Using the City of Dreams free shuttle bus from the Macau Tower, we arrived at the City of Dreams hotel which located in all of the casinos area. Beside City of Dreams there's Hard Rock Hotel, Hyatt and also Crown. Then at the opposite we may find the Venetian hotel and also the Four Season. All the hotels we'll be so beautiful with its lighting. It's like mini Las Vegas. Too bad we couldn't stay until all the lights are on.
Senado Square Macau
Two words two describe Macau: very impressive! You must go to Macau...it offers something different than Hongkong.
We went first to Senado Square (Largo do Senado) , which is the icon of Macau. All the neo classical buildings were colored in pastel (also the con blocks) creating a consistent and harmonious Mediterranean atmosphere. Beside visiting historical buildings, you may also find shops in Senado. Esprit, Bossini, Giordano, Crocs, Body Shop, Sasa, and also many many cafes and resto. Of course with very limited halal food available:p All the price are about the same with Hongkong's price, and also we can pay our shopping with Hongkong dollar. It's a really perfect place to take pictures, hang out and to do some shopping. No wonder that we spent hours at Senado.
We went first to Senado Square (Largo do Senado) , which is the icon of Macau. All the neo classical buildings were colored in pastel (also the con blocks) creating a consistent and harmonious Mediterranean atmosphere. Beside visiting historical buildings, you may also find shops in Senado. Esprit, Bossini, Giordano, Crocs, Body Shop, Sasa, and also many many cafes and resto. Of course with very limited halal food available:p All the price are about the same with Hongkong's price, and also we can pay our shopping with Hongkong dollar. It's a really perfect place to take pictures, hang out and to do some shopping. No wonder that we spent hours at Senado.
Ferry from Hongkong to Macau
On our second day in Hongkong, we decided to go to Macau. I have been searching through mr.google for any blogs describing Macau, or the details what number of the bus should we take, where should we go, etc... but so far I haven't found any blogs that satisfy my needs. So I talked to Rene if he insist going to Macau, he is going to be in charge for making the Macau's itinerary. It ended up we have no itinerary at all until one night before we go to Macau! *That's why men are from mars:p* Thank God we had a Macau map and also got valuable information from our friend Deasy who is now living in Hongkong (we met Deasy on the first day we were in Hongkong, she came by to our hotel, thanks a lot sweety Daisy). We also borrowed a book about Macau from our hotel.
Due to limited information (or a mistake that we didn't ask Wilson at the hotel before we went out the hotel), we went to the same ferry Pier we visited yesterday. We asked the visitor information center at the Piere, and the lady said that we supposed to go to the other side, called the China Ferry Terminal to take the ferry to macau. Oh no...anyway, we just enjoyed our journey by taking pictures. We passed so many branded stores, which still closed at 8 am in the morning.
When we almost arrived at the China Ferry Terminal, we passed an Esprit outlet. Our husband promise to let us shop there when we come back from Macau :D
Temple Street Market
After the laser show, we still continued our schedule with visiting the Temple Street Market located near Jordan MTR station (just one stop from TST MTR station). The street is sometimes known as Men's street, as it's very popular for men's fashion.
You may find hawkers stall offering seafood, (of course none of them were halal food). We were so hungry, and ended up again eating Indian food. Oh no...I ate so many naan with chicken curry while we're in Hongkong:p
Symphony of Light from Avenue of Star
Arrived at ferry Piere in Tsim Sha Tsui, we went directly to Avenue of Stars because it's 7.30 pm already. From the Piere you can just walk to the right side, the Avenue of Stars located just beside the Piere. Find this big clock, and go to the 2nd level, you may find seats facing the river with all of the bulidings at the background. The lighting even before the show starts was really facsinating.
Tram to The Peak Hongkong
This is my second time going to Victoria Peak, and I really wished to have a sunny day, in order to have the best view from the Peak of Hongkong. But when we landed at Hongkong, we realize that it's kind of very cloudy. No wonder that the weather forecast said that the sunny day will start on Sunday, the day we'll be in Spore! So during our stay in Hongkong, the forecast said that it was going to be cloudy days with rain in the morning! Not a good news for us. Anyway, the itinerary must go on, so still we went to Victoria Peak on the first day we arrived in Hongkong.
From our hotel, we walked for about ten minutes to the Ferry Pier, we're taking the ferry to Central. As you may know, Hongkong consist of some islands; Lantau (disneyland and the airport is on this island), Kowloon (where we stayed), and Hongkong or the Central. Victoria Peak is located in the Central, so we have to take ferry first from Kowloon to Central. You can also go my MTR from TST to Central, but we wanted to try any kind of transportation, that's why we're taking the ferry instead.
The ferry has two decks, better to seat in the upper deck, but please be advised that the gate for the upper and lower deck at the ferry pier is different. The price is also different, for the upper deck we paid HKD 2.20, whilst for lower deck, the price is slightly cheaper. We can pay by cash or by octopus card. We had to wait for a while to wait for the ferry.
Arriving at Hongkong International Airport
We arrived at Hongkong International Airport at 10.30 and we were transferred from where the plan were landed to the airport by bus (budget airline!!), we went directly to the imigration after having our toilet break.
