Results tagged “Restaurants” from East Asia 2017

So my morning started at 4:44 when I got a couple of smses from Optus welcoming me to Hong Kong. #grunt Of course there was no getting back to sleep after that, what with having to disembark and all. And at 5:30 I got hungry so it was all over. Saw us spinning around at Kai Tak, to have us facing the city. And then the sun rose. We didn't have a single good day of weather the entire trip, and we get a perfect one the day we go home. Doh!!

Hong Kong at dawn

Hong Kong at dawn

Hong Kong at dawn

Hong Kong at dawn

Got ready, and brought some breakfast down the room, but never did get around to download photos (which haven't been downloaded since before Shanghai).

Rex Fortune cruise ship and Hong Kong

Apparently they wanted us out of the room at 8:30 so we did that. But we had different pieces of conflicting information telling us the disembarkation procedure. One said just get off 40 minutes before our car was due (we decided to get a car back into Hong Kong so we didn't have to battle trains and taxis and get all sweaty). Another said wait with the rest of deck 5. I asked at the pursor's office and they said go with the rest of deck 5. But that made no sense because people with earlier cars would then be late. At around 9:20 we went and asked the lady in the theatre and she said we just needed to go get off in about twenty minutes. So that turned out to be quite simple and no queue. I just wish they could have been more organised in their literature. So that was the end of that. We left the ship. Sad times.

In the terminal we just walked out. Noone even looked at our passports (that we'd picked up yesterday afternoon). Then into the baggage hall to get our bags, which was all organised nicely and super simple. They called our car (we ended up being very early) and we did a survey by some local travel type people.

Our car came and we got driven across Hong Kong. And dumped at Kowloon station.

*blink*

When I'd booked the car, I filled out "Hong Kong Station", and the guy who took my booking appended Central. So how they translated that to Kowloon I have no f#$%ing idea. So I was pretty pissed off about that. Thanks Cunard. How to leave a bad taste in our mouth as a parting gift.

Anyway Stu just said we would be ok, so we got out, and checked into our flight and checked our bags at the in-town checkin. We'd been planning to have Tim Ho Wan at Central, but we decided instead to go to the one in Sham Shui Po, and go to the Golden Computer Arcade to pick up a couple of little micro usb cables (I really love the 20cm cables you can get two for $5AUD, and only currently having one is a bit of a pain sometimes when there's multiple devices to charge).

So two trains later we got to Sham Shui Po and walked along Fuk Wing Street until we found Tim Ho Wan. It's a lot like the organised chaos we first experienced at Din Tai Fung in Taipei, so we didn't feel too threatened by the little crowd of people milling around and the procedure to get a seat and order food. We were there primarily for the crispy pork buns (which they call baked bun with bbq pork) and they were every bit as awesome as we were expecting. We also had a few other things which were nice too.

Baked bun with bbq pork - ftw!!!

After lunch we walked back to the Golden Computer Arcade and got our cables.

It was such a beautiful day I couldn't stand the thought of just heading out to the airport - I felt liked we should be looking at the city or something. So I convinced the sweetie that we should get the train to Hong Kong station and just take the ferry over to Tsim Sha Tsui and back. Simple and cheap and we'd get a great view of the whole harbour (and the Queen Mary 2). So we did that. And it was awesome :)

Hong Kong Observation Wheel at Central

Queen Mary 2 at Kai Tak through the Hong Kong Observation Wheel

Central Ferry Pier

Xin Guang First Ferry and Stonecutters Bridge

Kowloon from Central Ferry Pier

Hong Kong from the Star Ferry

Night Star ferry arriving at Central Ferry Pier

Super Star Virgo in Hong Kong

Twinkling Star ferry departing Tsim Sha Tsui

Shining Star ferry and Hong Kong

Hong Kong from Victoria Harbour

Hong Kong from Victoria Harbour

Queen Mary 2 at Kai Tak

Then back to the station, one station hop under the harbour to Kowloon, and onto the airport express train. Of course it would have been easier to go straight from Hong Kong since we were right there, but they charge your Octopus card when you go to check in to the flight, and we weren't sure what would happen if we then got on at a station further away.

