Macau Day 2 and Last Night in Hong Kong

Posted on November 27, 2016 by jmatie22

We started the day super late (because of the night of clubbing). I got up at 1pm, and we made our way to The MGM where we ate at a really good buffet called Rossio (at first I thought the it was a crappy buffet since the seafood and sushi sections were well hidden).

After, we took the TurboJet back to Hong Kong island (we originally were gonna arrive at Kowloon, set to depart at 5:30pm, but we then realized we could do a stand-by thing, which allowed us to leave at 5pm, and got us to arrive at Hong Kong island).

When we got back, we headed to my hotel to check in, then stroked through LKF one last time.

We then headed to Causeway bay using the bus (Jasmin wanted me to experience what it’s like being a local).

At Causeway bay we walked through Times Square, and then got some Din Tai Fung (I gotta say it’s much better in Jong Kong than SF. More variety, and it’s also 1 Michelin Star in HK).

We then got a mango fruit desssert drink, which apparently is a think in HK. It was so good that I did end up finishing it (and I really want planning on doing that).

We ended off the night by taking the Tram back to my hotel (again, it’s a tourist thing).

Macau Clubbing

Posted on November 27, 2016 by jmatie22

Around 12am, we headed out to Pacha (located in Studio) where to check out Christina Novelli.

When we got here, it was not really packed (which was basically how busy it was for the rest of the time we were there). Drinks were same as SF (2 drinks was 21 US dollars). Also, it was kinda cool to see a Trance Fanily flag in the crowd.

Around 3am (and after I heard Concrete Angel) we headed to Cubic night club (in Coty of Dreams) to see if it was any more bustle.

The dj at Cubic was playing Top 40 EDM. I thought the club set up was more like Vegas. Also it was strange to see all the bar staff advertise Tieso so much with the T shirts they were wearing.

The night ended off with me doing a walk around the club, where I actually met someone (and let’s just say we ended up staying up till 8am).

Macau!

Posted on November 27, 2016 by jmatie22

Because of the previous day, we started the day off a bit later than expected (around 12pm). We ended up ferrying over to Macau using the TurbJet near Hong Kong station around 1:05pm. The ride was super bumpy, and I definitely got sea sick.

After an hour we arrived in Macau. Immigration was really easy. Also, getting to the hotel was easy since the Venetian had a bus that took us from the ferry terminal.

When we arrived at the Venetia, I immediately noticed how packed and busy it was. I’ve never even seen Vegas like that. Although checking into the hotel was fast.

The room itself looked very similar to the Venetian in Vegas. Except I noticed that it seemed a little cheaper (from the paint used to the quality of the decorations. One wouldn’t notice unless they stayed at the one in Vegas).

After dropping our stuff in the hotel, I explored the inside of the hotel a bit. Like Vegas, you can access other hotels from the inside. However, I noticed that the Hotels focus wayyyyy more on ships and the mall aspect than Vegas (which is something I really didn’t care about).

Shortly after we made our way to The Ruins of St Paul (it was a church that burned down and the only remnants was the facade). It cost about 200 Macau dollars (equivalent to 200 HKD). Jasmin though it was a rip off, but I didn’t care since we were behind on time.

After he ruins, we went food tasting around Sendak a Square. Jasmin got me to try the Portuguese egg tart, the macadamia cookies, the Portuguese pork sandwhich, the pork jerky and a bunch of other samples:

After Senado square we we walked to the Wynn (we were trying to get a taxi, but then realized it was about 1KM away).

From the Wynn we took a bus to Wynn Palace (which is on the side of he river where our hotel is).

From the Wynn Palace, we went back to the Venetian briefly. I then walked around to check out the other hotels (the Parisian, City of Dreams, Galaxy).

Second a Day in Hong Kong

Posted on November 27, 2016 by jmatie22

So we started the day off by having some delicious dim sum at the Michelin Star Restaruant, Tim Ho Wan

After eating lunch, we headed to the Big Buddha statue at Lantau Island (got of art Tug Ching station and taxied it over. Apparently different taxi colors reprewebt which island they’re allowed to serve on. Blue was the color for Lantau. Also, Iner couldn’t bring us to the statue since they don’t have a permit). As we got closer to the statue, you could office he difference with the surroundings (it looked more like a 2nd to 3rd world country. Jas said it looked like parts of China).

