Blogs from Macau, Asia - page 2
December 5th 2011
Macau is actually not that big, only 29sqkm to be exact. It consists of a small peninsula jutting out from Southern China (60 km from Hong Kong Island) and two bridged islands that have been merged together through modern engineering and a lot of backfill, and it continues to grow more and more with land being reclaimed for new buildings every year. It was colonized by the Portuguese in the 16th Century and acted as their trading headquarters for China, Japan and South East Asia. The Portuguese brought with them culture, religion, food, wine and architecture that is still present today in a unique mix of European and Chinese sights, sounds and smells. In more recent history Macau became a gangsters paradise with endless opportunities on the black market. Gangs, Chinese Triads, could operate their business ... read more
November 26th 2011
As the perceptive amongst you might remember, we left our last blog with promises that we were off to Macau today. Well, we can deliver on that promise. We struggled out of bed comparatively early to the soupiest day we've seen yet and made our way down towards the Ferry terminal. Turned out to be the wrong ferry terminal, but that's okay. Tickets for the return trip to Macau cost about $30AUD, so pretty cheap. Due to Macau being another Special Administrative Region of China we had to go through Immigration there and back (score, more stamps for the passport!). The ferries are fairly large Catamarans - a bit like the Sydney Rivercats on steroids and 2 months hard workout - and they do the trip in about one hour. Right on the dot we disembarked ... read more
November 16th 2011
Jutro sem izkoristila za odkrivanje te cetrti Macaua. Spet povsod pekarnice, McDonalds in nudl-dzinice, butiki so bili se zaprti. Kupila sem nekaj kruhastega za pod zob in se pocila v eno od obljudenih menz, da sem spila se zadnjo kavo na tem delu sveta. Ostali so srebali nudlne, vlekli iz ust kurje kosti in jih oguljene licno zlagali na kup. Ko sem koncala, sem si natocila se kozarec zelenega caja, ki je pocival v vrcu na mizi. Obozujem to navado zastonj caja. In potem spet standardna procedura: nazaj po prtljago, do bus postaje in na bus do trajektnega terminala, kjer bi morala presesti na bus AP1. A hec je v tem, da isti bus vozi tako do letalisca na jugu Macaua kot do meje s Kitajsko na severu, postaja pa je samo ena. Zato sem morala ... read more
November 15th 2011
Danes seveda nisem imela te srece in je Nemec nad mano posteno smrcal. Nic hudega, sem se zato vsaj zbudila ob primerni uri, da sem spet lahko odskakljala na bliznji market in pograbila pekovsko pecivo z nadevom iz rdecega fizola, sojino mleko in nudlne s sojino omako. Odkrila sem se sosednji market na Marble road in bila vsa srecna. Razpolozenje mi je malce skazil nakup buddha fruita, ki je bil posteno drag in povsem zanic (jebiga, neizkusenost pac), zato sem morala nujno kupiti tri zrele mange za $15 (1,5 evra), da sem se primerno potolazila. Glede teh pekarnic: ti so tu velika rec in jih je precej vec kot pa v JV Aziji. Vsi ti maslenasti kruhki (polnozrnati in podobne zadeve so redkost, na Tajvanu so bolj pogosti) so loterija, saj nikdar ne ves, kaj bo ... read more
November 12th 2011
The weather in Macau has been bad for the two days that I've been there. Rainy, cloudy and windy off and on. The weather has stopped me from seeing the old colonial parts of the country - which was one of the things that I wanted to do. But on the positive side, another excuse to go back to Macau! Lol. Due to the weather, Amanda & I were only able to do and seeing indoor things. We started the day with the Macau Tower Skywalk - even in the rain. The guide was not too happy that our walk didn't get cancelled due to the weather so she really rushed us and tried to kill us by telling us to run on the slippery deck and hang off the ledge! lol..... Thank god I survived ... read more
November 10th 2011
So it goes, or so it ends: z Luyo sva sli pred sesto uro se na zajtrk na dan bing in sojino mleko in nai cha, potem pa na MRT do central station in na bus za letalisce. Scalo je, kar je bilo precej primerno mojemu razpolozenju. Jebiga, 125 dolarjev in eno uro kasneje sem bila z ekspresnim busom na Taoyuan letaliscu. Res je lepo, ceprav prenavljajo terminal 1, od koder sem letela, ampak je vse, kot se sika - in imajo racunalnike z zastonj internetom. Kot na singapurskem Chiangiju. Privoscila sem si se en Illy cafe (mater, ta pa nikdar ne razocara) in adijo Tajvan z Air Macau. Oziroma vsaj mislili smo tako, saj smo morali potem cakati se eno uro, kerje bila baje guzva na pisti. Ob 12.30 smo le pristali v Macau, kjer ... read more
November 9th 2011
Hello again. I'm back in Hong Kong now, writing this after spending two nights in Macau. My sense of direction has been horrible so far this whole trip, so my journey to Macau was no different! I took a cab from the hotel to the ferry terminal. After I bought my ticket to Macau I realized that the host couple I was staying with lives in Taipa - which is south of Macau and has it's own ferry terminal. I asked if I could have my tickets exchanged/refunded but was yelled at and told, "YOU TAKE SHUTTLE in MACAU! GO NOW!" LOL!! and that was exactly what I did! I got off at the Macau Ferry Terminal and took the hotel shuttle bus to City of Dreams. I remember in an email that she told me ... read more
September 15th 2011
Hello everyone, in today’s blog, I visit Macau, hence the painfully corny title (no, I seriously winced when I typed that, my hand tried to cramp up in an attempt to stop me – obviously it failed). So last time I outsmarted the Taiwan Visa requirements, I actually got my Taiwan Visa, and realized that Hong Kong isn’t my jam. Thus I decided that maybe a side trip to Macau would be the boost I needed. Let’s continue on this magical journey of magic and adventure, shall we? Sept 1st: Rising and shining around 7:15, I packed up my backpack with my guidebook (which doubled as a map), some water, and a sense of adventure (each sold separately), and got on the 7:45 shuttle into town. Got off, ran into 7-11 to grab a quick (and ... read more
August 18th 2011
Ååååå... For en by.. ;) Her har du ALT mellom himmel og jord! I det minste så trodde vi det. Vel faktum er at vi skulle avslutte kvelden rolig (Onsdag 17.08), kun med noen drinker/Patron Tequilla på strippeklubb! Men igjen så møter vi på kulturforskjellene her. Fordi strippeklubb, nei det finnes det ikke av her. Her har du valget mellom «Happy Show» som er mennesker som har seg på scenen eller Sauna som de kaller det. Som er profesjonelle bordeller. High class. Faktisk såpass profesjonelle at på de andre casinone (ikke vår), så har de egne etasjer, hvor du blir møtt av 5-10 flotte velkledde (blazer og skjørt) damer som smiler og forteller deg om dagens spesialitet og utvalget. Nesten som om du skulle bestilt deg mat og en god vin på en resturant. Så typ ... read more
