About Me

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A loud and proud mother of five and an autism parent / advocate who believes that traveling, good food and good company are vital to keep one sane. I've worked as a news writer/newscaster, a quality systems auditor, a ISO9001 consultant, an FM radio DJ, a Filipino tutor, TOEFL reviewer and have gone into the food industry both as an entrepreneur and as a mommy chef, giving a sponsored demo on healthy cooking in a mall and on local TV. My favorite job however, is being a mom and a wife.

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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

At The Macau Venetian



The Las Vegas of Asia, Macau has definitely earned this nickname. With a couple of big-named casinos from Vegas making their way to Asia, these establishments are more than just places to gamble in. In fact there's a little for everybody. Here's a look at one such place: The Macau Venetian:


Getting there:
The Venetian has a lot of shuttle buses going to and from various key points in the city. Ask you concierge just in case the Venetian shuttle makes rounds in your hotel, as it did ours. If they, this hotel is quite popular, and non English speaking cabbies  can get you there in a jiffy. Taking a cab from there is also easy, with a relatively fast moving cab line.

To the casino...
 What can I do there aside from gambling?:
 For those who haven't visited any of the Venetians in existence (I've only been to this one, but Phil's been to the one in Vegas), expect dining, shopping and entertainment in an opulent (somewhat gaudy) setting.
My fave shop for 2012..Pandora
Various shops (duty free) dot this 40 story, 7 hotel structure along the Cotai Strip. I'm not really sure how big the price differences are (outlet shops vs duty free). What I can compare is the purchase of a silver Pandora charm is cheaper by 600 PHP than buying it here in the Philippines. For a list of brands and their locations, click here.

MAX baffled by the blue sky at 11 PM
 Similar to that in Vegas (but less seamless looking-Phil), the perpetual daylight building was a delight to our toddler who was amazed as to why the sky was still blue at a late hour.

from Fatburger's @ the food court
There's a whole lot of restaurants to choose from, depending on the price range, cuisine and what have you. A food court is also available for those who want a little of everything (various cuisines and preferences catered, and they accept credit cards). For a list of cuisines and restaurants (except the ones in the food court) click here.

While he was sleeping...

The Gondola Ride:
Fun and friendly singing gondoliers take you on a romantic canal ride in an authentic Venetian gondola.Our gondolier was a bubbly blond Italian woman named Seraphina, who serenaded us with Chinese, Italian and American songs. Wasn't too fond of the Titanic Theme Song though, given we were on a boat, despite the shallowness of the man made, cistern blue canal waters. MAX would've loved the ride had he been awake :P

General Information

TICKETING:

BOUTIQUE DI GONDOLA
SHOP NO. 2301EMPORIO DI GONDOLA
SHOP NO. 2660

PRICING:

MOP118
(PER RIDE) FOR ADULTSMOP88(PER RIDE)
FOR KIDSMOP472(PER RIDE)
PRIVATE GONDOLA

Daily Canal Opening Times:

Grand Canal:
11:00AM  -  10:00PMMarco Polo:
11:00AM  -  07:00PMSan Luca:
11:00AM  -  07:00PM* Please confirm the opening times
when purchasing your tickets

**You can also buy your Venetian souvenirs at the shop near the gondola rides. 

love the fresco covered ceilings!

Various exhibits, shows, UFC fights and the likes happen at the Venetian so be sure to check their website before coming over.  Of course, you could always stay at their well appointed rooms to get a good feel of the place.

a closer look...


We had a fun filled night at the Venetian. Maybe next time we could stay there and see more of their amenities and other offerings.
we'll be back! mwahahaha

From TMW, may all your wanderings be better than ours!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

VERTIGO : At The Macau Tower



As with a lot of folks in the world, I suffer from a fear of heights. So what better way to confront this fear than to go 233 meters up to the Macau Tower's view deck :P

clearly unafraid :p

Opened in 200, the tower stands at 338 meters high and has a spectacular view of the 3 islands of Macau. It also houses shops, function rooms, restaurants and extreme sports! Here are stuff we did:


  • Upon entering the building, go straight to the information desk. There you'll find tickets for packages (food+view deck tickets etc.) that would suit you. TIP: check the little card rack on the side of the counter and find free mini postcards on points of interest in ton. It gives you tips on what to find, where to find and possible costs (ex. St. Paul's Ruins).




