Macau

The Macau Package

I've always wanted to make a trip to Macau to visit the Ruins of St Paul - the haunting facade of the church fascinates me. Happened to stumble upon a summer package offered by the Venetian Macau (Jul-Sep being their low season). The package was indeed good value-for-money and so we brought along mum and dad as well. A 3D2N stay at The Venetian's luxury Royale Suite plus 3 meals (BLD), HKD200 shopping voucher, free tickets for the Dinosaur Live Exhibition and a free gondola ride as well as a Tiger Airways round trip ticket (capped at S$150) – all for S$498/pax.

The suite is really “luxury”! The toilet alone is bigger than my bedroom! It’s the biggest hotel room I’ve ever stayed in my life. The buffet BLD spread was really good – B at the huge Cafe Deco Macau, and L&D at the Bambu Chinese Restaurant. Lunch was priced at HKD158(S$27) and dinner HKD258(S$43) (excluding taxes).

The gondola ride was ok but I won’t fork out HKD118 for that 12-minute ride. The Dinosaur Live Exhibition was a let-down (a 3D show on a small screen, we had to sit on foldable chairs, and the dino displays were nothing to talk about). I would have cried if I had paid HKD80/adult for that. Enough said about the package. Now for my impressions and observations of Macau.

The Arrival Hall was pretty small.
Turn right when you come out to get taxis and buses.

This is where the various hotel shuttle buses are.

The Venetian Macau

The Royale Suite - the bedroom and the living room

The luxurious bigger-than-my-bedroom toilet

The gondola ride with the singing gondolier

The dinosaur whispering sweet nothing to Dad

Buffet breakfast at Cafe Deco Macao

Macau Casinos

Casinos were a dime a dozen – big ones, small ones, they were at almost every turn of the corner. We took a self-conducted tour of the bigger casinos in Macau – Lisboa, Grand Lisboa, MGM being the main ones, skipped Wynn (and regretted), dropped by a few smaller ones like Rio and Starworld. At Cotai, we stayed at The Venetian so it’s a no-brainer than we must explore the place. For that matter, anyone who visits Cotai will definitely visit the Venetian – either to stay, to shop, to eat or to take a look.

Casino Lisboa by day

Casino Lisboa by night

Grand Lisboa

Grand Lisboa

Grand Lisboa

Grand Lisboa by night

Wynn

MGM

Right at the very centre of The Venetian (The Great Hall)

Galaxy as viewed from The Venetian

Lions having a bad hair day at The City of Dreams

Fascinated by mermaids!

Lucky crystals at the Galaxy

Mum at the Main Lobby of The Venetian

The Venetian calls this the Colonnade

Impressive artificial sky at the food cour

There are shuttle bus services that connect one hotel to another, so there’s no shortage of free transport for that matter. It looks to me like there's a collaborative effort among the big players – you scratch my back, I scratch yours and we are both happy scratching each other. I let your buses bring gamblers/visitors to my hotel/casino, you do the same for me and we will both laugh our way to the bank. In a sense, everyone benefits from this arrangement. Many things to learn from here.

Eat, Shop, Explore

Normal food seems expensive in Macau compared to Singapore. An average meal in a food court will set you back HKD50-80 (S$8-13) on the average (no drinks included).

Duck rice was HKD85 here

Macau isn’t really a place to shop unless you’re on a branded-goods acquisition tour. Lots of branded apparels and bags out in the streets and in the hotels. There seems to be a penchant in Macau for expensive watches – saw many shops displaying all kinds of such watches.  Many mobile and laptop shops too. 

Senado Square - probably the most crowded place in Macau - is the best place to shop for souvenirs and local delicacies and products. Soak up the touristy atmosphere by squeezing into the many small lanes and shops to buy those must-give-to-my-relatives souvenirs. The local delicacies don't really suit my taste but I saw many carting away big bags of almond biscuits and the likes. Shop around and compare prices, especially for souvenirs. The same set of keychains were going for HKD40, 50 and 80 at different shops.

Here we are at Senado Square

Senado Square and its unique tile patterns

Crowds everywhere

BBQ pork and beef Macau-style

Ruins of St Paul - finally reached the place I've always longed to visit. The crowds did dampen that exhilarating feeling a bit but thank goodness it was a sunny day. We also hopped to the Mount Fortress next door - nice place with great views of the city.

Ruins of St Paul

Canon at Mount Fortress

Panoramic view from Mount Fortress

Another view of the city from Mount Fortress

One of the must-do things in Macau is to taste Lord Stow's Portuguese egg tarts. A good thing that they opened a branch in the Venetian Shoppes - it was good. And of course we still had to buy some obligatory pastries and BBQ pork/beef back home.

The branch at The Venetian Shoppes

Koi Kei Bakery - probably the most famous in Macau

All too soon it was time to go back home. The Departure Hall was bigger than the arrival. The shops inside the Departure Hall were good for taking up waiting time but as usual, prices are inflated.

