Macao
Macao

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    • Day 6

      Macau - tower, casino's and tarts

      November 29, 2018 in Macao ⋅ 🌙 22 °C

      We departed the hotel just after 9am for a walk to the ferry terminal, bound for Macau. After taking a while to find the ticket counter, we bought tickets for the 10.45am departure, but were also told to line up in the standby queue for the 10.15am ferry... and got on that quite easily!

      On arrival in Macau we caught the hotel free shuttle bus, checked in to one room and caught the local bus to the Macau Tower. After a quick lunch, including our first Portuguese egg tart, KT and Chris braved the Skywalk, a vertigo inducing walk around an outside platform 322m up, secured by only a cable! The rest of us stayed inside and enjoyed the views across Macau and mainland China.

      After a cuppa and another egg tart, we caught one of the casino shuttle buses to the Cotai Strip, a Las Vegas style extravaganza of massive buildings, neon lights and copies of famous world attractions. We had a ride in "the world's highest figure of eight ferris wheel", suspended between 2 towers of the Studio City casino (we suspect it's the only one in the world!).

      Unfortunately we then made the mistake of entering The Venetian, a labyrinth of shops, complete with canals and gondolas, and spent the best part of an hour trying to find our way out! We found out later it's the largest casino in the world... no wonder it seemed to go on forever!

      By the time we emerged it was dark, so we caught a free shuttle to another casino near our hotel - the casino's are only too pleased to take you if they think you'll spend some money at their establishment, so they are a popular form of transport between the islands.

      Tea was a Mecanese and Portuguese buffet at the hotel (and more egg tarts), followed by a trip to the supermarket and a quick swim for KT, DC and Chris before bed.
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    • Day 124

      Das muntere Treiben Macaus

      October 6, 2018 in Macao ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

      Our short visit of Hong Kong is over and we took a ferry to Macao. It is just a one hour ride on a speed ferry, but it is a completely different world. Macao has a huge Portuguese influence and the centre of the city is an old city like it is in most European cities. Beside the old part there are lots of Casinos and it has a feeling of Las Vegas. We started the day in the old city to see the Ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral. This part of the city was crowded, but nice. I even found a Pastel de Nata, my favorite cake from Portugal.

      Unser kurzer Besuch von Hong Kong ist schon wieder vorbei und wir nahmen eine Fähre nach Macau. Wie Hong Kong ist auch Macau eine Sonderverwaltungszone von China, allerdings mit portugiesischem Einfluss. Dementsprechend ist es trotz der nur ca. 60 km Entfernung zu Hong Kong eine ganz andere Welt. Die Innenstadt ähnelt sehr einer europäischen Altstadt in dessen Zentrum mit der Ruine von St. Paul's auch die bekannteste Sehenswürdigkeit steht. Hier haben wir auch unsere Besichtigung gestartet. Es war zwar wirklich voll, aber auch sehr cool. Gegen Abend ändert sich das Bild der Stadt und die ganzen Kasinos erwachen zum Leben sodass man sich nach Las Vegas versetzt fühlt.
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    • Day 125

      Sonne, Strand & Meer - Phuket

      October 7, 2018 in Macao ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

      Macau was the last stop in China. In the morning we took a flight to Phuket, Thailand. Thailand is the first country on our trip we are in for the second time. After our arrival we went directly to the beach it is amazing! But the best thing: There are a lot of friendly people, the food is cheap and no more Chinese people around. First impression: Perfect!

      Macau war der letzte Stop unserer großen Russland, Mongolei & China Rundreise. Ab jetzt beginnt Süd-Ostasien! Von Macau ging es mit Air Asia direkt ins Paradies nach Phuket. Angekommen ging es direkt an den Strand und der ist perfekt: Leer, riesig, warmes Wasser, Palmen, günstiges Essen, freundliche Menschen und keine Chinesen mehr :D In den nächsten Tagen bleiben wir erstmal am Strand und am Pool und planen die weitere Reise.
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    • Day 7

      The Ruins of St Paul

      November 30, 2018 in Macao ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

      Sightseeing day, starting with a bus trip to the southern island to visit Scout Headquarters, which is housed in an old fort.

      Our return bus trip took us to the number one tourist attractions in Macau, Senado Square and The Ruins of St Pauls, along with hordes of other tourists.

      Senado Square is a central meeting place where they hold community events and is surrounded by laneways lined with shops and market stalls. The tourist masses form a slow moving human train from Senado Square up to the Ruins of St Pauls, the facade of a 17th century church that was destroyed by fire in 1835.

      We walked back to the hotel for our late checkout and to catch the hotel shuttle to the ferry terminal. The ferry check in was integrated with the airport system, so we were able to book our bags through to Taipei.

