Macau - 1 Night at the Holiday Inn, Cotai Strip, Venetian Shoppes, McDonald's

After 2 nights in Hong Kong (staying at the Eaton Hotel), we headed to Macau.   In the morning, we caught a taxi from the Eaton Hotel to get to Hong Kong China Ferry Terminal, which is on the Kowloon side.  The journey was quite short and taxi fare less than HK$50.

We did not pre-book ferry tickets, so we had to go look for the ticket counters.  There were many ticket touts but we did not dare to buy from them.  We bought our ferry tickets from a legitimate TurboJet Ferry counter, as you can see in the video @0:15 mark.

Clearing immigration was smooth and we were soon on board the ferry.  It was full, but there were assigned seats so there was no need to rush, thankfully.  The ferry ride was 1 hour long.  Rather boring, but that is a ferry ride for you.

Once we reached Macau, again you have to clear immigration, and then exit the ferry terminal. Follow the signs to the complimentary shuttle buses.   We crossed the road using an underpass.  It is well sign-posted.  Plenty of passengers heading to the complimentary buses as those are the most common way to get around in Macau.  We found the bus that would take us to Holiday Inn, Cotai Strip and boarded it.  The ride was about 20 minutes.  Check out the video below for the trip journey, including ferry boarding, on board the ferry and bus ride at Macau.



We chose to stay at the Holiday Inn since the place was well reviewed and the rates were quite attractive.  This video shows you the hotel lobby, the room as well as the pool area.


As we did not have much time in Macau, once we got to our room, we put down our things and started exploring.  On foot, we could walk to the Shoppes at Venetian Macau.  To get there, you first have to get to the Shoppes at Cotai Central and find the overhead bridge to the other side of the road. Follow the signs, it is easy, however, it is not that near.  Good place to walk (in air-conditioned comfort).  There is a Koufu Food Court on the third floor of the Cotai Shoppes.

Over at the Venetian, there is also a fairly large food court area.  Take note that the food isn't that cheap, since these eateries are within the resort. Be prepared to pay resort prices, like 78 MOP for a dish.

Currency in Macau
They use the MOP (Macanese Pataca) in Macau.  However, they accept $HK.  The HK dollar is slightly stronger than the MOP, about 1.03 MOP to 1HK.  We did not change any MOP and paid for our food in $HK or using credit card.

There was still a lot of construction going on next to the Venetian.  More properties were being built. I saw an Eiffel Tower in the making @ 2:07.  Overall, the Venetian property was very nicely done and fun to walk around for a bit. The kids got hungry so we had a bite at McDonald's, see 4:52. Overall, the place wasn't too crowded when we were there, because this was a weekday.



Move on to Part 2 of this review.
(Lord Stow's Portugese Egg Tart, Macau Galaxy Tsui Wah and Performance)