During the epidemic, I pretended to go on a Christmas trip to Macau (very long, with pictures and guide)

Recently, the epidemic has become tense again. Since last year, various Travel plans have been put on hold. When the situation is good, we can only travel domestically. Don’t even think about playing, Traveling abroad or anything like that. Since our company always has a two-day holiday during Christmas, and this Christmas happens to fall on a weekend, it makes it into a four-day holiday.
  
Macau is a place that people might not have thought of visiting in the past. After all, there are holidays and there are many other choices. However, under the current circumstances, it is the most accessible outbound travel destination. Got it!
  
As we all know, Macau’s most developed industry is the gaming industry, but there are also a lot of delicious food there (from a foreigner’s perspective). Since it was once a Portuguese colony, many of the buildings in Macau have an exotic style. If you search casually on Xiaohongshu, you will see many photography tips that will teach you how to shoot European blockbusters in Macau.

Since Macau opened its doors last year and only required nucleic acid test reports and no need for quarantine, waves of promotional activities have followed, whether it is Macau official Either way, you can find very cheap air tickets and hotels. I originally thought the prices would be a little more expensive during the Christmas period, but maybe we decided on our itinerary early and looked at air tickets and hotels early, so we finally got a very good price. I am sending my own price here, I don’t know if it can be used as a reference.
  
Air ticket:
CNY 751/person round-Trip on Air Macau ( It turned out to be 951. I don’t know why there is a 400 discount coupon. In fact, if two people buy it separately, it only costs 551/person. But we only got 400 discount when we bought 2 tickets together, so it is expensive per person.)
  
Hotel:
Sheraton CNY 395/night including tax and two breakfasts
The Venetian CNY1378/2 nights including tax and excluding breakfast

Both hotels were bought on the WeChat 50% off coupon. Let me tell you how to get it:

Preparation before departure & at the airport:

• Hong Kong and Macau Pass + Endorsement
• Aokang Code: You need to fill in the information before check-in Content, need to be presented at check-in
• Itinerary code/big data pass: presented at check-in
• Customs Health Declaration Code: This needs to be prepared before security inspection. A machine will take a photo of it during security inspection. There is a series of specific information that needs to be filled in, such as your flight information and seats, so you have to fill it in after checking in.
• Nucleic acid report: The regulation requires a negative nucleic acid test report within 7 days (paper+stamped), which is actually less than 7 days. For example, I took a nucleic acid test on the 22nd and the report came out on the 22nd, and my departure date was the 24th. If it is valid for 7 days starting from the 22nd, it will be valid until the 28th. But in fact, the airport and other things are valid until the 27th, which means our card has just expired. Therefore, if you want to do a nucleic acid test, you must calculate the time accurately. But even if you stay in Macau for a long time, it doesn’t matter if the validity period has passed. Testing can also be done locally in Macau. As far as I know, there is a testing point in the Venetian Hotel, but because I didn’t go out to see it, I don’t know the details. Where is the location.
• Cash: When I was doing the guide, I saw that there are stores in Macau where you can pay in RMB (cash or Alipay or WeChat). According to Macau Pataca/Hong Kong Dollar:RMB, money is collected at a ratio of 1:1, so you need to prepare some Macau Pataca/Hong Kong Dollar cash. My girlfriend and I were stupid. We forgot to take out our foreign currency credit cards when we went out, and we didn't have any cash. We were counting on my brother to get enough cash to exchange for banknotes. Everyone! actually! Totally unnecessary! We exchanged about 1,000 RMB at the airport. Later, whether we were shopping, eating or going to convenience stores, we found that all support Alipay and WeChat! and! They all have coupons and stuff. In the Start with Macau applet where you can get 50% off hotel coupons, there are coupons you can get, some of which are in specialized shopping malls, and some of which are general. of. It is automatically deducted when paying, which is super discounted. Except for paying cash for taxis and when going to the casino to exchange chips, you must use Hong Kong dollars or Macau patacas. At other times, you have no chance to use cash. I have never encountered any situation where RMB and MOP are charged on a 1:1 basis.
  

