p a n d e m o n i u m II: January 2010

Yes. Finally. The post on Macau. One of the most brilliant experiences I have been through. Travelling around on unfamiliar territory with a bunch of similiarly clueless friends is the best thing ever. SO much happened in so little time. E.g. We bussed through half the island in less than 5 minutes. Goodness me. Oh, and a terrifying run in with immigration authorities. Who could forget that. Keep reading for some handy hints that should be read by travelling ABCs.

DAY FOUR

SO, we were supposed to depart Hong Kong early, except Bosco had an appointment with the HK immigration department in the morning to get his adult HKID. [In HK, everyone holds an ID card- folks under the age of 18 hold a child ID, and adults obviously get the adult ID card. Once a child ID card holder turns 18 he/she must make an appointment with a govt dept to upgrade their ID card. Pretty much all of our BBQSKAMS had to meet with the people from the govt.] Then he met the rest of us at the terminal where we ran to buy tickets for the next ferry. The lady at the counter told us we had roughly 15 minutes (I'm not sure if that's right anymore) before the gates closed for the next ferry, so of course we all sprinted through the terminal to find Immigration.

Ah, Immigration. Before I go on with this, allow me to jump back a few days to when I had just received my temporary adult ID (a sheet of paper that you use while your card takes about 14 days to print/arrive). D and I had this conversation.

B: I'm going to keep this sheet.
D: No you're not. What if you lose it?
B: ... I won't.
D: No. You can hold on to your passport. It means the same anyway.
B: T_T Fine.

I had my passport in my bag for the rest of the trip, however, I had entered HK using my ID card instead of my passport.

Now skip to the moment at customs- the lady/man (lol crap, too long ago, I've forgotten already) was asking for my ID.

X: Can I please have your ID
B: Err, I don't have it. I have my passport. *hands*
X: *flicks through all the pages* How did you get into HK?
B: With my ID.
X: Where's your ID?
B: I haven't got it yet =-=;
X: Where's your temporary ID?
B: With my dad.
X: Why?
B: *currently thinking of ways to kill D* He was scared I'd lose it.
X: Oh. What's your ID number.
B: Er, I have NO idea. (Honestly, NO idea.)
X: ...

AND THEN HE/SHE WALKED TO ANOTHER COUNTER TO TALK TO HIS/HER SUPERIOR ABOUT ME.

Perhaps for 10 or so minutes, they thought I was a teenage drug trafficker or something nasty like that, which would taint my perfect immigration record. :( I was getting dirties from other people behind me who wanted to get through immigration, but then I realised I wasn't the only one on the receiving end. WOO, at the counter on the other side, Bosco was also in the same damn position as me. AHAHA!

But yeah. Minutes later, we were both granted 3 month Visas into Macau (Whee stamps in Passport!) and a lecture from Immigration staff about keeping temporary IDs with us at all time. (Naturally D got a grilling from me when I got back to the hostel.. >:)

Tickets to and from Macau

We boarded the ferry looking like people who had sprinted for their lives from immigration to the right gate.

The ferry was far from what I imagined. It had nice seats, reminded me of an aeroplane without the entertainment system. Not having an entertainment system was okay though. Some people spent most of the time snoozing. :P

At last we arrived at Macau's ferry terminal, where we were swamped with tour guides badgering us to follow their tours which was very annoying. Found our way to the bus stop and got on the first 31 we saw I think.

I don't remember much anymore (should have blogged about this earlier) so hopefully Bosco, Mawson or Quentin will fill in some gaps. But I remember we got off the bus in hope of finding the famous food street- but apparently we had travelled too far and ended up here.

Doesn't this look like old HK?

Man. I am trying hard to remember what happened afterwards, but it's so HARD. Everything seems like a blur. All I remember is a lady on the bus telling us to get off asap and cross the road to take the same route but back to our intended stop. Gah. Macau's too small. It takes about 5 mins for me to get to Carlingford Court by bus, but 5 minutes in Macau equates to travelling to the other half of the island. Yeesh.

So we got off at the right place 8) and started walking towards food street, when we see this sign.

We didn't eat there of course. We ate HERE. Quentin and Sharon was separated from us XD and they had to sit with some strangers, while the rest of us had a little booth.