Bem-Vindo a Macau!!
So the signs greeted us this morning when our jet-foil landed in Macao harbor after an hour long trip from Hong Kong.
Finally, our schedule this time allow us one day free during our stay here, and we decided to take a half day trip to Macao by ourselves.
I have to say, that it was a great choice:
We absolutely love Macao!!The city is truly a blend of east meets west. Though it starts to fill with world class casinos, high rise buildings, they still maintain their historic landmarks and their colonial heritage.
Although it's only a short distance from Hong Kong, make no mistake, Macao is Macao. And once you've spent some time to get to know the city better, even you'd be grateful they are not the least intimidated or blindly copied their former-British-colony cousin.
Getting There
From Hong Kong is easy. You can take the turbo-jet straight from Chep Lap Kok Airport. Or, if you happen to be in Hong Kong, like most people, you can take the MTR to Sheung Wan. It is only five stations away from Causeway Bay, and it only takes less than 20 minutes.
(My sister in law, a colleague, and meself, seconds before boarding Turbo Jet to Macao)Once you arrived in Sheung Wan, take exit D. Then proceed to the top floor. It is highly recommended that you purchase the ticket in advance during weekends, when people from Hong Kong often ventured there. We're lucky to get the tickets the day before, departing Hong kong at 8:15 am (HK$146) and returning at 7:15pm (HK$176).
Just like Hong Kong, most people doesn't need visa to enter Macao (including Indonesian, yay!!), and it's very helpful that their currency is exactly the same with HKD. We don't need to exchange currency, and that's a relief.
Nowadays, people in Shenzhen, also an hour from Hong Kong, no longer except HK currency. Well, actually, they still do, but since it has lower value against Yuan, they are not too excited about it and request you to pay more. Before, when it's stronger, you can easily pay everything in HKD.
Anyways, enough of the boring details. Let's move on. Hope you bring your passport!!
Where to GoAfter the immigration clearance (which is the fastest I've ever experienced so far), we went outside to find a bus that will took us to
Ruinas de S. Paulo or, the Ruins of St. Paul. There are a lot of people offering us a half day tour, private taxis and so forth, but since we've never been here and know no one here, we don't feel comfortable to depend on a total stranger.
But need not worry, though generally there are more people in Hong Kong who understands English, in Macao you will not find much difficulties in finding your ways, even when you don't speak Cantonese nor Portuguese.
So, since it's only 9:30 when we arrived in Macao, we'd like to do the outdoor activities when the day is not too hot. We took
number 10A bus which costs only HK$2.50 per person. The bus stop is just to the right of the harbor's exit.
The trip is short, but even then you started to note the differences in architectures that marks Macao. We actually didn't know where to stop, but we noticed that most people got out at one particular spot, and decided to follow.
It was the most pleasant surprise, better than what I expected. Apparently, to get to the Ruins of St. Paul, you don't just stop in front of it, you have to start your trip from
Senado Square.
It was awesome!
Though seemingly drowned by the new development surrounds it, Senado Square is able to maintain their authenticity: some of the buildings are more than 300 years old! You'd feel that you step out of China and enter a European town just next door!
(Ming and I, at Largo de Senado -- Senado Square)The walk from the Square to the church are for pedestrians only, and you have to walk the cobbled- stone paths and small alleys in between ancient yet well preserved buildings that now houses stores such as the Body Shop, the fave Sasa and Bonjour, Levi's, Starbucks, and of course, McDonalds.
(Ming in front of Starbucks) &
(Vivi in front of the Macao Tourism Information)Barely half way through, we are greeted by the yellow-green, majestic building that turns out to be
IGreja de S. Domingos, a 16th century church that still hold service today. Isn't that so cool??
A couple getting married walking past the Church
The three of us in front of the church
Okay, for most of you people in Europe, this may mean nothing, you've had buildings dated back farther than that. But I found it fascinating to find such building exists and in fairly good condition, when it seems that they race to destroy these extraordinarily beautiful buildings dated back to the Dutch colonial time in Surabaya. Bitter as it may be the past western tyranny over most of Asia, it is even more ironic to destroy those architectural heritage that are also silent witnesses over the history of the country.
