Macanese moments are well presented in these photos. Now, I learned that even if a place is as small as Macau, one should never underestimate the great treasures that can lie within.

“First birthdays are for the parents’ benefit, to celebrate surviving the first year and remember the day you gave birth. Do whatever you fancy. Your baby won’t hold it against you!” It’s an exciting milestone! So we decided to go on a vacation to a nice place with hills, beach and culture on our baby’s first birthday which was on the December, 29th. Anyone else planning the first birthday vacation?

As we were traveling with our baby girl, we preferred to limit our destination choice to within a 6-hour flight; hence we decided on Macau for the Christmas and Birthday celebration. We booked our reservation at Crowne Plaza, Macau for 6 days.

Apparently spending 5 nights in Hong Kong and 3 in Macau, should be adequately good  to get an OK experience of the place, but we wanted a get-fit, healthy, relaxing and a special birthday vacation. So we decided to visit Hong Kong sometime in the future. I have been traveling the world together with my partner for over seven years now and one of the things we love the most is the freedom that travel and this lifestyle gives us.

The islands of Macau, settled off the coast of Hong Kong in the South China Sea, can only be described as an exception. Here, in the middle of Asia, you can spot yourself walking through an old Portuguese village or standing in the thick of colorful lights of a Vegas-style strip of casinos. It’s a place where a long colonial history has brought cultural influences together from all corners of the globe, resulting in a truly one of a kind destination.

Macau has a little bit of culture for everyone. For historical culture there are amazing churches and museums, and for local culture the beaches, attractions and nightlife are like no other city in the world. From Hong Kong you can reach Macau by jetfoil, which makes the area a popular day-trip destination.

Known for its huge casinos and being the world’s top gambling city, it boasts some of the luxury hotels and is a great destination for Michelin-starred fine dining. We visited The Venetian, Sofitel Macau at Ponte 16, The Parisian, Galaxy Macau, Grand Coloane Resort and Four Seasons.

We visited their restaurants to celebrate our ‘thank goodness we survived the first tricky 365 days’ with cutting a cake or a dessert in plate each day of the trip.

Honestly we  wanted to explore so much more but it is quite challenging when you travel with baby (howbeit we embraced the new fun and craziness of traveling with our bundle of joy, all the gear and baby-lugging was a great vacation exercise).

Here are some more highlights from our Holiday and Birthday, 2017 trip:

Important things that you should be informed if you are planning a day trip to Macau from Hong Kong:

Allow 1 hour to get from hotel to ferry+tickets+boarding.

Allow 1 hour to get from HK to Macau.

Allow 30mins to disembark, immigration then taxi.

Similar the other way round…so travelling will cost you 5 hours.

Longer ferry waiting times during weekends and public holidays.

If you leave at 9am, you will reach Macau at 1130. To get back to HK by 6pm, you will have to leave Macau by 430. That gives you 5 hours. I think you should stay for dinner. Try Macanese or Portugese food, or visit the Casinos. Take a later ferry and be back by about 11pm.

P.S. Will update the blog with more photos of the trip and also working on a separate blog about my dining experience at Cafe Azure and about my stay at Crowne Plaza, The Venetian, The Sofitel Macau at Ponte 16, and Grand Coloane Beach Resort.

Till we meet again

xoxo

~Sanchali