Hong Kong Trip 4 Day 3 (15/3/15)

When I woke up at 6am, I realized with shock that mum was already up and sitting on the sofa playing her online games. Gosh! I sat up for a while to update my blog, then went back to snooze until 8+.

Took this shot outside One Dim Sum at 10am but the queue was too long :(

We were all ready to go out by 9.20, the plan was to get to One Dim Sum before it open at 10am, queue and be the first batch of customers inside. I've tried it with ww during my previous trip and I guess my parents will love the cheap and good dim sum there. After I got out the room, I happened to test the door handle expecting the room to be locked but I was surprised that the door could be opened. We tried a few times and realised that the door is faulty, it could be unlocked all the time and we didn't realise it! The chambermaid happened to be a few rooms away and she helped us get help from the front desk while we went back into the room to wait. The technician came to repair the card scanning mechanism so that the room can be locked once we close the door. Our room cards were not able to work but they assured us that they will fix it and we do not need to stay around to wait. The folks were getting restless so we finally set off from the hotel.

Ended up at Kam Wah Cafe at Mongkok, recommended by my friend San

We took a cab from the hotel as I thought it should be easier for the folks instead of getting them to do two train transfer (there's usually cabs waiting around just outside the main lobby). It looked like a easy trip on my Google apps which mentioned that it is just 15min ride, but it took longer than that, cost us 100HKD and we reached the place exactly at 10am. There was a short queue outside and I quickly joined the queue and got a queue number, there was a couple of people behind me and they're obviously tourists as well. Unfortunately, after the crowd started filling up the restaurant with only 25 seats, it stopped with us being second in queue. With the first batch of customers for the day just seated down, the staff gave us an estimation of 40min wait time. I was kind of disappointed as mum did not want to wait, but since I've already tried the dim sum there and this trip is solely for bringing them around, I was thinking I'll just bring them back again when its off peak hours. Luckily I did some research beforehand, and I have a backup eatery near the vicinity.

Their pineapple bun is a best seller

I used Google map to bring me to this 金华冰厅just ten minutes walk away. It was crowded but we managed to get seats immediately, the place is similar to the first 茶餐厅 where we had our breakfast the previous day, but at least this is a recommendation by my friend San so I guess the food quality should be better. The 菠萝油 was indeed much less oily and crispier than the one I had the previous day, I could see that it is their specialty and almost every table ordered that. The egg tart was not too bad too. Dad stuck to the same beef noodles that worked well for him the previous day and I ordered a 榨菜肉丝 macaroni as I really liked the dish from Din Tai Fung. The beef noodles was great but not the 榨菜肉丝 as it was dried and hard and there was only a few pieces of meat. The breakfast set came with sausages, ham and a sunny side-up. Like the milk tea from most 茶餐厅, the tea was too strong and too bitter for my liking, we requested for hot water to dilute it a little and the taste improved.

I love soupy macaroni, too bad this one did not tasted good

Happy folks after the breakfast

After we left the restaurant, we found our way to Mongkok Station, took a train to Tung Chung to head to Lantau Island. This is my fourth trip to Hong Kong but it was only my first to Lantau. The Citygate factory outlets was a popular spot for shopping but it's too far for me to venture there during my previous trips, therefore it was also my first time there. The factory outlet was rather crowded, we only went into Nike and realised the prices were still quite steep, therefore we lost any interest in shopping and decided to just head to Lantau island.

My funky mum in hippie clothes

Friend recommended shopping there but nothing appealed to us

Took the bus up Lantau instead, which was a cost saving way

We happened to be at Hong Kong when the cable car to Lantau island was due for maintenance, and the service was closed for a week. We found an alternative way which was to take the bus (No. 23) up, the queue was super long as there was hoards of tourists heading to Lantau, but it was constantly moving as the buses arrived one after the other, but just needed time to load the passengers. We paid for the trip using our Octopus card so it was hassle free, there were some staff doing head count to ensure exactly 60 passengers boarded each bus so there were nobody standing on the way up. I found the trip up quite similar to taking the bus up the Victoria Peak, except that the trip took an even longer time (about 40min) and the road kept winding up and up before it came to a complete stop. It was still early when we reached, it was not even noon but there were already a lot of tourists walking around. The wind was quite strong, for the first time I felt that my thin cardigan was not enough to keep away the cold. We came across this small shop selling bean curd and other steamy food, perfect for such chilly weather. Mum was always in an adventurous spirit so we decided to stop for some food and warm ourselves up. There were some tables and chairs around the place so we could also rest our feet (although we had not walk that much) before we started our pilgrimage up the steps leading to the Big Buddha.