Inside the Departure Hall waiting for our flight

Punggol Park

It's been a long time...lazy, lazy. So what have I been up to the last 8 months or so? Well many things but no need to tell grandmother stories here. Suffice to say that I'm now shuttling between SG and HCMC. Have been exploring our local parks and walks (a paradise compared to HCMC) and this morning, it was a stroll in the park ... Punggol Park to be exact. I've lived near there, witnessed the building of the park but never really explored it ... the shame of it all.

It's a nice and peaceful place, underused as most parks are in Singapore and a great place for me to perfect my skating falls in the future. Yes, I know not what I was doing when I took up inline skating. But no choice. Cannot run as knees are out of order, walking is a tad slow for me so blading is the next course of action.

Some photos here that I took while on my walk today (click for bigger pix).

Panaromic view of Punggol Park

Reflections

Hardworking Ant!

Hardworking Bee!

Was very thrilled with this little bird. Many of his bros were around but they were all shy except for him. So I followed him around for about 20 min.

Later found that he was a Striated Heron (aka Little Heron, Little Mangrove Heron, Little Green Heron, Green-backed Heron) and probably the most common heron in our area (according to singaporebirds.net). Really? How come I've seen so few of it around?

Close-up of the Striated Heron

Snack is served

Poor Ant or something...

This I think is an Egret of some kind.
See tidechaser.blogspot.sg 

Another bro of the Striated Heron species
I found along the canal

A Walk in the Park ... Southern Ridges (Part I)

We decided to explore the Southern Ridges today starting at the foot of Mount Faber. It's a steep walk for two unfit persons but we managed to "conquer" the hill a tiring huffing-n-puffing 15 minutes later. Haven't been to Mount Faber for a couple of years. Nothing much has changed, which is indeed a comfort given that Singapore is changing so rapidly that I am now a tourist in my own country. Along the way after the Henderson Wave, we were so thrilled to come across a family of White-crested Laughing Thrush. A rare sight for city-dwellers like us. It turned dark and we managed to reach Alkaff Mansion. Decide to head for the nearest bus-stop before the sky gave way. So end of walk for us, and back to VivoCity.

The start of our adventure

Just a few steps to climb!

And another few steps...

What on earth is this?
Stairway to heaven?

Finally ... civilisation

View from Mount Faber

The way to continue our walk along the Southern Ridges

Going down this time

Step-by-step

Start of the Henderson Wave

View from Henderson Wave

+67.22m above sea level

Nice benches for tired bodies

White-Crested Laughing Thrush

Lost/Stolen Passport Procedure in HCMC

I am documenting this as a guide for foreigners who have lost their passports in HCMC or have had them stolen.

Background (5 Dec 12) : We were walking along Dong Khoi outside Parkson. 2 well-dressed men on a bike went onto the pavement. We made way for them. One of them suddenly grabbed my mother's handbag and they sped off. That was it. 2 passports and money gone.

Step 1 : 
Make a police report at the WARD police station where the crime was committed - you need to get the right ward police station. Otherwise you'll be running in circles looking for the right one. You'll need the help of a Vietnamese as most of the policemen do not speak English. You also need to write your statement in English and then have it translated to Vietnamese.

We made the report at night right after the incident. We were "informed" that if we reported our passports as lost instead of stolen, we will get the procedures processed faster. What procedures? Their motive? No prizes for guessing. Hint : statistics. The passports and money will never see the light of day again - it's just the report that we need. We stuck to our story -  asked for a copy of the report but none was given. No reason given too. We were just told that we can only collect our copy at 9am the next morning.

The next morning, we arrived promptly at 9am. One officer pulled the report from his drawer, passed to another for a look, and then to a third officer to stamp the report. All done in less than 3 minutes. That's how the "procedure" is for collecting a copy of the police report. Note also that procedures differ from ward to ward.

Police station at Ward Ben Nghe

Police Report (EL in front)

Police Report (VN - at the back)

Step 2 :

Go to your embassy/consulate, in our case Singapore. They will need the police report and 2 passport photos per person. You need to check with your embassy on their specific requirements. Don't go there and then start searching for a photo-shop to take your passport photo - adds to the delay and frustration, which you can well do without. Get your photos taken before you go there. We needed 3 photos per person - 2 for consulate, one for the VN Imm Dept later. Best to make 4.

The embassy will issue a Document of Identity (see below) for you to fly out of the country legally. However, in Vietnam, they need an additional Vietnam visa together with this document. So you need to go the Vietnam Immigration Department. See below for details.

Our consulate said it will take about 3 days to get the VN Visa done - which means you should be prepared to stay another 3 days or more. (See how we cut short below)

Document of Identity

Letter by SG Consulate to VN Imm Dept

Step 3 :

Go to the Immigration Department. In HCMC, the address is 254, Nguyen Trai, District 1.

