Macau Day 2 Part 2 - Venetian

Assalammualaikum wbt,

After we got back from the town, feeling full and ever so happy like a kid got a balloon, we took a rest at the hotel. Well, not really, I just stepped to the room and just sit in the toilet when I received a text to come down as we're going to Venetian. So, yeah..here we go with my unsettling business..

As usual, we waited for the shuttle bus. There are few stations here with signage, so do not worry about that, look for station with signage "Venetian". We reached there at 7pm, and even that, it turns so dark already! Venetian is the famous hotel there with its lively night activities, shopping and of course casinos. For shopping stores, here is much more reasonable compared to the hotel I stayed (Galaxy) because it has middle-range brands here: Zara, Victoria's Secret, Fila, Ed Hardy, Miss Sixty etc. Yes, quite lucky we didn't stay here or I'll be lost at the shops here..

The building structure is built with Italian concept, what more with the Gondolas strolling the river, the famous ceiling painting of Michelangelo's Hand of God and the shops with Italian architecture. I feel like I am in Milan here except when I see the people and languages, it smacked me down to reality.

The ceiling so pretty! No need to go to Italy anymore haha

Everyone's so tired already but we still dragging our feet. Here was at the back entrance, contemplating the right time to go out exposing ourselves to the cold

              The sky represents "day" time

                                             The sky represents "night" time. 

Oh ya, do not be deceiving by the "sky". It's not real, it just the ceiling. But it really setting up the mood of Italy. When we reached there, if feels like noon, with the blue sky and the clouds some more, when we came back again here after the dinner, the sky has turn into nighttime. So cool.

                Gondola, I didn't check the price

We checked on Zabihah, there is a Halal Indian restaurant here named The Golden Peacock. Well, it's quite a fine dining restaurant, so expect to pay extra. Although it is rather pricey but it's worth the price. You can ask for directory from the hotel attendant there, they are very helpful and don't worry, they understand English. I noticed that most of the workers here aren't locals, they are mainly from Phillipines and for Venetian's case, many Indians work here. This restaurant is located at the below floor. It is quite confusing for me to explain the directory in this blog, because we did went up and down different escalators, going in and out of casinos before we found it. Fret not, eventually you could request a map from the hotel attendant and they will assist in directing to your wished place. 

We didn't ordered much, one because it is rather slightly expensive and two, because we are still full from our lunch at Lou Lan Restaurant earlier. 

The Golden Peacock. The Halal certificate is hung proudly on the left side. No worries ok? :) 

          Appetizer. I think they were papadom?

We ordered assorted bread, chicken curry, yellow dhal, vegetable briyani rice, okra something something and THEY ARE ALL SO YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY!! They were amazingly delicious, so AH-MAZING! I am definitely will go to Indian restaurants here to relive the wonderful culinary experience again.. All of these costed about HKD$500+, which equal to RM250+ for 7 people. Not that bad right? The place looks like fine dining, but I think it is quite reasonable to take the ambience and service into account.

Then, we went to City of Dreams because it's where Hard Rock Cafe located at. My colleagues wanted to get merchandises here. You can actually walked from Venetian Hotel to City of Dreams, and that was what we did, although I felt like crawling "Gosh...more walking??". It situated at the back entrance of Venetian. Oh my, the temperature is even colder during the night and the wind is stronger! But that didn't stop us for taking more pictures. The wind is so strong that I almost drop my Ipad, yes that strong! 

                      The night view is so amazing. This really is a city of lights! 

Inside the City of Dreams, there was a performance called "Dancing Waters" but we didn't go because you have to book the tickets earlier. This is something I regretted we didn't do ahead when wewere planning  this trip. I've seen someone uploaded on Instagram the clip of it and it seemed amazing! Next time perhaps. When I checked on the website, the ticket cost about RM300. 

