Two bucket list items in one day

HONG KONG  — This is my first trip to Hong Kong where we stayed at the Disneyland Hollywood Hotel, therefore there is really nothing here to remind me of the Hong Kong that I have always known in my past. However, this particular trip is with the entire family and seeing my five grandchildren in Hong Kong Disneyland was something unique for grandparents like me. However, since my grandkids have never been to Macau, it was ripe to bring them to another city and country.

Yes, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau (HZM) Bridge completed last October was really something for me to try, it is in my bucket list. Yes, ever since they began constructing it, I realized that we in Cebu should come up with a similar infrastructure project to link Cebu to Bohol, which is why we presented this case to the Regional Development Council (RDC-7) Infrastructure Utilities Committee. Of course, the RDC approved it for study, which is why then Governor Enrico Aumentado asked me if he could adopt this project for Bohol and I gave him the okay.

So in a way, it was the very first time I took a trip to Macau not by ferry service but using a bus travelling the HZM Bridge, which is a 55-kilometer bridge–tunnel system consisting of a series of three cable-stayed bridges, an undersea tunnel, and four artificial islands. It is both the longest sea crossing and the longest open-sea fixed link on earth.

What I really did not expect or anticipate in this journey was that, Hong Kong had to construct a huge bus terminal facility since passengers need to exit Hong Kong in order to enter into another country. What we found totally amazing was that the Hong Kong Port Bus Terminal was huge, even bigger than our Terminal 2 at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, they even had similar wooden wave-like designs. No, there were no lines in the immigration simple because of the holiday season, but this facility is prepared for an upsurge in passenger traffic.

When we finally entered the bus, I realized that I was using this great road infrastructure that only opened last year. Incidentally, construction began in 2009, and the total construction cost was at 127 billion yuan (US$18.8 billion). Passing through the HZM Bridge was a wonderful experience and from Hong Kong it only took us 40 minutes. Arriving 40 minutes later, we entered the new gigantic immigration facility in Macau to present our passports. Yes, like the Hong Kong Port facility, Macau Port was equally huge and very well-prepared for the future of Macau.

As there were no long lines in immigration, we immediately proceeded to look for a van that would take us around Macau as we didn’t plan to stay overnight, but had lunch and toured what little facilities we could see. First stop was at the Comida Portuguesa a Carlos or the Carlos Portuguese Restaurant, where I got a taste of Portuguese culinary delights. Another item in my bucket list was to try again the Feijoada, called the national dish of Brazil. I tasted this 20 years ago when Frank Benedicto was ambassador to Brazil and we visited Curitiba for the future of Cebu’s mass transit system which today is called the Bus Rapid Transportation.

Feijoada was as great dish for me, and the closest one we could have was the Fabada Española. But at least for this visit to Macau, we did not only achieve one bucket list item of mine, but two! Touring with my family in the various hotels in Macau, we ended up in The Venetian, which in Macau is bigger than the one in Las Vegas. The only negative for us on this trip was that the weather was very gloomy and we knew that it was raining in Hong Kong.

When it was time to return to Hong Kong, the van dropped us in the Macau Port Bus Terminal where we presented our passports to exit Macau.

Mind you, the return trip was only 35 minutes. What was on my mind while the bus was travelling on the HZM Bridge was that someday, we would have a similar road bridge to connect Cebu to Bohol with a huge difference; there is no need for us to construct immigration terminals on each stop as all this is part of the Philippines.

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