Exploring Macao On The First Day

I'm in Macao these couple of days. Going to be here for a couple of days then off to Hong Kong to see some old friends and then back to Malaysia again.

It's the year end and I was looking for somewhere to go to clear my mind a little bit, somewhere that is near enough for a short trip but far enough for me to feel away from home for a while so I ended up with Macao & Hong Kong again, eventhough I was just here last year.Macao has changed quite a lot since last year, new hotels like the MGM Grand which was still under construction when I came last year has finally opened and a lot of new hotels under construction have sprung up.

As with the last time I'm staying in the Venetian Macao again. I considered for a while staying in a different hotel but I guess I like sticking to familiar ground. Besides I love the rooms at the Venetian.My traveling buddy this time round is the unfortunate Audrey.

Unfortunate because she's a girl where everything that could possibly go wrong... actually does. Spend a day with her and you'll see her trip over something at least twice, get her heels stuck somewhere once and if you're lucky, see her electrocute herself now and then.

On our first day, we first took some time to explore the huge Venetian. There's the huge shopping area with a canal in the middle and the fake skies that are really nice. Nothing much I could buy though because most of the brands there were pretty high end and way off my income bracket.

Heck even McDs here is expensive. I stopped by McDs in Venetian and got myself a McFlurry only to find that it costs two or three times what it costs back home.

It was worth it though... mmmm.. I love McFlurry.

After my quick ice-cream we headed out looking for touristy things to do. For touristy things in Macao, if it's not the casinos then it's St Paul's Ruins. When I got into the cab the taxi driver asked if I wanted him to drop me off really near the St Paul's Ruins itself or drop me off nearby so I could take a walk.

I decided that it would be more fun to take a bit of walk and explore it a little so I asked him to drop us off a little further away so we could walk. Besides, I had just been there last year so it shouldn't be too hard for me to find some familiar roads.

We walked up the road that the taxi driver told us to walk up only to find ourselves in very unfamiliar territory but I thought hey... that just adds to the fun right? More exploring to do.

The road we took suddenly began to lead uphill and before I knew it, Audrey had started getting grumpy (the pain from walking in her boots had began to set in). Finally with a big of anger in her voice she said
"WILL YOU JUST ASK SOMEONE FOR DIRECTIONS?!"

And I said
"NO!!! I'd sooner get lost!!!"

Timothy does not ask for directions!!!

Then she grumpily replied
"FINE! Let me walk with my bloody stumps."

And in the next few minutes up the hill, we got even more lost and ended up in this really quiet spot which almost seemed like it a perfect spot to be in if we were looking to get mugged. I looked at Audrey and spoke softly
"You know this is like the perfect place for us to get mugged and lose our money and passports".

And to this the little girl with the bloody feet replied
"FUCK THIS SHIT!!!"

We kept going and it wasn't long before she hugged the closest railing and said
"Save yourself Ah Bah (Ah Bah is a nickname she gave me, long story why but will explain next time)!"

"Go and leave me!!!"

By the time we reached the top of the hill she collapsed and looked at her feet.
They weren't bleeding but I could almost see them throbbing so I guess the game was over, it was time for me to pull out my map and start seriously looking for where we were.

I got our bearings right and headed towards the right direction but on the way we bumped into the Macao Museum.

So we took some pictures around the beautiful garden of the museum.

Some serious ones...

and some stupid ones too.

Now before I go on, I have to be honest about something. I'm not fond of museums. I don't know why, but I just don't enjoy them. I mean I like history, but only history as far back as the 1900s. If you show me an exhibit of some ceramic stuff from 1,000 years ago or something, I'm just going to look at it as ceramic stuff.
So knowing that we hit a museum on the way to St Paul's Ruins, I quickly tried to usher Audrey away in case she wanted to check it out but to no avail.

She saw the words "MUSEUM" and went "Oooh ooh! Let's go!!!" (Suddenly the pain from her feet seemed to miraculously have disappeared)I spent 10 minutes outside the entrance trying to plead with her NOT to go in there, but in 15 minutes I was inside looking bored like this.


I was so bored waiting for her to scout the entire thing a hundred times over till I made myself a friend.

I named her Ah Mei.

Almost an hour later, I crawled out of the museum.... alive. Half-dead inside from the boredom but alive nevertheless. I took a quick look at my map to make sure we wouldn't run into anymore museums on the way and in just a few minutes later we made it to St Paul's Ruins!What happened in the later part of the day was a disaster.... a disaster that cost me a lot of money and made me really angry! But I shall blog about that another time.

I need to go to bed now, have to head to Hong Kong tomorrow.

Have a great weekend everyone!