  • There's a well stocked Toys R Us on the 2nd floor, a DC clothing kiosk on the ground floor and more shops at the lower floor (Lush, an optical shop and reasonably priced souvenir kiosks).

  • Several restaurants and snack bars may be found in various floors of the building. For a complete list, check out their website.
  • The View Deck: located a floor below the extreme sports area, there's a portion of this glass walled room that also has glass floors. 

frozen smile. enough said.

don't look down...

best advice from a total stranger, don't force yourself to walk across it. Try crawling!
 
glass floor check in effect!
  •   One floor above the view deck is where you may find the AJ Hackett bungee jumping area. Skywalking, Tower climbing and other related extreme sports may be experienced at this non air conditioned area. Here are the rates:
click to enlarge. BTW, it's so much cheaper to avail of the extreme sport packages if you're a senior citizen...just saying

those who can...do..and those who can't, just crowd the glass walls and live vicariously through those brave souls jumping off the place

spot the bungee jumper
The Macau Tower is a good place to pass the time. They also have a movie theater in it's premises. Whether it be shopping, dining or taking in the breath taking 360 degree view, you can't go wrong in heading out to this building.

nice tag line!


From TMW, may all your wanderings be better than ours!


the view is absolutely great!

Monday, September 24, 2012

Macau's Fisherman's Wharf

At the Macau Fisherman's Wharf

For really cute photo ops, head on out to the Macau Fisherman's Wharf. Considered as Macau's first theme park, this multi-billion establishment keeps on growing and growing since it officially opened it's doors in December 2006.

grab a map at the entrance and other points of the park

We went there mid morning and planned to come back at night to see the attractions that are opened then. But after spending half day at the place, the 32 degree Celsius weather zapped all our energy up, leaving us with only the day pictures. No worries, you'll still get a clear picture of the Fisherman's Wharf as you read along ;-D

So anyways, where were we? Oh yeah, the  entrance is free. Just walk right in.

Air conditioned walkways are the best

Getting to that place is quite easy. Our hotel shuttle stopped at the shuttle depot of the Macau Ferry Terminal. From the depot, walk through the underpass into the terminal. From the terminal, look for the outdoor escalator on the left of the place (while facing the street) and enter the air conditioned overpass/walkway connecting you to the Casino Oceanus. Right before you reach the casino, there's another escalator leading down to Fisherman's Wharf.

The Underground Amusement Centre

The first attraction you run into is the The Underground Amusement Centre. This 950 sq. m. houses lots of video arcade games and even an F1 simulator.



The underground arcade may be found under a 140+ ft. volcano replica known as the Vulcania. According to the theme park's website, this "volcano" erupts every evening. Inside the volcano is the "River of Fire" white water and "Dragon Quest" roller coaster ride. There are fortress replicas too that surround this area.

part of Aladdin's Fort and Vulcania

Want to gamble? Aside from nearby Oceanus, Babylon Casino and the Flamingo Slot Club are also in the area.


There are also 2 hotels in the area: Rocks Hotel and The Landmark Macau (linked to their websites).

Outlet is right across the Venice inspires area of
Fisherman's Wharf

For your shopping needs, there are various high end local brand shops dotting the place. Check out Outlet. As the name suggests, it is an outlet store for various European brands.




A shopping complex that looks like Ancient Rome, known as Aqua Romanis is soon to open. Across it is also a mini Roman Colosseum where shows and what have you are held.

looking for their many clean and air conditioned comfort rooms is cinch
with the maps provided around the place

In the other areas of the wharf, you may also find a wedding consultancy shop (apparently, having your wedding here is a fab yet expensive idea), an optical shop, a kids photo studio, a jewelry store and many more. The Macau Tourism Office is somewhere in here too.