Anyways, again, moving on.
The stores surrounding the alleys are very charming, they sold beautiful handcrafted wooden furnitures, you'd find the famous egg-tarts, and of course, in every other stores, there's always those which sells jerky, and not just any jerky, they offered so may different choices you wouldn't believe!
They have beef, Ostrich meat, Wild Boar, Spicy Beef, Spicy Piglet, Black Pepper Pork, and so forth. I tried the Wild Boar one, and despite their appearance, it literally melts in you mouth!! But I decided to buy Spicy Piglet instead, it's HK$55 for 100gr.
And the good thing is, they usually stop you to offer you a small cutting of the jerky they sold, which means that along the alley, if you take your time and decided that since you don't know when you're going to be there again and hence no one is likely going to recognize you, you can actually nibble these heavenly food until you're full without even spending a cent!!!
So finally we arrived in St. Paul. Or what's left of it. They said that once upon a time, the Portugese set up a gunpowder storage next to the kitchen. The explosion blew almost all of the church except the very front wall and the tomb of their founder at the back of the building. Local people said that God punished them for bringing weapons to a holy site.
I just think of it as an irony.
I bet the church won't be half as famous were it left intact.
Ming, me, my sister in law Sophie, and my colleague Mience
Us with two girls in their traditional clothingAfterwards, we visited the nearby
Museo de Macao and
Fortaleza de Monte. Yup, Museum of Macao and Mount Fortress.
Admittedly, we didn't go in the Museum. Aside from the fact that it's past noon and we really must get going, they also charged us to enter the museum. And honestly, the Museum of the Sacred Arts in the Ruins of St. Paul is quite disappointing.
In front of the cannon in Mount FortressFrom there, we returned to the Senado Square and took a taxi to the Venetian Macao, the second biggest building in the world so far.
The trip took around 20 minutes and cost only HK$47.
And though I've been to the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, I must say that I also enjoy and marvel at the Venetian Macao.
Pictures of us in the Venetian MacaoWe spent our time there just walking along the "Grand Canale", barely buying anything since it's so expensive. They even had the authentic Morano glass, a small vase cost more than HK$1,700!! I decided that I'd get it later on if I visit the real Venice!
Once we're done, we took the free shuttle bus to the Sands Casino, only to be told that we're not allowed to go it since Ming brought his camera equipments down to his own tripod. But the good thing is we're able to put our stuffs there.
So we crossed the street and arrived in the most beautiful mall strip in Asia, the
Macao Fisherman's Wharf.It's located next to the Macao harbor, but what makes it really beautiful for me is that it is really one huge complex of buildings that represents many countries in the world.
So there is this street, and on your left you'd find a building that's downright exactly like the postcards depicting pictures of houses in Amsterdam (hence the amsterdam building), and right next to it, are building that seemingly taken right out of the French Quarters in New Orleans.
By this time, our feet really hurts already, walking the whole day. So we just take it easy. We walked a bit, found a strikingly colorful cafe, called Ruby Cafe. They said that they sold the best egg tarts, and let me tell you, they kid you not. The egg tarts ARE wonderful, sweet and full. And the Ceylon tea that accompanies it are just perfect.
The people are friendly and helpful. I met Ana Teresa, she is working there while in between after graduating from her university in Portugal. I never got the chance to ask her major, but She was kind enough to give me a lot information on Portuguese, including the title of this blog entry, which litereally means "The twelve hours I've been spending in Macao"
Speaking of which, it had been close to eleven hours by the time we've explored the Wharf. We went back to the Sand Casino, took a free shuttle bus to the harbour, and arrived just in time to catch our Ferry back to Hong Kong.
And so our half-day trip in Macao. Personally, my favourite is Senado Square. It's beautiful, and I wouldn't mind owning and apartment there :P.
But there are still oh-so-many-other places we didn't have the chance to go. I hope in my next visit, we'd get the chance to explore more of Macao. And perhaps have the guts to do bungee jumping from Macao Tower...