It is about 10 minutes walk from Citi Plaza (shopping centre where we had lunch).

You need to get a Vietnamese friend to go with you. Handling them on your own is really difficult.

Note that it operates Mon to Fri 0800-1130, 1330-1600; Sat 0800-1130.

We rushed to reach there at 1110 but the queue number counter already closed.

So don't bother to go in the morning if you can't make it by 1100.

We had no choice but to hang around at Citi Plaza for 2 hours to wait for the 1.30pm opening.

Went back at 1.25pm - queue counter was already opened. Got a queue number.

Imm Dept at 254, Nguyen Trai, Dist 1

This is the queue number ticket

This is Counter 9 where you will make your report.

You need to fill up another form : "Application for visa issuance, replacement, modification or stay extension". One for each visa application. You need to buy it from the queue counter.
You also need to submit one passport photo to make your visa document.
You will need to make photocopies of all your documents for submission.

We went out to make photocopies after talking to the officer (machine at queue number counter was out). Someone in uniform approached us and offered to help get our visas done by today so that my parents can fly out this very night as originally scheduled. I let my VN friend handle the discussion. Final "service fee" was US$100. That's why you need a Vietnamese to go along with you.

We finally got the visas done at 4.30pm. Cost is US$25 per visa.
Total damage for us : US$150

Finally, the VISA!!

HCMC - No longer safe

Caught in the act (Crime in HCMC)

In my earlier days in HCMC, when I was still green, I attributed being cheated by some Vietnamese to my naivete. Then my wife was pick-pocketed. Still defended HCMC and blamed ourselves for not being careful. Then my apartment was burgled - ok, bad luck. Then I was robbed a few months back - my fault? Today, my mum was robbed. A very kind young lady brought us to the police station and help us make a police report. She said that her foreigner boss and another manager also fell victim to crime. Sorry, HCMC, I cannot defend you anymore. You have become too dangerous for me as a foreigner.

One year back, I rated you, HCMC, as the second safest city for tourists after Singapore, even safer than the other cities in Southeast Asia. Sorry, not any more. Not after what has happened to me and my family - call it bad luck, call it my fault, call it whatever you want - but HCMC has degenerated into a very dangerous city to be in, especially the city centre. Even their own citizens are afraid. See the following news from just one source, vietnamnet.vn (I've added more sources since then) :

Police-detain-25-muggers-on-buses-in-hcmc
Back-to-the--hot-spot--of-street-crime-in-saigon
More-mobile-police-for-hcmc-to-fight-crime
HCMC-to-mobilize-forces-to-crack-down-on-crime
Robbers-slash-man-s-arm-for-30-chinese-phone
Woman-s-arm-chopped-off-by-thieves
Woman-pushed-into-moving-traffic-by-bag-snatchers
HCMC-parks-targeted-by-criminals
Witches-brew

From vietnamnet.vn
Cruel-tricks-of-saigon-bandits
Incredible-tricks-of-saigon-robbers
Robbery-on-the-streets-of-saigon (1)
Robbery-on-the-streets-of-saigon (2)
The-police-to-declare-war-against-robbery-in-saigon
Street-knight-identifies-robbery
Combating-street-robbery--street-knight--model-still-a-concern
Ministry-of-public-security-to-tackle-robbery-in-hcm-city
Crime-will-bring-consequences-to-vietnam-expat-victim

I read the comments of some foreigners about how wonderful the country and city is, about how long they have stayed here and never fell victim to crime, about dumb people who don't know how to protect themselves from being robbed ... all I can say is that it only has to happen to you just once, and that spell which Vietnam cast will be broken. I gave HCMC four to five chances. Enough! For all its charm, beauty and hospitality, I do not want to live in a city where I have to look over my shoulders each day I go out, especially if I have a bag ... to look at every bike coming my way as a hostile force out to rob me, to go home and wonder if it has been broken into. This is what's happening to me now every day - certainly not a good way to live life.

I do not want to feel the helplessness of being robbed again and not being able to do anything about it. It is very frustrating. And if you do happen to be robbed, you are to surrender everything because if you retaliate, chances are you'll be hurt or killed. And the irony of it all is that you should thank your lucky stars that you're not hurt after being robbed. And you can expect that nothing will be done by the authorities despite your report. Whether it's the sheer numbers they have to deal with, or the helplessness, or the inefficiency, or the simply can't-be-bothered attitude, or whatever excuses they can cook up, you'll never see your belongings ever again - unless you're some super VIP with heavenly connections.

Even with all the pleasant memories, experiences and some wonderful Vietnamese friends, there comes a time when what is acceptable crosses the line, and enough is enough. I have made enough excuses for you, HCMC ... hasta la vista, Saigon! I'll be back for business but never to live again.