t.
Conrad Tokyo
Exploring Hong Kong and Macau
I left the airport onboard the Airport Express train
at about 5PM and arrived into the city about 30 minutes later. There was still day light out when I left and
by the time I arrived into the city, night time and darkness had completely
settle in. A short time in the city with
the lights and good weather gave me a good impression of the city.
After a short detour at a bakery, I managed to make it to the Hard Rock Café at about 6:15PM. I bought my obligatory city shirt with my 10% discount from my membership and was told that there is another shop at Victoria Peak.
I guess I will hit that one on my next visit to Hong Kong during the day to take in the beauty of this city. I headed south to the ferry terminal and made my way to the ferry terminal.
After a short detour at a bakery, I managed to make it to the Hard Rock Café at about 6:15PM. I bought my obligatory city shirt with my 10% discount from my membership and was told that there is another shop at Victoria Peak.
I guess I will hit that one on my next visit to Hong Kong during the day to take in the beauty of this city. I headed south to the ferry terminal and made my way to the ferry terminal.
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| Hong Kong Island |
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| Kowloon |
I bought a ferry ticket for the 7:45PM turbo jet to
Macau and somehow lost my ticket very quickly.
That is what I get when I carry too much in my hands… another lesson
learned for me. I walked back to the
ticket counter and bought another ticket… with great embarrassment of
course. It was about 7:30PM at this time
and I was afraid that I might miss this boat but after clearing Hong Kong
immigration, I was on my way on the boat.
Upon check in, a sticker (26N) was place on my boarding ticket… which
indicated my seat number (very scientific/systematic).
I got a middle seat and swapped it for an empty seat (27L) as soon as the door closed and we took off on the 1 hour ride to Macau. The only bad thing was that the last boat to the Airport is at 8:15PM and I arrive into Macau at 8:45PM. That means I will have to take the ferry back to into Hong Kong and take the Airport Express train back to the airport. I bought a day pass for the Airport Express (and there would be no way for me to make it back to the airport directly) so I guess it was meant to be this way.
I am glad I get to cross off another place and
gather a few more stamps into my passport.
Macau has both a Hard Rock Casino and a Hard Rock Hotel so that will be
2 more T-Shirts for my collection. My visit
on Macau will not be too long and I intend to get my shirts and then head back
to Hong Kong to head back to the airport.
Glad I had a short mission/task during my long 12 hour layover in Hong
Kong. I will definitely have to come
back to explore the city a little bit more thorough in the near future. The only bad thing was that I did not have
time to enjoy any of the lounges at Hong Kong before boarding my flight to
Seoul since I did not realize how much time it would take to take a ferry to
Macau and then going to the Hard Rock and coming back took time as well.
I got through Macau immigration and left the
terminal at about 9PM. US citizens can
stay in Macau for 30 days without needing a visa. One of the attendants on the ferry told me to
take the shuttle to The City of Dreams for the Hard Rock and it would take
about 30 minutes. The other option as to
take a taxi and it would be about $50HKD.
I went directly to the taxi queue and told the drive my desired
destination. After about 10 minutes and
crossing a bridge, we made it to the Hard Rock and it costs about $55HKD ($8 USD).
I went to the hotel Rock Shop first and they
only had small and extra-large city shirts… so I went with the small size. Then I was told to go upstairs to visit the
Casino Rock Shop for the other shirt.
After I had already bought both shirts, I was presented a voucher for
$50MOP off a $250 purchase. I gave the
voucher to some shoppers so that it would not go to waste. There was no way I was (justifying) buying
more shirts or souvenirs just to save $20MOP ($3 USD). I already got my 10% off with my All Access
Card.
I then proceeded downstairs to the bus lanes and
took the free shuttle back to the ferry station. It took about 15 minutes to get there and I
made my way upstairs to the 2nd floor to buy my return ticket at
9:40PM. The earliest economy ticket back
to Hong Kong was 12:20AM arriving at 1:20AM which would mean I miss my
flight. There was a 10:20PM option for
Super Class but it was about $400HKD ($60USD) which I almost bought in
desperation. I inquired to see if I
could take the ferry to Kowloon instead and there were still tickets available
for the 10PM ferry. I get back earlier,
skip the Hong Kong Station and head directly into Kowloon which is closer to
the Airport and also save some money/time.
It was a winning decision (the only one of the evening).
The only bad thing about this ferry was that I sat next to 2 annoying Singaporeans twenty year olds. The guy kept snacking his lips and the girl kept winning about how seasick she was and how the ride took forever. This was after she had snacked on Ribena currant juice and a can of Pringles chips. By the time we landed and I went through immigrations, I had to ask on the best way to get to the MTR (metro) station.
I took the 215X bus to the nest station and paid $7HKD ($1USD) for the fare and it took about 5 minutes to get there. I got to the station at about 11:30PM and was able to take the next Airport Express train back to HKIA without having to wait. I arrived at about a little past midnight and there were a few people ahead of me trying to check in for my flight. They were informed that check in had closed (especially since they needed to check luggage).
Since I already had my boarding passes, I headed to immigration and security check, which at this time of the day was almost a ghost town. We were departing from gate 22 and I tried to access the Singapore Airlines Lounge, but they closed. Thai Airways lounge was by gate 40 and United Club was near gate 60 and I decided both were too far since I flight was boarding within 10 minutes of me arriving at the gate area.
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