HK & MACAU DAY 1 - Macau

Day 1: Changi International Airport T3 -> Hong Kong International Airport T1 -> HK Sky Pier -> Macau Outer Habour Ferry Terminal -> Holiday Inn Macau -> Senado Square + Ruins of St Paul -> Wynn Macau -> Holiday Inn Macau

We are bound for Hong Kong!

Excitement overwhelmed us as its our first time to Hong Kong, the land of dim sums and also our virgin experience on board A380 -literally air bus! We are taking SQ 856 which is due for take off at 9.30am. We reached the airport by 7.30am. It was a rainy Sunday morning where most of Singapore is still sleeping early in the morning, but the Airport is already bustling with school tours/families awaiting for outbound flights. 

We did online check in 48 hours before. Despite that, the queue for baggage check in is still long.

But finally, we check-in our baggage and got our air tickets in return! One step closer to Hong Kong! 

Air ticket SQ 856 (SIN -> HK)

Check-in Baggage Tag

Ground crew will pass you the baggage tag upon check-in, and this is important for our transfer to Macau later on!

Gigantic replicas of SQ newly launched Premium Economy seats!

Just right outside the departure hall, we spotted the huge and actual versions of the newly launched SQ premium Economy seats, It's hard to give it a miss! Generally, it doesn't seem to be of significant difference to the normal economy seats, but yet it comes with a higher price tag. Oh well :/

After we pass the customs, through the departure hall and along the way to gate A10 (SQ 856 Departure gate), we spotted a few series of SG50 exhibitions/decorations.

Part of SG50 celebrations

We reached Gate A10 at around 8.30am.

Gate A10

It was still a rainy morning. But we are really glad that this weather this carry on to Hong Kong!

A380 parked at Gate already!

Arrival and departure card 

Upon check-in at your departure gate (A10 for us), the ground crew will issue arrival slips for non-Hong Kong residents. We were confused initially whether we need to fill it in since we are transiting over to Macau straight. Later on then we realise that if you are transiting at Hong Kong, you DO NOT need to fill in this slip. However we will need to fill in this slip later on when we arrive back in Hong Kong from Macau.

The aircraft was ready for boarding at around 9am! As usual, PPS/business class/families with young children or elderly gets priority boarding! As A380 is a double decker aircraft, it consist of an upper deck and lower deck. Lower deck houses economy seats while upper deck houses business class and a few economy seats. Back in January when we purchased the air tickets online, we chose the upper deck seating instead of lower deck for the following reasons which we come to experience it after our dual A380 trips later on:

1. Fast boarding! There is 2 different deck (areas for boarding) for lower and upper deck. Generally, as economy class passengers, you will only head for boarding after the business class passengers. As a result there is lesser people heading for the upper deck area when its your turn to board. Also, as there's lesser economy seats on the upper deck than lower deck, it means lesser people too!

Upper deck boarding

2. There is storage area for your handbags (or bags of less than 7kg) just beside you at the window seats. This also means more ample space = greater comfort!

3. Lesser passengers at the top deck = you get off earlier the plane too! (This is especially crucial if you are heading right straight for Hong Kong Sky pier to catch the ferry since there only very few ferry timings!)

Bad weather :(

Though it is due for departure at 9.30am, however it took off at 10am instead. The journey supposedly takes 4 hours and we are really worried that we are unable to catch the 3.15pm ferry since 4 hours later will means arriving Hong Kong at 2pm. As we have checked baggage to be transferred over to the ferry, we have to purchase and check in at the ferry counter by 2.15pm latest (1 hour before ferry departure). Continue to read on to find out if we are able to board the ferry :)

Up in the clouds

Awhile after the seatbelts light were off, we got our food menu! Though people tend to say airplane food are bad, but we think otherwise!

SQ Economy class foodmenu!

Ta Da! Very uniquely Singapore food - Fried Carrot cake served!

SQ economy class food menu

The air stewardess started pushing the food trolley at around 10.50am. We got our food at 11am, just in time for an early lunch! We ordered each of the variety to share and try!

Singapore Fried Carrot Cake

We love the fried carrot cake and the chilli is good enough! A very sumptuous and satisfying meal we had!