Here, the Hard Rock Merchandise shops have two outlets, one is located below next to the Hard Rock Hotel lobby, and another one is near the Hard Rock Cafe. There is a promotion of buying 2 free 1 item but unfortunately you cannot combine the items because both outlets sell different stuff. I didn't buy any T-Shirt because I have two Hard Rock T-Shirts from Bali and Paris and they ended up being my pyjamas (-__-), so I just bought fridge magnets, well at least it written "Hard Rock Macau" there :) I was so tired back then while waiting my colleagues trying out shirts, so I sat on the platform (where they display the shirts), so not classy. 

Then, after seems like forever, we headed back to our Galaxy Hotel using shuttle bus. It was freaking cold waiting for outside of the hotel that we have to stand closely with each other and hugged. Something that we won't do back in the office haha. As usual, when we arrived at hotel, we did more touring and another visit to H&M (again!) and here I spotted a very lovely cardigan but being me, I didn't buy it at first thinking I spent too much money already and at the same time calculating my credit card's available limit. My colleague insisted me to buy by saying:

"It's not wrong to spend something nice for yourself, you've spending so much on others already" 

Well Jill, I liked everything, so how is that?! Haha. Anywayyyyy, I totally bought her persuasion which dragged me to buy it the first thing next morning. 

I told my boss (who is my roommate apparently..yes, my boss is cool!)

"Can we stopped by H&M? I wanted to buy the cardigan I saw last night, I dreamt about it and I couldn't sleep, if I don't get it, I will forever be regretted. I hope they put it on sale today (which was not btw)"

Yeah, that is the perks working with Sales line people, thank you so much. The cardigan costed HKD$299 which when converted equals to RM163. But, it is that niceeeeeee, I don't have self control over it. I really gotta control my shopping habits especially in time like today's economy where the business aren't that good. Sigh. 

                                              The cardigan. No regrets at all.

Macau Day 2 Part 1 - In search of Halal Food

Assalammualaikum wbt, 

On the second day we planned to go to San Ma Lo again to visit the tourist locations Senado Square, St Paul's ruins and if we lucky enough, to find a halal restaurant. Since we don't bring much of winter clothes, I wore layers of it. I wore chamisole, body shirt, a denim blouse and jacket, and tights under my pants. For breakfast, I ate instant oat porridge with chicken and mushroom flavour and granola bars. I thought it was a chicken and mushroom soup when I bought it. Even I don't fancy eating oats, but I forced myself to swallow and it's quite filling surprisingly. Perfect for travel. As usual, gotta wait for the bus in the cold again. We were told, the weather today is dropped again and expected raining. That sounded..perfect. Well, here, before we went for the bus station, I always dropped by at H&M stores. There's always something that caught my eye (such a shopaholic!) hehehe. Well, I liked most of the designs here, probably because it is winter season, so most of the clothes are decent. Unlike the one in Malaysia which I think too fashionable and umm sexier which mostly to cater for youngsters. Yeah, I am old. I bought a headband which cost HK$66 and straightaway wear it, too bad I lost it. I must've dropped it when I wore my hood and couldn't find it anywhere (T__T)

       

We stopped to buy a mask (the wind is so strong, you got to cover your mouth & nose) and to get hot coffee at Circle K. We arrived at Historic Centre of Macao which is basically consist of churches, pond and fountain, statues and more churches. It is easier if you have found this place because it has tourist's signages along the path. You won't get lost, don't worry. Except me, because I am such a forgetful person and I'm a bad navigator when it comes to foreign places. 

                               

                               

                                          

We went to Senado Square, this is a central of San Ma Lo. So many people here and every shops is packed of people. Even McDonalds' toilets has the longest queue! From here, we walked to St Paul's Ruins and it's quite challenging because of climbing path and started to rain. Be careful of the slippery  road. Here, you gotta contain yourself (and your nose apparently) because they were many food stalls left and right and the smell and sight of people eating are so tempting! You gotta hold your iman strong haha.

