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Published: November 19th 2009
Having felt as though I'd missed out on a lot of the things I wanted to see and do in Macau, I decided to take another trip over the Gambling islands. My intentions were to visit the same attractions that I had planned to the previous week, without rushing or missing any. So, the first step was to get up earlier and leaver earlier then before, last time I was on a ferry at 10:30, this time at 08:30.
As is a great custom of mine, I slept on the ferry, an hours trip is perfect for a little recovery nap. With my hood over my face to block light, and iPhone playing the sounds of Arcade Fire into my ears the droning of the Chinese was was drowned out. I woke up shortly before the boat docked, just enough time to fill out a health declaration, and departure card, AGAIN. They don't even look at these things, just rip off the carbon copy and stick the other one in your passport again.
It was cold in Hong Kong, and slightly colder in Macau with the sea winds blowing, so didn't want to walk much at that point. One
of the great benefits to Macau is the free bus service that operates, whilst its not formally known as a bus service that is. I said before that the casinos - maybe all of them - offer a free shuttle too and from the ferry port, so as long as you don't mind going back to the ferry port each time you can get around the city and islands for free. I guess all you have to weigh up is time/money, to buy time, or save money. I decided I wanted to be towards the centre of Macau island and the best way to do that would be to get a free shuttle to the Grand Lisboa. At this point I would like to offer a big thanks to the G. Lisboa team, a freebus to their hotel and casino, then they gave me $180 just for picking some numbers on a table, throughly bloody nice people. I couldn't have been in their long as I managed to play, collect, leave and make my way a little up the street to get to a McDonalds before breakfast closed. That is of course unless breakfast stops at 11:00 rather then 10:30.
Sausage and egg McMuffin with a coffee for $19, that is less then 2pounds!! Amazing value. I sat and enjoyed my beakfast and used my coffee to warm my hands so that they may feel things again. Then the sightseeing could begin. I headed back through familar territory with the sports, cured meat and expensive clothes section to see the Ruins of St Pauls Church in daylight. Once again it was covered with people all taking pictures of themselves and companions infront of the remaining bricks that comprise the front of the former church. As it was earlier I manged to take a walk 'inside' the ruins and read a bit about it. It seems the church was subject to nemerous fires and this is what left it in the state it was in. The Ruins are one of the, nicer, tourist attractions, and maybe the only one without a souvenirs stand or cafe attached to it. Litterally just across the road is the Musuem de Macau, which I headed over to next.
The Musuem is built within an old fort, which is hard to see at first due to the gardens that surround it are flourishing iwth
trees and plants. But at times on the outside you can see the large brick and stone walls without windows or holes except for the battlements at the top. A short escalator ride takes you to the coffee shop and souvenirs bootique, of course, and another escalator takes you to the lobby of the musuem. The cost of entry is $15 for adults, and $8 for adults with fake student cards, (thanks to STA Travel), although more emphasis must be on the guy behind the desk who was more eager to get back to his phone so just put through whichever ticket would be the least amount of hassel for him.
The museum is hard to describe, it contains many artifacts from many places and delieverys them in a static and sterile way. Obviously, most are behind glass/plastic screens to stop those pesky people that want to touch foriegn and strange objects or those that wish to intereact with them. there are some occasions when videos, words and music are attached to bring some facades of the musuem to life, but these seem over used and very dated. I wouldn't say I took my time around the museum, but
I didn't rush, things that held my interest I looked at, things that didn't I passed by. After the tour, large double doors lead out to the top of the fort, and you can see for miles around with a brilliant view of Macau, perhaps they would be better off making that one of the exhibits, you can see a lot more at the top, and maybe, it tells a better story of the Island; The casinos can be seen brighter and above all else, the delapadate looking appartment buildings are as far away from the casinos as they can get them, the harbour is buzzing with industry, the cars are everywhere and been aimed with little or no vision for what is ahead, behind or about to smash into the sides of them, and it generally all appears to be badly organised chaos. I left the Museum without feeling much at all, my ticket price was cheap enough to make it fair for the interest I took. From there I attempted to head by foot through the buildings to the Macau Tower.