The queue were quite long at the imigration, but it was fast. Getting out from imigration, we went to the visitor information. We asked how to get the bus number A21 which can take us from the airport to Tsim Tsa Sui area. Actually we can also take train, but it cost more expensive. And because Hop Inn's web said that the bus stop only some blocks away, we decided to take the bus. The man at the visitor information booth was very friendly. Then we compared to our Cengkareng airport in Jakarta. Getting out from international arrival hall, can we find any visitor information center? Mmmm, I haven't found one. Or maybe because I never try to find one in Jakarta:p
We also asked where to buy Octopus card. It's kind like e-z link card for MRT in spore. Octopus costs HKD 150, whereas the HKD 50 is for the refundable deposit. If you don't want buy any octopus cards, be prepared with coins, as the bus driver never give change. Octopus can also be used in merchants, like 7eleven, or even it can be used to pay ferry. Hmmm, a well integrated card... Any unspent value in on loan octopus is refundable along with HKD 50 deposit (minus HKD 7 for handling fee).
Review on Hop Inn Hongkong
This is where we stayed in Hongkong for two nights. We paid HKD 940 for both nights and we really enjoyed our stay at Hop Inn. The owner Wilson is still so young and very helpfull. We took picture with him in front of his desk.
6 hours waiting at Changi (Jakarta-Singapore-Hongkong)
Prior to our connecting flight to Hongkong, we stopped over at Changi for about six hours. We intended to stay at their transit hotel, but when we think it over again, actually we only had to wait for four hours (we arrived at Changi 00.35am, and our connecting flight is at 06.40am). So we decided to enjoy Changi at midnight.
Some stores are still open. Also some resto like Burger King, Delifrance, Dunkin Donuts, Kun Kaya Toast open 24 hours. First we went to their Cactus Garden, but the area is too dark, so we went inside again.
First Time Flying from Jakarta to Hongkong with Jetstar
After a hectic day at the office that made me cancel to leave the office early and made Dini wait at the loby for almost an hour (so sorry my dear Dini!), we left office at 4.45 and head to the airport. The traffic jam were really bad. Thanks God we arrived at 6.30 and got a great parking location. By the way, for you who wish to leave your car at the Cengkareng airport, the fare is IDR 20,000 for the first six hours and IDR 2,000 for every additional hour.
We had dinner first at Hokben at terminal 2 D then proceed the check in process. When we checked in, we were the first three customers,than when we finished, the queue became quite long. Surprisingly, they offer our lugage to be picked up in Hongkong despite that we stop over at Changi first. What a great service from Jetstar. Our lugage in total was 34 kg already, meaning there's only 6 kg left for our shopping..oh no...
After getting our boarding pass, we went to the "fiscal free" service and had to show copy of our tax id card (npwp) and also copy of our kartu keluarga as I don't have my own tax id. In return we got a fiscal free sticker tagging on our boarding pass. While the IDR 150,000 the airport tax was paid in the chek in counter. After that we just hang out at starbucks than went to the gate.
We had dinner first at Hokben at terminal 2 D then proceed the check in process. When we checked in, we were the first three customers,than when we finished, the queue became quite long. Surprisingly, they offer our lugage to be picked up in Hongkong despite that we stop over at Changi first. What a great service from Jetstar. Our lugage in total was 34 kg already, meaning there's only 6 kg left for our shopping..oh no...
After getting our boarding pass, we went to the "fiscal free" service and had to show copy of our tax id card (npwp) and also copy of our kartu keluarga as I don't have my own tax id. In return we got a fiscal free sticker tagging on our boarding pass. While the IDR 150,000 the airport tax was paid in the chek in counter. After that we just hang out at starbucks than went to the gate.
Jalan Hemat Hongkong Macau
Alhamdulillah we will have a vacation during the long weekend in mid of May 2010. Due to taking leave constraint, our trip will only be for 4 days but cover three countries: Hongkong, Macau and Singapore. W'e'll go with Dini and her Emas, this is going to be a first trip to Hongkong for Rene, Dini and Emas, and also a first trip for the four of us to Macau.
So in this blog we would love to share our notes on Jalan Hemat ke Hongkong-Macau-Singapore within 4 days.
Pasta de Waraku Grand Indonesia
Yesss we love pasta so much, so any recommended place for pasta become a must visit place for us. Then we heard about this Pasta de Waraku, and how delicious the pasta is. So we visited one of their branch in Grand Indonesia.
No need to be confused in choosing the menu, we can directly see the sample hanging on their wall.We tried their korokoro tofu for the appetizer. It's a fried japanese tofu, and was a very good start, it cost IDR 22,000.Then we also ordered their pizza, very thin indeed, but tastes unique. We tried Pizza hotate prawn for IDR 56,000.
For the pasta, our mom wanted to have the original one, so we tried their meat bolognese for IDR 58,000. It came with a half boiled egg in the midle.
While I tried their tomato cream chicken and mushroom also for IDR 58,000All the menu came in a very small portion, but very delicious. I would recommend this resto for its taste, but not for the price. So for us, it will be a one time visit, unless there's a special promo in this resto next time.
No need to be confused in choosing the menu, we can directly see the sample hanging on their wall.We tried their korokoro tofu for the appetizer. It's a fried japanese tofu, and was a very good start, it cost IDR 22,000.Then we also ordered their pizza, very thin indeed, but tastes unique. We tried Pizza hotate prawn for IDR 56,000.
For the pasta, our mom wanted to have the original one, so we tried their meat bolognese for IDR 58,000. It came with a half boiled egg in the midle.
While I tried their tomato cream chicken and mushroom also for IDR 58,000All the menu came in a very small portion, but very delicious. I would recommend this resto for its taste, but not for the price. So for us, it will be a one time visit, unless there's a special promo in this resto next time.
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