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Published: December 25th 2009
Macau's airport is basically a strip of asphalt built in the sea surrounding the little SAR (Special Administrative Region) with one taxi-way leading to the terminal building. Sitting in the aircraft it looks like you're floating on water, pretty neat!
Landed at noon, and arrived by bus in central Macau at around half past one. The only cheap accomodation I had found beforehand, and I checked travelguides, internet etc. was a guesthouse on
Travesso Do Felicidade called San Va hospedaria. The building basically had been divided into rooms by paper thin plaster walls that left a space of more than a meter below the high ceiling. With no wi-fi, livingroom or any other hang out space and just acceptable bathrooms it wasn't that great but by far the cheapest, having just came from S.E. Asia it seemed expensive still at 75 MOP (7 Euros). Anything else would've cost me more than 120 MOP.
I had to make some calls first and other little jobs before I walked around. For lunch I found a Beijing dumpling house, and decided that seeing I was back in china it was probably the most obvious choice. (Macau food all seemed too dear) Next up was
my mission to get back in China proper; Head to the embassy to get a tourist visa. There I was told my old visa that ran until December was still valid so that was pretty good news!
On my way back I checked out some sights as described in my travelguide. Somehow I didn't find it all very impressive.
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”
Maybe that was it, I don't know, or just me wanting to get back to China and the worry if I was going to find a new job or not.
Anyway, with a valid visa in my passport I decided to continue on to China the next morning. The evening I spent walking around a bit more, having a look at St Dominic church and updating TB.
I got up quite early to catch a city bus to the Portas de Cerco bus station, which is also the border with China.
The Macau side went fairly quickly and before I knew it I was standing alongside all the other Chinese and their boxes, bags and other goods waiting to cross the border
into the PRC.
All went well, and so it was that I was able to be sitting on a bus to Guangzhou at eleven o'clock in the morning. I had taken that bus from the Zhuhai bus station, which is basically right at the border.
Driving towards the city, crossing the bridges spanning the tributaries of the Pearl river, or the Pearl river delta as one might say, I couldn't help but notice the grey skies. Low hanging, a yellow-ish glow to it and seemingly covering the city and it's surroundings, causing the theft of any sunlight that would else have brightened up the buildings and its colours.
As we were continuing into the city, I actually got a little scared. I honestly have never in my life seen so many fly-overs. I remember my first ever travel into the 'big world'; Sydney, Australia. Amazed by the concrete jungle, I pondered how it was all possible, the different layers of habitation all inter weaved into one massive construction. That same feeling I got upon entering Guangzhou. How does the ground not collapse under all that weight, or slowly submerge to water levels? Why do buildings not collapse, roads not
implode under the heavy weight of all those roads and fly-overs covered in heavy traffic, whilst at the same time covering all those metro tunnels? Just bloody amazing isn't it?
After arrival at the massive combined train and bus stations, I bought myself a ticket for that night's bus to Yangshuo. Having 10 hours to spend, I left my luggage at the designated counter and consulted my dear travel guide. In desperate need of some outer city peace and quiet, I headed to Shamian 'island'. A beautiful inner city refuge and colonial left over from the British, the 'island' actually lies in the river and is covered in greenery. Very popular with locals to have their wedding photo's taken, the island serves as a reminder of the weird and funny 'contacts' that the Chinese had in the old days with the West. Back in those days, the island was a restrict area and a no-go for the Chinese. Now, with all the architecture (including catholic church) and gorgeous green, it's a great respite from city life. Looking out over the river, the noises of the city life are far away and with a cold beer in hand, watching groups
of men play Mahjong it really is a very nice way to spend a few hours.
Nearby Xing Ping market, notorious in the past for selling cat and dog for purposes other than keeping them as a pet, the market has now cleaned up its act it seemed, because all I saw were mushrooms by the hundreds of kilos. Walking my way back towards the train station, I was surprised by the amount of cards I was given (one time even by a young boy) advertising various 'services'. Varying nationalities with each their own appealing characteristics (factory girls???) and an attached phone number with promised 'service to the doorstep'. OK.... We definitely don't have that 'up north'.
Spent some time at the train station admiring and at the same time puzzled by the amount of people from every walk of life passing before my eyes. Talking to people, I noticed young guys hanging around a bit too eager for my liking, so kept hold of my bag and made sure I didn't loose it out of sight.
Changed my ticket to an hour earlier, seeing I didn't want to hang around a bus station waiting and so it was
that by midnight the bus was already going uphill and making its way to Guangxi province.
Thinking about it, I couldn't believe it was already nearly one and a half years ago since the last time I was in Guangxi; May 2008 during my Vietnam / Laos holiday when I stayed in Nanning, the capital. Tired of my walk-about's in Guangzhou and very much looking forward to 'so much heard about' Yangshuo, I finally fell asleep in the wee hours of the morning.
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