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The World according to me...
Macau- the first and last European colony in Asia. It was fascinating to see a a european themed city which is in asia. The architecture of the city is truly amazing. Macau was colonized from the 16 century up to 1999 (400 years). They say that the Portugese help this city to build its economy.Aside from Casino, (well they say Macau is the gambling capital of Asia) they have also some historical sights to visit.
We went to Macau last August 24. The first plan was just to stay in Hongkong for a 3 day trip but we cannot missed going to Macau. After we squeezed our jampack tour we set 6 hours to roam around Macau. After arriving in HK, we rushed to TST to find the location of our hostels. We booked a room weeks before our flight. Ate Jeanny called the Filipina caretaker to inform her of our request for a two room which can suit 3 people. But to our surprise only one room was booked because the owner told us that we didn't pay for the deposit of the other room. The Filipina insisted before that it is ok to pay for only one room and we will pay the rest unpon arrival. We were all tired and devastated, we were 6 so half of it went to the other hostel which is a block away from our place. After an hour Nef and I rushed to a near-by Mc Donald's to buy food while the other 4 was checking the other hostel.
At 2 pm we were lost on our way to the ferry terminal. It is not an ordinary ferry terminal because you need to enter a building to see the terminal. We bought tickets and we rushed to the boat to occupy our seats. I think it was an hour ferry ride to Macau via the China Ferry Terminal.
Money in Macau is called Pataca, but HK dollars are accepted (HK$1 = MOP1.03.). Transportations in Macau is easy, there are lots of taxi in the area. Busses are also abundant, upon entering the bus, there is a big see through box to put your fare. You should have coins because the driver won't give you any change. There are also some who will offer to take you on a tour to the different places in Macau. We opted to follow our itinerary. We got lost along the way, we took the bus from the ferry terminal and we wanted to go to Senado square to go to the Ruins of St. Paul, but we pass thru the bus stop and we did recognized it. We took another bus again and finally we reached our destination.
Before we approached the ruins, we were mesmerized by the different shops in the area, What I loved most was the streets full of tasty different foods that you can taste for free. Jerky's are everywhere, there's also almond cookies and my favorite, the Portugese Egg Tart.
The Ruins of St. Paul was once the largest Catholic Church in Asia. It was destroyed by a fire during a typhoon in 1835. The only remaining part is the facade of the Cathedral. We took lots of photos in the area. We went to the nearest Starbucks to buy a tumbler. We also went to Lisboa Casino and took some photos of the Exhibit. It was raining so we waited a little while inside Lisboa because the bus stop is not around in the area, taxi that time was hard to find. We finally made it to the bus stop after a few blocks of walking under the drizzle. We took the bus back to the ferry terminal to avail the free bus ride that the Venetian Macau was offering (there's also a free fan). We reached Venetian Macau at around 8pm. It's a huge one. The escalator was far the highest that I've seen inside a building. We roamed around until 10pm. We took the free bus again to the ferry terminal. It was already late, my tummy was still full because of the Jerky and the egg tart (I bought 1 kl of jerky and 2 boxes of Almond cookies). We bought tickets going back to Hongkong, its not the same ferry boat that we took earlier but it was cheaper. Unfortunately, the ferry boat was stationed in the other Pier so we were lost again. We had a big map with us but we do not know where to go. All of the people that we ask doesn't understand english and we don't speak Mandarin. Finally two girls walk past us and we ask them about the nearest MTR (train system) and to our surprised, it was just around the corner of the 7 11 near us.
Whew that was really an adventure. Imagine travelling from Manila to Hongkong, Hongkong to Macau then Back to Hongkong again in just 1 day. That was an adventure that I cannot forget. But we survived with an aching feet and lots of photos to remember this kind of adventures.
"If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home." - James Michener
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