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Published: October 6th 2006
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Street food
so glad i don't eat meat...nothing like flies flying over beef jerky! ***First of all, my last entry got screwed up and only 1/3 of the story got posted to my website, so if you're still interested, please go back and read it again! Also, since I posted the Hong Kong Delights blog, travelblog has done some crappy restructuring to their site and most of the pictures now have to be opened individually. Sorry for the cruddy new formatting, I have no say since I don't pay a cent for this site. ***
For the purpose of my trip, I've labeled Macau a separate country from China (since I had to go through customs in HK and I got some pretty spiffy stamps in my passport). Plus it makes my final tally of countries bigger! However, Macau is technically a region/territory of The People's Republic of China, as is Hong Kong (and Tibet, I believe). Macau was governed by Portugal until 1999 and until then was the oldest European colony in China (having been colonized in the 1600s). Meaning the two official languages in Macau and its two islands Taipa and Coloane are Chinese and Portuguese, but there's tons of English too.
Now, onto the details of my day
in Macau: Knowing I only had one day to see Macau, I set out bright and early (hahaha...who am I joking? no I didn't. I caught the 9:15am ferry). The comfortable airplane-like TurboJet with assigned seating, swiftly guided me through the South China Sea and delivered me upon Macau's coast just one hour later.
With my trusted Macau guidebook in hand, I boarded Bus #3 and made my way to the starting point of my walking tour at Largo do Senado. The bustling square was alive and roaring with festival preparations; for what...I have no idea, and I now regret that I didn't ask...
Walking in Macau became a skilled art form as the cobbled streets continuously tripped me and I probably resembled a drunken penguin. The Portuguese influence is noticeable right off the bat. I literally had to remind myself that I was still in Asia, and not Europe (and that’s peculiar in itself as I've never been to Europe...)
The cobblestone streets were just the beginning: all the architecture, food and people were European in design, taste and descent as well.
I had ventured to Macau to see the historical sights, however most of
Macau's visitors are Asian businessmen set on gambling their hard earned money away. With most forms of gambling legal in Macau, the game 'baccarat' is the most popular and it pulls in two thirds of the gaming profits for the whole country. However, ask me what baccarat is and I'll just shrug. Come on, I don't gamble!
After a while, I diverged from my set walking path and headed up a small alley, which led me to the beautiful (although closed to public) Igreja da Se Cathedral. From there I continued onto the Protestant Cemetery. The grave stones were so beautifully made, I just HAD to take pictures of them. And if you think that makes me sick and demented, you’re probably right.
In the center of the cemetery was the big building painted a disturbing lovely shade of turquoise…I tried to walk in to explore but this old lady outside kept touching me! And I mean touching! In Canada, I’d yell “rape” but I think she was just curious. Needless to say, I didn’t continue, just backed away slowly and luckily she didn’t follow me.
By this point I was WAY off my walking path and
although some would consider that “lost”, I like to think of it as unchartered exploration. (I know I’m far-fetching there)
After mingling with the locals I came across 9 huge tourists buses, which automatically symbolizes historic site, but I HATE being with so many other people. HOWEVER…when I turned the corner and saw what they had obviously been dropped off to see, I couldn’t resist.
Up the side street, was The Ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral. The "ruins" in this title is bang on, as the only remaining part of the building is the facade. Built in 1582 by the Jesuits, it was LARGEST Catholic Church in Asia (won't dad be proud I'm learning about Catholicism?) However, like so many other temples and churches I’ve seen in the past 4 years, it too was destroyed during a typhoon by fire in 1835 (to me, a fire during a typhoon that could destroy such a huge stone building doesn’t really make sense to me, but that what the wall plaque said…wouldn’t you think the typhoon would put OUT the fire?!) It also appears that the locals were a little too lazy to rebuild it, so they just turned it
Largo do Senado
The festivities will begin when??? into a tourist attraction.
“So our fabulous Cathedral was burned down. When should we start to rebuild it?!”
“Oh, forget that! Let’s just say it’s a ‘historical site’, put up a few expensive souvenir stands and a history museum and we’ll make heaps of cash!”
“Done!” And the town meeting was adjourned.
Naturally, my next stop was the Macau Museum. After a little ‘self-education’ inside, I walked up to the old fort on top of the hill and got a gorgeous view of the city. The even had old canons posed for war so you could snap your picture next to them. God bless tourism.
A quick lunch of yummy Portuguese styled rice and a long walk back to the port, and I had to say goodbye to Macau. My flight to Ho Chi Minh was at 8pm and I had to get back to HK to pack and get to the airport.
I realize that Macau deserved more of my time, what could I do?! I had only gotten my passport back from the Vietnamese Embassy the night before!
“I promise Macau! I’ll get back to see you again at some point!”
With
Largo do Senado
A little Portugal flavour for ya! only 5 hours in the country, I saw some beautiful sites, met some charming people and tasted the glorious Portuguese cooking. All in a days’ work for “Backpack Banwell”!
(Sorry, I know that nickname is corny, but my friend Selina made it up and I kind of like it😉
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Chee Keong
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Portuguese-Chinese descendents?
Did you see the Portuguese-Chinese Eurasian descendents (there is a terms for it, but I forget)? If yes, don't worry. You can visit Malacca in Malaysia to trace the path of Portuguese-Malay descendents......