Vegetable Frittata

Vegetable Frittata (Grilled Chicken Sausage, tomato and potatoes) is less to our liking but hey, its still good for a western choice!

We departed under rainy and cloudy weather conditions. However when we are up in the sky away from Singapore, the sunray is just getting stronger!

sunny!

Soon, before we know it, crew members were preparing for landing and we start to see the ground!!!

Can you spot Hong Kong skyline?

Excitement!!! *Screams* Land of dimsum!

Touch down!

And we touch down at Hong Kong International Airport Terminal 1 at 1.30pm sharp! The whole journey took 3 hours 20 minutes instead of 4 hours.

The weather exceeded 30 degrees Celsius. A complete different weather from Singapore when we left. Hot and humid weather awaits us.

We officially disembark the aircraft at 1.42pm. Hong Kong airport crews wearing masks were evident around! That was around the time when they discovered MERS (New type of SARS) case in Hong Kong. Thumbs up for their hygiene and prevention work!

Upon disembarkation, we made a beeline for the ferry ticketing counter. Thankfully there are dual language (Mandarin and English) signs to direct us to the correct direction!

Signs!

More signs!

Customs. To enter Hong Kong

In other words, it is actually a straight route. Just walk straight all the way and you will soon find yourself at the ferry ticketing counters. Of course do keep a look out at the directions overhead to make sure you are on the right path. 

If you are transiting to Skypier to board the ferry to Macau from HKIA, Be sure NOT to turn to the left and exit the customs!!!

Once you exit the customs and enter Hong Kong, you are not allowed to board the ferry from the airport as it is STRICTLY meant for air passengers!

Ferry ticketing counters!

They have ferries to China mainland (Shenzhen, zhu hai...) and Macau!

A little background on Macau and its ferry operators from Hong Kong

In general, Macau is divided into 2 different areas of land, and connected by a long bridge.

Map of Macau: Courtesy of Google Maps

The 2 areas are generally known as old Macau and Cotai. Cotai area is reclaimed land and it house predominantly casinos and hotels with notable ones like Venetian Hotel. While old macau comprises of the historical sites like Ruins of St Paul, Senado Square and some 6 star hotels like Wynn Macau.

Though it may seem far between these 2 lands but, they are within driving distance of 15 mins.

There are 2 main ferry operators to Macau - Cotai Water Jet (金光飞航) and Turbo Jet (喷射飞航). Turbo Jet main sailing route is to Macau Outer harbour ferry terminal at the old Macau area, while Cotai Water Jet main sailing route as it name suggest, is a the Macau Taipa Ferry Terminal. Not to worry, Taipa and cotai is extremely close to each other too! Overall, Macau is a small city.

Cotai Water Jet tend to have bundle promotions with the hotels at Cotai area, so do keep a look out if you are staying at Cotai area.

Ferries to Macau ticketing counters!

It took us around 3 minutes quick walk only to reach the ferry counter. The red ones are by Turbo Jet company and the blue ones are by Cotai Water Jet Company. The staff at the counters understand and can communicate English and chinese. Happy to see that there's no queue however after we purchase, queues starts to come in!

Be sure to specify the correct harbour you are heading to!

exchange rate @ Turbo Jet counter

As we are residing in Holiday Inn Macau and we are heading there first to check in our baggage and room, we choose Macau Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal! Do take note if you are staying at Holiday Inn in Macau, as there are 2 Holiday Inn there and one is at Cotai and the other is at old Macau!

There are limited departure timings from HKIA as there's lesser passengers since its much more pricey too. The updated timings can be found on Turbo Jet website.

TurboJet daily sailing timings from HKIA. Courtesy of TurboJet

Weblink @: http://www.turbojet.com.hk/en/routing-sailing-schedule/hk-airport-macau/sailing-schedule-fares.aspx

As you can see, our flight is due for arrival at 1.30pm and 2pm ferry is impossible since we have to be at the ferry counter 1 hour before departure as we have check in baggages. The best available timing would be 3.15pm. If we are unable to be at the ferry counter by 2.15pm to catch the 3.15pm ferry, the next available ferry would be 5pm! The ferry journey takes around 50mins to 1 hour. This will mean by the time we check in Macau hotel it could be nearing 7pm and we would have wasted a lot of time at HKIA waiting for the ferry. Exiting the custom and venturing to the city to take the ferry there to Macau is not really a good alternative too, since the accumulated transport cost can come up to a large amount which isnt worth it. But we were prepared to do so if our flight gets delayed, since we have no choice right?

