Just recently, I had my first out of the country vacation with Mama. I booked our tickets almost a year ago, so imagine the anticipation I had to go through for such a long time. Besides being my first travel abroad, it's also the first DIY itinerary I did all by myself. Thanks for the help of Google. Lol. (I'll make a separate post for the itinerary I did.)

So let me start my series of travel posts with our first destination - MACAU! We arrived in Hongkong  in the morning. After leaving our luggage at the guesthouse in HK, we immediately headed to the China Ferry terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui. Good thing though that we got discounted round trip tickets from the guesthouse's Filipino caretaker. Yay!

The ferry ride from HK to Macau takes around 1 hour and 45 minutes. We took the Cotai Jet ferry heading to Taipa, Macau. There are areas for the luggages behind the seat rows.

See that red poster on the back of the seats? That's Manny Pacquiao on it and he's all over Macau! Turns out that he had a fight over that weekend with Chris Algieri and we totally had no idea of it.

Upon arriving at the Ferry Terminal in Macau, there are free shuttle buses sponsored by different casinos and hotel. Though we didn't book in one of these hotels, we took one that brought us to Macau main island. They didn't even ask us where we are booked!

Taipa and Macau is connected via this long bridge across the Delta Pearl. It's more beautiful at night though.

After some rest, we started our tour and head out to do some casino hopping in Cotai Strip. You know what they say, you haven't been to Macau if you didn't see the casinos! And it's very convenient to go around because of the free shuttle buses. Our first stop was the City of Dreams.

City of Dreams reminds me so much of Resorts World Manila, but of course COD is more grandiose.

The entrance was so inviting and appealing! Those lights changes colors from time to time. There were two security guards at the entrance that happened to be Filipinos so we took the chance of asking them to take our pictures. LOL

On the inside, one won't really miss the dragon fixtures designed all over the place. They were on the walls, corners, hallways and even on the ceiling! I actually wanted to watch the show "The House of the Dancing Water"  but I wasn't able to book the tickets and they were quite expensive. Lol

That's me on the hallway connecting to the Hard Rock Hotel. :)

We didn't bother going inside the Casino though as I had an experience that I was mistaken for a minor so the reception asked for my ID. Lol. COD Manila is soon to open on the first quarter of 2015! I wonder if it will be as grand as COD Macau.

Just across COD is the ever stunning, The Venetian. Every corner of this casino and hotel spells luxury and is indeed picturesque. The sight would have been different during the day though.

Pacquiao-Alghieri fight advertisements were everywhere on the corner. Could have been a difference sight without the posters. LOL

Upon entering, you will be welcome by a palace-like feels. I was a little bit intimidated at first. Lol

We also passed by at The Sands and didn't bother going inside cause we're already a bit tired.

Due to the bone-chilling weather, we weren't able to explore more of Cotai Strip. I would definitely love to go back here (especially at The Venetian) to experience more of Macau.

So that's how we spend our first day of tour! :)