14/01/11: MACAU

MACAU:
A must-see as it was owned by Portugal, not Britain, and only handed over to China in 1999, so we expected it to be quite different from Hong Kong in many ways.

GETTING THERE:
Decided to give the helicopter a miss and to take the one hour hydrofoil trip from Sheung Wan .Coffee, snacks and duty-free on board but most people had stocked up with boxes of take-aways to tuck into en route.
 Passports needed but no visas. Great mass of humanity making the journey and various queues on arrival to clear immigration. Seems to keep a lot of people employed stamping pieces of paper.

WHAT'S DIFFERENT BETWEEN MACAU AND HONG KONG??

Portuguese Architecture and colourful buildings
Senado Square is in the centre of the old city and is a riot of colour: never seen in HK.

Catholicism:
Portuguese rule brought the Catholic religion, and especially the Jesuits, with it.
The numerous churches are evidence of this.

And the skull of the first Jesuit bishop of Macau:

The photos below are of the Jesuit church of Sao Paolo, built in 17th century over 25 years and sadly burned down in 1830s. Weirdly all that is left is the facade wall, so when you see it at first, and as you climb the steps to it, you don't realise there is nothing behind the wall!

 

Food:

These are delicious: like egg custard but with filo pastry.

Stalls full of dried meats are everywhere. You select your meat and the assistant cuts it in half with scissors and puts it in a bag for you.

 Scooters:
The streets are full of them!
Brings back memories for an ex-Mod c.1967-1971.

Casinos:

Macau is the only part of China where they are legal and the high-rollers flock here. Small and understated they are not!

I fear the battle has already been lost.

HOW ARE MACAU AND HONG KONG SIMILAR?

Skyscrapers:

Rich and poor living cheek-by-jowl:

Gardens:

The Jardim Luis de Camoes is a tropical garden full of people of all ages, chatting, relaxing, exercising and just chilling.

Interesting people:

In most parks there seems to be an area that is part-childrens' playground and part-adult gym, where you see people of all ages, shapes and sizes exercising on a range of brightly-coloured equipment.

Wish we'd done a video of this man as he was playing a Chinese musical instrument that sounded vaguely like a violin. The sound was lovely and filled the park.

Temples:

And, of course.....Steve having a nap!