Thoughts @ 3:15: Seeing Macau in a Day

Being just an hour ferry ride away, Macau is a nice day trip destination. Last year, I went with a bunch of friends and made an "eating tour" of the city. My post here details all the foods I tried. Today, CharK and I took the day off to went on a self-guided tour around Macau. Normally you can catch the casino buses from the Macau Ferry Terminal to one of the many casinos around the city. But we thought taking a walking tour would let us really see what the neighbourhoods are like. Plus, we ended up getting lots of exercise during our 12 km journey around the Macau Penninsula

I found that even taking the economy class on the Turbojet can be enjoyable. The key is to arrive early for boarding/seats assignments. One the way back to Hong Kong, we ended up being the first in-line for the seat assignments (which starts 15 minutes before the ferry leaves). I asked the agent for a window seat and he kindly agree. So CharK and I ended up with upper deck seats in one of the two-person rows. These seats were much more comfortable then our trip over to Macau, where we werein the slightly more crowded three-person rows on the lower deck.

The roomy upper deck of the Turbojet (Photo: CathC)

One part of our sightseeing that stood out for me, the view of Macau from the top of Mount Fortress. Not only could I see all across Macau, I also had a view of China's Zhuhai. I can see mountains of the Zhuxian Park and all of the new condominiums under construction.

A spectacular view from Mount Fortress (Photo: CharK)

Although the view is beautiful, I couldn't help but notice the contrast between the two cities and even within Macau itself. Most of the housing in Macau looks pretty run down and dilapidated amongst the glitzy casinos. Similarly most of the new construction projects seemed to be going on in Zhuhai instead. Just next to Mount Fortress is the Macau Museum. We were in luck today, because admissions is free on Fridays. I love seeing installations and replica pieces. My favourite exhibit was the living quarters of Chinese and Portuguese.

The colourful houses typical of Portuguese style. (Photo: CharK)

I love the details they put into recreating the traditional Chinese wedding night room (Photo: CharK)

The museum has had these fun installations of street hawkers. The audio track plays and you can hear what each person is selling, like traditional Chinese medicine from a food stall. We got really lucky that it only rained a few hours during hte early afternoon. So we didn't have to worry about bumping umbrellas in the crowds. This made it easier to see the popular tourist sites like the Ruins of St. Paul's.

We didn't even need to make the trip over to Cotai for the Macau's famous pork chop buns. The most famous shop, Tai Lei Loi Kei, opened a chain last year at Largo do Senado. The staff are surprisingly friendly and there are lots of yummy foods to snack on. I really enjoyed the twist on the classic pork chop in a pinapple bun. The pork chop is pan fried not deep frieds, so it's very juicy. The sweet pineapple bun also gives it great flavour. The spicy homemade dipping sauce for the fish balls and squid is amazingly spicy! Just a dab was enough to make me cough.