After going through so many checkpoints, we finally made it! The check-in queue at Pudong Airport was quite long, and we were aware of this when we were making the guide, so we reserved enough time. Okay, we are officially off!
  

DAY1

During the epidemic, kindergartens stipulated that if you leave the city, you must be quarantined at home, so I did not bring the baby with me this time ! This is the first time in more than four years since I went to Beijing with my friends when my child was four months old! Traveling without kids! Can you understand how I feel? I really look up to the sky and smile! (Thanks to my mother for the hard work) We can live in a world of two!
  


Traveling together this time were my cousin, his wife, and my girlfriend. A trip of four is just right for the number of people who can go to a restaurant to order food. There will not be too many people waiting for each other to waste time (it turns out that I was too naive, my cousin and his wife were extremely late). There are also enough people to go to the restaurant to order food without wasting time. Two people ordered too much to finish.
  
I finally have a trip abroad, what if I don’t come to Rishang to do some sweeping? ! During the current epidemic, only outbound duty-free shops are open in Pudong Rishang, and inbound duty-free shops are closed, so friends who want to buy things here can only do so when leaving the country. You can buy it at any time, and can't store it, you can only buy it and take it away. After shopping around, I ended up buying only one lipstick! I am such a thrifty person!
  


Outbound traffic tips: When going to Macau, you don’t need to activate international roaming on Mobile and other places in advance. This kind of Hong Kong and Macau seven-day traffic card is sold in the vending machine in the airport terminal. It only costs 50 yuan, which is cheaper than roaming! There is a phone card inside. It happens that my iPhone 12 has dual SIM card and dual standby. After installing it, I can use the data directly when I arrive in Macau~




Because it was departing on Christmas Eve on the 24th, there were flight attendants on the plane who changed into Christmas costumes and handed out cute gingerbread cookies to the passengers. Happy Christmas songs were also played in the background, which was quite atmospheric!
  


Arrived at Macau Airport, lined up to check the nucleic acid report and released. After arriving at the airport, it was another operation to enter the country, because it required Check and verify the nucleic acid reports one by one.
  


After I came out, I originally planned to take the shuttle bus, but I didn’t know whether it was due to the epidemic or it was too late. There was no shuttle bus at the airport, so I took a taxi. The driver from Macau drove It looks like a racing car, and sitting in the car feels like I'm filming The Fast and the Furious. Because Macau is so small, it only takes about ten minutes to get from the airport to the hotel.
  
My girlfriend and I stayed at the Sheraton on the first night, and my cousin and his wife stayed at the Parisians are actually all together, including Venetian and the newly opened Londoners, the place where these hotels are located is called Sands City Center, and they are all within walking distance of each other. When we first entered the Sheraton, we felt a little regretful, because we didn't expect that the Londoner next to the Sheraton was under construction, so there must be noise, and the part of the room next to the Londoner was also under construction, so some roads were blocked and required a detour. . But when we got to the front desk, the lady at the front desk upgraded us to a room with a view. Looking out the window, we can see the small Eiffel Tower in front of the Parisian hotel opposite. We can't hear any disturbing construction sounds from the room for the time being, so just make peace with it!
  

Selfies in hotels are always great!
  


There is a Hong Kong proverb: Londoners are pretty good-looking! Although the exterior wall has not yet been built, most of the British architectural forms can be seen, and there is a small Big Ben next to it. It is said that the inner rooms of the Londoners are ready to receive guests, but the outer walls have not yet been completed.



Even though I had already eaten the airplane meal, I was still a little hungry at the moment. After putting our luggage in the room and resting for a while, the four of us met again and took a taxi to have some late-night snacks. But our taxi driver was so unreliable that he dropped us off at Guanye Street. We started walking thinking that our destination was nearby, but it turned out that it was actually another 1 hour away from where we wanted to go. kilometers.
  