Here are some pics from the statue:

After coming back from the Big Buddha (again, we taxied it over), we went back to Tung Chung station, where I tried out the Pizza Hut. I have to say Pizza Hut in Asia is on a different level than North America.

After Pizza Hit, we headed back to my Hotel, where I napped for a couple of hours. After, I was ready to hit the clubs in LKF.

We started at a bar called Soiree in SOHO (SOHO is where more of the fancier bars are), where I met two of Jasmin’s friends (Teresa and Derek). I got myself a lychee martini. After, we went to another bar in SOHO called Little Lab, where I got an old fashion (they used bullet, but instead of sugar they used maple syrup). At Little Lab, Teresa puked, and unfortunately I got a little of the fallout :/

After we checked out two clubs, Dragon-I and Bungalow. Both were really crowded. Bungalow played more top 40 EDM while Dragon-I was a bit deeper. Big also charged 300 HKD for guys (but for Bungalow, the bouncer tried to trick me. He said it was 20 USD to get in, which he then said translated to 300 HKD. Obviously that is incorrect. At the time of this writing it converts to 40 USD. So what I ended up doing is giving him a $20 USD bill. He asked if I had HKD, I said no. So he accepted it :)).

First Day in Hong Kong!

Posted on November 25, 2016 by jmatie22

So the first thing I did when I got off the plane was to get an Octopus card (basically the suica equivalent in HK, which proved to be super useful in Japan). Then I took the airport express train to Hong Kong station, which only took 24 minutes!

From Hong Kong Station I made my way to my hotel in LKF. On hind site, I should’ve continued taking the train to Central station, since walking on the street proved to be a challenge. Many of the sidewalks had fences so you couldnt j walk easily. So with my not so light luggage I had to take not so straightforward paths. In some cases, there were overpasses that needed to be taken (didn’t realize that for a bit). And finally, when I got to the street near my hotel (Wellington street), it was on a hill! When I went on the hill, I overshot the turn I was suppose to take! Eventually I got to my hotel.

After getting to the hotel I met up with Jas around 2:00pm. We headed straight to the Intercontinental Hotel for high Tea (along the way we strolled through the avenue of stars).

While walking, she explained that for construction, the scaffolding they used are built from bamboos:

After high tea, we checked out some sites a long the way back to Central (including the Tsui … clock tower).

When we went back to central, we ferried over, which gave some nice views of the bay.

When we got back to central, we ordered an Uber, which took us up to Victoria Peak. Here are some pics:

While we were up at the peak, I got to ty this amazing McDonalds salmon burger:

When we came back from Victoria Peak, we got dinner at a restaurant called Tsui Wah restaurant. Apparently it’s a place people go when they are super drunk and ending the night.

After dinner, we joined a pub crawl that went to 4 bars in LKF, and one nightclub. Two of the bars were called boomshack and the other one was called Geronimo. On the pub crawl I met one guy from Boston that was telling me that when he was in Macau, he hung around some prostitues that told him how the trade was like. They said there is one guy that coorindates where each of them go, and they have connections with various clubs in Asia (and they fly the prostitues around Asia). Also, apparently they need to make a minimum of $3000 USD a month.

Another guy I met at the pub crawl was named Alexander (Mason). He worked as a manager at Nobu, and helped open up the Nobu in Miami. He said he was a “host” originally at a nightclub, which is one level up from a promoter. I added him in FB and he said to contact him if I wanted to try and get into a club in Vegas (Encore Beach, Wet Republic).

I also met a person who works for Muni.

We ended the night at a club called Magnum. I thought the drinks were over priced. It was like $10 us for a bottle of water! I was definitely like WTF.

Kyoto Station

Posted on November 23, 2016 by jmatie22

Kyoto Station is very massive, with the fact that it has 11 floors, all of which can be reached by escalators. The 11 floors are basically a mall called the JR Setan (I guess Japanese rail owns it). The 11th floor and the skywalk is basically what I checked out. Here are the pics …

Namba Station + Peach Airline

Posted on November 23, 2016 by jmatie22

So this morning I head out of my hotel around 5am to try and catch a 5:18 train at Namba station. When I reached one of the station doors, it was locked. This was the case with several others. I ran into two couples that were also tryin to find an entrance (they all were using google maps like I was to schedule their route to the airport).

Finally, I ran into a man who knew an entrance that was open, and even was kind enough to walk me to it! I have to say, there are awesome ppl in this world.