       

        

        

         Although there were vege, but I did not dare to buy because they using the same soup to dip 

                              

                              

                                       So many people here locals and tourists

Oh little tips here, we spotted two souvenir shops here, one is on the main shops row heading to St. Paul and another one is on the small alley on your right (which you have to climb a bit). The one at the main shops row is cheaper, while the one at the alley is pricey but you can negotiate and the sales assistant is nice too (we ended buying lots here) and she can even speak Bahasa Melayu! It is own by Philippines woman. But, please do not buy t-shirts here, the price is freaking expensive. They sold at HKD$45 (discount at HKD$40 each) whereby you can get it as low as HKD$23-25 somewhere else at their pasar (to which we only discover later). I am so pissed because I spent nearly HKD$500 here. However, for keychain and fridge magnets, I don't find them somewhere else except here. If you want to buy t-shirts, please go to the local wet markets behind the shoplots nearby Senado Square. They got mini stalls around there sold t-shirts at fair price. Some sellers are very stingy and can't bargain much but you may want to try your luck. I'm tired to bargain at every seller, so I just settled everything at one shot. 

                                    

                              This is the souvenirs stall near Macau Museum. Quite pricey. 

                                    

When we arrived at St Paul's Ruins, it was raining but it didn't stop us to climb the stairs. Be very careful because it is quite slippery. There were so many people here and please, extra careful of your belongings. St Paul's Ruins is basically a church which was destroyed due to typhoon long long time ago and the entrance is what the structure left today. My boss wanted to go to Mount Fortress and Macau Museum but had no idea where although on the map, it seems so near (which turn out is only next to St Paul only and we discovered it next day). Since the raining started to get heavier, we took pictures in a rush and left the place in hurry without the discovering the nearby gardens (read: shops).

                                      This picture is dark because of the weather

Now it's the time to find Halal Restaurant. My colleague insisted to go to this one restaurant and the only clue that she has is the picture of it. No landmarks, no address (-____-). Luckily I installed Zabihah apps on my Ipad and using my phone as mobile hotspot for Internet connection. I activated roaming and subscribe to Maxis Macao social data plans at RM20 for 3 days access. Using the apps, it navigated us to the restaurant. I think without the apps, we will never find the restaurant as it was isolated at the end of the world behind all the shops, at the back alley. The name of the restaurant is Lou Lan Islam Restaurant. We were screamed of joy when we found it.. Yay! We get to eat nasi finally! We ordered noodles, rice and some dishes. The price quite pricey especially for protein, so we opted for 3 vegetables dishes instead without any drinks as we brought mineral water. Total cheapskate we were. The total bill was HKD$300+, so each of us spent about HKD$70+ for food. Oh yes, if you want to go the loo, this is the perfect place, the toilet is clean and most importantly, they got water (^__-)

The address is:

Rua Da Caldeira, Macao, China 69099-184

+853 2853 0264

                                   

                                   

                                   

        

                                

                We ordered tofu, eggs with chives, noodles with broth and salted carrot with chicken.

    

                                            This is the front view of the restaurant 

We were so loud at the restaurant, laughing and making stupid jokes (because of the funny songs played repetitiously here..) but I think that because we were overjoyed to have found the Halal restaurant finally. The search to this restaurant is like Amazing Race, no one knew if you asked around. Even if you stumbled a Chinese Muslim here, they claimed they cook themselves rather than eating outside. So, a bit advised, be prepared to have internet access or print out a map. My other colleague claimed he managed to find an Arabs stall that sells kebab. Also, isolated in rows of shops..

This Zabihah apps is extremely useful, please download it if you're planning to go overseas especially those countries that has low Muslim populations and speaking zero English.

Stuffed and tired, we decided to go back to our hotel to rest before our night activity later.

Macau Trip Day 1 - The Unexpected Weather

Assalammualaikum wbt,

As I am typing this, I am in the flight home to Malaysia from my latest vacation in Macau. I couldn't sleep, I'm tired of reading (because my head is dizzy) thus, I'm writing this (not the whole thing..just few paragraphs). This Macau trip is actually our office trip using our monthly staff fund deduction. There were 8 of us altogether (some couldn't make it). 