In anycase, we were lucky enough to be able to reach the ticketing counter before 2pm, and we successfully purchased 4 tickets (HKIA -> Macau). As we have check in baggage (remember, we havent exit the custom and we check in a couple of baggages back in Singapore), we then pass the baggage tag which we obtained from the Singapore Airlines ground crew staff earlier on in Singapore to the ticketing counter. This is so that their ground personnel, will be able to retrieve our luggages and then proceed to load them onto the ferry later on so that it will reach Macau successfully with us :)

Samples at the counter

TurboJet Ferry Ticket!

Once you gave them your baggage tag, they will issue you this barcode like thing (white slip at the bottom of the image above) which will be tag to your ferry ticket. Each barcode slip is equivalent to 1 check in baggage.

In total, each ferry ticket cost HKD 254, as compared to departure from Hong Kong Island or Kowloon Island, it cost around HKD 100 more. As such since its more pricey, the ferry is not very filled as we will experience later on. 

Advanced online Reservation of the ferry tickets are possible, however as we are uncertain if we will be able to make it in time or if there is any flight delay, thus we decided to purchase it on the spot instead. We highly recommend  that you buy the tickets on the spot if you are travelling to Macau from HK Skypier. As there is strictly no change in ferry timings once purchased. However, if you are departing or heading towards Hong Kong/Kowloon ferry terminals then we recommend you to purchase in advance even though there's more frequent ferry timings. Do see Day 2 for the explanation.

Ferry schedule timings: boarding 8S125 to Macau @ 3.15pm

From the tv screens, we know that the gate opens at 2.45pm for our ferry which is scheduled to depart at 3.15pm. As there's ample time, we wandered around the area.

Food stops

We didn't wander too far out, but generally there's food shops selling basic hong kong food (congee, wanton mee..) and western food... Prices range around SGD 8 for a bowl of noodles.

Ferry Ticket Reader

If you have checked baggages, do take note of this ferry ticket reader. With the barcode slip as mentioned earlier, you can scan it at this ticket reader to check your baggage status - like whether it has been pick up by the personnels.

We checked once at 2.30pm and it shows that the baggages are still being processed.

As there's nothing much to do around other than waiting, we decided to try out luck to enter the ferry boarding area at around 2.35pm.

Ferry boarding area

And thankfully, we were able to enter! Once you show your ferry ticket for the personnels to scan, there will be an escalator downwards where it will lead you to a train to take towards the sky pier.

Train! (similar to MRT)

inside the train

When we reached the bottom of the escalator, the train was there already and we do not know how frequent it will be therefore, we made a mad dash for it. Haha

The train ride lasted around 3 minutes. It was pretty stuffy that day when we took the sky train :(

train station @ the skypier where we alighted

Once you alighted, just turn right and follow the sign and escalator up!

escalator up to the ferry terminal holding area!

While onboard the escalators in the airport and around Hong Kong, they have motion sensors that will sound out safety reminders like to keep to the right of the escalator and to hold on to the handgrips.

Here we are @ the skypier!

Beautiful scenery from the holding area!

Cotai water Jet and Turbo Jet

Hong Kong Sky pier!

Turbo Jet that we are taking!

There is 7eleven and mannings there too. Mannings is Singapore's equivalent of Guardian.

convenience shops at the holding area

The products in mannings were on discount however it still seem more expensive :(

As we know subsequent days will be extremely sunny as you can predict from the photos of the ferries above, we purchased a sunscreen lotion from mannings.

Biore Sunscreen lotion

The Biore sunscreen lotion was on offer and selling at HKD 71.90 (SGD $12.60). However later on in Hong Kong, a quick shopping around their popular cosmetic shops (like Bonjour), we notice prices were going at around HKD 60+ instead.

holding area

holding area

We are at berth 5! To board the ferry, you will have to take the escalator on the left downwards to reach the pier.