Although the Tower is exceedingly tall, it was not always as easy to see it as
I had hoped, the general plan was to navigate or naviguess through the buildings to the tower, this took longer then I expected. Oh, by the way, I didn't have a map for the journey, and let me explain that while the island runs lengthwise North to South, all the roads seem to go in arwkward bends and bad directions, they haven't been clever with their planning. Now, if only there was an exhibit in the Musuem about the way the city had been expanded... Anyway, I was walking. Whilst walking I found myself in what could be described as back streets, where most people would count themselves as being lost and would turn around. Being lost on a tiny island is not an option, you can only go so far before you meet a body of water, and you can always work out which bit of water and thus where you are. Also, if you think ayour very lost you can work out where you are by the Casinos, all you need then is a Casino Sexton. After walking through small streets with little or no traffic, very few other people yet every building front is open for business,
most serving food, I found myself on one of the major roads on the West of the island. I walked passed two resturants that I had intended to visit later for dinner. I also found myself at a new unplanned spot. The temple of the fisherman god!! (crash of thunder if you will), a strange place, where people burn incense sticks like they're barbeque food, take more photos then normal and bow a lot to, well... nothing that I could see. The temple has a small shrine or building with a large sandpit in for the burning sticks, and the rest is jagged walkways up a hillside with large markings on rocks. I thought i was about to climb a mountain again by acident! From here I could see the tower again! And off I went.
Around the corner from the Temple, is a small lake that twists and turns on one side, and the other is a series of motorways, bridge connections and an overpass, due to seeing the erratic driving of the Ma-cau-herd (see what I did there?) I decided to stay well clear of the driving morons and instead walked the long way around the lake
towards the tower. Fortunately, the sun was out and the weather was a little better, I also spotted another sight I wasn't planning on visiting, a Church that sits very peacfully at the top of a peak, Barra Peak I would find out later. But for now the long walk to the Tower was still continuing. It seems now, that it is very hard to get to the tower on foot. Infront of the entrance buidling there is a round-a-bout with a malgamation of the roads attached to it, and you have to go under, around and over the top of some of these to get there. Of, course, a normal person would take a taxi, we all know I'm not normal. The building infront of the Tower is exceptionally quiet and appears to be failing in its attempt to achieve anything. The highlight for me was the Toys'R'Us with a 1:100 scale model of the tower made in Lego, FANTASTIC!!! :o) I also had a look around the shop to my self up to date with the latest in toy developments, Transformers Monopoly took a shine to me - original animated series mind, not this nonsense on now. I
also found a Wall-E toy that folds away into its self to form a cube... but it seems a little silly, why would you want him to do that, never mind the hassel of folding it all in, he can't do anything as a cube??? Anyway, Just after the security guard forcably removed me I bought my ticket up to the Tower; "Are you bungee Jumping today sir?", well of course I am, I said, I like nothing better on a cold and windy day then to throw myself off of the top of large buildings set around water and stone. The base of the Tower has a collection of fotos and paintings of the Macau skylines, very attractive indeed, perhaps they should charge extra and call it the Tower Museum. I was fortunate enough to be in an elevator by myself, which was helpful so I could clutch the handrail for dear life when it took off. A short journey 59 floors straight up brings you to the observation deck, where you can see a panoramic view of Macau to the north and Taipa Island to the south, on a clear day you can probably see Hong Kong. As
I was walking slowly around by the windows taking pictures and muttering silly things about the height to myself there was a sudden surge in noise and activity by the east side. Some insane chainaman had thrown himself off the top of the tower with only a piece of elastic attached to his legs. It made me feel sick to just look at it! However, they don't actaully let you bungee, there are two high tensile lines that stop you from bouncing, I guess due to the nature of jumping forward, you would more often then not bounce into the Towers trunk and murderise yourself, many a lawsuit would follow and thus its easier to let people slowdown before they plumit headfirst into the cushioned landing pad at the bottom. After lvl 59, you can go up to lvl 61 for the top of the tower view. This is where the Bungee jumping, tower climb (to the actuall pinnicle of the tower), sky dives; lowered via cable down and back up again, and sky walks where you can walk around the outer ring whilst attached to a harness and cable. Once out of the elevator I was again greeted by
a smily person asking "Are you bungee Jumping today sir?", one again I politely declined. I walked around the slightly higher level and took most interest in the pictographs of tall towers and saw the pully/whinch that controls all the death-defying maddness. The main man even posed for a photo which was nice, I hope he wasn't supposed to be stopping that guys head from conecting with the ground. For $90 the trip to the top of the tower is pretty decent, it is the vest view of Macau, although the isolated nature of the tower means you miss out on a lot of potential for seeing the innerworkings of the city.