Darling on the Wharf - a yummy respite from Macau's afternoon heat


African chicken - available on most Macanese restos
spicy and quite tasty...we enjoyed this

Entering Aqua Romanis, amidst all the closed shops, one may enjoy a meal from a Macanese / American fusion restaurant known as Darling on the Wharf.


something for the kiddies..MAX's chicken wings

 a nod to Macau's  Portuguese heritage...
Bacalao Rice
Flavorful dishes, and great service, though a bit pricey for a bistro and its casual ambience, lunch there was quite good. Inside tip from one of the Filipina waitresses, don't drink the service water. Order bottled water instead. They've also got free WI FI.



For other food choices, water further into the park, right into the various replicas of coastal towns in various countries.

the winter area was closed for the season :(

There truly is a little bit of something for everyone. The place is immaculately clean and came off as a ghost town when we visited during the day, which was fine with us. BTW, Wear comfy shoes. The place is HUGE! You'll be doing a lot of walking for sure.



For more info on the Macau Fisherman's Wharf, visit their website here.



From TMW, may all your wanderings be better than ours!!!

Sunday, September 23, 2012

A No Casino Hotel In Macau : Fact or Fiction? (The Regency Hotel Macau Review)

The Regency Hotel Macau. Take a virtual tour here.

Located on the Taipa Island, the Regency Hotel Macau is a charming resort type hotel that is situated 10 minutes away from the city center.


the hotel lobby and the restaurants have free wifi
325 rooms decorated in Mediterranean color schemes await you upon your arrival. The rooms, although dated, are clean, comfortable and complete as far as basic hotel needs go.

Booking through Agoda.com, we were able to get a  really great deal on our hotel room. The promo for that time was a free upgrade to a deluxe room if and when you book a superior room, not to mention what seemed like lower rates compared to their regular price. The room cost us about 2500 php (or about 60+ USD) /night compared to their published 10680 php  (250+ USD) rate, excluding the 10% service charge and 5% tourism tax.

didn't really notice how great a deal we got til I saw this inside
our closet
The upgrade was the big surprise. Expecting a slightly bigger room upon check-in, the front desk peeps kında upgraded our upgrade by putting us in not just a deluxe, but in a deluxe harbor view room. Imagine that! Our 2500-ish php/night online rate bought us a 13000+/php night room
the hotel shuttle leaves every hour from 7am - 9 pm, stopping and
picking up passengers in the ff. areas: Sintra Hotel,
Grand Lisboa and the Macau Ferry shuttle depot (&v.v.)

Getting There:
Macau is relatively a small place with a very efficient road system. That being said, getting to and from the Regency Hotel Macau from the airport and even the ferry is quite a breeze, distant wise.

We had a slight hıccup when our Chinese speaking cab driver couldn't read the hotel's address (even if it was printed in Chinese). Not wanting to make our late night out even later (our plane landed at around 8 pm), I told the driver the first well known hotel that came into mind: The Venetian. This he knew, and upon getting there, we asked the (thankfully) English-speaking bell boy in front of the hotel, to instruct the cabbie on how to get to Regency.

It's about 10 minutes from the airport and 20 from the Macau Ferry. BTW, expect an additional 20 MOP when you ride a cab from the airport.

The hotel does have a shuttle that picks up and drops off passengers in certain areas only, but alas, the airport is not on of them.

Accommodations (virtual tour here):
Before I start talking about our room, I'd like to point out that walking through the hallway of our floor, the smell of cleanliness permeates the air. Even the carpeting in the area smells like freshly laundered sheets.


clean hallways are always a plus
As far as staying in  our harbor view room went, I'd like to classify them into the bad and the good:


THE BAD:
 As mentioned earlier, the hotel does come off a bit dated. I had no issues with that, except for the  bathroom. The tub seemed to have this permanent stain at the bottom, which we initially tried to scrub off with the complimentary tooth brush (;P). The tub really looked like it needed to be replaced.


