macau day 1, part 1

the turbo jet we took from hk-macau harbour left the harbour on time and we reached there at 1p.m. on the dot. the hotel that we booked, metropark macau (read the paper today? metropark hk had a confirmed case of swine flu) had shuttle bus coming to pick up guests every 30 mins from the harbour.

these are the buses lined up to pick up guests outside the harbour. the bigger casinos and hotels have bigger buses. ours has no parking lot and we just had to watch out for it when it came parked by the side of the road. venetian's bus is the most frequent and the biggest. the ride in the turbojet was comfortable. i managed to catch a nap even. the seat inside is bigger than in a plane.

when we reached the hotel, which is about 8 mins from the harbour by bus, there was a queue at the check-in counter. we could only get our room at 3p.m. so we decided to walk around the vicinity of the hotel. in fact, we discovered that our hotel is just a few streets away from all those bigger ones.

went into a supermarket to buy some apples and look what i discovered! ben and jerry ice-cream. yippee!! yee and i bought one each and ate while walking. i just couldn't resist the temptation ok.

you can't miss this building when you are on the main island. it is soo majestic and shiny in the sun. really impressive. this is the grand lisboa, mr stanley ho's. it is just opposite the old lisboa and i think they are still sticking to the theme of a bird cage. it looks like a golden egg to me.

this is the original lisboa. gosh, macau is totally different now. i can't recognise any of the streets except this building. no more waterfront in front. all has been filled and hotels are now in their place.

furtherdown is wynn.

these are the other smaller establishments found everywhere on the island. you will never fall short of casinos and hotels here. but i think it is a case of having too many casinos now. you can see empty tables and slot machines in every casino.

ok, then we decided to walk back to our hotel and checked in and freshen up. the room given when we checked in was not ready yet, so we were given another room....on a lower floor, 19 if i am not mistaken. no room with a view this time. just open the curtain and you will see other windows of a nearby block.

ok, i am going to end this part 1 here. part 2 will be sightseeing macau.