Visiting Macau - day 2 of our Hong Kong trip

Ruins of St. Paul Cathedral in Macau. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

My friend has never been to Macau so we made sure to include it in our itinerary. There are 2 ferry terminals going to Macau from Hong Kong. One is the Hong Kong Macau Ferry terminal and the other one is the China Ferry Terminal which is just a few blocks away from our hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui. Of course, we went to the nearest one :)



We took the Cotai Jet ferry and paid HKD 163 per person for return ferry boat tickets for the two of us. We were just right on time and did not even wait to board the boat. After 1 hr we're in Macau already.

Inside the Cotai Ferry boat

After immigration, we went straight to the tourist center and ask how to go to The Venetian - of course, to see the famous Venetian gondolas. There are actually free shuttle bus from the ferry terminal going to casinos and hotels and they are right outside the terminal.

Line of buses going to casinos/hotel - for free!

Around Macau

Around Macau 2

Around Macau 3

After some window shopping, picture taking and lunch at The Venetian (there is a food court if you want to save), we headed to Sintra - to see the famous Ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral. To go there, from The Venetian, walk and go to the City of Dreams and ride the free shuttle bus going to Sintra. When the bus drop you off, just walk to your left (or where all the tourists are going) until you reached the Senado Square (or Largo de Senado - yes, they use Portuguese language in Macau). You would know that you are on the right spot when you see a wavy pattern of black and yellow cobblestone and fountain with lots of tourists taking pictures. This is the spot where your walk tour will begin.

Still in The Venetian. The fake sky is just always lovely. It seemed like as if we were in Europe.

Can you see the 2 Gondolas?

The Venetian

We stopped for a while at Starbucks for snacks and to watch people passing by the busy street - we love people watching!

Senado Square or Largo de Senado

Sain Dominic's Church

Big crowd huh! Always!

We walked straight and found this church painted in yellow - it's Saint Dominic's Church. We went in and I was surprised that they allow people to take pictures inside the church.

Street food in Macau

Then we walked past some local stores and turn left, walk some more, enjoyed some samples of local pastries for free along the way and then we saw the Ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral. It was crowded as I expected it to be. We took some photos and bought some pastries to take home.

Pastries from Macau

I know there are other attractions around this area but at that time, I was really really tired so we just stopped to rest for a while in front of the Saint Dominic's Church and to people watch again. LOL. Then we walked back to where the bus dropped us. There is a casino/hotel near there - sorry, I forgot the name - and if you go to the basement level where the casino is, you'll find the exit where you can take the free shuttle bus going back to the ferry terminal. The sign will tell you that the waiting time is 90 minutes (Whaaatt?!). Ignore that! Also, to ride the shuttle you need a ticket that you can get from a dealer inside the casino. The ticket is free and I am guessing, it's a trick so you can enter the casino and might be tempted to play for a while. Good strategy. LOL.

We actually waited for just 5 mins for the shuttle to arrive. If I can give a tip about the transportation in Macau, I would say the key is the casinos/hotels. It seems that most of them have a free shuttle bus to every tourist spots. You just have to ask.

Inside a Macau public bus

We went back to the ferry terminal, all is well right? Wrong! LOL. The officer told us that our ticket was for another ferry terminal - wow, I didn't know that there is another terminal. And in able to go there we can take either the public bus or a cab - no free shuttle going there from the terminal. What a disaster. We didn't actually have enough Macau currency to pay for the cab so we took the public bus. The customer service officer told us to look for AP1 (I think) bus with the sign going to 'Aeroporto'. We took the bus, had some sign language with the driver, and I was quite nervous because I saw that we were crossing a long bridge and it was quite far from the other ferry terminal. Well, the sign language worked and we arrived at the terminal right on time for the 6pm departure.

Lesson learned : ask the sales agent of the ferry company if you will arrive and depart on the same ferry terminal in Macau. The Cotai Jet ferry only have one trip in the morning from Macau Ferry terminal to Hong Kong.

Also, we arrived at a different port in Hong Kong - the one that is far from where our hotel is, but it's fine because we were thinking about going to Ladies' market. To go there, alight at Mongkok station and follow the sign until you see it. We were able to find it, so you'll find it too. LOL.

If you are looking for some cheap finds and shopping, this is the place to be... see photos below.

Longchamp - fake.

I can see some gucci, burberry and LV - fake.

Hong Kong shirts - souvenirs!