Macau - Day 133 (15th July)

As my parents were in Hong Kong we decided to get the ferry over to Macau for the day, Tina's Dad and Jamie also joined us for a family day out!

We caught the ferry over to Macau around 11am, the ferry only takes an hour so before we knew it we were looking out of the window at the skyline line and numerous bridges that make up Macau.

We headed straight to the town centre to check out the historical site and the old fortifications. After spending a month in Hong Kong the change was quite stark and refreshing; the differing atmosphere, Portuguese signs and the colonial architecture. We wandered up the street towards the ruins of St Paul's church. It seemed every shop up the street was selling delicacies of Macau, including; pork chop buns, egg tarts, egg rolls, almond biscuits and also sorts of jerky. After entering the street hungry and bag free, we came out stuffed with food and carrying carrier bags full of egg rolls and jerky.

Next to the impressive façade of St Paul's church is the old fort, the interior of which has been turned into an excellent museum on the history of Macau. Finally we walked down to Largo do Senado to chill out and take in the Portuguese colonial architecture.

Next we caught a bus to the south of Macau, over one of the three connecting bridges over to Coloane village. This route took us past the eye catching new mega casinos and then on to the small, comparatively untouched Coloane village. Once in the village it seems as if the pace of life slows dramatically and you are transported back to a much simpler time. We walked along the promenade taking in the mix of traditional Chinese and Portuguese colonial architecture, before wandering towards the village square which contained a number of seafood restaurants. Here we enjoyed a seafood and traditional Portuguese food feast with a few Macau beers, this was followed by another round of awesome Macanese egg tarts for dessert.

We contemplated heading back to the ferry but felt we had to go and check out one of the mega casinos to experience the future of Macau. We headed to the Venetian hotel and checked out the weird but fascinating recreated buildings and the indoor shopping mall with a Venetian canal running through the middle. The most amazing part of which was the artificial sky, which was scarily realistic and very disorientating. Finally we headed to the casino floor itself to see some gambling. The first thing that hits you is the size of the place, it's like an airport hanger. We hung around for a while, picked a few free drinks while we watched a couple of mainlanders bang chips on the blackjack table whilst spitting into ashtrays….nice! We then got told of for taking pictures of panda playing the slot machines…probably not a regular occurrence.

Once we had finally dragged Tina away from all the gambling we took the free casino shuttle bus back to the ferry to end our day in Macau.

Much Love

xxx