Macau+Hong Kong 澳门+香港 Friends Trip 8D7N Backpacking

Macau, just like Malacca is a tourist attraction because of Portuguese buildings. Macau, which is a small place, is famous for its casinos and the Venetian. Hong Kong, a crowded place to me, is well known for shopping, Disneyland, temples and experiencing really fast-paced life-even the escalators move at high speed.

I traveled with Suvin and Shi Ying, my A-Level friends and decided to travel to Macau and Hong Kong to the utmost for 8 days. :)

Before trip:

1. Choose and book hotel. Again, the hardest choice to make.

We booked Holiday Hotel, Macau 假期酒店 through Agoda for around RM250 per room per night. A room has 2 single beds. We booked Yesinn@Fortress Hill 悦思客栈@炮台山, Hong Kong Island through hostelworld.com for around RM86 per person per night. For Agoda, you have to pay in full and for hostelworld, you have to pay 12% deposit.

2. Have all your names of attractions or hotels be translated to Chinese before asking the local people for directions.

27 Jan

In Macau Airport , get these travel maps from the tourist information centre.

Orange route

 Purple route 

Blue route

Green route

These routes are downloaded from ttp://en.macautourism.gov.mo/plan/our_suggested_tours.php

Buy Macau Pass with 130 MOP (30 non-refundable card fees+100 card value but the remaining unused money is not refundable) at K Convenience Store at Level 2.  It’s not very worth it but can ease bus fare payment. It’s not possible to finish 100 MOP in 2 days but you can use the remaining amount to buy food at convenience stores. Bus fare in Macau using Macau Pass is actually cheaper than the original fare.

Then, use bus no. 26 (筷子籍) to Kiangwu Hospital 镜湖医院.

If you stand facing the hospital, walk towards your left and take the first right turn. Then, you will see a roundabout. Spot 7 Eleven and Holiday Hotel is on the same row as 7-11.

Using bus in Macau is easy as there are bus routes at every bus stop, usually on a rotatable standing pole.

Blue route and Purple route can be connected. So, a full day for these 2 is advisable.

Blue Route

After lunch at Honolulu near the hotel, we went to Fisherman’s Wharf Theme Park 渔人码头. To go there, walk to Tap Seac Multisport Complex 塔石运动场bus stop (On the way here, visit the St Lazarus Church) and take bus 8 or 12. There are casino, Roman Colosseum, shops etc.

Next, walk to the Macau Science Center.

And walk to the Kun Iam Ecumenical Centre.

Then find a bus to the Macau Tower. If you are brave enough, try the Highest Bungy Jump in the World!

Take a bus to A-Ma temple.

Beside A-Ma temple, there is Macau Maritime Museum which is closed on Tuesdays.

Purple route (All by walking)

We messed up the itinerary on our travel because we can’t find Mandarin House and it’s quite late in the evening already. So, we walked along the pink route twice on 2 separate days. But, I will just continue this blog with the best plan.

From A-Ma temple, walk to the Mandarin’s House. It’s closed on Wednesdays. Opening time is from 10am to 6pm. It’s hidden somewhere along a road which we think it’s impossible to be there. Lol.. Actually, it’s just opposite the Lilau square. So when we managed to find it the next day, it was closed!

Mandarin's house is that white building beside the green building. 

Next, visit the St. Lawrence’s Church.

After that, visit the Dom Pedro V Theatre.

St. Augustine Church

St. Joseph Seminary and Church

Sir Robert Ho Tung Library

Senado Square

Leal Senado Building which is opposite the Senado Square

In Macau, must try 猪扒包 and 辣鱼包. We ate both of these at 西湾安记 near Senado Square.

Also visit St.Dominic Church which we missed to visit.

Then, walk to Grand Lisboa, another outstanding casino.

We had 猪柳包 (pork burger), which is not found in Malaysia, for our dinner at Mc Donald near our hotel.

28 Jan

We visited the Venetian Macau, which is on another island of Macau named Taipa. Its’ a really nice place to take photos. Here, you can see around 30 tour bus and a sea of people flocking inside the main entrance. There is also a large casino inside.