Boarding starts at 3pm. Ferry ticket needs to be shown to the ground crew thereafter you can proceed to take the escalator downwards. It is free seating. We aren't too sure which are the best seats, but if you have a preferred seat then do board as early as possible!

Heading towards the pier

Inside the ferry

Okay to be exact, it is like a 'jet' instead of ferry. We find it faster than the normal ferries we took to Batam. It was not on full load, at most 70-80% filled only. Perhaps it's more costly to take from HKIA, therefore tourists tend not to put Macau as their first destination after touch down at Hong Kong. Our reason for going Macau first is because, we will be staying in the same apartment throughout our stay at Hong Kong, and slotting Macau as the first or last destination is the most ideal instead of in between. We did not slot it as the last destination as we anticipated that we might purchase a lot of things in Hong Kong hence not exactly good to bring it over to Macau and back again.

It set off at around 3.25pm. Overall, it was quite a comfortable experience and the air con was freezing cold. The interior is comparable to Batam ferries. It was a smooth and stable journey. No need to worry if you will face sea sickness/vomit!

writing tables!

view along the way

bridge!

Macau in the background!!!

At around 4.10pm, after passing by the bridges we see glimpse of Macau in the background!

Sands Macao Hotel

Can you spot the Helicopter?

If you want to have a unique experience,  in short of time, have money to spare, then try out the sky shuttle experience. It takes half hour to get to Macau from Hong Kong Airport via the Sky shuttle aka Helicopter, but it does cost a bomb @ HKD 4800/pax (SGD$842/pax)!

Disembarkation is fast, and we find ourselves at the custom at around 4.20pm. Custom clearance is quick too  - no queues.

Macau Arrival documents

As Macau does not chop on your passport to certify that you have entered the city, it issue slips of paper instead. And these though inconvenient as its easily misplaced, but important as it confirms your arrival and states your stay validity!

baggage collection

Make sure you head out to the right side once you clear custom. Do not exit the place yet as one you exit you wont be able to get your baggage! It works the same way as airport! So be sure to keep a keen eye on signs to lead you to the baggage reclaim area!

We waited for quite sometime before our baggage finally got rolled out. Thereafter you have to exit the ferry terminal and cross over opposite to the bus terminal. The bus terminal is where all major hotel buses will be there to drive you directly to the respective hotels. There is an underpass however to get to there, escalators and staircases involved so if you are carrying huge baggages do take note!

View opposite the bus bay

Not exactly a good experience since there's many people, and the weather is especially unbearable and we have huge baggages with us. But nevertheless we finally cross opposite to the bus bay!

Bus bay (walk straight and that's where venetian buses are)

If you are heading to Holiday Inn Macau (Not the one @ cotai but at Rua de Pequim), then do take a right turn instead of heading straight once you come up the escalator. You should wait around this area (area where there are smaller buses instead of the big venetian buses)

waiting area for holiday Inn bus

Holiday Inn Bus comes at a frequency of 30 minutes commencing from 8.45am from Macau Outerharbour ferry terminal. When we reached its around 4.46pm and we thought we couldnt find the bus and decided to ask the people there. In the end we heard from one of the staff there that the bus just departed. Earlier on, we asked a couple of other staff and they ushered us to the cotai Holiday Inn bus instead! However as we read on the internet before the difference, we were alert enough to avoid boarding the cotai bus as that will fetch you to the other area of Macau!!! Looks like we missed the bus :(

Holiday Inn (Rua De Pequim) van

However we didnt wait for long and the Holiday Inn bus/van came at 5pm. It's 15 minutes earlier than supposed time! We boarded the bus and together with us is only another English couple. It is a mini bus / van instead of the big buses like those of Venetian hotel or other cotai area hotels. There is no designated bus parking area for Holiday Inn, unlike the major hotels, so one must keep a lookout! It departed at 5.12pm! Very punctual, or rather early!

2 minutes into our bus journey, we spotted the Golden Lotus Square on the left side of the bus!

Golden Lotus Square

"The lotus flower, which is in full bloom, symbolises the everlasting prosperity of Macau."