Ngong Ping Village which is quite touristy

These tasted good during the cold weather

These are the stuff they sell (quite taiwan feel)

The Big Buddha statue is the icon of Lantau and Hong Kong, and I've always seen it in pictures and brochures. There were many steps leading up to the statue, it was quite foggy that day so we could not really get a clear shot even when we got quite near. I'm just glad that Mum and Dad are still healthy and able to go up those flights of steps without much difficulties although I was already panting. After we reached the top, we walked around the place and I realised that it was a columbarium inside and there were tablets of the dead. Just like me, Mum had a sweet tooth even in this chilly weather so we bought an ice cream to share between us. Tourists were milling around taking photographs, the sky cleared a little so the Tian Tan Buddha statue became clearer, we took the chance to take some selfies as we walked down the steps again.

Mum posing about halfway up the steps

The folks with foggy Big Buddha

Shot of mum nearer the top

Weather cleared a little before we headed down

A wefie with Ngong Ping village behind us

Just realised that my mum loves posing and taking pictures

Various shots around Ngong Ping village

The other side of the Giant Buddha was Po Lin Monastery where many people were praying and making offerings using gigantic joss sticks. Somehow, the folks are not really religious and not interested in the temple, so we just briefly walked past the place. The other side of the path led to this touristy street with interesting shops and building structure that are perfect for taking photos. We walked around for awhile, visited the clean washrooms and then decided to head down to Tung Chung. I slept for the 30min on the way down and had a good rest, Mum spotted a bake sweet potato cart and we bought one to try since we could not find something like this on the streets at home.

Baked sweet potatoes and these were really huge!

It was well past lunch time but we were not hungry yet, we decided to try our luck at One Dim Sum as the timing was just right after we left Lantau, it will be quite off peak by the time we get back to Mongkok, (about 4pm) and I was crossing my fingers there will be no queue. We went back the way we came, took the train back to Prince Edward MTR station where we could easily walk to the shop (just a short 5min walk). There was still a short queue outside, this shows how popular the ex one Michelin star restaurant is, but we were okay with waiting for 15min. As we were queueing, there were stools outside so we could actually sit and wait (like Tim Ho Wan here), I was busy reading reviews and looking for the best stuff to order.

Back to One Dim Sum and the queue is manageable now

After awhile, we got seated and passed the ordering slip to the wait staff. Finally! We conquered One Dim Sum on our second try! The effort was well worth it as we ordered a total of 8-9 dishes and every one of them were really yummy. The last time I was here, I was not really hungry so it was difficult for the two of us to enjoy most of the stuff, we even left feeling really bloated. However this time round, we came with our stomach empty and left the place feeling fulfilled.

The paper menu which was like a place mat on every table

Loved every single dish

Lovely dim sum

The soup 老火汤 was yummy and we finished every single drop, it is a tradition for Cantonese to brew delicious soup and they have different flavours everyday, the one we tried was the old melon soup. Both the rice dishes were really good too, simple and fresh ingredients and not too oily, almost like home cooked stuff that tasted just right for us. The barbecue pork bun, the siew mai, the dumpling with salted meat... I loved everything that we had ordered, and my folks did too. I noticed the queue stopped for awhile at 5pm, but soon it was approaching dinner time and people started to queue up again.
After we finally had dim sum checked off the list, we took a walk towards Mongkok MTR to look around. We had ran out of HKD and the folks were also looking for money changers, from a quick search online there should be plenty of those at Mongkok area. The good thing about going overseas with the folks was I did not spend a single cent, sis paid for most of the expenses and the folks brought extra to spend. While they were changing their remaining RMB to HKD, I spotted this next door.

Spotted Yee Shun Milk company along Mongkok

Weiwei and I had tried their 双皮炖奶 during our previous trip and I remember the hot one tasted really good, so I suggested we go in for some desserts. Luckily, the folks were gamed for more food although we were already feeling full. We finished the two bowls of desserts 双皮炖奶 and 姜汁炖奶 (both hot version) in a short while and they agreed that it was good. Even though we enjoyed the food, I've noticed that food price in Hong Kong is not as cheap as we imagined, two bowls of these desserts in a normal shop setting cost 60 HKD and that's more than 10SGD.