Quick train trip out to the airport, through security and immigration, and into the Qantas club. I downloaded all my photos since Shanghai and the GPS, and we both had showers and felt much better. Then it was more catching up on the laptop.

USB charging on the Airport Train

Champagne in the Qantas Club at sunset

Sunset over Hong Kong airport

We had the exact same seats on the 747 on the flight back as we did up. One of the two-seater seats right up the back, so the sweetie didn't have anyone next to him.

I was pretty tired so attempted to sleep. And failed. Just lay there with my eyes closed for three or four hours. I didn't have any dinner, just a couple of bread rolls which were a bit awful actually.

Gave up trying to sleep when my legs got restless, so watched Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Which I found to be extremely confusing (maybe it was just that my brain was mush). The kid is asking questions and keeps getting told not to ask questions and it's like well how the heck are *we* meant to understand what's going on? Tried again to sleep after the movie but legs were still restless, so watched Bridget Jones' Baby, which was all a little silly, but that took us up til landing time in Sydney. Breakfast was this little pizza thing, but I'd been starving for a while so my stomach wasn't ready for food (don't ask). Just had the yoghurt and juice.

Rodd Point, Sydney

Parramatta Road, Sydney

About to land at Sydney Airport

In Sydney there was a bit of a queue at the e-tickets, and then a bit of chaos going through the gates due to people having issues getting in the way of people trying to get through. Then picked up our bags and off we went to the domestic terminal.

Flight to Canberra was in a dash 8. Could *almost* see mum's place but it was directly underneath us. Came in from the north into Canberra.

Lake George

Touchdown at Canberra Airport

Chrissie very nicely picked us up from the airport and took us home. I went and got some supplies, then crashed for a couple of hours, at one point waking up and taking a minute to realise where I was. Stu slept most of the afternoon heh.

Have mostly unpacked and done a load of washing of all the fancy new clothes.

And I've also been fighting with our internet which is completely unusable at the moment, as well as downloading photos, gps etc.

So all in all a pretty good holiday. The cruise was pretty awesome for the most part, with just a few things that really pissed me off. The weather was crappy for almost the entire trip which was a bit sad. I think Nagasaki was the highlight of the ports for me. I loved the fine dining, and the buffets available pretty much all day. I dread to think how much weight I've put on! Cruising is something we'd definitely consider doing again.

Had a bit of a broken night's sleep on account of not being able to breathe.

At 6:20 the alarm went off to wake up.

Arrival in Incheon was pretty boring. I missed coming under the bridge, but then we docked at a new terminal area in the middle of nowhere (they haven't even built the terminal yet). Downloaded the GPS log since Busan.

Had some breakfast at Kings Court around 8:00.

At 8:45 we went into the Royal Court Theatre to check in to our tour. Where we then had to wait and wait and wait. This time the Korean immigrations had setup laptops in the Queens Room to process everyone. So we had to collect our passports, walk past the temperature sensor, then get our passports stamped. Then we dropped off our passports and got a shore card. They had a truck setup outside with a portable gangway, but it was *very* steep getting up it. We could have really just gone straight off the ship onto the wharf, rather than up and over, but apparently the tides change quite a lot and they were going to have to rearrange things during the day. It was after 10:00 before our coach left the wharf.

So then it was the really long drive into Seoul.

Our first stop was the National Museum. We lasted about five minutes with the crowds and our tour guide before we went off and wandered the place on our own. Sure we probably missed out on hearing about some things in more detail, but we did get a nice long look at all the celadon (a green glazed ceramic), and an amazing exhibition of items recovered in 1975 from a shipwreck.

Entrance of the National Museum of Korea

Gold Crown and Girdle, National Treasure #191 and #192

Gold Crown Ornament, National Treasure #630

Ten Story Pagoda, National Treasure #86

Dragon shaped ewer celadon, National Treasure #61

Ewer celadon

Celadon plate

Objects from the Sinan shipwreck

Objects from the Sinan shipwreck

Coins from the Sinan shipwreck

Then it was off to lunch at a place in the city. There was about fifteen different courses!! It was pretty insane. And I was having fun until I was eating all the green vegetables in a cold "porridge" when I got a huge slice of raw green chili. My mouth exploded. I should have spat it out, but I was on a table full of strangers. So that was super painful (I was in tears) and kinda ruined the rest of the meal. And our tour guide didn't seem to understand that people need to use the bathroom, and so we had to try and find it ourselves when we should have been going out to get back on the coach.