Extracted from: http://www.macau.com/en/Golden-Lotus-Square-2-22-169.html

Approaching Holiday Inn Macau

It didnt take us long, and we reached Holiday Inn Macau at 5.20pm. Approx 8 mins bus ride! Close proximity to the ferry terminal!

Holiday Inn check-in counters

There was no queue during our check-in at 5+pm and there's 3 counters available. The photo above was actually taken during our check out the following day at 12 and the lobby is pretty crowded with people checking-out and in. Do take note that the hotel require a deposit of HKD/MOP 500 upon check-in. They do not accept HKD 1000, so do make sure you have HKD 500 exact.

Deposit Receipt

Check-in was smooth and being IHG (Parent company of Holiday Inn), we were entitled to free drink redemption as well as late check-out till 2pm. However as we are heading to Disneyland the following day, we didn't want to waste too much time in Macau, we didn't enjoy that. But the drinks were good which we tried them at the end of the day. Read on :)

Holiday Inn has never disappoint us. Their service has been very good and the stay has been very satisfying. Staffs are able to communicate in English too which I guess partly cos they serve more English guests than the other hotels. Furthermore, service is especially good given that there's bell boy that help us carry our luggages up to our hotel room and there's always someone to open the main door for us no matter how early or how late we were back in the hotel. Superb service!

We booked a 2 double bed Superior room without breakfast via Agoda. Initially, we paid SGD171.11 for it in February, however in April when we went back Agoda, it is retailing at a much lower price of SGD121.62 and we appeal to Agoda through its 'Best Price Guarantee' form. It is our first time trying it out and surprisingly within 1 week, we receive confirmation that we will get a refund which is difference between what we paid and what it is now. That's a whopping SGD49.49 saved!!! Furthermore as we made the agoda booking in February during the DBS GOSF promotion, we had an additional 15% cash rebate from DBS which amounts to SGD 25.60, so actually our 1 night stay in Macau @ Holiday Inn hotel for the 4 of us in total costs less than SGD100!! We thought it is actually a really good deal!

Despite our late check in at around 5pm, we were given a newly renovated room @ 18th floor! The newly renovated room is really good. Let the pictures do the talking!

2 double beds

desk, tv, basic appliances

basin/miror

The washroom has an audio speaker connected to the TV set, meaning if you on any shows on the tv, the person bathing in the bathroom will be able to hear it too! Such enjoyment!

drawn down curtains between the sleeping area and bathroom

If you are staying alone in the room, you can even enjoy your bath in the bathtub and watching the tv at the same time, thanks to the glass panel that separates the sleeping area and bathroom. Of course there is blind that blocks the view when required!

Police station just opposite Holiday Inn Macau

Don't you feel safe when you are staying right opposite the police station? Haha!

We unpack a little and set off for Senado Square first at around 5.45pm.

Holiday Inn Macau > Senado Square > Ruins of St Paul : Courtesy of Google Maps.

As you can see it is within walking distance from our hotel to the historical sights. We did not choose to take any taxi/ public bus, as we prefer to do some sightseeing. Basically to get to Senado Square, once you step out of the hotel main door, turn left and walk straight till you meet Grand Lisboa.

Hotel Grand Lisboa

Then turn right and head all the way straight. Along the way you will see plenty of jewellery / goldsmith shops and soon without knowing you will reach Senado Square.

Senado Square @6pm

Kok Kei @ Senado Square and practically everywhere in Macau

some government building?

more historical infrastructure

It took us around a 15-20 minutes walk from our hotel to Senado Square. We did some homework and copied some road names hoping to guide us as we walk, however it turn out to be pointless, as the road names are not obvious and the people there do not know English thus those portugese road names are useless to us. Thankfully Holiday Inn concierge staff was able to give us brief directions and thus we managed to find the place! Directions to Ruins of St Paul from Senado Square is basically easy as there's plenty of signs to guide you and practically as long as you walk along the main 'streets' from senando square you should be able to reach there too!

