Macau - Sightseeing

I wanted to stay in the old town of Macau so we could easily walk around and explore the historic precincts and enjoy the ambience in the morning and evening when its less crowded.    I really love the old buildings and find the old city very attractive.

We did three major sightseeing expeditions.   The first was through the famous historic precinct from Senado Square and St. Dominic's Square up to the Ruins of St Pauls.    This area was extremely crowded with tourists.

St Dominic's Square 

The Ruins of St Pauls has been designated by UNESCO as a World-Heritage Selfie-Spot of global significance.  

I really enjoyed watching the happy crowd taking their selfies with the famous facade of St Pauls in the background.

 

I love the way the girls pose for selfies and adjust their cutest expressions.

(Although you can understand how it is that 3 people are decapitated by selfie-sticks every year in China.  Which is why they are banned in Disney Parks link).

We walked right to the top to see the view from the Monte Fort.  For a town with such beautiful streets, Macau has a very ugly sky-line.

The second walk was in the evening south down the peninsular along R. de Barra to the Moorish Barracks and A Man temple.   It was beautifully quiet and we saw a wedding party playing in one of the squares.

The third walk was on Sunday afternoon north from Monte Fort to the Lou Lim Loc Gardens and Guia Hill.

Wed not been to this part of town before but it is very attractive, and very quiet.

Many beautiful old buildings.

The Lou Lim Loc garden was quite interesting with a nice pond and an abundance of scholars rocks.

The highlight for me was a chinese string quartet playing in the garden.

Video:  String Quartet

We walked past Sun Yat Sens house but didn't go inside as we were running out of time.  

We just had time to go to the Guia Hill Park and take the cable-car to the top.

Although the queue was short it was very slow and it would have been quicker to walk.

Macau - SanVa Hotel

For this trip I wanted to stay in a historic hotel in the old-town of Macau.

After some research I found the San Va Hospedaria, the oldest guest-house in Macau.  It is located in the middle of the old town on Rua da Felicidade,  part of one of the Classified Architecture Groups in Macao.   It is a real gem.

"SanVa Hostel is a simple yet elegant tavern and has been in business for over 80 years. The site was originally a private club house built in 1870's,  nearly 140 years ago, and was transformed into a guesthouse in 1930's to meet the increasing accommodation demand of merchants and workers from the mainland during the period of the war. The traditional Southern Chinese architectural style of both the exterior and interior of the building is largely preserved."  (website link)

The building has been is largely unchanged from the 1930s,  and has a very nice ambience (very much like our old house at Haka).  

The SunVa Hostel has been chosen as a location for an impressive list of films, including Wan Kar Wai's '2046', TV dramas, pop-videos and fashion-shoots.  (link)

Movie posters and fashion stills.

We booked a balcony room for Rika and Kyo-chan, and a smaller room for me and Hannah deeper inside the 2nd floor.   The balcony room had a wonderful view of the Rua da Felicidade.

The rooms were very basic but clean and comfortable.   The toilet and shower facilities are communal and you need to bring your own towels (we forgot).   But good value overall as the room rates are very reasonable.

The traditional four-story building has an interesting construction.  Our second floor room (2017) was part of a huge space created under the gabelled roof made with ceramic tiles layered over huge logs.   The rooms were separated by thin partitions about 9' high made of wood and painted-glass.

The lack of sound-proofing can be a problem if you are unlucky in your neighbors.  As unfortunately Rika and Kyo-chan were.    Their neighbor was a insomniac gentleman, who we speculated might  have been a competitor at the All-China National Hoiking Championship being held that weekend at the Cotai Arena.   Anyway he kept them awake with marathon hoiking sessions:  Hooiccckk, HoooICCK,  HOOOOOICCK!    

Hannah and I slept very soundly and woke-up quite refreshed.

Macau - Super Class

In March Kyoko came to visit from Japan,  and we all had a weekend-away in Macau.

We sailed with Turbojet from the Kowloon Ferry Terminal.   I booked 'Super Class' tickets, which was entirely a reflection of our breeding and status, and nothing to do with leaving it too late to book economy.

Turbojet Ferry at Macau Ferry Terminal

'Super Class' tickets are twice as expensive but afford numerous privileges.  For a start you can think of yourself as a 'Super Passenger'.   Super Passengers enjoy exclusive access to the 'Super Class Lounge' where they can enjoy refreshments like instant coffee.  

Super Class Lounge at Kowloon Ferry Terminal

Super Class Passengers are given priority for boarding.   They can saunter regally toward the ship,  while the heaving unwashed throng of economy-class plebs is fenced-in behind barriers and beaten-back with sticks.

Economy-class passengers look-on enviously as
Super Class Passengers enjoy priority boarding

Once on board, Super Class passengers ascend to an exclusive and spacious upper-floor cabin, where they can relax in luxury imitation-leather seats.