Finally it’s time for our first delicious meal in Macau: Colorful Food Stalls

This place seems to be open very late. Even though it was very late when we arrived, the lobby was still full of people and very lively. We ordered some of the signature dishes here. Although there is an exchange rate difference, the consumption level in Macau is still not low. The four of us spent a total of MOP651 on this food stall meal.
  

DAY2

The first night's room rate includes breakfast. We were secretly happy that we bought such a cheap price that included breakfast for two, but later we found out that the breakfast was really not that good, and because of the decoration, it took us a long time to find the buffet restaurant.
  
Check out after breakfast. The hotel here has express check-out. When checking in, the front desk will ask you if you need to use the mini bar or make international calls. There will be charges. If you do not need all items, your deposit will not be charged (the room fee has been paid before), then you do not need to go to the front desk when checking out, just throw the room card into something similar to a mailbox on the guest room passage Once you go inside, you can leave directly, which is very convenient.
  
I mentioned before that the hotels in Sands Cotai Central are all connected. We stayed at the Venetian for the last two nights, so after checking out, we dragged our luggage through the overpass across the road and arrived at the road The Venetian opposite.
  



Although it was not my first time here, I was still blinded by the splendor of the Venetian. Check-in was quite quick. The staff will come to help us pick up our luggage while we are waiting in line to check in. Later, they will help us bring our luggage directly to the room, saving us the time of dragging our luggage away ourselves. It can be said to be very considerate. Because the Venetians are really big!
  
The fastest way to get from the front desk to your room is to go through the casino in the middle and get to the elevator that goes up to the guest rooms. Luggage cannot be brought into the casino. During the epidemic, no matter how many times you enter a casino, you need to check the Aokang code and nucleic acid test report at the entrance every time, so you must carry the report with you. And they don’t recognize the electronic version, must be paper version! After checking in, you need to wash your hands with hand sanitizer. It is quite strict. This is true at every entrance of the casino.
  
What we made wrong was that we put the report in our luggage and the staff took it away, so we had to take a roundabout route and find the guest room elevator through the Grand Canal Shopping Center on the third floor. Good guy, the shopping mall is huge, and there are several lanes. It was confusing. It took a lot of time to finally find the guest room elevator. When we got to the room, our luggage also arrived.
  
The basic room in the Venetian is the suite, which is very spacious! , when we checked in, the room assigned to us was at the end of the corridor. I was not very satisfied. The hotel is so big, and it would be inconvenient to walk a long way to the end of the corridor, so I asked them to arrange a room near the elevator and got permission. Finally we were moved to a disabled room. Don’t look down on disabled rooms! In fact, except that there are no steps in the room (junior suites have steps), there are handrails in the shower room and toilet, they are no different from ordinary rooms, and according to standards, disabled rooms are larger than ordinary rooms and not smaller.
  


After a short rest, we want to go shopping in the shopping street, Andrew's Cake Shop and Coffee Shop is most famous for its Portuguese egg tarts, which still taste so delicious, and the fruit honey pot tea tastes great too!
  
Due to getting up late in the morning, changing hotels, checking in and going to the mall, etc., it was soon time for dinner. Our group made a reservation at a local restaurant called "Ya Qi". This store is on the seaside of Cotai near Zhuhai, and many seats are outdoors. Our seat faces the other side of the river and we can see the dim lights of Zhuhai on the other side. It’s really close!




This restaurant was highly recommended by my sister-in-law’s colleagues. It really lived up to our expectations. Every dish was delicious. They all taste great! The store also recommended us their own wine.
  
The restaurant is located inside some residential buildings. Outside the restaurant is a small square, which is usually a place where residents can take a walk or dance in the square. It happened to be Christmas, and there was actually a small Christmas concert here. The band members were all middle-aged men, but the singing was surprisingly good! After drinking some wine, enjoying the wind by the river, and watching the rhythm of the music, people couldn't help but dance along.
  