Best hot desserts ever

We walked around for awhile more, Mum got some instant noodles that we can snack on as supper (her noodles are really a hit) and we decided to get back to rest early. It was only 7pm but we headed out early and I guess we were kind of tired from the amount of walking we did in the day. We took a cab to One Dim Sum earlier but it was actually quite convenient by MTR, after two stops from Mongkok, we alighted and changed to blue line at Kawloon Tong station, two more stops and we reached Sha Tin.

Our loot from H & M

Sha Tin MTR was actually linked by the overhead walkway to our hotel, we just had to keep walking for 10min or so before we'll get to our hotel lifts. We erroneously rode the escalator up and Mum spotted a H& M outlet, I was wearing my new H& M pants earlier (bought during sales at Kallang Wave mall) and she really loved the prints. Oh my funky mum! I cant imagine my mum actually liked those printed pants and have the same taste in style as me. New Town Plaza mall is quite popular for shoppers so it was quite crowded in the outlet at that time, with a long queue for the changing room, so we decided to visit again another day when its quieter.

Later that night, after we showered and rested for awhile, we realised it was only 9pm. Mum suggested we go back to H&M to take a look since it is still too early to sleep, it was a really good idea as there was really much fewer people in the shop when we got there. The printed pants (my latest fave after the rompers) were going for 99 HKD each and its considered cheap as I got mine for 19.90 SGD during sales. Mum picked out 3 pieces and I managed to get myself 2 pieces (avoiding the prints she had chosen) and we walked out as very happy ladies with 5 H& M pants for 496HKD! It also solved my wardrobe problem for the next day as I did not have enough long pants for the trips, I've forgotten that it is still kind of cold in HK and my rompers will not come into use in such weather. 

Hong Kong Trip 4 Day 2 (14/3/15)

The folks woke up quite early despite resting late, they were already up and moving about at 7am+ when mum told me to set the alarm clock at 8.30am. By the time the alarm clock went off, we were about to set off.

Having arrived at the hotel late the previous night, we did not get to take a good look at the surroundings, the neighbourhood seem much quieter compared to the places I've stayed previously (Nathan and Tsim Sha Tsui area). We asked the bellboys for direction to the MTR station and started ventured out. The weather was cool and nice enough to go out, even with just a T-shirt and long pants on. Nevertheless, most of the people have a jacket/sweater on.

First meal of the day at Kee Hing

Kee Hing breakfast

There are some eateries just across the street, we spotted one Hong Kong cafe (Kee Hing) buzzing with the early crowd and we decided to give it a try. It was full inside, but a table had three available seats, so the wait staff pointed us that way. It's a Hong Kong culture to share table, but the folks were a bit taken back by the squeezy area. They looked at the menu and ordered a beef noodles dish and a sausage macaroni soupy dish, obviously they were very happy with the food there as we decided to add on another bowl of beef noodles. The beef was fresh and really tender, it was not extraordinary but the food was considered good standard compared to what we usually have. I also tried the 菠萝油 but it was actually too oily and the butter was an overkill. We left the place after footing the $99 HKD bill, feeling happy with our stomach full.

We found our way to Sha Tin Station

Its essential to get an Octopus card in HK

We found our way to Sha Tin MTR station easily, it is located inside a big shopping mall and the place was already crowded with people although it was only 9am+. We got the Octopus card to travel around (150 HKD each) and Mum started to get quite worried as we did not have much HKD left with us since we were going to Shenzhen and she left most of the remaining HKD in the hotel room (I have no idea why she did that). Anyway, we started our adventure traveling to Shenzhen by taking the MTR towards 落马洲 (Lok Ma Chau). From there, we will cross to 福田口岸 to meet up with Aunt and Uncle.

Somehow the trains along this line give me a very 'China feel'

We alighted at  上水 as it was not a direct trip to Lok Ma Chau, we had to stop and change to another train. As we were crossing to the immigration, I noticed that it was probably a good choice as I remembered the huge crowd the previous time I crossed over to Shenzhen from Lo Wu. The transition to

Food here was really good, too bad we were too busy  to enjoy :(

Shenzhen was smooth and we arrived at 福田口岸, however, we realised that our relatives were waiting for us at another stop and we had to take the Shenzhen metro to meet them at 购物公园 station. It was another trip that needed us to alight and changed to another train. By this time, I noticed that the folks were already feeling tired from the amount of traveling and transferring we had to do. The metro system in Shenzhen was modern and easy to access, but we still felt the strain of boarding and alighting from trains, looking for the right place to go, and some walking. To cut the story short, we finally met up with Aunt and Uncle at Coco Park shopping mall.

