Visiting Macau from September 08 to September 08, 2018.
While on exchange I took a day trip to Macau from Hong Kong with two of my friends from school, Harrison and Tristen. We boarded the express ferry from Hong Kong bright and early on Saturday morning and got back very late that same night. We walked over 20km in one day and experienced much of what Macau had to offer.
Macau
Macau sits at the mouth of the Pearl River delta in the Guangdong region of Southern China, the most populated continuous metropolitan area in the world. Formerly a colony of Portugal, Ming China leased the territory as a trading post in 1557 to keep foreigners at an arms distance away from mainland China. Macau remained under Portuguese control until 1999 when it was returned to China. Macau is currently a special administrative region of China. That status expires in 2049.
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Parts of Macau felt like a Caribbean city
There were many traditional temples.
Largo do Senado
It's spooky to think everyone has a skeleton inside of them
Searching for something to eat. Most of the restaurants in this area of Macau had Chinese-only menus
Right: Tristen
Macau is one of the most dense and expensive countries in the world.
Portuguese Influence
Macau was previously held by Portugal until 1999. In Macau this is apparent in much of the architecture and restaurants. Below are a few of the buildings and streets from the colonial period.
Ruins of St. Paul's
In front of the Ruins of St. Paul's
In the center of Macau there is a large fort used for many years by the Portuguese to hold their trading post against other western countries attempting to control the trade in and out of China. It felt like something out of The Pirates of the Caribbean.
Monte Fort
Tristen, Harrison and me
Getting lost
After we left the fort we decided to simply wander through Macau exploring and in search of some food. We saw a side of Macau that was not dominated by Casinos and lavish resorts.
For lunch we found a restaurant with a Chinese only menu and each randomly picked something. All of our dishes were delicious. I think mine was minced pork but I am not sure.
We chose the hottest thing on the menu, a recommendation from the waitress.
Largo De Senado - The former Portuguese town center
Seafood market - there was a large variety of fresh seafood
Gambling
Macau is the gambling capital of the world and is officially known as Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. Like Hong Kong, Macau is a part of China but has some autonomy from China. The economy of Macau heavily relies on gambling and tourism.
Day and night
Gambling capital of the world
I wasn't supposed to take this one :)
Then we went back to Hong Kong taking the last ferry of the day. Hong Kong is such a great place to be because it's so close to many amazing places in Asia.