Han Jeongsik traditional lunch at Jinjinbara

Han Jeongsik traditional lunch at Jinjinbara.  That green chili sunk in with the rest of the vegetables and my mouth exploded when I ate it :(

Han Jeongsik traditional lunch at Jinjinbara

After lunch it started raining. Yay. We went to Bukchon village next, a line of houses built in the 1930s by a dude who wanted to preserve houses built in traditional Korean style. But it's a residential street and I think the people that live there hate the fact that it's a huge tourist destination.

Sungnyemun Gate

Bukchon Hanok Village

Bukchon Hanok Village

Bukchon Hanok Village

Bukchon Hanok Village

Traditional dress store

Girls in traditional dress

Still raining. We drove past the presidential "blue house" and got one or two photos through foggy and rain-smeared windows.

The Blue House

Then into the royal palace next door. Still raining on and off. Had a decent wander around there which was pretty cool.

Gwanghwamun Gate

Heungnyemun Gate

Geunjeongjeon hall

Inside Geunjeongjeon hall

Courtyard of Geunjeongjeon hall and Bukhansan Mountain

Gargoyle at Geunjeongjeon hall

Covered walkway on west side of Geunjeongjeon hall

Covered walkway on west side of Geunjeongjeon hall

Gyeonghoeru pavilion

Bukhansan Mountain

Locals in traditional dress

Decorative roof at Gyeongbokgung Palace

Gangnyeongjeon hall

Inside Gangnyeongjeon hall

Locals in traditional dress

Looking towards Gwanghwamun Gate from Heungnyemun Gate

Gargoyle at Gyeongbokgung Palace

Asian women need instructions on how to use the toilets

Girls toilets at Gyeongbokgung Palace

So a reasonably decent tour. Shame about the weather.

Finally a very long drive back to the ship.

Banghwa Bridge

Queen Mary 2 docked at Incheon Port International Passenger Terminal

Queen Mary 2 docked at Incheon Port International Passenger Terminal

Incheon Bridge, connecting Yeongjong Island and the mainland of Incheon

Sunset aboard the Queen Mary 2

Queen Mary 2 bell

19:30 the usual pub for drinks/music/trivia (we got 16/20 this time - would have gotten a couple more if we'd joined with the table that marked ours - they knew two that we didn't heh). Really must join ranks with some English people as the questions do tend to be a bit British-centric.

When we got to dinner we found two new people on our table (Bruce and Maria from Sydney). They'd been on board since Sydney and were going all the way to Southampton. But they kept on being at a table by themselves and asked to join someone else. We'd had two seats free since Virginia and Bob got off in Shanghai so that was quite nice. Stu had chicken consomme, Korean chicken and chocolate volcano cake. I had smoked duck, penne, and wasn't going to have dessert because I was so full, but got tempted by the key lime pie heh.

I really feel like we don't belong on this cruise. Bruce and David spent most of the evening talking about travelling business class and comparing airlines, and the sizes of their apartments. Bruce and Maria live in one of the toasters in Circular Quay, and at one point I think I overheard it was 192 square metres (although only heard a snatch of that conversation I could be wrong). Various British couples we've met have summer homes in Europe. We're too young and not rich enough to belong on this cruise...

Slept in til 06:38!

Got ready and watched our arrival into Nagasaki from the top deck. We passed under the Megami Ohashi bridge on the way in, which apparently was built around the same time as the Queen Mary 2, and was built high enough to allow tall ships such as the Queen Mary 2 to pass underneath. Apparently there's only a six metre clearance! Lots of people were on the bridge, and we honked at them a few times :)

Crowds gathered on Magamio Bridge to welcome Queen Mary 2

Megami Ohashi Bridge and Queen Mary 2

Dry docks in Nagasaki bay

Kite flying over Nagasaki bay

Nagasaki

Looking up to Glover Garden

As we were pulling up to the dock on our port side, a little troupe of dancers and a full brass band came out to welcome us. They went for quite a while, it was pretty awesome.