Our main mission was to get to the bank and get our bank accounts opened, but we couldnt reject it when Aunt/Uncle brought us to this very nice restaurant to have our lunch first. Obviously, they really liked the food there and had planned things this way to give us a really warm reception. Unfortunately, sis called us after some of the dishes came and she rushed us to our mission, so we had to ditch lunch to look for the nearest ICBC.

Took a quick shot and some bites before we rush to bank

My aunt is working in a bank and had assured us that it will be a pretty smooth process. However, things turned out quite differently. At ICBC, they asked for a local phone num and a local address to open the bank account, so we had to trouble Aunt to give the bank her numbers. It is also a hassle for her as the num was provided to phone banking/ notifications and she had to come up with a few different num for us to use. According to her, different banks have quite different requirements for opening new accounts and even the technology used is different for the OTP. We were really grateful that she offered her help or we would need to abort our mission right at that moment. After signing on many different pieces of paper, mum finally had her account done and she went to one of the terminals to get her account activated. Overall, the process of just opening the accounts and getting the accounts activated online was torturous, both due to the fact that it's China being China and we were really not used to the system.

We also intended to open accounts at another bank (Huaxia Bank), according to Aunt/Uncle, they have the best rates when we need to withdraw cash in SG. However, after taking cab down to one of their branches in Shenzhen, we were informed that foreigners were not allowed to open bank account there unless we can produce proof that we are staying in China for at least three months. This is a new regulation starting from 2015. Grrr.. another red tape.

The most ridiculous thing happened next. We walked to another ICBC branch to open another bank account, and we were denied as well! Different branch under the same bank actually had different ways of handling things.. Arrgh. Aunt helped us talk to the manager and finally they allowed us to do it. Mum's account got locked just after her internet banking was activated previously, the phone banking platform is difficult to use as there's a few different layers of passwords, so we also helped her to resolve the issue at the branch. I really wondered if the complex system really helped with the security or just added to the hassle. They gave us this USB shield thing that we need to do internet banking with, however, when I whipped out my Apple Macbook air to test the device, we were informed that it only work with Windows. We ended up paying more to get another password security device, which is similar with what we're using in SG.

Lovely family photo before we parted ways

After all the hassle, we were feeling really tired and it was already 4pm+. We walked to a nearby mall that's linked to the nearest metro system. Uncle treated all of us to Starbucks coffee (I also got my new China/Shenzhen Starbucks mugs there) before we bidded farewell to them. We were really thankful that they were around when we went through the all the hassle and headaches earlier.

My parents outside Shenzhen Starbucks :)

It was around 7pm when we got back to the hotel, it had been a long day so we rested for an hour or so before heading out for dinner. Sha Tin station is great for traveling to Shenzhen (direct line) but it is quite far away from the main city area. We decided to just look for an eatery around this area as we're dead beat and we had enough of the trains for today. It was Saturday night, so most of the eateries at the nearby New Town Plaza Mall were quite crowded. We spotted Din Tai Fung just a few minutes walk from our hotel but there were 50 numbers in queue before we can be seated.

Mugs to add to the collection

The trick is to get these Starbuck cards and use the credits to buy mugs

We preferred to try some rice dishes after having noodles for the whole day, but most of the eateries are serving Jap/Italian/Western specialty or just noodles. We walked around for awhile before we came to this restaurant call Hainan Shaoye, it caught my attention as earlier, Dad was wondering if they have hainanese chicken rice here in Hong Kong. We decided to try out the place since we can get seats immediately, we were quite amused after looking at the menu as the place specialised in SG/Msia food. I had a bad feeling about it as there were bad reviews about the food when I searched, however we did not feel like venturing around anymore, so we just want to have the mediocre meal and go back to rest. Luckily, we decided to order one whole Hainanese chicken and it actually tasted quite good, tender and juicy. It was not a cheap meal but at least the folks was satisfied with something familiar and they found it worth the price.

Hainanese Chicken for dinner

Reviews were not that good but we were happy with our meal

After the meal, we were tired so we were back in the room resting before 10pm.

