Macau

From Hong Kong our next destination was Macau. The weather became cloudy and rainy, so we were happy to go. The easiest way to get there was by ferry service that goes every hour from China Ferry Terminal on Kowloon.
Our guest house was just 15 min walk away, but considering the luggage and the fact that I twisted my leg (yes, and we still needed to clime the volcano in 2 days time... not sure how that will go now..), we decided to take a taxi.

Upon arrival, it turned out that the economy class tickets for 12 o'clock ferry were sold out and we had to take the next one at 1pm.
Luckily, killing time wasn't very boring because we had an excellent view of the harbor and could watch ferries arrive.

Our ferry of choice to go to Macau was TurboJet. 

They came highly recommended and it turned out they serve complimentary beverages to premium class passengers and foreign tourists (we got invited to the lounge despite the fact that we had economy tickets :-)

Once inside, the ferry turned out to be very comfy, even in economy, with large chairs and lot's of leg space. We were both sleeping the whole ride so no pics.
60 minutes later we arrived to the Macau Ferry Terminal.

After our crappy accommodation in HK, we felt like some luxury is very much needed, so we booked a 5 star hotel. The price between the cheapest room available, 1 star, and the hotel we booked was just 30 euros, so we figured that it's not much for adding four more.
The 5 star hotel came with a free shuttle bus service from the ferry, which was very handy.

The weather in Macau wasn't very sunny either but at least they didn't expect any rain.

At the hotel, after checking in and finally taking a shower, we decided to see the old city center first, while it was still day light and then head to Taipa island where most of the larger casinos where located.
However, going down in an elevator we bumped into a couple from St. Petersburg, Olga and Svyatoslav, who told us that the "must see" in Macau is a show called House of Dancing Water, which is 10 times more cool than Cirque du Soleil, and that they came to Macau especially to see it. 
The show sounded very intriguing so we decided to join them and headed towards the City of Dreams casino where the show plays twice a day.

Really cool entrance to the casino!

We couldn't just pass by without making a couple of pics))

Because the guys already pre-booked their tickets online, we still had to find out whether we can still buy 2 for us. The tickets were available, and even close the places Olga and Svyatoslav had. The free availability of tickets made us a bit concerned that that may be the show wasn't that good after all... But now we just had to go and see it))

As it turned out the show was absolutely FANTASTIC!! We were blown away by the whole complexity of it. They had swimmers, because more than half of the show takes place in the water; they had gymnasts; they had motorbikes flying in the air 3-4 at once; and soooo much more. All of the acts were bound into a story, which is available here.
So, here are some pics (if they are ever in Amsterdam, I am definitely going)!

To see larger pics click on the photo

After this one the guys said that there is another show about dragons starting a bit later that they were recommended to see. We were so impressed by the one we just saw that we agreed without a doubt. 
It wasn't really worth seeing as it turned out. The whole show was a video projected on the huge spherical screen and had 4 dragons representing four elements of nature. 

We personally thought that the dragon outside in front of casino area entrance was much cooler :-)

The area where the tables and the slots are, is simply huge, but it's not allowed to photograph inside, only from a distance.

By the time we got out of the City of Dreams it was already quite late and we decided to walk around and see at least some of the city.
But first we all wanted to go to the Venitian Macao, the largest casino in the world. 

It's really huge, but if you are not a player, it get's boring quite fast.

Other casinos on the Cotai Strip

Afterwards, all four of us got into taxi to go back to the mainland Macao and to see the main part of the city.

After walking along all the casinos, we finally got to the old center of Macau, which is a very nice place thanks to the Portuguese. The main square was fully decorated with Christmas accessories and without any people, only a couple of lost tourists like us, who doesn't gamble. We were joking that all the locals were stuck in the casino working))

The most historical place in Macau are the ruins of St. Paul cathedral which we finally found at around midnight. 

From the steps there is an excellent view on the old town and the casinos in the background.

Our hotel was just a short walk away from the cathedral, through very lovely, but then again - very empty streets.

Back at the hotel we said good bye to Olga and Svyatoslav, as they were leaving for Hong Kong the next day, and we were taking our flight to Manila the next morning. At the last moment, we figured out that we are all planning to be in Cebu/Bohol around New Year, so we agreed to catch up with each other in the Philippines and celebrate the New Year together. I am wondering if that's going to work, but would be great))

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