From the Venetian, you can walk to Galaxy Macau and take some pictures. We only visited from the outside. Looking through pictures in Google, inside of Galaxy Macau is actually fun!

After that, walk to 官也街. There are a lot of eateries here.

Then, we took a bus to Black Sand Beach. It’s freezing cold there!

Take a bus back to the hotel and enjoy the night view of Taipa with lots of luxury hotels like Sheraton, Holiday Inn etc.

29 Jan-Kowloon

From the hotel, we walked to the landmark of Macau-Ruins of St.Paul.

We bought Portuguese egg tarts for breakfast at Koi Kei Bakery around Ruins of St.Paul.

Around Ruins of St.Paul, there are Macau Museum and Monte Fort.

Monte Fort

If you have more time allowance in Macau, also visit the Guia Cable Car-the shortest cable car in the world and Guia Fortress.

After checking out from hotel, we went to Terminal Maritomo 外港码头 for our trip to Hong Kong by turbojet which costs 153 MOP and took 1 hour.

Buy an octopus card from the MTR station Sheung Wan which is just a few floors below the arrival hall of the Macau-Hong Kong ferry terminal. You can buy Octopus Card from all MTR stations actually including the airport. It costs 150 HKD (50 refundable deposit+100 card value). Each top-up is minimum 50. If returned within 3 months from date of issue, 9HKD will be charged and the remaining balance in the card will be returned to you.

 Hong Kong MTR- everyone is rushing on a railway transit.

The directions of the train, stops, direction of exit are really excellent

The attractions in Hong Kong with the MTR stations nearby

Yesinn @ Fortress Hill is hard to find. From MTR Fortress Hill Exit B, turn right and walk till you see a 7 Eleven. Yesinn check in counter is located on 15^th floor of Tower A of Continental Mansion which is just right after the 7 Eleven and our room is on 10^th floor of Tower B where you need to get to the Ground Floor and use another escalator at the back.

After checking in the hotel, we went to Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade (MTR Tsim Sha Tsui Exit J). There are Museum of Art and Cultural Centre here if you are interested.

Visit the Avenue of Stars and the Clock Tower along the promenade.

At 8pm, watch the Symphony of Lights. The best view is from a viewpoint with seats around the Clock Tower.

Then, we went to Temple Street Night Market (MTR Yau Ma Tei Exit C/Jordan Exit A). Note: It’s actually very easy to navigate around Hong Kong because in each MTR Station, a map is provided telling you which exit to go to the attractions and outside the station, direction board is provided.

Extra: If you start your trip from the morning, visit Nan Lian Garden, Chi Lin Nunnery, Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple, Sham Shui Po-(see 2 Feb) and Ladies Market(see 30 Jan) before Temple Street Night Market.

30 Jan-Lantau Island

From MTR Tung Chung, take a cable car (one way 115 HKD, return trip 160 HKD) to Ngong Ping Piazza. Big Buddha, Po Lin Monastery, Wisdom Path are all located around here.

The Tau Foo Fa here is nice!

Pao Lin Monastery-Impressive!

Wisdom Path- amazing view! To get there, you need to walk quite a distance from the Big Buddha.

After that, we took a bus trip from a bus station here to Tai O. Tai O is a fishing village where you can buy seafood and visit some places of interest like temple, historic and cultural showroom and go for a walk along the river besides visiting the villages.

 We tried Hong Kong famous 鸡仔饼 for the first time here.

A lot of ancient tools and furnitures here.

Then, we took a bus back to MTR Tung Chung Station. Alternatively, if you bought return trip for the cable car, you can take a bus to Ngong Ping.

At night, we went to Ladies Market (MTR Mong Kok Exit E2).

31 Jan-Hong Kong Island

We visited the longest escalator system in the world- Central-Mid Levels Escalator(MTR Central). Central refers to Hong Kong Central whereas Mid-Levels refer to different roads uphill where people living uphill can use the escalator to Central to work. The direction of escalator is uphill after 10.30am.

