Hong Kong 2007

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Day 8 - August 5, 2007

Today we had the whole day off and we took off on an excursion to the nearby island of Macau. You have to have your passport and go through immigration to go to Macau even though it is only a one hour ferry ride away from Hong Kong. Macau is an interesting combination of Chinese and Portugese cultures. It is a former Portugese colony that had over 400 years of history there. Portugal only recently (1999) gave the area back to China. The food there is a delicious combination of both cultures; however, the main attraction...is the CASINOS! Whoo hoo! It very much looks like a multi-cultural version of Vegas...lots of bright lights, neon, ritsy casino lobbies all intended to lure you in. (ok, I was lured in but more on that later)

After we got off the ferry, we took one of the free casion buses to the main strip. We made a quick stop in one of the casinos to use the restrooms and since we were there decided to take a quick turn on the gaming floor. They are very serious there and you are not allowed to bring bags, or cameras or anyting on the gaming floor, so we piled our stuff into a corner and left our guide (Edward) to watch it while we tried our luck for 30 minutes. April was the only winner this time with the slot machines. The slot machines were hard because all the buttons were in Chinese and basically all I was doing was pushing different buttons until the lights stopped flashing.

We decided to quit then and went to reclaim our things froml Edward and then followed him to an authentic Portugese/Chinese restaurant. We had some interesting food choices there. I had a mango milk shake...really good.

Then it was off to do some major sightseeing. First stop was the Ruinas de Sao Paulo. This is a church facade which is all that remains of Macau's grandest church. In its day it was a great cathedral that was destroyed by fire in 1835. It is perched atop a steep flight of precarious stone steps and is propped up by scaffolding. We even climbed up more rough stone steps to the very top of the battlement area where the cannons were kept. We had fun on the cannons until one of the guards kicked us off....boo!

Of course, along the narrow roads leading up to the church are many shops and vendors and shopping. Lots of unusual things here too. One item claims to be Macau's #1 souvenir - candy! There is a peanut candy (similar to peanut brittle) that is made here which is just terrific. Umm, umm, good!

We made a quick stop to the shore point where the Portugese first arrived and saw the chapels built there. Then we went on to Macau Tower. This is the highest point in Macau and they have bungy jumping!!! But hold on...before you get all excited...there was no bungy jumping allowed for us before the show. Boo!! It is the highest bungyjump tower in the world...233 meters! Obviously, from the top there are spectacular views in all directions. We actually saw a couple of jumpers while we were up there. We did some quick shopping in the toy shop and then it was off to dinner. I made a quick detour into one of the casinos down the street. This time, luck was on my side. Whoo hoo! I joined the group at the restaurant where they were eating. The consensus was that the best thing ordered was this filet mignon on a skewer wrapped in bacon (heart stopper for sure). So, I ordered it. All I can say is....awesome!

We had about an hour left before we had to be back at the ferry. Paul and I realized that we hadn't bought any candy yet and we couldnt leave Macau without candy. It was going to be tight but we decided to go for it. We ran out, grabbed a cab and drove to one part of the island to get the candy. Trying to explain that we wanted the cab to wait was a bit tricky but we managed....then off to the ferry. We got to the ferry just in the nick of time. We arrived back at our hotel shortly past midnight...whew... a long day but fun!

--Myra

A cool place to try your luck	The blend of Protugese and Chinese
The view from the steps of Sao Paulo	The ruins of the tombs at Sao Paulo
Tim seems to have an issue with heights	View from top of Macau Tower
Check out this lady doing a jump! We saw her at the bottom later so all ended well
April and Tami simulate a bungy jump from Macau Tower	Ohmygosh...so good!

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