In Xiaohongshu, I saw a lot of sharing of Macau Christmas tree check-ins. We didn’t deliberately check in the Christmas trees, but we would take pictures when we saw them. There is a big Christmas tree on the second floor of the Venetian Casino, and I took photos there. There is also a very tall tree outside. My cousin said that Parisians have a very unique Christmas tree hanging upside down from the ceiling (as shown in the picture). As a little red book blogger, my brother also took a lot of beautiful photos for the funder’s father in front of the Christmas tree.
  






Christmas tree outside the Venetian


Christmas tree on the ceiling of the Parisian

Finally let’s get to the point (no). How can you not support the gaming industry when you come to Macau? I have experience with this. After all, I lost a lot of money when I came to Macau last time and when I went to the Monte Carlo Casino before. I can be said to be a professional when it comes to losing money, haha. So this time I didn’t have any daydreams about how to make a fortune. With the mentality of “play a little bit, lose everything and lose everything”, we few poor young people with no courage only changed one Thousand Hong Kong dollars in chips. I only got 10 chips, hahahahaha, not enough to play a round of baccarat. But it doesn’t matter, just treat it as passing by and play by the way, otherwise you will always feel that something is missing. In the end, we split it in half (it was too shabby, the total was only 1,000 and we had to split it half to play, you must know that the minimum bet is 300), and finally I avenged my shame and got back the chips we almost lost before. , and did not continue.
  

After having fun and getting the money back, let’s go have something to drink.
  


St. Regis Macau's St Regis Bar is relatively famous, and judging from the per capita consumption in the reviews, it is also relatively cost-effective. Just decided to go there. I thought I could get in without too many people, but I don't know if it was because of Christmas, but we still had to queue up, and we waited in line for an hour! (Everyone has come) It’s finally our turn. Luckily we had a good location, right in front of the bar's stage. And in order to celebrate Christmas, the bar invited singers and musicians to perform on the night of 25th and 26th.
  

An internet celebrity photo that my mom doesn’t recognize

The specialty of St. Regis Bar is Bloody Mary, Every St. Regis bar has its own unique Bloody Mary, and this one’s name is the Oriental Mary (if I remember correctly). To be arty, I ordered this one. Facts have proved that you can't pretend to be random, it is easy to overturn. This taste, how should I put it, is almost equal to the taste of chili water + tomato juice + salt mixed together. It's really indescribably weird, and that's what makes it so attractive. Maybe it's because I don't know how to taste wine...

And the ones they ordered were even more bizarre. The shapes of each wine glass were weirder and funnier than the last, and the taste was just like the agouti, which was pretty good. The other two are also weird.
  

Happy cup

DAY3

Out of the bar the night before It was already past one o'clock, and it was very late to go back to the room to go to bed, so I slept in a lot that day. After getting up, I went straight to have lunch.I had already planned to try an ice room for lunch that day, and my siblings found a place called Ma Qingkang Ice Room is located on the Macau Peninsula. We still took a taxi there. I didn't expect this store to be so popular, and there was already a long queue at the door. At this time, I was dizzy with hunger and couldn't wait to eat something. So my cousin and his wife lined up first, and my girlfriend and I went to look for other ice rooms nearby. I found a restaurant called Sanbao Ice Room. The reviews showed that it scored quite high, but after I went there, I found that there were only a few people there, so I wasn’t interested in eating there. Human nature is so mean.
  


I ordered a cup of fish egg pudding at Sanbao Ice Shop and walked back slowly, passing by a milk tea shop. I have never had milk tea before coming to Macau! So I immediately bought a drink. And I also found that this milk tea shop actually has cheaper fish balls. The fish balls in my hand suddenly lost their flavor...


Take some photos on the street near the milk tea shop

When we went back, our table happened to be lined up, and we each ordered a staple food. You can taste a little of each. It’s worthy of waiting in line to eat, everything tastes delicious! My favorites are Barbecued Pork and Double Egg Rice and Ovaltine Crispy Explosion, even though It looks like it’s full of calories, but I can’t care less. This rich taste is 10 times better than other Ovaltine-flavored drinks!
  


