Another Reason To Smile...

Part II continues...,but before that I would like to share somethin' here. I was on the Star newspaper recently talking about my mad hobby which is Collecting Hard Rock Pins. I was on cloud 9 for the whole day, it's not only my story on the newspaper but most importantly what I can contribute (a bit) to my country! Wah! Ambitious tak ingat... Kalau siapa dah baca, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about... Here's the link for those who have missed it

Okay, now back to our Hong Kong and Macao - Part II

Day 4 - 1 April

April Foooooooooooool, We woke up quite early and without breakfast headed to Macau Ferry Terminal to get the tickets. Guess what?! The only ticket left was 11.45am, and we were there like 9.15am. So, moral of the story is get your tickets in advance (thru online booking or counter). To get to Macao (this is the actual spelling) from Hong Kong, there are 2 easy ways (there are other ways too): 1 from Macau Ferry Terminal using Turbojet or China Ferry form China Ferry Terminal. Locations are different, so we decided to take Turbojet since both companies offer about the same price. You can also travel by helicopter if you want different kind of adventure.

Macau Ferry Terminal is located in Shun Tak Centre, it is easy to find by MTR. What I like about their system is everywhere you go or want to go, the signs are well located, so you won't get lost. After purchased the tickets, we just "lepak" at the terminal which also a shopping mall.

The journey took one hour and the scenery basically....sea. As usual, you have to fill up the departure card which we "lost" it when we were about to get to our turn. I was "gabra", apa taknye dah nak sampai ke imigresen, beratur kat belakang balik rupa-rupanya dalam handbag je..dah lah ramai orang.

Once you come out from the terminal there are a lot of free shuttles going different routes. Ours was going to City of Dreams where Gambling is Legal!

Besides the city itself, Macau includes the island with Taipa and Coloane, which are connected by bridges and a causeway. Macau is also a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China, like Hong Kong, where they are under China but have their own government.

City of Dreams is a property along the Cotai Strip in the Cotai reclamation area, where there a lot of huge and gigantic hotels around such as The Venetian and MGM Grand. Hard Rock Hotel Macau is just opposite The Venetian, so apalagi...pins shopping!!!!!!! They only have Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, not cafe, maybe coming soon kot...

Actually when we're in Macau we didn't had any meal, not because nak jimat tapi not easy to find halal food, luckily I bawak bekal biskut..He..He...Tapi yang best nya, most of the signs are still in Portuguese, I'm sure you guys know why. But nowadays they don't really speak Portuguese most of them converse in Cantonese.

Around 4.00pm we already back to the terminal since our ferry to HK was at 5.00pm. Turbojet runs every 15mins and price during daytime and night also different. We paid HK552 for 2pax return. Actually not much we could do there since we went there was already late and coming back was quite early so nothing much we can share here. I'm sure some of you guys have better experience than us.

We arrived in Hong Kong roughly about 6.15pm, so we decided to spend there rest of the day kat Central je...Tapi tak best kedai tutup cepat betul la...So went back to our hostel and had dinner with our yummylicious maggi..

Day 5 - 2 April

Today we decided to take things easy after few days of rushing...and we decided to go to Lantau Island, one of the famous outlying islands in Hong Kong. Teruja nak tengok how big the Big Buddha is. To get to Lantau, we had to take MTR goes to Tung Chung(last station), same line goes to Disneyland Hong Kong. From Tung Chung Station, there is 23 bus goes to Ngong Ping, where the Big B is. If the weather is good, it is recommended to go by cable car, which cost you HK157 return per person. Lucikly we didn't go by cable car otherwise we could only see "kabus". Actually there a few other places in Lantau you can visit too such as Tai O Fishing Village (the Hong Kong back then.., actually), Lantau Trail and of course Disneyland Hong Kong.

It took us almost 40mins from station to Ngong Ping. It was terribly foggy even we couldn't see people just 5 metre in front of us. We finally managed to climb up to the top walaupun Faizal semput sikit, tapi malangnya Big B samar-samar je... Bila angin lalu, nampak la sikit lepas tu tak nampak dah..ada angin baru nampak sikit...Tapi sejuk tak ingat!

Around it, there is a monastery called Po Lin, which we didn't go, obviously...sebab dah tak nampak jalan dah...But actually this whole area is quite nice, they have this place called Ngong Ping Village. Kat sini ada banyak kedai yang berkonsepkan tradisional selling all sort of traditional items, yang paling famous patung Opera.

Almost 2 hours, we took a bus back to Tung Chung station, cost HK54 per person return. Tadi lupa nak mention, Tung Chung station which is connected to Citygates Shopping Mall is a place for shopaholics. All, I mean 90% of shops here are outlets, I mean like Factory Outlet but here all the branded stuff outlets such as Coach, Levi's, Calvin Klein, Timberland, Swatch (pun ada), Crocs, Esprit, Ralph Lauren, Tie Rack, even The Body Shop not to forget Adidas, Nike, and I don't know how I can remember those sampai sekarang, maybe masih terkedu kot...

Ok I bagi example how murah it was, for RM130 you can pick any 3 items from Levi's, halooo..3 items?!!! Tu yang terkedu sampai sekarang...ini bukan kes Gred A, Gred B ye, it's ori...Tak caya tengok gambar2 ni..

Bayangkan Faizal yang jarang shopping pun boleh terjebak...so almost 2 hours of going crazy (belinya tak banyak pun, window shopping pun dah gila..)we headed back to Tsim Sha Tsui. We had our lunch + dinner at this Turkish Restaurant, Ebeenezer, but we didn't really like it, bukan tak sedap cuma tak berapa ummphh, tapi okay lah..since dekat dengan hostel kitaorang. Tapi kat sini ramai orang Malaysia makan, even sempat berborak dengan one family from Malaysia. Price HK98 per 2pax, kat sini drinks free before 6pm.

Since tomorrow is our last day, so we went to Temple Street Market which is similiar to Ladies Market to buy some souvenir. There is one more market called Bowring Street Market nearby also has similiar things. If you guys want to visit Hong Kong, stay around Tsim Sha Tsui, Yau Mau Tei or Mongkok, where I think fun starts here!

Day 6 - 3 April

Hmmmmmmmm...last day where reality is happening again. Last maggi to finish off, still last minute shopping at the shop under our hostel, and Faizal sempat jugak beli CD kat HMV nearby, itu yang buat dia paling suka duduk kat sini. Almost everyday la singgah kat sini cause HMV tutup pukul 11.45pm, ada berani?!!! After kemas our backpack, check out at 11.00am, and just across the street we waited for A21 bus to airport. How convenient was that? Price still the same HK33 per person.

Around 12.30pm, we're already at the airport. Airportnya besar tak ingat, around 5-7 floors full of shops, I mean this is after the immigration sempat jugak la cuci mata...Before or after the immigration, you still can shop. Sementara menunggu flight, we had coffee and just wondering when can we have another holiday?!!

Around 2.40pm, we boarded and flew back to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where our heart is.

* The fun part, after converted to RM, our expenses plus Flight + Accomodation + Meals + Transportation + Entertainment = RM 3000(actually less than that, just I round up to RM3000) per 2pax, jadinya RM1500 per person for 6 days, 4 Nights. What say you?