Macau & Zhuhai (Part 1)

11-16 Feb 2009

Day 1: 11/2/09 (KL-Macau-Zhuhai)

Upon arrival at Macau International Airport, the very first thing we did was to secure our accommodation in Macau after we return from Zhuhai in another 3 days time, which falls on Valentine's day. We booked our Macau hotel rooms at the local travel agency which we found the rates were cheaper than published online. Surprisingly, different agencies offered slightly different rates even for the same hotel. We just checked out 2 agencies and paid for our rooms at Hotel Metropole(京都）. Because time is precious to us and my dad was waiting very impatient.

There are 2 immigrations here, the Gongbei Port（拱北口岸）, which is connected to Macau island and another one is connected to Cotai via Lianhua Bridge (Lotus Bridge 莲花大桥）, namely the Hengqin Port (横琴口岸）. We then took a taxi, about 20 mins drive, to Macau-Zhuhai border, the locals call 'the barrier gate', at northern part of Macau Island. I can't remember how much it costs exactly, but I guess around MOP80. When we reached, we were extremely careful with our bags and luggage as we have heard a lot of stories about pick pockets.

Passing through the immigration was not as complicated as we were told, I think the whole process took us less than half an hour. May be it's on a weekday, so the place was not too crowded. And here we are outside of the Gongbei Port（拱北口岸）..

We went to basement taxi stand to get a taxi to our hotel, but the taxi drivers refused to take us, they said it's too near. So we ended up pulling our luggage and walked to the hotel. We walk along Lian Hua Walking St.（莲花路步行街） and finally we checked in to Hua Yu Spring Hotel（华羽春天酒店）(RMB198/228 per night), which I booked online earlier. On the way, I asked few people, including security guard and police for directionsto the hotel, but none of them have even heard of the hotel name... OH! GOSH!! Knowing that the hotel is just located at Lian Hua St, we continued walking.

My friend recommended us Hua Yu Min Fu Hotel(华羽民富酒店), but we ended up booking Spring Hotel which is also under the same company because of the price and location nearer to town. The room is a bit small, but clean. We have no complain for the price we were paying.

After a short rest, we were out to explore Lian Hua Walking St.（莲花路步行街） for food and shopping. The travel information for tourists were not too friendly. But at least I managed to buy a Zhuhai map at RMB7. Everything here is in Chinese. I only manged to get some FOC Zhuhai travel guide brochures on the last night when i went into Friendship Hotel（友谊酒店） to enquire for room rates, which I can only keep for future use. For the next visit, I'll book accommodation at Friendship Hotel, which I think the price is reasonable and it's just opposite to Gongbei Port.

We then went to local travel agencies, as the next day in our itinerary was to join a 1-day local trip to either Guangzhou or some town which was not too far away. But to our disappointment, 1 of the agencies only organise these trips on weekends. And another agency can arrange a tour guide to pick us up at our destination place but we have to take the buses at 5.30am from Zhuhai, because the travel duration to Guangzhou is around 2-21/2hrs. In the end, we decided not to join at all. This had caused me headaches because I gotta plan for tomorrow's itinerary. And all of a sudden, we all having the same feelings that spending 4 days 3 nights would be too long. There are not many interesting places in Zhuhai to visit as this is not a tourist place, it's a commercial port. Ok... since I do not have enough time to plan, I'll push forward my 3rd day plan- visiting around Zhuhai, to tomorrow.

We continued our shopping along Lian Hua Walking St.（莲花路步行街） They are famous for fakes goods... LV's bags were everywhere on the streets, in the shops and almost half of the locals carried one. But you can surely tell the quality is poor. We then went to Huan Jin Chen shopping center （莲花万景成） (located along the same street), which is best known for fake goods at budget prices. There are many small shops selling similar goods. We shopped for a while, the quality here are better comparing those on the streets but the price is not as "budget" as we thought. So, we just ended up window shopping..

Strolling along Lian Hua Walking St.（莲花路步行街） looking for food...

There are few of these 2 Yuan Shop （全场２元）outlets in the area... We were surprised for what we can get with just 2 Yuan...

We had some local snacks and drinks and we tried the KFC, we didn't try the fried chicken, but something more interesting.. Fried crab clams and sweet potato tarts.