Signpost to Ruins of St Paul aka 大三吧牌坊

streets along the way to Ruins of St Paul

pastry stores around the streets

Basically, we see Kok Kei bakery everywhere in Macau. We aren't too sure which bakery is the originator of almond cookies in Macau, however there are plenty of shops selling that and jerky around Macau and along the streets at Senado square to Ruins of St Paul. Of course, there's their famous local delights - Pork bun too!

And... we see Ruins of St Paul!

Ruins of St Paul @ 6.10pm

view from the steps of St Paul

Up close of Ruins of St Paul

Left side view from the top 

Right side view from the top

Basically, Ruins of St Paul is a historical monument side, For non-christians like my family, we honestly do not find anything much special. However since its a famous monument in Macau, we guess its a must visit!

Kok Kei everywhere ~

Kok Kei Bakery Truck

We happen to pass by Wong Chi Kei which is a famous noodle store as recommended by netizens. It is between senado square and Ruins of St Paul along the main street. Since it wasnt packed, we decided to give it a try afterall its dinner time.

Wong Chi Kei

The above photo of Wong Chi Kei was taken at 8pm. When we went at 6.30pm, it wasn't this pack with people!

If I am not wrong, it has 3 storeys. We headed to the second level as there's not enough space on the first level.

Wong Chi Kei Main Menu

Wong Chi Kei Drinks menu

From the online reviews we see, Wong Chi Kei appears to be famous for their fish roe noodles. However as we dont really appreciate fish roe, we ordered wanton noodles, Fried rice and cha siew rice and a bowl of mixed meat and slice fish congee to share.

Wanton noodles @ MOP 36 (SGD $6.32)

Hong Kong/Macau noodles has a different texture from Singapore's wanton mee, as their's more springy and thin. The wantons are good! To be honest, we arent too sure whats the difference between their 云吞面&水饺面 as both have prawns wrapped inside.  We recommend ordering this!

Fried Rice @ MOP 60 (SGD $10.53)

Beware huge portion of fried rice!!! Can be a little gelat towards the end! Good for sharing between 2 person if you are not hungry.

Char Siew Rice @ MOP 50 (SGD $8.77)

The Char Siew rice is average though. But not too bad. 'Eat-able'

A pity, we did not get to take a photo of the congee before we gulp it down. Even so, we highly recommend it! The fish slices were fresh and the congee texture is just right! Must order!

Receipt @ Wong Chi Kei

Do note that they do accept HKD at HKD:MOP = 1:1. However, they strictly do not accept HKD 1000. Actually this is a common practice both in Hong Kong and Macau due to the uprising counterfeit notes being circulated in the market involving HKD 1000. One tip for travellers is that generally HKD is accepted in MOP, so if you are staying in Macau for a short time, and spending most of your time in Hong Kong, best to just change HKD and not MOP, Since you will be able to use your hong kong dollars in Macau, and any excess you can still spend it in Hong kong, however you wont be able to use MOP in Hong Kong.

Wong Chi Kei Namecard

If you happen to pass by this restaurant, and it isn't that crowded, we recommend you to give it a try :) Especially their noodles and congee.

It was around 7.15pm when we finished dinner and we decided to purchase some souvenirs (like Almond cookies) before heading to Wynn Macau for the last stop of the day. Earlier on, on our way to Ruins of St Paul, theres a couple bakery shops along the street letting us try their cookies and pastries. We went to Kok Kei and there's sampling provided, however after trying we feel that though they are famous, but it seems a little overrated.  We decided to go to this particular bakery shop, Macau Gateway Bakery to purchase its phoenix rolls (pork floss seaweed roll). Kok Kei sells similar ones too, however from our sampling, we thought this shop is more flavourful than Kok Kei, and its cheaper too! But of course, taste is more important than price when it comes to food

Macau Gateway bakery namecard

Pork Floss Seaweed roll

It is retailing at 5 boxes for MOP100 (SGD$17.50). It is much much cheaper than those sold in kok kei and yet we find this nicer (more fragrant). We suggest if you have the time, you may want to try this in addition to Kok Kei and make a decision which to purchase in the end :) It is not situated at the main streets like kok kei, but at the side alley near Ruins of St Paul. Do refer to the map on the name card above, if not you may ask the locals there on how to get to the place. 