Super-Class Cabin (with VIP Room behind)

Discreet liveried staff are available to attend to every whim.  (or at least whims involving water, instant coffee and newspapers).   Staff serve a delicious Super-lunch of pastries, fruit salad and muffins.

Super Class Catering

Once we arrived, the crew erected another barrier across the lower-class cabin so the Super Class Passengers could descend unmolested and disembark first.

The real benefit of being first-off-the-boat is to have a head-start in getting to passport control where  the queues can be long and slow.    But you have to move quickly or you get battered by a stampede from economy-class running past dragging their trolley-bags.       

Discovery Bay Craft Market

Rika has been trying develop her fashion business.   She has two challenges to solve : finding reliable companies to manufacture her garments at a reasonable cost and quality, and then finding ways to selling the garments.   

Working on the second problem, she decided to try having a stall at the Discovery Bay Craft Market.  This is held once a month on a Sunday from 10am -5pm at Discovery Buy main plaza.   We made it a family day-out and Hannah and I came along to help.

We left home around 8am to get to DB and set-up for the market opening at 10am.   For the fee, Rika got a stall with an awning, table and charges.   We brought our own hangers and Rika's merchandise in 2 large suitcases.

Rika was selling her own-design skirts, tops and trousers, which she initially put on hangers at the back of her stall, and hand-made earrings and hair-ties which she put on the table at the front.  She also sold furoshiki (printed fabric pieces) from Japan which she'd bought in bulk.     

The market was quite busy with a steady stream of passers-by.   I think she got good level of interest.

She had a lot of small sales of earrings and just a few large sales.  One mother bought several children's garments.   A student fell in love with the silk kimono jacket and after much agonizing about the price came back and bought it.  Her friend also ordered one.

But it was quite a long day for the shop-assistants.  At the end of the day Rika's sales were about HKD 3,000, and a further HKD 800 in orders.    Costs were HKD 1,000 for the stall and 500 for taxis.

This is Saito-sensei, our shiatsu massage guru who came to show support.

Matthew the Diamond Hunter

Next weekend my brother Matthew visited on way to NZ.   It was great to see him again.  We had a nice dinner together at the Lung Wah hotel enjoying live music.   

Video:  Lung Wah Hotel

But Matthew had a mission to accomplish in Hong Kong - buying a diamond engagement ring for his beloved.   So we spent Saturday and Sunday shopping for diamonds.

Many of the jewelry shops were closed for CNY so we mainly ended up in Nathan Road TST at Chow Tai Fook, one of the major jewelers in Hong Kong, and also Tiffany in the Peninsular Hotel.

Matthew cut a dashing figure as he carefully considered different stones and settings.  The shop quietly doubled security....

It is very hard to evaluate diamonds in the store as they have so many lights in the ceiling all he stones sparkle really well.  You can't see what they be like in daylight.

But Matt took his time, weighed his options and and carefully listened to the opinions of experts.

After Mat had decided on a short-list we went home to consider.  I used the Holloway Cut Advisor software and confirmed which diamonds had good proportions.

We looked at the 'wholesale' prices for similar stones on the Blue Nile website and a  Hong King website to see what sort of mark-up he would be paying.    This confirmed that CTF was pretty reasonable value-for-money.  Whereas Tiffany was very expensive (as you'd expect).  

On Sunday we went back, and after a few more agonizing hours Matt bought this classic ring.  I think  it was a very nice choice.

As an aside, Chow Tai Fook advertises heavily on the back of Hong Kong busses.  To the extent that almost every bus displays their motto 'sincerity - eternity' on the back.  When I first arrived I naively thought Chow Tai Fook was the bus company!   I thought 'sincerity - eternity' was a very intriguing slogan for a bus company!

CNY Lion Dance at Work

Back at work after Chinese New Year,  one of the important events was the visit from the lion dancers to bring good luck and chase away evil-spirits.

For luck we placed 'lai see' envelopes with money into the lion's mouth.

Video:  Lion Dance

Sightseeing and the Museum of Coastal Defense

For Granny and Grandad's last day in Hong Kong we did some gentle sightseeing, mainly by public transport.

First we took the scenic 680 bus from Shatin through Tate's Cairn and around the harbor to North Point.  Then by bus and taxi to  the Museum of Coastal Defence.

Hannah and I played in the tunnels while Granny and Grandad looked at the exhibits.   And needless to say there was a detailed exhibition on Japanese aggression and atrocities.

We enjoyed the view of Lei Yue Mun which as the narrowest part of the harbour.  We recalled that this is the main path for Qi flowing into Hong Kong Island from China (link).



Queen Mary 2 (76,000 tones) docked at the HK Cruise Terminal (left)

Video:  Lei Yue Mun from the Brennan Torpedo Station

After the museum we took a long ride on the tram across Hong Kong Island from Shau Kei Wan to Central.  This was Granny's #2 request which she'd missed out last time.

The weather was nice and cool and we had an interesting glide through town.

And then our holiday was over.

Granny and Grandad flew back home on Monday and I reported back to duty at work.