Welcoming committee at Nagasaki

Welcoming committee at Nagasaki

Breakfast was a little more relaxed as we didn't have to rush for any tours. As it was a cruise terminal, they have it setup inside to deal with the cruise ships. There was quite a lot of people, but it all flowed fairly quickly. In the terminal they were also setup with an information stand giving out maps, a place selling the all day tram tickets (500 yen), and an ATM. So we were all set for the day really quickly. We didn't go on a tour in Nagasaki. We'd originally tried to get on one, but it was booked out and we were put on a wait list. So I did a bunch of my own research and decided we could have a better day doing things ourselves. So when a spot came up on the tour I didn't bother to accept it.

So after getting off the ship we headed for the nearest station on the blue line and took a tram up to Hamaguchi-Machi station to look at the peace memorial hall.

Queen Mary 2 at Nagasaki

Nagasaki manhole cover

Pool above the Memorial Hall and Nagasaki History and Folklore Museum

Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims

Paper crane I made and added to the collection

Then next door to the Atomic Bomb museum. Not a very big museum but problematic with flow because there's tv screens with lots of information but take quite a while to cycle through so people bunch up watching them and don't keep moving. And of course there were several Cunard tour groups passing through, so the place was quite cramped. But very interesting and focussing on the effects of the bomb in Nagasaki followed by a hall on the current state of nuclear weapons in the world.

Spiral entrance to the Atomic Bomb Museum

Paper cranes in the Atomic Bomb Museum

Wall clock found in a house near Sanno Shinto Shrine, about 800 metres from the hypocentre

Molten beads of stained glass from Urakami Cathedral

Our legs were hurting quite a bit at this point so we stopped in the cafe for a bit.

Instructions on how to use the toilet

Then we headed down the hill to the hypocentre. I've now been to both hypocentres for both nuclear blasts.

Sadako Sasaki statue

Canal where people tried to find water to relieve their burns

Hypocenter Cenotaph

Sun directly overhead the hypocenter

Wall remnant of Urakami Cathedral

And then up the hill to the peace park, which is in the location of a former prison that was reduced to its foundations in the blast.

Nagasaki Peace Statue through the Fountain of Peace

Fountain of Peace

Fountain of Peace

Remnants of the prison blocks

Paper cranes in Nagasaki Peace Park

Nagasaki Peace Statue

Took a red line tram back into town (Kokaido-Mae) to have a look at the Megane-bashi "spectacles" bridge. And we continued to wander down the channel looking at all the stone bridges across it.

Tram we took at Kokaido-mea tram station

Megane Bridge (Spectacles Bridge)

People crossing the Nakashima River

Then at random we wandered into this covered-street shopping area. We were just looking at the map when some locals asked if we needed help. We didn't really as we were just looking at it, but then we asked if there was any local Nagasaki dishes that they could recommend. She said we should try the "turkish rice" at a famous nearby cafe - the Olympic Cafe. So she took us there to show us where it was. Turns out it's just a pork katsudon on flavoured rice, with spaghetti and a bit of cabbage on the side. We also ordered a "cheeseburger" which was just a hamburger patty topped with cheese, also on the same rice and spaghetti. Quite an odd meal, but quite nice. It seems the cafe is quite famous for its 120cm high dessert towers. Amazing to see. But we were too full from lunch to attempt to eat one (and it was 15:00 by this point). We never would have even gone in there if it hadn't been for the local telling us where to go. As is the case in Japan, many restaurants are hidden away at the top of tiny little staircases, so if you didn't know they were there, you'd never think to go.

After lunch we continued walking south and went and had a good long wander around Dejima, which for a couple of hundred years was the only place which could do any western trade with Japan. Interesting stuff, and lots and lots of buildings with different things in them.