Hong Kong Trip 4 Day 1 (13/3/15)

After a hectic term, I flew to the land of dim sum with my parents. The folks had wanted to travel to Shenzhen in Jan, but I told the to wait till my term break so that I can bring them around. Somehow it was worrying when I thought of them making the trip on their own, and I also wanted to seize the chance to bring them around Hong Kong since they had not been there before. I was actually looking forward to this family trip, just me and my parents.

Luckily for me, there was no activities scheduled during the March hols except for Wednesday, so my trip could fit into the schedule perfectly. After a very busy last day of term in school, I rushed home to shower, get my luggage and meet the folks to get to the airport. Although the flight was at 7.50pm, they were already ready to go by 4pm, when I was still waiting for a cab to get home from school. It was still quite early when we got to the airport around 6pm, and we proceeded to check in.

We went into the departure area shortly, and went to the second level for dinner. There was this Singapore Foot Street area, which was basically like a food court selling all the local fare. The troublesome thing about getting food from this area was that we had to get a stored value card just to pay for the food, and it was a hassle as there were many tourists queueing up at the counter to get the card, and the staff just took his/her own sweet time. The card had a minimum value of 10SGD and we had to queue again just to cash out the remaining amount after buying our food, I wonder who came up with such a 'wonderful' idea in our renowned airport.

The folks (contrast with the couple behind?)

It had been quite sometime since we last took SQ flight and I thought it was worth paying a bit more for the folks to enjoy the journey. I could have gotten the tickets during SQ sweet deals at very cheap rate of just $400+ SGD, but after I checked back a few nights later, it was already 500+SGD. Nevertheless, it was still considered quite cheap and after all the aviation mishaps last year, I'm making it a point to travel on the better airlines by paying a bit more.

The folks getting comfortable on the plane

Selfie with mum, this is my favourite picture taken for the whole trip

The SQ craft was comfortable but not as new as the one I took during the trip to Taipei in the previous year, the IFE seemed more extensive and easier to select then. The earphones itself was also different, we were given cheap single use earphones instead of the headphones like the longer flight. There was also no USB port for me to plug my lightning cable for charging my phone. Nevertheless, I still loved the hot towel given to all passengers at the beginning of the flight. I also noted that they've changed the welcome snacks to mixed nuts instead of salted peanuts, I'm never a fan of peanuts that's why.

SQ low caloric meal for me

During my previous trip on SQ from SFO, I actually logged in and chose a low caloric meal during the flight. I felt satisfied with the healthier choice given so I did the same thing again. One good thing about requesting for special meal was that it always came before the normal food trolley came along to serve the rest. I had fish and mashed potatoes for dinner while the rest of the passengers made the choice between chicken noodles or pork with rice. There was also an extra serving of fruits that the normal meals did not include, and I noted that they try to give us fat free canola spread for the bread. Other than that, the ingredients for the salad was also different from the rest, usually without topping. I know its ironic, but when the stewardess came around to serve Magnum ice cream for dessert, I still took one from her. I can never resist an ice cream even when counting calories!

After the hearty dinner, I looked through the IFE to look for movies to watch, but there wasnt many to choose from. I tried watching Gone Girl as my friend W really loved the movie, however I found that the aircraft setting was too noisy and I could not get myself focussed or get past 5 min of the movie after a long and tiring day. I ended listening to Jay's album while I get some closed eyes. I actually wanted to continue watch the Korean series "He who came from the stars" but I realised I've moved them to a portable hard disk and there were not many choices left on my laptop due to limited disk space. 

The plane finally touched down at 11.30pm, it was not a long flight so we did not really get that restless, but we still welcome the feeling of being on ground again. In order to collect our luggage and clear the customs, we had to take the airport monorail, this always happen when I'm in Hong Kong, giving me the impression that the airport is really huge. When we get to the customs, the queue was really long and we took at least 30min to stand in queue before we finally cleared.

I've tried taking MTR to hotel when traveling with P in 2012 and I also took the airport express the previous time with Weiwei. However, I think it is worth the 300HKD taking a cab with the folks since its so late in the night and we have big luggages. In Hong Kong, there's three different colours for the cabs and they 'specialize' in different areas. I was checking out Sha Tin from the map and apparently, it is in the New Territories so we joined the 'green cab' queue. When it was almost our turn, we told the staff our hotel address and we directed us to the red cabs heading to the city area instead.  

The train system within the arrival/departure area of the airport (uniquely HK?)