      We took off about 20 minutes late for our 1 hour 40 minute flight to Taipei, negotiated their e-gate process on arrival, then caught the MRT train to the city of Chungli for our accommodation for the night, in preparation for the start of our tour tomorrow.
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    • Day 364

      Macau

      June 10, 2019 in Macao ⋅ 🌧 31 °C

      Unseren ersten vollen Tag in Macau verbringen wir im nördlichen Teil zum Sightseeing. Hier gibt es einiges an portugiesischen Kolonialbauten, insb. die Überreste bzw. Front der St. Paul's Church aus dem 16. Jahrhundert.

      Die Straßen sind voller Menschen die neben den Bauten auch die lokalen Köstlichkeiten genießen. Spezialität sind vor allem Mandelkekse und Trockenfleisch. Ohne bestimmten Grund verzichten wir heute mal auf das Essen und arbeiten uns langsam durch die Innenstadt zum Hotel und Kasino Grand Lisboa vor. Es gehört zu den älteren aber beeindruckendsten Gebäuden auf der Halbinsel. Nach einer kleinen Tour durch das Innere und einem Abstecher in das neuere MGM geht es über eine der drei Verbindungsbrücken wieder zurück in den südlichen Teil der Stadt an den neueren Cotai Strip. Hier lassen wir den Abend recht gemütlich zu Dritt ausklingen.

      Nach Macau sind wir übrigens über die relativ neue Brücke mit dem Bus gefahren, welche Hongkong, Macau und China verbindet und mit 29,6 km die längste Seebrücke der Welt ist.
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    • Day 49

      Macau

      June 21, 2018 in Macao ⋅ 🌧 30 °C

      We went to Macau in search of the Portuguese heritage. We found a really interesting (and sometimes weird) mix of old Portuguese and mass Chinese architectures, with lots of casinos in between. Portuguese is still an official language, but we found no one who could speak it. The best part was finding the biscuit shops where we could fill our bellies with free samples. After all, we are Portuguese, and we don't say no to free food :)Read more

    • Day 39

      Ruins of St. Paul's

      June 23, 2018 in Macao ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

      Well the clouds have finally stopped having a hissy fit and I can finally explore the old town of Macau starting with the ruins of St Paul, dating back to the 17th Century and a UNESCO world heritage sit.Read more

    • Day 39

      Walking around Macau (1)

      June 23, 2018 in Macao ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

      The way that Portugue's culture and architecture is sown in with Chinese and Asian architecture is just fascinating- at time I think I'm in Madeira! Also the use of bamboo here is amazing, I've seen sky scrapers under construction with bamboo used as scaffolding, really keeping old school building techniques alive, and the use of bamboo to build a stage at the Na Tcha Temple.Read more

    • Day 39

      Obligatory Casino Stop

      June 23, 2018 in Macao ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

      I suppose while I am in the gambling capital of the world, and the only city in China were gambling is legal I have to actually visit one. I honestly can't describe the sheer size of this casino, it had over 6 floors packed with tables. I watched one women exchange over $10,000HKG (£1,000) for casino chips and then proceed to loose nearly $5,000 (£500) instantly on a table! The amount of money flying round was just crazy, and thought I only went in to get a free ticket to the ferry terminal (cheeky hack I know) and ended up staying in there for over an hour!Read more

    • Day 7

      Going to Macau

      August 14, 2018 in Macao ⋅ 🌬 27 °C

      It was exciting to wake up early for our visit to Macau but we also wanted more sleep. We caught a fast catamaran in rainy windy typhoon weather so it was bumpy!

      Macau is so different. It is part of China now, but was run by the Portuguese for a long time. Now Macau has both systems, both moneys, all languages. There are old and new areas... Cobblestone streets like Europe and European balconies in the skinny streets, but lots of Asian signs and shops and transport. Macau is famous for egg tarts, almond biscuits and casinos! East meets West they say.

      We saw St Paul's ruins, from a church and University built in the 15th century and mostly burnt down in the 1800's. The Macau museum was awesome and we could see the old and new city up high from the old fortress. The cannons used to point to the foreign enemies, now they point at the casinos! Walking through the town was nice apart from when the rain was heavy. We tasted a lot of biscuits!
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    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Macau Special Administrative Region, Macau, Macao, ማካኡ, ماكاو, Makao, Макао, ম্যাকাও, མེ་ཀའོ།, Macao S.A.R., Tseina, Macau nutome, Μακάο, ماکائو, Macáó, મકાઓ, מקאו, मकाओ, Makaó, マカオ, მაკაო, ಮಖಾವ್, 마카오, ماکاو, ມາເກົ້າ, മക്കാവോ, मकाऊ, China, မကာအို, मकावो, ମାକାଉ SAR ଚିନ୍, Makau, Região Administrativa Especial de Macau, Regiun d'administraziun speziala Macao, Аомынь, Makáo, மகாவோ, మాకావ్, เขตบริหารพิเศษมาเก๊า, ማካዎ, ئاۋمېن, مکاؤ, 澳门, i-Macau

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