Macau by way of Hong Kong

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Geo: 22.2027, 113.541

We have two full days to spend in Hong Kong--a rare overnight in port. Few ships plan to stay in any port overnight. There were a lot of shore excursions offered the first day; I suppose because we were there all day and night. We chose to go to Macau the first day and see Hong Kong on the second day when just Hong Kong trips were available.

The day started early when we arrived to our berth at Ocean Terminal on Kowloon in Victoria Harbour before 6 a.m. We watched the sun rise over the city from our balcony. Breakfast was delivered to the room. We have settled on the same breakfast menu on port days: coffee, tea, orange juice, cut melon, croissants and rolls, and two bottles of water to take with us off the ship. Good and reliable.

We met in the Princess Theater, as usual, to join the group going to Macau. This was a smaller group than for other trips we've made. It started with a bus ride to the ferry port to take the one-hour ride on the turbojet to Macau. Our guide passed out the ferry tickets and advised us to be sure to enter with the person we wanted to sit with as they gave seat assignments on the spot. Phil and I found our way to our seats which were a window and aisle seat together. Seemed good at first, but the view from the window was difficult. This is mainly meant to be transportation, not a tourist attraction.

Arriving in Macau, we had to show passports at immigration before boarding a bus to go to the ruins of St. Paul Cathedral. The area was absolutely overrun with tourists. It was difficult to find a spot to take a proper photo or even get a good look. The museum, which was our next stop on the tour was just across the street, so we walked over there and found a shady spot to sit down. It was fun to people-watch while we waited about fifteen minutes for all the group to arrive. Others from our bus had the same idea. This stop was scheduled too long, and it was too hot to stay out in the sun. The museum showcased some nice pieces of memorabilia of the history and customs of the area. Macau was a Portuguese colony from the 16th century until 1999 when it was returned to China and is now a special administrative (and somewhat autonomous) region of China.

Nest stop was the A Ma Temple. A Taoist temple, it was built in the 15th century as a shrine to the goddess A Ma, the goddess of seafarers and fishermen. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

After touring in the heat all day, we headed to the Macau Sky Tower for lunch. The restaurant is almost at the top of the tower and rotates slowly so we had everchanging views of the area. They offer bungee jumping off the tower and sky walks around it. We watched one family on their sky walk. With harnesses and cables to attach them to the tower, they looked like they were having fun. Phil saw one of the bungee jumpers go by, but I missed it. They had a special, unusual harness that allowed them to fall but controlled side-to-side motion so they wouldn't hit the building going down.

After lunch we returned to the ferry terminal for our turbojet ride back to Kowloon. It was after four by the time we got back. It took quite a while for all the ferry passengers to disembark and go though customs and immigration again. We ended up being one of the first off and through the lines and had to wait for everyone else to get out. The terminal is attached to a shopping mall and a few people wandered off to shop while waiting. That added to the challenge for the tour guide to assemble the group so we could get back on the bus for the ride back to the ship.

When we arrived back at Ocean Terminal we decided to do a little shopping and have dinner off the ship. Hong Kong is known as a shopping Mecca, and there was another mall attached to the cruise ship terminal. We spent a little bit of time looking around, but didn't find anything to buy. There are no bargains. Most everything we saw would have been cheaper at home. We did find a restaurant for dinner; the tour guide recommended some that she liked in the mall and that she thought would give us an authentic experience.

We found the House of Jasmine and went in for dinner. They brought us a menu with some English, so we had a fighting chance at knowing what we were ordering. We decided on a set menu with six courses--some familiar, some not, and ordered by pointing at the menu. We had bird's nest soup, chicken with sweet potatoes and beans, sweet gelatin dish, rice, salad with unrecognizable greens, ....... and I think another dish that I can't remember right now. Interesting--some good, some just different. It was hard to tell who our waiter was. The food was delivered and the drinks were refilled by a variety of people. When it came time to pay the bill, one man who could speak English showed up.

By the time dinner was over and we found our way back through the mall to the ship, it was after dark. We missed the outdoor light show on the high-rise buildings along the harbor.

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Photos

Hong Kong
View from our balcony early morning.

Hong Kong
View from our balcony. The sun is getting higher.

View from Our Balcony
Ferry port.

Hong Kong
On the road to the turbojet dock.

Hong Kong
I guess it's a problem.

Hong Kong
Reading while waiting to board the turbojet.

Macau
St. Paul's Cathedral was built in the 17th century by Jesuit missionaries. Just the facade still stands. Fire during a typhoon destroyed the rest in 1835.