Dejima island next to the Nakashima River from the Dejima bridge

Old Dejima Seminary

Local Japanese guy who posed for me

Scale model of Dejima Dutch trading post

Scale model of Dejima Dutch trading post

Next we took a blue line tram to Takara-machi and hiked the kilometre to the base of the Inasa ropeway. I'd have done this earlier in the day if the weather had been better, but since it was grey all day I decided we could do this is as the last thing while it was still daylight, then hang around and wait til it got dark. Because apparently this was once voted the third best night view after Hong Kong and Monaco.

Stu under at tori at Mt Inasa

Our cable car at the Nagasaki Ropeway

Lookout building on Mt Inasa

View of Nagasaki from Mt Inasa

Queen Mary 2 from Mt Inasa

Nagasaki Harbour Bridge

So after getting our daytime photos, we sat in the foyer for a bit and had a drink and waited an hour or so for it to get dark. The problem with this place is it's tiny. And lots of people want to come and see the third best night view in the world. And most people that go there aren't satisfied with having a look and taking a few photos and then moving on. No, most of them are setup with with tripods and are there for the long haul and will. not. budge. I was getting so pissed off that I couldn't get anywhere near the fence to take a few photos. I actually leaned on a few of them at one point. Eventually after ages I was able to get some photos but it was a very frustrating experience. I think a bunch of them were waiting for the Queen Mary 2 to depart, but that was two and a half hours away.

Transmission towers on Mt Inasa

Crowds at Mt Inasa (that wouldn't MOVE)

View of Nagasaki from Mt Inasa by night

Queen Mary 2 from Mt Inasa by night

Nagasaki Harbour Bridge from Mt Inasa by night

So about 19:15 we headed back. We were able to get on a cable car fairly quickly which was good. Walked back to the tram, then two trams back to the ship (blue line to Tsuki-Machi, and a green line to Ouratenshudoshita, although it took so long to arrive we could have walked the two stops quicker heh).

Tunnel of Light

So it was a pretty full-on day (over 20000 steps!), but we got to do the things that we wanted to do, and at our own pace.

Stu went aboard first so I could get a definitive location on our room. Then I went on board. Getting through the terminal was super easy - just handed in my photocopied passport with the entry card stuck on it, and through I went. Slight queue at ship-board security.

Queen Mary 2 docked at Nagasaki International Cruise Ship Terminal by night

Looking into the Purser's Office on deck 2

Stu on our balcony showing the location of our room

Oura Church by night

Even though we'd (just) made it back to the ship by 20:30, we really didn't feel like dressing up for dinner, so we just grabbed a light dinner in the Kings Court. I wasn't going to have any dessert but they had a white chocolate fountain! So dipped a chocolate cake ball in that. Also took a bread roll and some butter for breakfast.

White chocolate fountain in Kings Court

I went up to deck 13 to watch the departure. Nagasaki's big suspension bridge is not lit up like Busan's, so it was a little boring heh.

Back in the room I heard something loud outside so went to see what it was. It was the pilot's boat, so watched it come alongside, and watched two guys jump off the Queen Mary 2 onto it. That was pretty cool.

Pilot boat which came to pick up the harbour pilot

Then it was wash hair and go to bed, after setting *everything* up to charge.

Slept through til 07:11 which was nice. Definitely a good comfortable bed.

We went down to Festiva again for breakfast.

Then we packed ourselves up and checked out around 10:45. Went outside and hopped on a shuttle bus to the Taipa ferry terminal. At the terminal we went in (it was 11:15) and got tickets for the 11:30 ferry. A very quick trip through immigration and pretty much straight onto the ferry.

Our ferry back to Hong Kong

The ferry trip was pretty grey. We passed between Lantau Island and Cheung Chau. And then we were back in Hong Kong!

Hong Kong from the ferry

Getting through immigration was nice and simple, but getting out of the ferry terminal was not. You end up in the middle of a shopping centre with no clear exit. Even when we found a way outside, you end up on Connaught Road with no way to cross it! This city is really not very pedestrian friendly, unless you happen to know your way around shopping centres and know where all the internal overpasses are. Mind you the city is not very car-friendly either, as all the little streets turn into car parks for most of the day. I don't know how people stand it. Anyway, after battling our way along narrow footpaths, and giving up and walking along the road for half of it, we ended up at the hotel.