It's around 8.15pm after we are done purchasing and ready to walk to Wynn Macau which is near our hotel. However since we purchase quite a number of boxes of Phoenix rolls, we decide to head back to our hotel and put down our loots before heading to Wynn. In general, there's lesser people walking along the streets in Macau at night but it isn't exactly deserted, hence safe. Ruins of St Paul is not lighted at night, so if you are thinking of taking photos of the monument at night, do think twice. Shops generally close at 8-9pm there however we deduce large established shops may close around 10pm.

Casino Lisboa

vibrant casinos

Along the way back to Holiday Inn

The neon windmill lighting is actually from Holiday Inn's Casino - Diamond Casino!

Diamond Casino - Holiday Inn Macau

Diamond Casino is quite a small casino and it pales in comparison to the bigger casinos like @ Wynn and Venetian. 

A common sight of Neon Lightings along the streets of Macau

Location of Senado Sq, holiday inn, Wynn and Guan Yin Statue. Courtesy of Google Map

Our initial plan was to head to Wynn Macau and then to MGM which is just beside it, to view the statue of Guan Yin. However as it was getting late and we are a little worn out, we decided to skip MGM and just head to Wynn for its performances.

There are 3 different performances at Wynn:
1. Performance Lake (3 different shows that last 3 minutes each at alternate 15 minutes interval)
2. Tree of Prosperity (30 minutes alternate interval with Dragon of Fortune)
3. Dragon of Fortune

Information from: http://www.wynnmacau.com/en/entertainment/dragonoffortune.html

The Tree of Prosperity and Dragon of Fortune are situated at the lobby of Wynn (just right outside the Casino entrance, not the reception area). We reached at 8.45pm and there was no show so we went to the casino for a quick tour before heading out at 9pm when we hear some noise at the lobby - The dragon of fortune show! :)

Ceiling of the lobby

Upclose shot of the ceiling

The ceiling comprises of 12 Zodiac animals, and the ceiling will open up during the performance. 

This is how the lobby will look, like a golden crystal ball, when there's no performance.

Lobby of Wynn - performance area

It will look like this when the performance is ongoing:

Dragon of Fortune : Courtesy of official Wynn Macau web

Very spectacular performance hence worth watching! The golden ball on the ground will unveil this gigantic dragon and the ceiling will unravel and there will be some 'animations' at the top. Each show last for around 5 minutes. 

After it ended we rushed to the fountain area to catch the 9.15pm Performance Lake show. While waiting, we went to the promenade beside the fountain to catch some nightview of Macau. On the internet, this seems to be the best night view location of Macau.

Macau Sky tower @ night

Macau bridge

Quite a pretty night view, worth seeing if you happen to be at the Performance Lake.

view from the Lake - Wynn Macau

Water performance!

It started at 9.15pm sharp! But it seems more like a musical fountain :/ Nothing spectacular. Would say that you can skip this if you are in a rush for time. After watching the disappointing water show we went back to the Lobby to catch the 9.30pm show - Tree of Prosperity.

Tree of Prosperity

Once again, the tree came up from the ground and when it started to go back down, people were throwing in coins - I guess it's like a wishing tree/Tree of Fortune. We feel that this is worth watching however the Dragon of Fortune show earlier seems to be more spectacular.

Our original plan was to head to MGM to catch a glimpse of the Statue of Kwan Yin after Wynn Macau, however as we are getting really tired, we decided to skip that and head straight back to holiday Inn Macau. Everything via foot.

We reached Holiday Inn at around 9.45pm. As one of us is IHG member, all guests in the room were entitled a free drink. You can choose from Tea, coffee or red wine. We chose some hot tea instead. It is available for redemption at the bar at Level 1 - just right opposite the reception counter. We were surprised that it's not just a cup of tea that we were being served but like a small pot of tea per person that can filled 2 cups of tea. We felt extremely pampered by their service!

Complimentary Tea on the house

And with that, we end our Day 1 in Macau, feeling extremely satisfied with our choice of accommodation and the sightseeing we had.

Side-note:

In Macau, they have a special 'parking system' for the motorcycles. Where you insert a coin and you get to park beside the road.