Grrr... I still cant figure out why this is so as we had to requeue for the cab and the red cab queue was really long as most of the tourists were going to the city. It was already midnight but there were still many people waiting for a cab, the red cabs were also coming one after another but it took sometime waiting for people to board and move off. Dad was happily chatting with the cabbie in Cantonese, its the dialect being spoken within his family but he rarely have a chance to use it in SG. 

The lobby was grand and quiet

When we reached Park Royal hotel, we were quite impressed as the lobby looked grand and definitely a 5*. Mum said that that was the best hotel she had stayed so far, it was quite spacious in the room unlike other Hong Kong hotel rooms I've stayed in previously. I was surely glad that I've booked a triple room for the three of us instead of requesting for an extra bed as it is more comfortable this way. 

Somehow I only managed to take a picture of the toilet 

Even though it was already quite late, we still took our time to unpack, eat noodles that Mum brought from home (I was impressed with the way she cooked it in the water heater) before falling asleep on our comfortable beds. 

Hong Kong Trip Day 2

We woke up quite early today, and we were out by 10am. We went to the nearby Tsui Wah 翠华restaurant recommended by many on the Internet. The was a short queue and the eatery was filled with people, but we were got our seats immediately as there were only two of us. The fried buns with condensed milk is the hot favourite there, and the fish cakes and fishballs with noodles was really yummy too. I could taste the freshness of the fishballs, unlike the ones I always tried in SG. I will say this is one of the 'must-try' restaurants, especially if you like eating at traditional HK cafes, there are countless of their outlets in Hong Kong so there should be no problem finding one.

The plan for today is the visit Macau, so we made our way to the HK China ferry terminal near our guesthouse. Along the way, we saw the traditional ice cream mobile.

Although I wasn't hungry, the softee was said to be thick and creamy, so we stopped to try, it cost 9HKD each.

We reached the ferry terminal around 12.45pm and went to the counter to look for tickets to go to Macau. The ticket sold at the counter was for the ferry ride at 2pm, which was quite a long wait. We decided to buy ferry tickets from the peddlers at the side instead, since they were holding on to the 1.30pm tickets, and it cost us $350 HKD. When we buy the tickets, we did not take note of the ferry terminal we will arrived at, and only found out that Cotai jet will take us to Macau Taipa ferry terminal. It's different from the previous terminal I went to, but it was still okay since the major hotel shuttle buses will still be there to pick up passengers. 

We looked for the Grand Lisboa/Lisboa hotel shuttle bus from the ferry terminal, since it will bring us relatively close to the St Paul Church, the landmark of Macau. We did not have wifi at Macau to help us navigate the streets, but after alighting from the shuttle bus, we decided to follow the simplest rule to bring us to the most popular tourist site>> follow the direction where most people are heading. On a hot Sunday afternoon, there were a lot of tourists at Macau, most of them from the mainland. As we walked along, we spotted the famous Margaret Cafe e Nata with lots of people eating their egg tarts outside the small shop. 

The Portuguese egg tarts were really good.. Smooth, hot and creamy. Completely up to our expectations! The cold yuan yang (coffee+tea) was quite bitter, so we didn't finish it. 

The narrow streets leading to St Paul thereafter was super crowded on a Sunday afternoon, it actually made me dizzy. 

Most people were there to buy the 姖记手信 but we weren't interested in those foodstuff. Instead, we escaped to a small cafe to avoid the heat and crowd. I didn't see any Loccitane cafes before, and I'm really glad to find one in Macau as there wasn't many cafes on that crowded street (mostly small shops with no aircon). 

The foodstuff and drinks were quite not outstanding, but it was a bliss to escape from the heat and the crowd. The first floor of the cafe was the normal shopfront selling all the skincare products, and the 2nd and 3rd floor was a cafe. It was also the first Loccitane Cafe I had came across, probably we cant find one in Singapore. 

After we finished the drinks and got refreshed, we went to the nearer Metropole Hotel to wait for a shuttle bus back to the ferry terminal. I would say its really a good way to attract tourists to the major hotels and of course casinos to earn revenue for the small island. Macau has the highest amount of earnings from casinos, even more than Las Vegas! Although Metropole is a much small hotel and the shuttle bus service is shared with some other hotels, the staff were really nice and directed us to sit down near the reception to wait for the bus. They even helped us to flag the bus and bidded us goodbye politely although we were not guests of the hotel. I also observed that most of those people who alighted did not go into the hotel, I guess they were just heading down to the nearby Senado Square.