The room is small but adequate (bed is tiny haha). They nicely provide an android phone for local calls and data, although it's locked down so you can't just tether your own devices to it (well maybe you could if you looked hard enough). But it was useful for maps and browsing.

Our room in the Butterfly Hotel

View from our hotel room

After we'd settled in we headed out for a late lunch. As is tradition we went to Dim Sum Square for crispy pork buns!! (and other things too). There was a small queue outside waiting to get in. One of these days the restaurant is going to move again to somewhere much bigger..

Happy hour, save water, drink beer! Sign outside a pub on Wellington St

Crispy pork buns at Dim Sum Square

After lunch we hopped on a train to Causeway Bay to go see a movie. Our Octopus cards still had a bit of money on them, and it was kinda cool to know exactly what we had to do to get there, even knowing which direction to go without looking at a map. Of course at the other end it's a different story, because once again we had to negotiate shopping centres. In the end I found a concierge desk and asked where to go.

The movie we saw was Martin Scorcese's "Silence" about Portuguese Jesuit priests in Japan in the 17th century. I found it difficult to watch mainly because I don't know what I'd do if I was tortured for my faith. They also had a scene shot in Macau, where we'd been literally yesterday.  That was pretty surreal.  A good, but quite long movie.

After the movie we took a train back to Sheung Wan. Picked up beer and chips at a 7-Eleven for dinner, because we're classy like that. Washed hair and in bed by 21:00.

Stu and Karen at Times Square in Causeway Bay

Times Square, Hong Kong

Woke up at 05:00 but mostly got back to sleep til around 06:00. Got up and spent ages getting caught up with blogging and photos.

Stu woke up sick :( Too many people in this part of the world and too many of them sick. It was inevitable I guess...

We thought we'd get Maccas for breakfast, on account of it should be a lot cheaper than the big buffet breakfast, and that Stu could then have it in the room without him needing to get up and ready first. So I went down to get some. Except I was running very low on cash so tried to pay on credit card. Except McDonalds in the Galaxy Macau do not take credit cards. What century is this guys???? So reluctantly I went and got another 500 MOP out at the ATM (minimum withdrawal at those ATMs is 500) and bought breakfast. And at 134 MOP it wasn't really any cheaper that the buffet *sigh*.

After we got ready we took one of the hotel shuttle buses over to the peninsula. Wandered up past the Lisboa up to Senado Square. Sat around there for a little while and had a guy from Seattle chat to us for a bit.

Macau across Nam Van Lake

Grand Lisboa Macau

Casino Lisboa

Mammoth tusk carving in the lobby of the Grand Lisboa, Macau

Mammoth tusk carving in the lobby of the Grand Lisboa, Macau

Lobby of the Grand Lisboa, Macau

Portuguese pavement of a flamingo

Historic buildings and fountain in Senado Square

Trees growing out of the side of buildings in Senado Square

Senado Square

Senado Square

Then wandered up the square past all the shoe shops and jerky shops, evenutally stopping at Starbucks for a pitstop.

St Dominic's Church

Interior of St Dominic's Church

Eventually made it up to the ruins of St Paul's.

Ruins of St Paul's Cathedral

View south from St Paul's Cathedral

Ruins of St Paul's Cathedral

Then continued up to the fortress. There's signs all around the place pointing where everything is, but they dried up at the bottom of the fortress and we ended up turning left instead of right and did a very long wander around the base of the fortress. Which was fine because it had a nice view and there wasn't many people and it was quiet. Oh yes, Stu got a migraine just as we were leaving the hotel so all the people and noises were a bit stressful.

Flowers in a tree next to the Macau fortress

Finally made it to the top of the fortress which was pretty cool.

View north-west from Macau fortress

View to Guia Lighthouse from the Macau fortress

South wall of the Macau fortress

Canon seemingly taking aim at the Grand Lisboa

Panorama view south and west from Macau fortress

Macau museum

Took the escalators down off the hill then wandered back down the way we'd come. We had seen a 26A on the way up, and thought there'd be a bus stop along Av de Almeida Ribeiro, but we never saw one.