Since we're nit picking anyway, Phil felt that the window could've been cleaned up a little bit more as MAX spent a lot of time looking out (and touching) the window. We did have an excellent view of the harbor and the bridges connecting the islands. The view was slightly spoiled though by the construction going on in the lot across us, right before the water. Other than, it was all-----


GOOD (!):
Spacious, clean and bright best describes our room. As all the rooms are equipped with down duvets and fluffy hypoallergenic pillows, a good night's rest was assured. In fact, we were so grateful with the duvets as the AC in the room, though it had an individual control was still pretty cold despite putting it on a warmer setting.


The little foyer upon entering the room also housed the hidden fridge and had enough storage area for food and other purchases to avoid vacation clutter.

The ensuite bathroom had full amenities including a hair dryer.

Internet access is available upon request and would cost around 40 MOP/day. There were about 2 or 3 English channels as far as cable TV was concerned, which wasn't really an issue.

Food:
Our food experience was limited to the daily breakfast buffet that came with our room. Lot of choices, more than mediocre and quite tasty, I had ZERO gripes when it came to the food. The dishes covered Continental, Indian and Chinese faves.

more tables inside for the breakfast buffet crowd
The hotel does have 2 restaurants, one offering Chinese food and the other, Macanese and Portugal dishes). Room service is available 24 hours, but was quite pricey for us Mediocre Wanderers :)

BTW, here's an example of the breakfast spread:
cereal station
salad station and steamed buns area
where the protein's at (this changed from veal sausage to
chicken sausage to bacon in the days we were here)

noodles and baked beans as well as scrambled eggs were staples
congee was something MAX enjoyed
The salted eggs and juicy tomatoes were what I enjoyed in this round
TIP: in eating out, there are a lot of those Chinese restaurants where you point at lie sea food and they cook it for you right across the street from the hotel. A 7-11, a grocery and a McDonald's are also a block away.

Amenities: (virtual tour here)
As with most resort type hotels, a fab pool, a spa and one or another sport facility may be available. In Macau regency, they also have their own health club. Set amid 3 acres of lush gardens, breezy archways, winding pathways and open verandas, they also have a fitness centre and a tennis court. A day pass may be acquired to enjoy the facilities if you are not a guest at the hotel.

there was also this hotel staffer who monitored the pool water
he was probably checking to see if MAX was peeing in the pool :p

The pool is quite huge, with a kiddie pool area, a pool bar and has enough space for people to splash about or get serious with their laps. A nearby kiddie playground is also available.


As the title denotes, the Regency Hotel Macau is one of the few hotels that do not have a casino in its premises. There is however one nearby, which is just across the hotel's parking lot. You are ensured of an almost smoke free environment (in Macau, it is illegal to smoke in public places, and a stiff fine is imposed. However, there are those individuals who refuse to follow) and security is definitely in place.

the elevators are well monitored late at night
Speaking of casinos, should you find yourself out late at night, always bring your key card whether or not you have someone to open the door for you as entering any of their elevators late at night or early morning are subject to a security check by the staff.

The low down:
We were quite satisfied with the Regency Macau Hotel. The facilities and services were quite what we needed in our 5 day stay in Macau. I would recommend staying there if family friendly, resort type hotels are much to your liking. The entrance of the hotel though doesn't include a PWD ramp so that may be an issue for those with wheelchairs (or even strollers).


at the Venetian Macau
Should you want to visit other hotels like The Venetian, City of Dreams and the likes, a shuttle from these places are there to pick you up. Just ask the guard or bellboy posted near the entrance. They're quite informed with the shuttle schedules of these places and do speak English.

a view of Regency Macau from the Macau Tower
(its that building at the forefront of this pic)

For reservation and other queries, visit this link.

From TMW, may all your wanderings be better than ours!!

(Ed.note: wasn't able to verify this from the staff, but I read a blog saying that the Regency Hotel Macau used to be the old facility of Hyatt Regency, up until they pulled out to create a bigger and newer Hyatt in Macau).