After eating and drinking, it’s time to visit Macau’s classic attractions <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ruins of St. Paul’s< /span>. It can be reached on foot from the ice room, so you can take a walk to eat.
  


During Christmas, there are many Santa Clauses of different shapes placed in the green space in front of the Ruins of St. Paul's, which is quite atmospheric.There is a large Uniqlo in front of Ruins of St. Paul's. I also saw many people dressed like Internet celebrity bloggers posing in the corridor of Uniqlo because there is a window that is said to be a good shooting angle. I don't have this ability. I'm too lazy to go up and squeeze in.There are actually a lot of places to eat near Ruins of St. Paul's, but we had just finished lunch and really didn't have room for anything else, so we went back to the hotel and bought some The souvenirs from Ju Kee Bakery are going to be taken back and distributed to colleagues in the company.
  


I will still eat ice cream in the evening, this time I plan to go to a restaurant called Neptune's Ice Chamber's. The taxi driver we took this time was a beautiful lady with pink hair. After telling us the destination, the driver started telling us that this ice room didn’t taste very good, so we asked her what else was nearby. It was a delicious restaurant that the locals loved to go to, so she recommended another restaurant which was not an ice room and the price was also on the high side. Naively, I almost believed it and wanted to go to the store she mentioned. Fortunately, my brothers and sisters did not forget their original intentions and did not go to the store recommended by the driver. We asked the driver to drop us off at Guanye Street, planning to find a restaurant here to eat. It was getting late and we were getting a little hungry by this time.
  


Let’s eat something to fill your stomach first. There is a restaurant on Guanye Street calledOld DAY Beef Offal’s offal shop has a lot of people lining up at the door. We Shanghainese are never afraid of queuing! This denim shop is really cost-effective. It has three sizes: small, medium and large. You can choose the type of beef offal by yourself, and you can also add vegetables and the like at a reasonable price. My girlfriend and I ordered a medium portion, and the medium portion was so big! The two cousins ​​ordered small portions, and they tasted great! After eating offal, I felt like I was almost done.
  

Guanye Street

To be a good person, you still have to remember your original intention. My brothers and sisters still wanted to eat at the Neptune Ice Room, so we went there anyway to see if this store was real. As the driver said, the Internet celebrity store is not worthy of its name or something.
  


Neptune Ice Room certainly lived up to our expectations. It tastes great. What’s not to like about it? I thought to myself, which boss of the road did Neptune Ice Room offend? Why did the driver want to hack it? Later, we clicked on the review of the store that the driver highly recommended, and saw several comments saying that it was recommended by the driver, and it suddenly dawned on us! I almost got deceived! It seems that I am still so naive even after 30, because I haven’t been whipped enough by society!
  

Justify the reputation of Neptune Ice Room

I haven’t been shopping much in the past few days. After eating ice room and returning to the hotel, I planned to go shopping and buy something. At this critical moment, my girlfriend My stomach hurt and I couldn't walk anymore, so I went back to my room to take a rest. After waiting, most of the shops in the mall will be closed.
  

DAY4

Finally, it was the last day. Actually, we originally booked a flight back at around 4pm, but later the flight was cancelled, so we had to change it to around 1pm. In addition, we had to reserve enough time to go through the customs, so we basically slept in, got up, packed, had breakfast and left. Just near the elevator leading to our room is the food court of Venetian Shopping Street, with many snack bars. We had already decided to eat at this Michelin one-star Tim Ho Wan on the last day. It was not a bad deal, it was still delicious, but it was a bit slow to serve. While waiting, my girlfriend had already taken down her luggage and checked out quickly. Just like Sheraton, if there is no deposit, just throw the room card into the check-out mailbox in the corridor at check-out time.


My cousin and his wife, the king of lateness, were late again. We were already waiting impatiently at the hotel entrance. I swear that next time if I go out with them again, I will move up the agreed time by half an hour!