Ended up down at Nam Van Lake so I left Stu to sit for a while and went on a pretty long walk to take photos of bridges and the Kun Iam Statue.

Hotel Lisboa

Governor Nobre de Carvalho Bridge

Macau Tower

Macau over Nam Van Lake

Tree roots along Av. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen

MGM Grand Macau

Lion outside the MGM Grand Macau

Kun Iam Statue

Went and collected the sweetie and headed back to the Star World Casino for a bus back to our hotel.

Sai Van Bridge

Galaxy Hotel

When we got back we went downstairs and had a swim in the heated pool. We didn't go in the rapids thingie because frankly it was just too far to walk (my feet were killing me). So we just stayed in the heated pool which was right downstairs from us and that was very nice.

Rooftop heated pool of the Galaxy Hotel

Next we thought we'd get dinner from the Tastes of Asia food court downstairs. But these guys, as well as not taking credit card, don't even take cash!!! You have to use one of their stoopid card systems. I did what any person who was so tired and hungry would do - I lost it. What sort of place doesn't even take cash?? Might be ok if you're local and have the cards they want, but it's really not very friendly for tourists. I had 250MOP in cash that I needed to spend before the next day. And I didn't want to go get a card because you always lose leftover money on those things (it's the principle of the thing). We looked at a couple of the nearby restaurants, but 250MOP might have gotten me a bottle of wine or one dish, but nothing else. And I really didn't feel like walking all the way over to Taipa. So we had KFC. Because they took my damned money and they were right there. But I could barely stomach it. It was all very upsetting.

After dinner I went (by myself, *sigh*) back to the peninsula to take photos of the casinos at night. The Lisboa is a bit insane.

Wynn's Casino by night

Hotel Lisboa by night

Wynn's Casino by night

Governor Nobre de Carvalho Bridge by night

Macau buildings by night

Grand Lisboa by night

Hotel Lisboa by night

Grand Lisboa by night

Casino Lisboa by night

Hotel Lisboa by night

The shuttle bus back from there dumps you right at the very southern end of the Galaxy resort, but I didn't want to walk through the shops again, and you can't walk over to the Parisian or the Venetian without walking All The Way Around the streets and front entrances (another couple of kilometre walk) so I didn't bother going to see them either. Oh well. Guess I'm never going to see those at night. Just walked around the outside of our hotel. At least it was peace and quiet. Collapsed into bed about 21:30.

The Parisian by night

After getting to bed at midnight local time, 03:00 our time, I woke up at 04:00 with hurty and that kept me awake for an hour. But got back to sleep and slept through til 08:00. The bed is very comfortable although the pillows are super squishy. On the desk there's a couple of multi-style power outlets which take all our devices without needing adapters. Stu has an outlet by his bed but I don't. There's a multi-style shaver outlet in the bathroom too which lets me put a nightlight in there. The nightstands also have little nightlights underneath them so you can see the ground if you need to get up when it's dark. Quite handy. Somewhat annoyingly the carpet is mostly brown except for these big dark brown butterflies which makes it look like there's something there that you need to not trip over heh. There's a little room with an ice machine and a drinks and snacks vending machine.

Also, our room is "city view" which is north-facing towards the peninsula. Except. Just north of here are a whole stack of apartments taking up most of the horizon, so you can only see about three buildings of the city. We'd probably have been better off with a view of the rest of the hotel complex. Also the glass is about five layers thick and highly reflective on both sides, so all lights get reflected back and forth which really kills photos. Oh well.

View of Taipa from our room at the Galaxy Hotel, Macau

Panorama of our view towards Taipa from our room at the Galaxy Hotel, Macau

After getting up at 08:00 I downloaded the previous day's photos and GPS track and wrote up a blog entry. We were ready by 9:30 then headed downstairs to one of the restaurants in the complex that's attached to the hotel. We didn't have breakfast included with our room, so it was 160 MOP each extra (plus an extra service charge hrmm). But we did fill up on lots of nice food which means we can skip lunch.

After breakfast we had a wander around the ground floor of the complex, looking at the shops and even going into the Apple store.

