which is a very nicely built wharf with loads of restaurants and some shops. There is on-going construction for a theme park at the wharf.

Fisherman's WharfThe theme is rather old-world architecture.There's a guy on stilts wearing the costume and he used the beak to tug on my brother's jacket hood, giving him a fright!Very un-Asian-ish buildings. I don't know what architecture period or style it is, but I like it. =)
They are also halfway building a mini Colliseum outside the wharf and there were some guys in periodic costumes and all roaming around. The concept is a bit like The Curve outdoor restaurants meet Colmar Tropicale in Bukit Tinggi. We were supposed to eat at this Portuguese restaurant but somehow, we misunderstood the hotel bellboy and the restaurant wasn't at Fisherman's Wharf. =(

As time was running short, we opted to eat this international buffet at our hotel for dinner which was at a really good bargain. 50% discount for hotel guests and the variety was pretty decent too.

At the LCCT in KL, an air-stewardess told my mum that adults with kids would be given first priority to board along with the senior citizens. My dad jokingly asked if can be accompanied by the family members and she smiled and said yes.

But anyway, I decided to queue in line with my dad as my mum said she'll book us seats if she can. As we were queuing up to board, a bunch of young Chinese people who rudely and shamelessly cut into the priority line meant for kids and senior citizens were passing the word around to queue at the stewardess instead of the male steward as the male steward was quite strict about not letting those non-kids/non-senior citizens through. Good for him, I say. And once they were on the tarmac walking towards the plane, they didn't even have the decency to stay in line and they ran on ahead bypassing those kids and old folks. Tsk tsk tsk..

At the Macau airport, there were some people who had yellow stickers which I think gave them access to the priority line. Maybe their earlier flight was also delayed or something. Anyway, an argument broke out between 2 men. It went something like this.

Man 1 : Why can't you queue up properly? Look behind you, there is a whole queue of people.
Man 2 : My flight has been delayed and I've been waiting.
Man 1 : Everyone's flight has been delayed. That's not a reason to cut queue. (Says something I can't hear)
Man 2 : Shut up! Shut up! I'm going home for Christmas and I don't want to hear this.
Man 1: I'm ashamed to be a Malaysian and to say that you're a Malaysian.
Man 2 : Shut up! Shut up! I'm going home for Christmas and its none of your business.

I thought they were going to exchange blows, but they didn't. It would have been an interesting show to see. =p

My dad and I were commenting on how rude, childish and uncivilised the guy was. And there was a 'quai loh' in front of us and he laughed. I feel ashamed at such a display of bad behaviour and disgusting manners by a Malaysian. Even worse, this fellow Malaysian was a grown-up, not some young punk or kid.

I'm afraid the air-stewards and stewardess came in for a share of scoldings and curses from those annoyed passengers and I do feel sorry for them, but I guess its an occupational hazard. I really feel that they should be stricter about the priority line. And that Air Asia should allot seat numbers so that the crowd won't rush to be first in line and they will have less hassle controlling the crowd.

Anyway, the flight touched down at 1am and one of the LCCT baggage carousel was spoiled so we had to wait to collect our luggage. It was 4am before I arrived back home.

This are the hidden prices that we pay for travelling Air Asia.

Well, with Air Asia, now everyone can fly! =)

Written on Wednesday, January 03, 2007; 9:00 AM

Flip My Past:
  • A new year
  • Part 3 : Shenzhen to Hong Kong
  • Part 2 : Humen to Shenzhen
  • Boxing Day
  • Part 1 : Macau to Humen
  • Home sweet home
  • Goodies
  • Carolling and dancing
  • Its a pizza day!
  • Sonnet 116

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