It was not as cold as I expected Macau would be. It was late November and while the air had a certain nip to it, I really didn’t have to bother with a jacket. Garbed in my usual black shirt and gray trek pants, we scoured the alleyways of the city. For what? We didn’t know either.

MORNING WALK ALONG THE STREETS OF MACAU

While we’ve had our share of Macau’s UNESCO World Heritage Site and Rua da Felicidade during our trip, we wanted more. We wanted to see what other parts of the city looked like, however mundane they turn out to be. What we wanted was to see Macau as the locals see them.

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Crossing the busy Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro from the Senado Square, dodging buses and busy pedestrians, we rounded a corner and found ourselves on an empty street paved with a series of long rectangular blocks of concrete. The road slopes upward, and on both of its sides were rows of two-storey houses painted in whites with striking red doors and carved window shutters.

THE STREET OF HAPPINESS, INDEED

Rua da Felicidade, a street-sign embedded on one of the houses’ walls announced. We’ve gotten used to the looks of Macau’s side-streets during the past days we’ve been walking about, but this one definitely looked far too different from the numerous alleys our feet have treaded on so far. In fact, it actually reminded me somehow of our very own Vigan City.

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Lights glittered at the gates leading to the Sai Van Lake Square as the iconic Macau Tower loomed overhead. We just came from the City of Dreams, reserving our tickets for the next day’s showing of the House of Dancing Water. With no meals yet, except those we had when we crossed Hong Kong to Macau via TurboJET, we decided to drop by at the Macau Food Festival where a feast undoubtedly awaited us.

THE MACAU TOWER, ON OUR WAY TO THE CITY OF DREAMS AND DURING THE FOOD FESTIVAL

We actually have no idea about the event until the concierge from Metropole Hotel told us about it as we were about to leave. Don’t forget to drop by the food festival, he said. What food festival? We stopped on our tracks and asked a few more questions before walking out to the nearby stop where our free bus ride to the City of Dreams awaited.

Bleary-eyed and endlessly yawning, we lumbered like zombies and climbed the steps to the famous Ruins of St. Paul, or what remains of its hollow façade. What was usually a place for crowds of cellphone and camera-toting selfie-addicts was now totally deserted. Which was not surprising, the sun had just risen and most tourists were still happily sleeping on their comfy hotel beds. We own the morning--heck, we woke up at the ungodly hour of six in the morning just to have this place all to our own.

THE SELFIE CAPITAL OF MACAU

Macau held no magic for me until I actually set foot on it and started exploring its alleys. What I thought to be a place of casinos turned out to be, surprisingly, one steeped in history and culture. I knew it has St. Paul’s Ruins, a popular Macanese icon, but I thought it is all it ever has. Boy, was I wrong.

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A pirate ship rose from the stage—a stage made of water—and clinging like spiders from its masts, pirates, diving with abandon several meters from the surface. My jaw dropped in sync with their every jump. I haven’t seen a theatrical show anything remotely like this. It was marvelous. It was astounding. It was (insert more superfluous adjectives).

THE FISHERMAN AMIDST A MAGICAL BACKDROP

Initially, I wasn’t really that keen on watching The House of Dancing Water. Although I’ve seen a couple of grand theatrical productions before, like Thailand’s highly-acclaimed Siam Niramit, and heck, even enjoyed it, I was more drawn to exploring Macau’s side-streets than attending a stage show.

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Lobsters. I want Lobsters. My mind was swimming with steaming, freshly boiled, succulent lobsters. And incidentally, so were the buffet tables at the Belcancao Restaurant at the Four Seasons Macau. Yes, there were an abundance of other dishes around, but what I’m really craving for are lobsters! Lobsters!!!

NOODLE AND DIMSUM BASKETS AT BELCANCAO RESTAURANT

Walking aimlessly across Macau’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites and its sprawling side-streets can take its toll on you, especially if you’re in Scrooge-mode, hardly buying any food to save up for beer later. And so it was that one afternoon, after such a jaunt, we headed to the Cotai Strip from Metropole Hotel, our lodging of choice in Macau, to watch the acclaimed House of Dancing Water show.

But before that, a luscious dinner awaited us.

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Oh wait, you’re in the wrong room, the general manager of the hotel told us as he personally escorted us to what was gonna be our home for two nights while in Macau. I was more surprised that he actually escorted us to our room rather than being in the wrong room, there was actually no problem with the room we were given, only that he said it was too small. Too small? After lodging in Hong Kong for several days, this was huge. He then led us to another door, knocked before proceeded on opening it, and tadaaaahhh! Our room was so large you could play golf inside.

METROPOLE HOTEL MACAU’S MODERN LOBBY INTERIORS

A TYPICAL ELEVATOR LOBBY

It was our first day in Macau and my first time to actually set foot on this part of China. After disembarking from our one-hour foodfest inside TurboJET from Hong Kong to Macau, we were greeted by who else, Filipinos asking us if we already have a hotel or tours. We graciously declined and were soon careening through the wide roads of Macau, feeling like Grand Prix racers, who at the time were also zooming across selected roads in the city, and were at Metropole Hotel in no time.