The fruits stalls looked colourful and "attractive". Just can't help to buy some. However, the fruits were not that cheap tho', so we just bought some to try.

At night, this street transformed into a very happening place. We did not see the stalls in the morning anymore, along the streets were small stalls of pubs & bars that serve liquor. It's opened air, but quite comfortable as the weathern was slightly below 20 degree. We could hear the girls (waitresses) shouting here and there attracting your attention to visit them for business.

Lian Hua Walking St （莲花路步行街）at night...

Day 2: 12/2/09 (Zhuhai)
Every time I travelled to different countries, McDonald is a must try for me, after trying KFC yesterday. So we went to have our pork burger which could not be found in Malaysia's Mc D. On our way to Yingbin Road to catch a public bus,we bought some local light breakfast, eg yao char guai, pork bao...

Local public transports were very convenient and organised, even for tourists. The fare for all the buses are RMB1.50 for non air-con bus and RMB2 for air-con bus per trip. Our first destination of the day was Fisher's Girl Statue（珠海鱼女）, located along Lover's Rd. C （情侣中路）. The statue symbolises the transformation of Zhuhai from fishing port village into today's commercial port.

Next, we walked across the road to Seaside Park (Haibin Park 海滨公园）. Nothing much that we found interesting here, just another park with beautiful flowers.

After the park, me & hubby decided to visit the Jiu Zhou Cheng Zhuhai Museum(九州城珠海市博物馆）. Mum & dad think it'd be too boring for them, so they went for shopping at Zhuhai Shopping Centre （珠海百货市场）& Trade Centre（国贸海天成）, which were located next to each other. Admission is free for the museum and there are a lot of historical stories and photos about transformation of Zhuhai into a successful commercial port.

We then met up with my parents and off for lunch. Among few dishes that we ordered, I like this, fish cooked in spicy sauce（水煮鱼）. It looked oily but it's tasty. My only complain - too many bones!! However, my hubby disliked it.

Next in our itinerary was to visit Shin Jin Shan Park（景山公园）. We went up the hill by cable car. The experience to ride the cable car was quite scary... it's slow and I was in doubt about the safety of machinery made in China. Haha!! 90% of the cars were empty.

On top of the hill, we can see beautiful scenery, we can see the Xianglu Wan （香炉湾）(the sea with Fisher Girl) and the northern part of Zhuhai called Xiangzhou（香洲）.

The wishing stone（许愿石） hanging with pad locks...

2 ways to get down the hill, "fast" &" slow". "Slow" refers to the cable car, which we used to go up the hill. "Fast" is another type of car going down like free fall speed via this track. But of course we chose the "slow" way.

We returned by public bus and stopped at Wan Jia Plaza (万家百货) along the main road- Yingbin Rd. S.(迎宾南路）. We continue to shop til we dropped!! Hehe!!

Dinner at Xin Hai Li Seafood Restaurant & Hotel（新海利海鲜城/大酒店）. Took a taxi, about 10 mins away from our hotel. We picked the fresh seafood and dishes at ground floor then we went to 1st floor for our table and meal. The service was good and the food were yummy in general!! The papaya juice was nice too!

We ordered scallop (steamed with minced garlic), Fried oyster with egg.

Sea Cucumber stuffed with pork & prawn paste and steamed fish (should be 老虎斑 Tiger Garoupa).

We just can't waste a single minute not doing anything. My mum bought a lot of dried sea products, eg dried scallop, sea cucumber & etc, which she said cheaper comparing to KL. We even shopped at supermarket til it closed at 10pm. I saw something which I felt "eerie" in the supermarket. It is very common for Chinese to eat waxed duck during Chinese New Year. I can't believe I found waxed rabbit being sold in here.

The hair wash at saloon is also very cheap. I really wanted to get my hair washed at on of the saloon... but time did not allow me to do so. We maximised all our time shopping and looking for food and returned to hotel very late at night.

The massage service in Zhuhai is also cheap. After a tiring day, we opt for foot massage at hotel ground floor. I was amazed that they served free flow of drinks/juices and each of the arm chair was equipped with a TV, we did not bring our camera down, so no photos were taken.

More on Zhuhai trips...

Continue to Macau & Zhuhai (Part 2)