We departed from KLIA 2 at 6.30am and reached there about 10.30am. This is my first time to actually be inside KLIA 2 and boy, it is hugeeee! I've read that you should be at airport at least 2 hours before the scheduled flight and I couldn't agree more. The journey from one places to another (Immigration check, collect luggage etc is far), I'd even lost when I got back jeeeeez. As usual, we flew with AirAsia, and I forced myself to eat Nasi Ayam on the flight even I couldn't finish them. Well, you have to, because it is so difficult to find Halal food in Macau so you gotta stuff yourself! 

         

                                      

                                                            I traveled light this time

          

         Food I brought. I forgot to bring Gardenia bread which ended up I bringing back the tuna (-__-)

A little introduction of Macau/Macao. This city is part of China but has its own currency and government. If you been here, most of the locals will be speaking in Portuguese or Cantonese. Their city is largely influence by Portuguese culture because it was colonized by them until 1999. That is why, most of the roads..not most, but rather all of the roads name are in Portuguese. Even their name aren't Chinese and most of them are Catholic (that explains why there were many churches here). Macau is also known as Asia's Las Vegas because the main activity and sources of economy is coming from gambling. There are casinos literally everywhere! It also one of the richest country in the world. Well, it's quite obvious because you can see many luxury boutiques just by the roadside.. I was surprised there are many Burberry booths (Like a pop up booth not the store, again I stress the word BOOTH!) in every hotels we went and you can even spot Pandora store at their pasar malam site.. Unlike us, most of these exclusive luxury boutique will only be at popular spots like Pavillion, KLCCand Starhill.. People buying Burberry scarf like they are shopping for fabrics from Jakel. I'd even seen one girl carrying like 3-4 Tiffany's big sized paper bags! oh dear..do you really buying like 10 big diamonds or does Tiffany sells biscuits now that I don't know about to earn you such big paper bags? From my own personal opinion, Macao attraction aren't so much on the view or historical places (there are but not so much) but rather on the indoor activities. I read there are many attractive performances/theaters/studios but you gotta buy the tickets to those shows and they aren't cheap. Since we are poor like that, we didn't go to any. Lame I know. Haha. I think, to really enjoying Macau, you gotta spend dearly (for indoor I mean). But don't worry, for cheapskate people like us, Macau really got something to offer ;) The people here are friendlier and less garang compared to Beijing last time. Hahaha. Serik! 

We were told that Macau weather to be like Genting/Cameron Highlands and even when we checked the forecast, it should be around 15-19 degree. Thus, we packed lightly: light sweater, light jacket, shawl etc. The moment we stepped out from the plane, we have never been grateful of the sun! The weather was freeeeeezing!! To the point that we should've bring the winter gear! Not only it is freezing but it was windy heavily!! Oh my, how are we going to survive here?! We weren't prepared at all. We asked the hotel staff there, it turned out that Macau is facing a sudden temperature dropping.. Well, the weather is quite haywire now, almost everywhere even in Malaysia we had an iced rain. Yeah..the earth is dying..

We checked in to our hotel, Galaxy Macau, it really is a huge hotel! ..and luxurious too I would say. Galaxy Hotel is one of the famous and largest hotels here. It also consists of few more hotels: Banyan Tree, Ritz Carlton & JW Marriot and of course, a huge casinos. The ground floor of this hotel is high-end shopping stores: Chanel, Dior, LV yada yada. Yes, the cheapest store would be H&M (-___-). Although the room rates is rather pricey but this hotel provides free bus shuttle service to all major tourist places in Macau. It is so convenient that you can save money from taking taxis. But the best of all, this hotel and even the bus provides free wi-fi wohoo! These are some of my room pictures. Jill is so cool to get us room with a spectacular view overlooking Macau city. Love you sis!

       

       

       

                           

                           

The only thing about travelling to foreign country is this problem. A toilet without a hose. I am being a bit creative here by using the outer line of the rubbish bin, fill it up with water and use McDonald's paper cup which I sneaked inside my bag to cebok! Hahaha. I even read one of the comments in Facebook, someone uses the same methodology as mine :P

                           

These refreshments are FOC but after they have replenished them, the hotel will charge you. I                   didn't eat the Ramen, not sure about its Halal status. 