From the tower I decided to attempt a taxi journey to Dom Pedros Theatre, I asked the driver, he said yes, then drove in the oppersite direction, after a short attempt to recommunicate, he didn't know what the hell I was talking about, and I got out, furtheraway then I was before, so I was back on foot. Which was ok, as I decided to try to get to the Church on top of the Hill, which due to its hill nature was a hard walk to
get to. I had to negotiate steep hills, cobbled streets and walking around what appears to be a 'rich' neighbourhood in Macau without straying down a private road. But amazingly, with only one backtrack, I found the church and it was worth it. Although I couldn't go inside, it is very pretty and a nice spot. The height allows for a good view and the grounds have trees and gardens to make the place look less surrounded by city. Before heading on to Dom Pedros Theatre, I asked a German/French woman to look at her map, and her idiot tour guide managed to annoy me and confuse me with one attempt. He hadn't even heard of Dom Pedro, so was pretty useless, he attempted to direct me, but in the end I looked at the map, and headed "that way" (North West). Once again I was walking through the narrow streets of unknown Macau, looking at all the smaller establishment and ducking and diving through manic drivers to cross the road, I'm pretty sure the chicken didn't chance it here!! Then all of a sudden, and quiet a bit before I expected it, I had spotted a green building standing
on a sort of hill top, with a road leading up to it. Theatre Dom Pedro V was right ahead of me. The building itself appears to house a restaurant now, and that was closing as I arrived. The building is in classing Portugues style, and is very attractive in its Plymouth Argyle home strip. Across the road is a similar looking building that houses a church, and around the corner is a monistary I beleive. From here I decided to find some light entertainment before heading to one of the classic toursit Portugues restaurants on the West side, so a short walk back to my favorite building in Macau, the Grand Lisboa.
The Lisboa is the most magnificant building I have seen, despite its appeal to gamblers it is simply wonderful to look at. In the day light it sticks out for its faux gold/bronze glass and facia and its hard to place a similie shape and style make it unique. At night its neon lights display different colours and its 'crown' also lights up to make it easy to see across the island and instantly recognisable. Inside, whilst elegant, well maintained and richly decorated it is of
course just a casino and hotel. Its breash exterior does in some part manage to hide the main activity in Macau by giving it a shiny coat. It seems strange that something so many do, is also frowned upon so many others. I won another $80 while those on my table all lost. I play small, and win small, but I am happy with that and only needed somewhere to lose myself for an hour or two before dinner. I left around 16:30 hoping to get an early supper so I could be on a Ferry to Hong Kong and home in bed before too late. Know I knew my routes I was at my intended eatery(s) before 17:00 and they didn't open until 18:30. I took a short stroll back down to the Fisherman Goddess, and realised I had missed the integral part of the temple, the actual temple, so had another quick look around. I managed to kill very little time, and considered my options, get a ferry back now and be home early, go back to a casino and waste more time and perhaps lose money, but I could win more... much more... all I need is
a system... I'll win more and more and more.... or eat in one of the back streets I saw earlier. In the end I took a walk up past A Lorcha and Litoral which were both closed, but I managed to find another Portguese restaurant that wasn't closed; "Portal Innterior". I walked in simply wanting a beer and some traditional Portugues food, I got a cold look from a mother and son combo at one of the tables, but then the owner welcomed me in, showed me to my table and it was all good. I asked for a beer, and it was brought over, opened and poored, he then returned with a menu and accompanying picture book. I had been told previously that 'food via picture' eateries should be avoided, but I was sat, and drinking and dinner elsewhere was an hour plus away. I decided upon 'Portugues Chicken', which was 5 words longer in Portugues, and did look rather good from the picture, and sat back revied my day on paper and listened to the Mother and Son argue about being bullied. In his opinion you should not stand up to bullies, but instead laugh it off as
a joke; "if your friend calls you names you laugh at him", I'm sure this is true, but by definition bullies are not friends, and they probably don't just call you names. I'm also pretty sure that kids that were bullied and 'won' don't take and plan holidays with their mothers and then argue about the way they were brought up. My Chicken arrived and looked almost identical to that in the picture. A rich dark mustard colour, cheesy sauce covered Chicken on the bone and came with sliced boiled egg, pepperoni and sliced tomatos on top, served with rice. It was very tasty, and provided just enough entertainment/work in having to de-bone the chicken; breastmeat eaters only beware of Hong Kong and Macau!! I did not rush my food for fear of being implaled on a bone, and it was refreshing to not inhale it all as fast as I could, that said, the urge to shovel it in ASAP was always in my head. I finished, paid, and flagged a taxi, "Hong Kong Ferry" was easily understood and I was on my way.
All in all, I am pleased I went back for a second attempt, and
I think it is possible to see and 'do' Macau in a day, obviously it depends on your route, and the attractions you want to see, and not getting side tracked by casinos. I enjoyed the city both times, and think has a lot to offer the gamblers and non-gamblers a like. The city has one priority and that is making money, the casinos do it one way, the tourist attractions another, which is fair enough. I think something that is lost on the city is the architechture, the Casinos themselves are huge marvels to behold, both their size and scale alone, but also the light shows the buildings display and the manor in which they decorate the sky lines. The Portugues buildings dotted around the city equally offer simpler buy prettier sights and allow your eyes to refocus without having megawatts of current thrusted upon them.
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chris
non-member comment
hi graham
hi graham,looks like your having a great time.David told me to check out your blog,its really interesting and looks great. continue to have a great time and be careful,ill be keeping in touch on here. all the best chris and gina.