hey bros

got a few questions (and sub questions) on DG and Macau. been searching through the forum but can't
seem to find the answers:

1. Hotels in ZMT - As i have only been to ZMT once (and that was with experienced company - i.e. bros hunter & BPB),
                          how far off is the coal mine BBS area to the Garden Hotel ZMT? Is there a better hotel in terms of
                          standard and most importantly, location to the coal mine (i am thinking something like a few minutes walk
                          away so that i can go down, bring the WGs up to a nice room, do the deed, and repeat the process
                          till i'm spent )

2. DG to Macau by road - Following on the first question, i know that there is a coach departing from
                                    Garden Hotel ZMT twice daily to the Metropark Hotel in Macau. The route would
                                    utilise the Gong Bei Border Crossing to get from the Mainland into Macau. Is the Gong Bei
                                    Crossing like the Huanggang one? (i.e. the bus from ZMT will stop at the immigration/customs,
                                    i get off with my luggage, go through the Mainland formalities, walk over to the Macau side,
                                    go through Macau formalities and then onto a bus that will take me to Metropark?).

                                    I understand the Huanggang Crossing is that the HK bus will drop you off at HK immigration and
                                    then you hop back on the same bus which brings you to the China immigration side. After that,
                                    a Mainland bus will take you to your final destination. But Gong Bei is more of a predestrain border
                                    crossing isn't it? Hence is the procedure different?

any bros here who have done this itinerary before? all help will be much appreciated.

Hey DutchDoubles,

Answer to your second question. Yes, it's almost the same as the Huanggang one but a lot shorter! They'll drop you off on the China side and you cross the border then hop back onto the bus for a REALLY short trip to the Macau border then hop off again to cross the Macau side.I imagine they'll make you walk these days since you have to fill in the stupid "health form". Once on the Macau side, you'll be prompted to go find the MetroPark bus (usually on the left side after exiting the border). Note that it's a totally different bus so be careful.

I did this trip a year or so ago so things may  have changed. Best to check with the bus driver or the lady along for the ride.

Good luck!

cheers for shedding some light on this

so you took the coach from ZMT (or another part of DG)? i'm guessing its a 3 hour ride
from ZMT to the Gong Bei Border? and the eternal question, how much did it cost?

From DG to Macau - coach stop at Hua Mei Hotel in DG - is roughly 3 and half hours depending on traffic. Cost is less than RMB100. Best to catch the bus early in the morning as traffic in southern china is murder!!!

Going by private hire taxi will cost around RMB400 or so but will save you an hour or so.

I remember paying RMB80 for the whole trip (I wanna say it was ZMT but was with a frd who was local so I just followed but we ended up in GongBei definitely).. it has been a while though so prices may have gone up (or down though that's unlikely).

Bro asia-play is right though. Traffic is brutal. I'd actually recommend you take a cab and head down to the Shekou ferry terminal (roughly one hour +/- depending on traffic) and will cost you roughly RMB100 then take the ferry from Shekou directly to Macau <RMB130 I think> (or ZhuHai <RMB80>). The ferry takes about an hour. It is a little more pricey but saves you hell a lot of time.

Yeah, I recommend the choice to taxi it down to Shekou and then catch the ferry to Macau to save time if that is an important factor

[ Last edited by  asia-play at 13-10-2009 12:42 ]

here's an idea that might get you from DG to Macau proper in 2 hours 20 minutes.

Take the Humen Ferry leaving Humen at 14:45, arriving at HKIA at 16:10
Take the HKIA Ferry to Macau leaving HKIA at 16:15, arriving in Macau at 17:05

I have no idea if transferring at HKIA is possible or not.  Something worth investigating.

Whatever you do, it'll be faster taking a ferry.

cheers bros A-P and ruggers for the lowdown on the transportation advice!

i just checked the CTS timetable and according to it, there are 2 coaches scheduled to leave
the ZMT Garden Hotel daily to the gong bei border and then onto macau. one at 8:05am and the other at 3:15pm.

if i hop on the 8:05am one, considering the potential traffic issues and the wait at Gong Bei to clear customs,
should i be able to get to Metropark at say about 1pm?

i would consider going from ZMT to Shekou but correct me if i am wrong, the only viable way to do this
is by private cab/car? do any of the hotels in ZMT or the DG area run a coach service to shekou?
if its private cab/car i am figuring it should be around 150 RMB to get from DG to SZ in general?

bro ruggers - there are ferries from shekou that goes to both macau and zhuhai yeah? so for zhuhai (in case i want
                   to stop for some fun ), does the ferry stop at jiuzhou or wanzai?

If you plan to get the coach at 8am there should be no problem to reach the hotel by 1pm.

A few months ago, I travelled from DG to Macau at 8am and got into Macau before 12 on a Sunday.

The problem with this is you can't get into the HKIA ferry terminal unless you are flying into Hong Kong. So that's not a feasible option. I don't think you can even get a ferry ticket to HKIA unless you have a boarding pass no?


Bro DutchDoubles - Bro asia-play is right. It shouldn't take you 5 + hours to get into Macau. Unless there's a major traffic accident that is! I'm not sure if there are buses from ZMT to Shekou. You should probably check with concierge about that. Safest and quickest way is by private cab but it is costly after awhile. And yes, they have ferries to Macau and ZH (JiuZhou) (amongst other places) at the Shekou terminal. Check this site out for ferry schedules: http://www.shekoulive.com/ferry.html

another option instead of taking a taxi all the way down to Shekou is to take the train into SZ Luohu, especially if you are close to CP or ZMT train stations.  If you catch the bullet it will take around 30 minutes.  Then, from the Luohu station you could either take a taxi straight to Shekou, then take the ferry to Zhuhai or Macau, or take the MTR to the end (Windows to the World exit) which would be about 25-30 minutes, then take a taxi to the Shekou ferry (about 10 minutes).  Unless you're going really early in the morning or really late at night, wading through Luohu and Futian by car is no fun, so I'd recommend the MTR, it'll take about the same amount of time.

By next year I think the Shenzhen MTR will go all the way to the Shekou ferry.  Also, in the next couple of years, they're supposed to finish the high-speed rail line connecting Guangzhou Airport to Shenzhen Futian, with stops in DG and the SZ airport.  And finally, there's supposed to be a bullet train building in the works from the HK Kowloon Station to Guangzhou with stops in Futian, Longhui, the Humen Ferry terminal, and finally GZ.

Quote: By next year I think the Shenzhen MTR will go all the way to the Shekou ferry.  Also, in the next couple of years, they're supposed to finish the high-speed rail line connecting Guangzhou Airport to Shenzhen Futian, with stops in DG and the SZ airport.  And finally, there's supposed to be a bullet train building in the works from the HK Kowloon Station to Guangzhou with stops in Futian, Longhui, the Humen Ferry terminal, and finally GZ.

Wouldn't that be something eh?! Then when they complete that bridge from HK to Macau to ZH (or start rather) we'd be in heaven!! Just imagine the time we have to spend on traveling now will be shortened astronomically and that time will be spent on banging chics instead!! Can't wait.

Yes but we will have to wait a few more years before this becomes a reality