      

      

Since the room is not ready yet, we leave all our luggage and headed to the San Ma Lao town. This is the main and most popular town in Macau thus the line for the bus was long! Imagine we have to wait outside in the long line for the bus with minimal clothing in freezing temperature? It is literally suicidal attempt! I didn't even wear my socks because they were in my luggage which was.....great.

                                 

         

         

                          Us. Cramping in the bus. Bus is comfortable, they even got wi-fi and heater :) 

                                 

   Look how thin we wear. The Dorothy Perkins scarf I wore wouldn't do justice here...it is very thin 

The first thing to do when we get to the town was to get myself a thick sweater. We walked separately and just make sure we waited for the bus at the same place it dropped us. We went to store after store but most of the shops sold yet again another high-end brand. I am not that desperate to get a Kenzo leather jacket to warm me.. After wandering around like hours, I finally settled down at Bossini and managed to get a thicker sweater with quite a reasonable price HKD$150 which is equal to RM89.90 when I checked my credit card statement later (-__-) I wanted to get even a cheaper non-branded sweater because I have one back home and I won't be wearing it in hot sunny Malaysia.. But I was desperate and too tired to look for more cheaper stores. Even the jacket couldn't save me from the cold, so I got myself a HKD$149 thick scarf from H&M (which will be in the closet for a long time..) and lucky enough my colleague gave me one glove which she bought 3 pairs per set from H&M. For money exchange, both Hong Kong Dollar and Macao Pattaca (MOP) are accepted here but for us, it is advisable to use HKD as it is easier to change them back to MYR. Be prepared to get the notes in smaller change because most of the shops here will return the change in MOP. Be sure to request for HKD change because some of the cashiers will not inform you and will return the balance in MOP. They wanted to keep HKD as much as they can because of its higher value.

                                     

                        Better...but my fingers were freezing (hadn't got my glove yet this time)

We were wandering around the town aimlessly because it is our first day and we wanted to get familiarize first.. I didn't shop much today because my main point to get a sweater first before anything else! I don't even want to take pictures because I was freezing. There were so many people mostly Chinese and most of them were seen carrying a luggage to shop. Must be for the Chinese New Year. But, I caught 2 or 3 people buying bundle of stuffs from Guardian and I peeked few of luggages contained their shopping for Darlie toothpaste! Yes..they bought like 5-10 boxes of toothpaste!! Why do you need so much? To eat with your bread?! 

                                   

          

          

                                                Oh man, I looked like Nyonya here (-__-)

          

Then, we headed back to our hotel and walkabout the shops inside. Yeah...we even entered the casinos! It is my first time being in there and I am a bit jakun to see all the roulette tables, the slot machines which I only seen on the TV before. I feel like in the movie set of 21 (stars the sexy Jim Sturgess and Kate Bosworth). The table attendant even invited us to play hahaha. I saw that most of the games start with HKD$200, to let you guys know, just in case.. We even scout for Saffron (Thai restaurants) in the directory and when we reached there, without even looking the menu or made it to the entrance, we took a turn back hahaha. The place is so posh! We can tell even by the elegance door. No way we could afford that, even McDonald here is freaking expensive! Must be because it located in the grand hotel..

                                    

                                    

           You are not allowed to take pictures in Casinos but hopefully they don't find my blog.

Since this is quite a luxury hotel, most of the Chinese people here are so posh!! I just couldn't help myself to stare at their accecories, and they way they dressing themselves from top to toe, all were designers! I felt like a lowest rank in the society with my Longchamp. They were all so pretty and handsome too, they look very polish, tall and I can tell their blood is mix. They are really like coming straight of out movie. They are carrying a Hermes bags, Chanel, YSL.. And oh, but still, they know little English (-___-)

Back to the room, I made myself Maggi and heat my Nasi Himpit with Brahim's chicken rendang. What a life savior! 1 nasi himpit to be shared with 6 people...and eating in a glass/mug. So classy..haha. Definitely an experience. Until the next post.