Blogs from Macau, Asia - page 20

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Asia » Macau November 20th 2007

Macau - Las Vegas of the East. Combination of western and Chinese culture. This was a colony before of Portugal so most of the buildings here have Portuguese touch. The streets and government establishments and buildings are in Portuguese names. Day 1 Arrival in Macau (Nov 12, 2007) After an hour and 35 minutes in the air, we finally arrived in Macau International Airport. It’s not so big airport but is nice and clean. From the airport, we took a taxi going to our hotel in the city center. It’s good that I have a Chinese character of the name of the hotel which I showed to the driver as he doesn’t understand even a bit of English. In about 10 minutes, we arrived in Metropole Hotel along Avenida de Praia Grande. It is more beautiful ... read more
macau highway
ruins of st. paul

Asia » Macau November 14th 2007

Asia » Macau October 30th 2007

"Aaaaah, Macau, Macau!! Twenty-eight-square-km Macau!! How have you grown? I remember you at 23 km. Macanese recall you being just 8 to begin with. I hardly recognize you Macau. So much has changed." Shanna unconsciously reminisced aloud. She had studied in Macau in 2000 and now, seven years later, she was about to set foot again on a place she loved. Vibert peered thru the water-stained glass of the luxury ferry watching a mammoth bridge span a huge expanse of water. The ferry docked. It was almost dark outside the terminal. Ludi had come to get us. A native of Guinea-Bissau in West Africa, Ludi had studied with Shanna. Now a Master's student and trainee lawyer, she was a bundle of energy, drama and joy. Like gay (in the original sense of the word, of course) ... read more
Sheer Opulence
Chinese Lantern Festival
Grand Lisboa

Asia » Macau October 29th 2007

Macau is a territory located in southeast China, and was until 1999 administered by Portugal as an overseas province. Like its formerly British neighbour Hong Kong, Macau is a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. Gambling is Macau's biggest industry, and busloads arrive daily from mainland China to try their luck. In addition, many Hong Kongers arrive on weekends with the same aim Other than some great picture taking opportunities we only spent 2days in Macau cause its all about Gambling and Jewellery shops which last time I checked where both not included on the "backpackers itinerary". ... read more
Macau - LasVegas Meets The East
Macau - LasVegas Meets The East
Macau - LasVegas Meets The East

Asia » Macau October 21st 2007

We had a day trip to Macau. Macau was the first European enclave in Asia. It was under Portuguese control for about 500 years until it had its own handover in 1999. The Portuguese influence remains in much of the architecture, shops and street and location names. It is a 45 minute ferry ride from Hong Kong and you are required to present your passport and go through immigration. There is great furniture and antique shopping in Macau. One of the main attractions (for some) in Macau is the gambling. There are huge casinos there, and more money passes through the Macau casinos than through Las Vegas. The casinos are crass and out of place but are probably the main reason for Macau's economic development over the past 10 or so years.... read more
Joel and Tom
Lunch Time
Ruins of the Church of St Paul

Asia » Macau October 18th 2007

So I spent my entire Saturday in Macau... It's a little bustling city, super crowded and has a fair amount of foreigners... As you all know it used to be a Portugese concession until I believe 1996... It has some parts that might sort of look Europeanish.. A little cobble stone, and some old chirches and buildings that were designed using European architecture. They even sell some pasteries that you cannot find in Zhuhai. Anyhow, its fairly easy to cross the border. Macau borders Zhuhai's southern Gong Bei business districts and so we just crossed by foot. I went with a Chinese friend named Gabrielle btw. Anyhow, you can do some shopping here, and perhaps get some merchandise cheaper than on the mainland. Macau thrives off of its gambling industry. Supposedly Macau is the Vegas of ... read more
wouldnt you wanna live here?!
the old church remenants
the city

Asia » Macau October 13th 2007

Our ferry docked at Macau in the late afternoon. But we are only here to catch a flight to Singapore. (It's cheaper than flying from Hong Kong) We thought if we got rid of our luggage, we could do a bit of sight seeing before we left. But imigration had other ideas!!! Almost 2 hours later.... With passport finally stamped and loaded up with our backpacks, we headed for the taxi rank... Another queue greeted us!! When we finally got into a taxi, night had fallen. So we decided to head straight for the airport. Who knows how long imigration would take there!!! Once there we had 3 hours to wait for our flight...... Thought we'd try out the airport food and reflect on our trip around China. Decided that we wouldn't have missed the ... read more
If we had known....
View of the harbour bridge
Macau Airport

Asia » Macau October 4th 2007

Today was another early start for an 8am pick up so that I can join the other people on the tour group to Macao. We had to line up at the ferry terminal to go through passport control, it was so busy because last Monday was China National Day, it goes for a week and many Chinese people make the trip to Macao for shopping as there is no sales tax on goods there and of course for the gambling at 1 of 28 casinos. The Ferry was actually a very fast catamaran, like the Jet Cat in Sydney but much much bigger. Crossing the South China Sea was a bit lumpy but all in all considering that I don't like boats (seasick- yuck!) it wasn't too bad. I listened to my mp3 player and just ... read more
Inside Kun Iam
A-Ma Temple
Ruins of St Paul's

Asia » Macau September 27th 2007

Macau wasn't at the top of the list of places I'd expect to visit twice in 3 months, but rumour had it that visas for China would be easy to obtain there. Unfortunately the situation had changed since we had bought visas to China in Hanoi in April. Though $65 would get me (a Brit) a 3 month visa, it was going to cost LA Woman $150 for a 1 month one. This was apparently due to some tit-for-tat visa price increases between America and China. Our evenings were spent in a bar at the Grand Lisboa, watching the Western dancers frugging to cheesy music. One new routine since our last visit involved the girls prowling around in cat-themed outfits to a backing of "The Final Countdown", with growls and snarls added to the mix. The ... read more
Street sign
Largo do Senado by night
Duelling blowfish

Asia » Macau September 16th 2007

Yesterday I went to the Special Administrative Region of China called Macau. Just an hours ferry ride from HK. It was an interesting place..... They say it is a taste of Europe in Asia, but I failed to find that really, felt more Chinese. After a long queue at customs, we saw the main sights such as the ruins of St.Pauls and the main square. We went to the A-Ma temple, which is a pretty little place amongst some rocks, like an open air temple you climb up through. We tried the 'egg custard tart' that the region is apparently famous for, and it was tasty. In the evenings Macau lights up....Many many Chinese people go to Macau....to gamble! There are lots of casinos and the ones we went inside were all buzzing. The lads had ... read more
A-Ma Temple
A-Ma Temple
Children at the temple




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