Model of the Galaxy Hotel complex, Macau

11am sound and light water show in the Diamond Lobby of the Galaxy Hotel, Macau

Came back and got ourselves ready, the headed out to Coloane. There's a bus (26A) which leaves right outside the hotel to go down to Coloane for 4 MOP each (actually 3.60 but they don't give change - you just drop coins in the slot by the driver when you get on for the price indicated on the electronic readout. I guess it'd mean if you lived at one end of the run and only wanted to go a short way you'd still need to pay the full fare for the whole length of the trip. If you lived at the end of the run you pay less).

Front entrance of the Galaxy Hotel, Macau

At Coloane we hopped off the bus and then just wandered. We came across Lord Stow's quite quickly, so went into the "garden" and ordered three of their famous Portugese egg tarts as well as some drinks. The tarts were indeed quite good.

Lord Stow's famous egg tarts

Then we just wandered up and down the water front looking across to China, at the St Francis Xavier church and a couple of temples.

Largo do Matadouro street sign

Stu looking at the view across the water to China

Coloane waterfront

Portuguese pavement of a ship

Chapel of St Francis Xavier

Eduardo Marques Square

Lion outside Tin Hau temple

Tin Hau temple

Tin Hau temple

Inside the Chapel of St Frances Xavier

Then hopped on another bus back to the hotel (5 MOP each on the way back).

Except I didn't go all the way back to the hotel. I hopped off outside the Parisian and had a look at the Eiffel Tower and then inside the lobby. Wow. Epic. I thought I might see how much it was to go up the tower, so started following the signs. I got led on a very long walk through all the shops which was super annoying. When as it turned out, the lift just off the lobby would have taken me straight up. The price was 100 MOP to go up ($20) but because it was such a grey and murky day I didn't bother.

Eiffel Tower outside the Parisian Hotel

The Parisian Hotel

Lobby of the Parisian Hotel

Lobby of the Parisian Hotel

I tried to find a way through the hotel over to the Venetian but it was all too hard so just walked around the outside. The Venetian is also pretty insane, but so big I had trouble finding the canal. I think it follows the path of the shops, but by this time I was a bit over it and just wanted to get back. I tried to find a way to the western lobby so I wouldn't have to walk all the way back outside and around but they certainly don't make it easy. In the end I had to walk through the casino to get there.

St Mark's Campanile outside The Venetian Hotel

Rialto Bridge outside The Venetian Hotel

The Venetian Hotel

Lobby of The Venetian Hotel

Lobby of The Venetian Hotel

Lobby of The Venetian Hotel

San Luca Canal, The Venetian Hotel

The Great Hall in The Venetian Hotel

The Great Hall in The Venetian Hotel

Came back to the hotel and chilled out for a while (at this point I'm up to 13000 steps!).

Then we went downstairs and had a wander around the rooftop resort area with all the pools. There's a bit of a wind-tunnel between the buildings which makes it super windy in places. I'm not sure there'll be any time to go for a swim though.

Pool on the rooftop of the Galaxy Hotel

Gardens on the rooftop of the Galaxy Hotel

The Galaxy Hotel

Water rapids course on the rooftop of the Galaxy Hotel

Wave pool and beach on the rooftop of the Galaxy Hotel

Then we went across the road to wander through the old Taipa village. We ended up at a place called Corto for dinner and had their suckling pig stuffed with rice. It was nice, but the skin was a little burnt in places. I guess that's just the way it's done, but I didn't like the burnt bits. The rice was awesome though - lovely flavours and quite smokey. We also had a cabbage dish flavoured with fish which was quite nice.

R. Gov. Tamagnini Barbosa streetscape

Baked Stuffed Suckling Pig w/Rice Portuguese Style at Corto Portuguese Restaurant

Stopped in at a 7-Eleven on the way back to pick up some snacks (so I have something to eat in the mornings in the several hours I have to wait for breakfast) then back to the hotel.

Galaxy Hotel entrance by night

It was about 19:30 at this point and I'd really wanted to go for a wander around the area at night to see the casinos all lit up, but I was just too exhausted, so collapsed into bed early (like 20:30 early).