My family took a trip to Macau - Hong Kong (HK) last year. Macau was a Portugese territory up until 1999 before being handed over to China as a Special Administrative Region (SAR). Macau shares many traits with Malacca, for example they are both portugese overseas territory at some point, they have deep ports and both are a shipping towns. Together with Goa in India, Cape Town in South Africa and Cape Verde in West Africa, they form a chain for ships from Portugal to China. Of course, this was before Suez Canal was built later.
After a good 1/2 hour wait, we finally boarded the ferry. There are actually many types of ferry available to take, a fact which I only noticed later during the trip. The ferry that we took was the super-jet series which is pricier (HK$250++) but more comfortable. The ferry looks sleek and is painted red / white - No, it is not Air Asia's new venture (1st Bottom) while the interior is cosy and comfortable (2nd Bottom).
After 45 minutes, the ferry arrives at Macau pier. The evidence of the wet weather is palpable as rain droplets dotted the window panel of the ferry when we're about to dock (1st bottom). While exiting the pier, I managed to take a shot of the exit sign (2nd bottom). Yup, no English. It is in Portugese "Saída" and Cantonese "出路" only!
We took a dedicated bus from the pier to the hotel for free. There are alot of buses that plies dedicated routes for free in Macau. Now the only catch is that these buses mostly go to Casinos. Nevertheless, you still can visit the surrounding areas of the casino which is what I have done.
We stayed at the the old quarters of Macau which is just a stone throw away from the famous Senado square. We are walking along the shop houses corridor towards Senado (1st bottom). Alas, we arrived at Senado Square and were greeted by a huge crowd (2nd bottom). According to my brother, before the explosion of casinos in Macao, the tourists used to be very few but things have changed now.
Senado square retains the European Piazza charm that you can get in Italy, Portugal, Spain etc. typically, a fountain in the middle of the square and pebbled roads.
One of the quaint alleys at the square (1st bottom) and a mini fountain next to it (2nd bottom). I found an even more miniature angel statue in it.
Our first meal in Macau is in a Char Chan Teng (茶餐廳) just off the main street (1st bottom). I ordered the famous Macau's pork chop bun (猪扒包) and milk tea (奶茶) and they did not disappoint me. After the meal, I went scooting for dessert and voila! I found what I was looking for. In my palm is another delicious find, fresh portugese egg tart (葡撻) from the oven costing Macau Patacas (MOP)5. The exchange rate of HK$ and MOP to ringgit is approximately 2:1.
Queing up for the egg tarts:-
From the square to Macau's most famous landmark, ruin of St. Paul's Cathedral is only few hundred meters away (1st bottom). Next to St. Paul is the Macau museum and Monte Fort. Going into the museum will set you back for a small fee but since it was pretty late and the museum will be closing soon, I decided to give it a pass and head towards the Monte Fort instead (2nd bottom).
Walking towards the ruin of St. Paul from Senado Square:-
After climbing a few escalators, I was out in the open again in Monte Fort. The fort is spacious and does not really have much to remind me that it was once used to defend against invaders except for the ubiquitous cannon (1st bottom). One of the most interesting find here is the dungeon like chamber (2nd bottom).
This chamber house many artifacts that were once used in Macau. Some of them include teapots, chinas, cannons and also opium boxes shown below (bottom). One can remember that China has wars against the British Empire two centuries ago that is known as the Opium war and the opium was the catalyst.
Once that was done, we made our move back to our hotel. Our hotel is located just 10 minutes away from Senado Square at a place known as Ponte 16 (十六蒲) (Bottom left and right).
Like: Free bus ride
Would be nice if ...the locals has a better grasp of English but I kinda like the uniqueness of this here as well
1 comment:
Very nice writeup! The places are described well and I can imagine where they are even though I have not set foot there! :)
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