Macau is a small island off the coast of China and quite near to Hong Kong. Ron was interested in visiting this destination because it used to be a Portugese colony. The mixture of eastern and western cultures promised to be quite interesting. So we got on one of the high speed ferries that run between Hong Kong and Macau. These run every half hour and take an hour to reach Macau. We bought our eft the ferry terminal in Kowloon about 10:30 am and headed for our departure gate. As we wound our way through the terminal, there was a large LED sign with our gate number. It was flashing Chinese characters in red with the gate number. Not knowing what that meant, we ran for our boat, only to baord the ferry and sit for 10 more minutes before it left. The ferry was uneventful, travelling through open sea between Hong Kong and Macau. Upon approaching the island I saw of all things a man-made volcano. Ron told me that the island was popular for gambling casinos. It was like approaching Las Vegas by boat.
The ferry ride wasn’t unlike taking the ferry from Marin to San Francisco. Except that when you get to this destination you have to go through immigration processing. I was happily snapping photos in the terminal until Ron noticed the no photography signs, and suggested that I might not want to be doing that. I threw my camera into my bag lest someone from immigration get irritated with me. They got irritated anyway, when I got a phone call from someone in Hong Kong who I’ve chatted with from Electone Zone. The immigration officer wanted me squarely looking at him in order to verify the person whose photo was on the passport was indeed me.
Once we got out of the terminal we jumped right on a bus bound for downtown. Little did we know it was a local that wound its way through the casino area and then through the outskirts of the city. We passed all the same big name casinos that you’d see in Vegas: MGM, Wynn, the Venetian. You get the picture. Eventually we got to a town square that reminded me of Puerto Rico. We got out and began exploring. First stop was a Macanese/Portuguese restaurant that had very different food from what you’d expect in an area heavily populated by Chinese people. The food was very interesting: Cod, cabbage, and chicken stew primarily influenced by Portuguese cooking. It was good, but the portions were big and the food was kind of heavy. We skipped the desserts.
The downtown area was an interesting mixture of cultures. There were churches and name brand designer stores mixed in with tiny stands and shops. It was quite the downtown everything market. Once we got off the main street we found more of the Chinese culture. The alleys and back streets were lined with different food stands and vendors of all varieties. With the smells, sounds and crowds we got a taste for what life in China might be like. But the Portuguese influence was always there too. The star attraction in the old city is the ruins of Sao Paulo cathedral, a church that burned down in the 1800s and all that remains is the grand staircase leading up to the facade
After taking some more photos and going down some more back streets we headed back to the ferry building. We weren’t much interested in the Casinos, so decided to catch our ferry back to Kowloon.
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