Day 2 - Wednesday 15 March - Coloane and Taipa

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).