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In addition, could I have a hotdog, please? We were seated at TurboJET’s Premier Grand Class cabin, comfortably reclining on our spacious seats as we sped through the Pearl River Delta. We just started our journey from Hong Kong to Macau when a lady approached asking what we would like to have for snacks. Before the waiter started back to the kitchen, I called to her again, Err, can you you make it two, please?

TURBOJET’S TICKETING AREA AT SHUN TAK CENTRE IN HONG KONG

SHUN TAK CENTRE’S AIRPORT-LIKE TERMINAL

It was going to be my first time in Macau and I have zero idea how to get there from Hong Kong. It was a good thing that two of my travel mates have been zinging back and forth across the two regions since birth. I was, indeed, with good company.

From Pentahotel Hong Kong, we rode a bus to Shun Tak Centre in Sheung Wan where the terminal for Macau-bound ferries dock. It was easy as one, two, and three from there.

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A billiard table stood in the middle of the floor, above it, a ceiling finished in dark wood planks. Black leather sofa surrounded an electronic fireplace and on one corner of the reception desk, two big-ass industrial metal drums loomed. We padded on soft gray rugs and was greeted by one of Pentahotel’s all-business staff dressed in Diesel shirts, how may we help you, he asked.

PARCELS AND WHAT-NOTS AT THE PENTALOUNGE

Hip was the word to describe our hotel for our last three days in Hong Kong. It’s not easily apparent from its simple façade, but once you enter its ground floor lobby cum pizza bar, you’d know this is no run-of-the-mill hotel.

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My eyelids were slowly drooping down. About fifteen feet from the ground, I was being lulled to sleep as we made our slow and clunky way across Hong Kong Island’s urban roads—passing its glittering modernity and sidewalks brimming with early evening pedestrians. We were aboard an iron tram, one of the oldest transportation systems in Hong Kong and the only one in the world with a full double-decker fleet at that. And as always, we didn’t have a destination in mind.

RIDE THE DING DING, SO EASY!

The trams in Hong Kong, charmingly dubbed as ding ding by the locals in reference to their bells, are more than a century old. The first carriages ran across the northern coastline of the island before it eventually went inland due to land reclamation in 1904. Those were single-deck cars back then, shipped all the way from the United Kingdom. The first double-decker trams were not to emerge until eight years later.

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The wind blew hard across Victoria Harbour and we felt it right to the bone. It was an early November evening when we strolled through the other side of the famous waterway. While everyone was at Hong Kong’s Kowloon side, we were at its Hong Kong counterpart. We wanted to see Hong Kong’s Ferris wheel up close, something we usually see from Tsim Sha Tsui area. And yes, we were also here for a fancy dinner—our venue, the nearby Mandarin Hotel.

CAFE CAUSETTE’S WARM LOBBY

Having had our fill of the Ferris wheel, we took refuge from the gust and cold at Cafe Causette. Located on the second floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Central, we knew we’d be in for a classy treat.

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Wan Chai District’s skyscrapers rose into view as I parted the drapes inside our room. We quickly prepared coffee and tea, then sat at the bay window for a few minutes—taking in the view, looking forward to our first full day in Hong Kong. It was a marvelous sight. I quickly whipped out my phone after finishing my coffee, snapped a photo, and connected to the hotel’s complimentary Wi-Fi Internet. Instagram time.

WALKING TO COSMO HOTEL AT WAN CHAI AREA. A TIP, BRING A BACKPACK INSTEAD.

From the relative quiet of Hum Hong area in Kowloon, we transferred to Wan Chai to switch hotels. Though we were very much satisfied with our stay at Hotel Sav Hong Kong, We wanted a much more happening place. And Wan Chai area, part of the larger Wan Chai District, fits the bill perfectly.

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We were almost lost. There were signs all around, lighted and glittering against the cold Hong Kong evening, but they were in a language foreign to us. They were all in Chinese, but we weren’t all that worried, we chose this path—we wanted to get lost. We chose to forget about Disneyland and Ocean Park, this is indeed what we wanted, to be greeted by the raw Hong Kong streets, congested, crazy, incomprehensible.

QUICK WALK ALONG HUM HONG’S RESIDENTIAL AREA

Our day started off by getting on a bus from Hotel Sav in Hum Hong, an area on the Kowloon District. We crossed Victoria Harbour below ground, alighted at the chaos that is Wan Chai and dropped our bags at Cosmo Hotel. From there, free of our luggage, we walked with no particular destination in mind.

A friend said that beer is expensive in Hong Kong. But there we were, past midnight, at Hum Hong's wide sidewalks, outside Hotel SAV'S posh lobby—where I was amazed to find iMacs for guests sitting on a table with no security manning it and no door lock, I mean, you just cannot do that in the Philippines—chugging out one can of beer after another. We found a 7-Eleven right beside the hotel selling Tsingtao at buy-one-take-one prices.

HONG KONG FROM THE PLANE WINDOW

It was our first night in the country. Yes, I still consider Hong Kong a country separate from mainland China. I guess, its people too, judging from the recent Umbrella Revolution sit-in uprising. But I digress. I was just in town exactly a week ago for Star Cruises Guangzhou – Hong Kong cruise, this time though, I would be staying for more than four hours in Hong Kong.

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