Last week, I went on a trip to Hong Kong and Macau with my friend S. Such grand plans we had! Being veteran Hong Kong tourists, we thought we had everything planned and under control.
We had planned to take the ferry from Hong Kong International Airport to Macau and expected to be in Macau around 1pm. We didn’t realize that HKIA didn’t have ferries to Macau anymore. I mean, they had ferries to Macau, but only for transfers. Meaning, you take the ferry before going through HK Immigrations and Customs.
So we had to go to Macau the long way — we had to go to the Macau Ferry terminal in Sheung Wan. We took the A22 bus and missed our stop! So we got off at Central (next stop), went to IFC (a mall) for lunch. We were dragging our luggage and we had our first encounter with a nice Pinoy! He must have overhead my friend and I talking in Tagalog and he helped my friend carry her luggage up a few steps in front of IFC. He seemed to be in a hurry but it felt really nice to have a complete stranger help us, even if it was as simple as that.
Lesson Learned: Stay near the bus driver next time so he can tell you to get off at the correct stop. The bus was a double-decker and we went upstairs. Will not be making that mistake again when I don’t know which stop we will be getting off the bus.
We looked around our lunch place choices at IFC and none were appealing. We finally settled on just buying bread at CitySuper (it’s a high-end supermarket chain that reminds me of Rustan’s). Although I was disappointed that our first meal there was just takeout bread from CitySuper, the bread was actually quite good! And expensive! Price range HK$14-30 (quick math to convert it to peso is to multiply by 6).
See that building in the picture below? We were told the Macau Ferry Terminal was right across that building. So we had to walk all the way there…
After buying bread, we asked for directions and checked our GPS apps, and finally arrived at the Macau Ferry terminal after 20 minutes of walking and dragging our luggage.
Then we were like, damn! We should have had lunch here! We couldn’t decide on a place to have lunch in IFC – choices were limited, expensive, and usually full, but there were more, and less expensive, choices at the ferry terminal! There’s a pretty good food court area.
We bought tickets (HK$164 each) hurried and boarded our TurboJet ferry to Macau.
The ferry ride to Macau was uneventful. The boat swayed and one might get dizzy while at port but once the ride started, the boat was actually quite steady, and it was just like riding a train. I didn’t get seasick. The journey took about an hour.
Here are people getting off the ferry:
Here’s what the ferry looks like:
We arrived in Macau at around 3:20pm and went through Immigration and Customs. We walked around the ferry terminal to familiarize ourselves with where we would need to go to buy our tickets for our return trip.
When we left the ferry terminal, there were so many hotel “ushers” holding up hotel signs and offering free shuttle services to their hotel, and we noticed that several of them were Pinoy. We asked around and looked for the shuttle to Holiday Inn Macau (not Cotai), the other Pinoy ushers told us where to find it (outside, under the bridge).
The “usher” (I’m sorry, I don’t know what they are called) for Holiday Inn was also, you guessed it, Pinoy! While waiting for the shuttle come around (every 30 minutes), we asked him if the places to see in Macau were close to our hotel, and he even gave us tips on how to get around Macau for free.
While waiting for our shuttle, I could also see the preparations and stands for the Macau Grand Prix which will be happening next week! And they’re being held right there in front of the ferry terminal.
