Results tagged “Walking” from East Asia 2017

Woke up at 05:30 and couldn't get back to sleep - doh! Eventually got up and did GPS/blog/photos.

Headed down to the street and went to a few different places to pick up coffee in a can, fruit and bakery bits. Ate those in the hotel.

After breakfast I left Stu to wake up and headed down to the waterfront. Our hotel was near the midlevels escalator and once on the overpasses (these ones are all outdoors) it was easy enough to get all the way to the Central piers without crossing roads. Walked all the way to the water and could *just* see the Queen Mary 2 berthed at Kai Tak through all the gloom. I chose not to go on the ferris wheel because, well, what would be the point.

Hong Kong Observation Wheel at Central

Queen Mary 2 at Kai Tak through the gloom

Victoria Harbour

On the way back I went past a couple of old Hong Kong buildings I'd never actually stopped to take photos of before, then took the street route back to the hotel.

The Cenotaph

Former Legislative Assembly Building

Packed up and checked out, then took the three trains from Central -> North Point -> ?? -> Kowloon Bay. In hindsight maybe taking the trains was not a great idea. So many damned sick people :(

At Kowloon Bay we had to negotiate another poorly signposted shopping centre to find the taxis to Kai Tak (we weren't going to take a mini bus like we did last time!). Even though Kowloon Bay is the closest MTR station to Kai Tak, the taxi driver didn't understand "Kai Tak ..... cruise terminal" .. What's with that? In the end Stu showed him a map and then it was ok. Although the meter said 49.2HKD at the end he charged us 60 ?

Anyways. At the terminal there were heaps of people arriving. Cunard had their bag drop right there in the lower hall, so once your Cunard luggage label is attached you just give your bag to them and they send it through the xray machines to be delivered to the ship. So that was pretty handy.

Then we headed inside and upstairs. To a hall of chaos. There were people queuing so we lined up with them, but there were also people just wandering through. It was all very confusing. Turn out our queue was the right one, and they gave us a Hong Kong arrivals card (for when we get back to Hong Kong in two weeks) and a "wellness" form asking us if we were sick. They also gave us a number (07, seemingly at random) and told us to take a seat and go up when our number was called. So we did that but we couldn't hear the announcements very well so we weren't really sure what was going on. We'd arrived at 12:45 (our boarding time was 13:00), but they didn't call number seven until 14:00 :(

Crowds waiting at Kai Tak Cruise Terminal

Queen Mary 2 from Kai Tak Cruise Terminal

Queen Mary 2 from Kai Tak Cruise Terminal

So we joined another queue, which was to check in, have our photo taken and get our onboard cards. Then it was off to security, and then immigration, both of which were quick.

Then it was onto the ship!!

Stu on the gangway boarding Queen Mary 2

Oddly, there were half a dozen staff standing around, but you walk past them to the "Grand Lobby" and then you're left to your own devices. There were no offers to show us where to go which I thought was a little odd. Fortunately I had a reasonable idea of where we had to go based on looking at lots of deck plans and photos. So we headed to our room.

Entrance threshold of the Queen Mary 2 on deck 3

The Grand Lobby

The Grand Lobby

The room is actually relatively spacious. There's the two single beds pushed together to make a king, a couch, desk, pretty decent sized wardrobe and drawers, and the bathroom, which is on the small side. There's two UK and two US power outlets on the desk with another two US outlets on top of the fridge part. At first I didn't think there was a shaver outlet in the bathroom for my nightlight. It turns out there is (under the bathroom light), but it only works when the light is on, which kinda defeats the purpose of the nightlight. We have a balcony, but it's an in-hull balcony on deck 5, so you can't really see the view if you're seated on the deck chairs. But it is quite sheltered.

Room 5.127 sign

Our stateroom aboard the Queen Mary 2

Our stateroom aboard the Queen Mary 2

Our bed on the Queen Mary 2

Desk area of our stateroom

Couch in our stateroom

Huge wardrobe in our stateroom

Bathroom in our stateroom

Bathroom in our stateroom

View of Hong Kong from our balcony

Deck chair on our balcony

Deck chairs and table on our balcony

In our room was a welcome small bottle of bubbly - basically enough for a glass each. So we sat and enjoyed that.

Welcome glasses of champagne in our stateroom

Welcome bottle of champagne in our stateroom

Me and Stu enjoying champagne in our stateroom

Then went up to Kings Court for a very late spot of lunch. Basically the Kings Court has buffet food going pretty much all day, so you can eat whenever you want which is pretty handy.

After lunch I went to the Pursor's office to ask about the Behind the Scenes Tour. Sadly they're not offering it this trip which is a bit sad-making, but at least I won't be disappointed if I can't get a ticket for it (there's only 16 tickets and usually only one tour per entire cruise).

Britannia Restaurant from the top level

Britannia Restaurant

The Grand Lobby

While I was doing that, Stu got unpacked and went and found the laundry. When I got back we took our clothes to the laundry, and got that going just after 16:00. Then I unpacked. It's going to be nice not having to rummage around my suitcase for two weeks. Just before 17:00 our washing finished so we moved it to a dryer.

At 17:00 was the emergency drill, where we all had to take our life jackets to our mustering area on level 7 and have the talk about what to do in an emergency. And that's where we had our first introduction to argumentative and complaining people. And I thought I was bad... hrmmm....

Me at the emergency drill

After the drill I dragged the sweetie all the way up to level 13 to have a look around the top deck, then down to the lookout on deck 11, before heading back to the room.

The Lookout on deck 13

Stu next to the Queen Mary 2 sign, deck 12

Hydrant from New York and lamp post from the UK, deck 12

Kai Tak cruise terminal from the Queen Mary 2

View aft on starboard side of observation deck, deck 11

Bow from observation deck, deck 11

Deck 11 Observation Deck

We chilled out for a while before getting ready for dinner. We were going to have a drink somewhere first before dinner, but our house alarm had been going off so Stu was trying to sort it out with Kit and Ben and Chris. Most likely a huntsman set it off, but they couldn't find one. So that, as well as having to dress up, was stressing me out no end.

View of Hong Kong from our balcony

So a bit before 20:30 we headed down for dinner. We are on table 1, right in the very back corner of the lower floor. We are on a table with six others - two couples from Australia (Bob and Virginia from Tweed Heads who'd come all the way from Sydney and are getting off in Shanghai, and Licia and David from Perth), and a couple from England (Kay and Norman). David said the chaos in the terminal was the worst he'd ever seen on a cruise.

Our dinner table for two weeks - table 1 in the Britannia Restaurant

Lower level of the Britannia Restaurant

For dinner Stu had a parfait of duck, salmon, and a pear tart tatin. I had a fried goats cheese dish which was very tasty, roast lamb which was amazingly tender and a white chocolate panna cotta which I liked. Overall a lovely meal to start the trip. We chatted for a bit after dinner, then headed back to the room.

Me on our balcony with view of Hong Kong

I was pretty tired and just wanted to collapse, but I also wanted to watch the departure at 23:30. I ran into Bob on the level 11 lookout and we hung around and eventually went up to 13. They were running a bit late and we didn't actually depart til 00:05. The lights of Hong Kong had gone out, but we sailed to the east not past the city anyway. Collapsed into bed at nearly 01:00.

Preparing to depart Kai Tak Cruise Terminal

Departing Kai Tak Cruise Terminal

Tsat Tsz Mui from the Queen Mary 2

Sai Wan Shan from Queen Mary 2

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).