Cramped & Crowded III(a): Egg Tart Thursday
With so many days in HK for us, we decided to shave one day off and go to Macau for a day trip. So early Thursday morning (as early as it can get trying to drag everyone out of bed, especially the kid) we took the MTR to Central to catch the TurboJet to the land of casinos. At Central, we walked and walked and walked trying to look for the HK-Macau Ferry Terminal. By the time we had found it, we had noticed that we had walked right up to Sheung Wan. :S. Kinda wasted an hour there. Luckily my brother bought me a coffee from Pret A Manger to perk me up. At the terminal, we ended up buying tickets from a reseller called Beng Seng. They were very aggressive and assured us that their prices were cheaper than TurboJet. Having no energy to verify that fact, we bought from them anyway. At least they were genuine tickets as we were able to board the 11:00am vessel. The TurboJet's ship was super huge. Built kinda like an airplane with stewards and 'in-flight' magazines. The trip took about an hour and during that time, BIL endured the wonders of sea sickness. The Macau Ferry Terminal was quite large and clean. Upon arrival, we were already bombarded by offers of 3-hour city tours by tour operators. My sister had the bad luck of going for one of those some years back and was left with a bad taste in her mouth. Just point and see from the van. Another con job. Having secured a walking tour from JL, we decided to start our journey at the Ruins of St. Paul's. Took the bus from the ferry terminal and found that people in Macau are quite homegenous with those in HK in terms of attitude!
Moi: How much is the fare to St. Paul's?
Driver: (pointing to the sign)
Moi: How much for four adults, one senior and one child?
Driver: I don't do the math, I just take the money.
Errrr... I should have just gave him HKD1.00 since he doesn't know how to count. A nice lady assisted us and told us to dump in HKD16. The bus was quite and empty, and at every stop, and pre-recorded voice would let you know where you were. Reminded me of buses in Barcelona. The moment we hopped off the bus, we landed in Pastelaria Choi Heong Yuen, a rival of the famous Pastelaria Koi Kee. BIL started the ball rolling by eating Portugese egg tarts, while mum and I went almond biscuit shopping. Bak kwa in Macau come in such obscene sizes. So thick and large (wink wink). Full of porky goodness. From there on, we crossed from the Leal Senado Building on Avenida de Almeido Ribeiro to Senado Square with its beautifully paved floors (turns out that the government paved most of the areas near the tourist attractions, very much like in Barcelona) and gaudy Chinese New Year decorations. It was decked out in lanterns and humanoid lanterns. Flanking the square was the pristinely white Holy House of Mercy. Continued to walk towards the ruins, but we stopped midway to eat, eat and eat in the drizzle. BIL went around bringing back fried chicken and pork chop buns from Cafe E.S.KIMO, fried salted chicken popcorn, pepper meat pies and more Portugese egg tarts from Tea Plus!
Having had our fill, we continued on to Rua de S. Paulo, passing by all the flashy shopping in Senado Square. With all the commercial shops jostling for retail space, the food outlets look like just holes in wall. The road up to the Ruins of St. Paul's was a really a gauntlet of tourists, pastry shops, free food tastings and souvenirs. Shops let you eat to your heart's delight. Not stingy with the samples at all. And for good reason-- customers buy and buy and buy!
"Are you full yet? Not yet wor. Lets go another round!"
I did not have high hopes for the Ruins of St. Paul's because it is basically just the glorified facade of a church, but.... it was quite nice la. A nice place to take photographs. A nice location on top of a hill with long steps and flowers, quite scenic. Even climbed up the facade to have a view down the hill. Did not go down the crypt though. A few cuties roamed around the place, which I had faithfully documented for my readers. Enjoy!
Moi: How much is the fare to St. Paul's?
Driver: (pointing to the sign)
Moi: How much for four adults, one senior and one child?
Driver: I don't do the math, I just take the money.
Errrr... I should have just gave him HKD1.00 since he doesn't know how to count. A nice lady assisted us and told us to dump in HKD16. The bus was quite and empty, and at every stop, and pre-recorded voice would let you know where you were. Reminded me of buses in Barcelona. The moment we hopped off the bus, we landed in Pastelaria Choi Heong Yuen, a rival of the famous Pastelaria Koi Kee. BIL started the ball rolling by eating Portugese egg tarts, while mum and I went almond biscuit shopping. Bak kwa in Macau come in such obscene sizes. So thick and large (wink wink). Full of porky goodness. From there on, we crossed from the Leal Senado Building on Avenida de Almeido Ribeiro to Senado Square with its beautifully paved floors (turns out that the government paved most of the areas near the tourist attractions, very much like in Barcelona) and gaudy Chinese New Year decorations. It was decked out in lanterns and humanoid lanterns. Flanking the square was the pristinely white Holy House of Mercy. Continued to walk towards the ruins, but we stopped midway to eat, eat and eat in the drizzle. BIL went around bringing back fried chicken and pork chop buns from Cafe E.S.KIMO, fried salted chicken popcorn, pepper meat pies and more Portugese egg tarts from Tea Plus!
Having had our fill, we continued on to Rua de S. Paulo, passing by all the flashy shopping in Senado Square. With all the commercial shops jostling for retail space, the food outlets look like just holes in wall. The road up to the Ruins of St. Paul's was a really a gauntlet of tourists, pastry shops, free food tastings and souvenirs. Shops let you eat to your heart's delight. Not stingy with the samples at all. And for good reason-- customers buy and buy and buy!
"Are you full yet? Not yet wor. Lets go another round!"
I did not have high hopes for the Ruins of St. Paul's because it is basically just the glorified facade of a church, but.... it was quite nice la. A nice place to take photographs. A nice location on top of a hill with long steps and flowers, quite scenic. Even climbed up the facade to have a view down the hill. Did not go down the crypt though. A few cuties roamed around the place, which I had faithfully documented for my readers. Enjoy!
Comments
Btw, love the pictures!
I preferred the one from the shop nearest to the Ruins of St. Paul. Cost like 7HKD per piece.
Are you sure you did not eat the other kind? Though I remember your travel mate to be kind of yummy too.
@Nick:
Actually one can make it more leisurely and spend two days there. It's quite pleasant.
@Anon:
I tried two actually-- Choi Heong Yuen and Tea Plus (with the giant egg tart out front). My BIL preferred the former for its super butter content. I did not quite like both. At $8 a piece, it was quite dear!
It had nothing behind at all except grass and there were little small shops in front. Goodness, it has turned into a major tourists spot today ahead of casinos.!!
Thanks! Your comment ended up in my spam folder!
@Twi:
Very successful hor?