I did miss the train I wanted to take, but I was able to find one that would get me to the airport at 6:28 (my flight is 8:20).

Now after arriving at the airport, there were several obstacles. One of them is that after the train ride, the terminal my plane was leaving at was an additional 10 minute bus ride. The second obstacle is that I couldn’t check into my flight using Peach’s automated terminal since my name didn’t match. The third obstacle is that the line to see a Peach representative was the same line as the check in baggage line, which took me about an additional 25 minutes. After finally seeing a representative, I find out that the total baggage wait (both personal item and carry on luggage) can’t exceed 10kg. WTF. I basically had to pay 38,000 to check in my carry on. At this point it was 7:20. The last obstacle was security, where they wouldn’t let me enter security screening until after 7:30 (but then they realized the security line was empty, so they decided to let me in). At least exiting immigration was easy.

Now off to HKG!

Kyoto

Posted on November 23, 2016 by jmatie22

The first stop I made was Kinkaku-ji Temple. The temple is a world heritage site, and overall, very scenic. I also picked up a souvenir that I’m gonna give to mom and dad.

After, I headed to Ninjo-jo Castle. It is huge! Both the inside and outside take a bit of time to walk through to fully appreciate.

After, I headed to Kyoto station where I was going to meet up with my tour group. The station is huge (I’ll post about it separately).

Before meeting with my group, I wanted to try a restaurant called Kyotofu (since Kyoto is known for their Tofu). However, because it was a holiday (its Hatvest day), all the restaurant’s had a line. So I ended up eating something at 7 eleven :/.

In my tour group, I met 3 other people from SF. So basically 25% of the tour was from SF lol.

The first stop my tour group went to was a small Temple called Taikoan.

Apparently there is a difference between temple and shrine. One difference is that the temple deals with the here and living, while a shrine deals with the afterlife. Also, the way you pray in a temple is one bow after you ding a bell. In a shrine, before ringing the bell it’s 2 claps, then ring, then 3 bows (and I think a couple more claps?).

After, we went to a really popular temple called Tofukoan.

The following pic is suppose to represent the Big Dipper. Also, a little odd fact… dragons are considered water animals in Japan.

The following pic is a picture of a zen garden. Didn’t really find my Zen though.


The next pic is a pic of me standing in front of a San-mon. It means three (something). You’re supposed to enter it before praying at the temple (the picture before this one).

Before heading to the next stop, we tried some local Kyoto Pasteries. It was basically rice paste and redbean.

After this temple, we went to Fushimi-Inari-Takisha shrine.

To climb and walk around the whole shrine takes approximately 3 hours. Also, the writing on the back of the gates are basically a business card (people pay several thousand yearly to have their names on gates).

The last stop we went to was Gion. Unfortunately, there was no Geiko’s or Meiko’s (Meiji is a Geiko intraining, and Geiko is a Kyoto Gaisha, as Gaisha is the word for ones in Tokyo).

After Gion, I checked out Pontocho with two of the people in my tour group that were from SF (Kenny and Amanda).

The following ally pic is a place where several bars are located that my tour guide recommended (and the pic after that is the bar he said to go to. Unfortunately none of the bars were open at 6pm. They open at 7pm, so I didn’t stay to have a drink).

After Pontocho, I was super hungry (and cold) so I ended up checking out a Ramen place on the way to the bus stop, which would take me to Kyoto Station).

Osaka at Night

Posted on November 22, 2016 by jmatie22

When I got back to my hotel (around 5pm), I took a 2 hour nap. Then, I was ready to hit Dotonbori.

First stop was taking pics at the Dotombori bridge.

After, I checked out a rally awesome restaurant that sold really good Wagyu beef. It was called Steakhouse Juju. The meal was about 13000 yen (including Yamikazi on the rocks).

After, I went to a club called Giraffe. They had 2 floors of EDM. The club was alright, but I don’t think it was worth 3000 yen to enter. It drink were cheap (only 600 yen).

Osaka During the Day

Posted on November 22, 2016 by jmatie22

After getting off from the Shenkensen, I made my way to my hotel using the subway (which is apparently different from the JR… but it also takes suica).

Going to my hotel required me to go through Dontobori (during the day, which looks a lot different from night).

Unfortunately, since I arrived at 1:30pm, they couldn’t give me a room without charging me extra (official check in time is at 3pm). So I just dropped my bags off, and headed for Osaka Castle.