Macau

Grand Lisboa casino

Macau is an autonomous administrative  region of China, and had been under the rule of Portugal for over 4oo years until about 10 years ago. While very similar to parts of China, the architecture, road names and culture also reflect its Portuguese influence. Today it is a place of contrasts with many people living in poor circumstance at one end of the spectrum, to the very rich who visit the super opulent casinos that Macau is now so well known for.

Matt met us at the ferry terminal and showed us around some of the local neighbourhood until we succumbed to tiredness after some 36 hours with little sleep.

Nightime appearance

Over the next couple of days we found our way around the local area, gradually venturing on the local buses to most areas along the Macau Peninsula and the neighbouring Islands of Taipa and Coloane, although with land reclamation they are now completely joined.. Being so hot and humid, we did walks in the morning, then bus trips until about 1 o’clock, then into the cool of the shops etc. The casinos are so large that they have their own shopping malls etc included,…largely catering to the relatively rich who have money not lost at the tables.

Inside the new Venitian Casino

One night we went to a show at one of the newest casinos called The City of Dreams. The storyline was a bit contrived and hard to follow, but it allowed the performers to display their great acrobatic skills. Most was done in or over water, but technology enabled it to be quickly converted to a dry stage. Iit really was well worth going to.

Portuguese influence

A Guia Fort building and Lighthouse

Runs of St Paul's Church

Yesterday (Saturday) we met up with Chyrelanne (Exchange Teacher, 2008) who is now teaching at an International school in Macau. Of course she had a pretty good knowledge of places to see and how to get there, particularly the southern area of Macau that we had seen little of, so we had a really great day. After drinks and dinner with some other Canadians and an Aussie, we went to see the fireworks competition held at the harbour, then off home to try to bank some sleep prior to flying out. Unfortunately, the firm beds of China made this hard to achieve.

Pandas with not much energy

Chyrelanne & Kaye

Away from the casinos life goes on

I started writing this blog as we traveled on the Turbojet ferry from Macau to HK airport. It certainly was a fast ride and quite an experience as we cut through the gentle swell and the white capped waves. Matt is traveled with us as far as the airport and saw us off prior to him catching a more direct flight back to Melbourne some 30 minutes later.

Matt and Kaye  

Our nightime farewell