Macau Madness

February 14, 2009

People are mad about Macau, when I say mad, I mean people are fanatical about gambling and this is the place to do it in SE Asia. Macau is another SAR of China, kind of like Hong Kong. They have their own immigration and government but are protected by the Chinese Army and are considered China in times of war etc. Needless to say it is easy for people of HK to travel to "another country" as far as immigration is concerned to go gambling.

I decided to take the TurboJet to Macau - it only takes an hour and costs about $20 USD for the cheap seat. You board the boat and it feels like you are on an airplane. You pick up your seat assignment from the guys that work the gate inside the ferry terminal. Before you get to the gate, however, you have to go through immigration to leave HK. Most people will get exit stamps in their passports. I, at this point, have my HK resident's card - so I just used my handy dandy SmartCard to skip the lines, inserted it in a machine and verified my identity by scanning my fingerprints. Talk about easy. When we got to Macau the lines for HK residents are really long & I took out my handy US passport and went into the short (3 people) Passport line where my entry was stamped, an length of allotted stay was stamped and I was given my exit card to be returned when I leave (also stamped). They really like stamps in Macau! From the Ferry terminal you can either take one of the countless hotel/casino shuttles or walk about 20 min to the main part of town.

By now, most of you should know that I generally opt for walking as I get to see more - so off I went. While walking by one of their major divided roads I saw a car grave yard - aka scrap yard. It is tucked precariously behind a wall, preventing the dead cars from crashing down off the side of the hill and onto the road. (See the photos, I kid you not). Also in Macau is the Fisherman's Wharf. Now I have heard about the obsession of building mini-replicas here in Asia (example: there is a replica park in Southern China complete with an Eiffle Tower. I hear Westerners are often mistook as part of the exhibits in these parks and have to smile for pictures frequently with Chinese Tourists). Fisherman's Wharf is one of these places. There are different types of cities/attractions along the Wharf. There are Villas, Desert and even Chinese temples.

Macau was a Portuguese territory so the city is a combination of Chines and Colonial architechture complete with loud colors (pinks & yellows) on most buildings. There is also a distinct clash made by the addition of glitzy casinos like the Grand Lisboa. It is also home to "the highest commercial bungee jump" in the world. I am not sure about this, but bungee still holds little interest for me - I am too scared of heights!! Maybe someday someone will get me to jump but very unlikely.

There are some really cool old churches in Macau and some beautiful Ivory carvings in the Grand Lisboa. I didn't not have a change to look at everything I wanted so I will have to go back for the rest. All in all it was a pretty quick afternoon trip and then back to HK for the night. I got my passport stamped as I left Macau and then used my handy ID to skip the lines again when I got back to HK. I must say this part foreigner/part local thing is great for lines!!

Here are some pics.

http://picasaweb.google.com/roberra/MacauFebruary142009?authkey=Gv1sRgCMrP_93l3N7Qaw&feat=directlink