Around mid-levels, there are a lot of attractions.

1) Lan Kwai Fong- A lot of bars here. Nothing much to see in the morning.

2)Museum of Medical Sciences

3)Dr. Sun Yat Sen Museum

4)Hong Kong Zoological & Botanical Garden

Borneo Orang Utan

From the Botanical Garden, refer to the map around the park and follow the direction board to go to the Peak Tram. It costs 40 HKD for a return trip. Price is higher if you add on Madame Tussauds wax museum or SkyTerrace428 where you get to view Hong Kong from atop.

 The 4th generation of Peak Tram

 Current peak tram

Outside MadamTussauds

From the Free Observation Deck, overlooking the Sky Terrace 428

There is a shopping complex, The Peak Galleria up here and a free observation deck on the same level as the Trick Eye Museum.

After taking the return trip on the Peak Tram, we visited the St.Joseph Cathedral around the main entrance of the Peak Tram. 

Then, we found another tram. It’s a tramway which connects the Hong Kong Island from Kennedy Town, Central, Causeway Bay, Fortress Hill etc. and each ride costs only 2.30 HKD. It’s much cheaper than MTR. Since then, we use this tramway as our major transport.

How to know whether you have reached the station you desired to get off?

At each tramway stop, there is a relatively small signboard on the roof of the stop.

We went to Causeway Bay(Tramway Causeway Bay)- the shopping district of Hong Kong. Here, you can really see a sea of people packed like sardines. UNIQLO, G2000, Sasa, Forever 21 etc. are located here.

1 Feb-Lamma Island

To get to Lamma Island 南Y 岛 Yung Shue Wan, take ferry(use octopus card to pay) from Central Piers (Tramway Central 中环). At Lamma Island, you can try seafood and go for island trekking, strolling along the beach. Walk till you reach Sok Kwu Wan. 

They really have efficient signboards at all intersections so you don't have to worry about getting lost.

On the way, we spotted this famous Tau Foo Fa. 10HKD

From the first pier you saw, take a ferry ride to Aberdeen 香港仔. There is Aberdeen Promenade here. If you are interested in the Jumbo Restaurant, you can go there too.

Aberdeen-the traditional Chinese style

From Aberdeen, take a bus to Stanley Market. There is a shopping complex and another promenade here. You can just relax around here. You can see many locals and expats bring their dogs here for a walk.

After that, we went to Causeway Bay again. Haha..

2 Feb- Hong Kong University, Kowloon

We visited Hong Kong University (MTR HKU).

Then, we walked to HKU dental school and attended a 1 hour lecture on anatomy of temporomandibular joint. LOL.. We just want to experience HKU student life.

Next, we went to Nan Lian Garden(MTR Diamond Hill).

Gorgeous views in Nan Lian Garden

The number of lines indicates the number of times of earthquake.

Beside Nan Lian garden, there is Chi Lin Nunnery 

We went to Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple (MTR Wong Tai Sin) too.

The 12 Chinese Zordiacs

 A lot of prayers here.

In the temple, there is actually a beautiful garden but was closed already when we found it.

Opening hours 9am to 5pm

A picture taken from the holes of the main gate

After that, we went to visit Sam Shui Po where fashion street is located. There are a lot of shops selling inexpensive clothes here.

We walked till we reach Prince Edward 太子station and decided to experience the locals’ life, so we just wandered around here.

Then we went to Admiralty 金钟 station. There are 2 shopping malls here.

After that, we use tramway to go back to the hotel.

3 Feb- Bye Bye Hong Kong

After breakfast and check out, we took bus A11 from a bus stop, which is located just a short distance from the hotel, to the airport. It costs 40 HKD only. Budget airlines like AirAsia is located in Terminal 2 of the airport. Terminal 1 is for the higher class airlines. Don’t forget to return your octopus card at MTR Airport before departure.

Psst: Oh wait! How about Disneyland or Ocean Park?
We didn't visit these theme parks. Do include them in your itinerary if you are interested. 

Hope you enjoy your travel in Hong Kong with this guide!