A Special Day out in Macau

It was my brothers ruby anniversary and I met up with him when he flew in to Hong Kong to start his holiday for 2 weeks he had 3 days to spare before he started his Asia cruse.

We all had a whistle stop tour of Hong Kong Island in the early morning before catching the ferry to Macau, once arriving in Macau around 1pm we took a taxi to the temple and had a look around there for around hour, worth having a look as Macau is not a big area although they have been reclaiming some of the sea area and now have a international airport there to entice the high rollers to there to play at the every growing amount of high class casinos,

However after going around the temple we then jumped into another taxi and went up the hill to the old battlements which once looked over the harbour and sea area in day gone by. Now you can’t see the sea for all the building now. Macau is part of main land china and was once occupied by the Portuguese up to 1997 when it was handed back to the Chinese government as was Hong Kong. The old guns are still in place here and well worth a look also they have a good museum inside the battlements. When you look out the back side of this hill top area you can clearly see the border with main land china and the high like fence with the razor wire all around it is also clear to see at the ferry terminal, the border is still used today as on the other side of it in this area is Zhuhai part of the high-tech area of china and even the local Chinese still need to have a special permit to enter this area but foreigners can travel there on your Chinese visa.

Once we had a look around there we went to the old chapel area which is basically has only the frontage left standing after a fire destroyed it, it sits at the top of the main shopping street and is just down from the old battlements at the top of the hill, after having spent some time there we all walked down through the main street, which most of it looked like the style of houses you would find in Portugal with their bright painted colours, on the way down there was a beautiful chapel worth going in and having a look as it is full of historical things, but beware this is a practising chapel.

After walking through the main area we walked down the street which has loads of jewellery shops selling only pure gold product and Rolex watches and other high end diamond goods not a place for the guy in the street to ask how much does it cost. As they say if you have to ask the price you cannot afford it. After having a good walk (surprise surprise we came across a casino when of course we just happened to stumbled in the doors). These places are well worth a look around as they have everything inside them. Well we had to go and have a look at the gambling areas (as you do) it was so busy as you are not allowed to gamble in main land china or Hong Kong this is the only area you can legal gamble other than the horses in Hong Kong which is all run by the jockey club. We all had a wonder around and after playing some games we left and I was so happy as I was 1000 pounds sterling richer. The usual I played a game in there I have never seen before nor understood but had only seen it on a James bond film Dr No I think. The one where the woman puts the fag packet into the basket at the casino.

With my winning in my pocket we all jumped into another taxi and set off to the new Macau tower where we decided not to take the outside walk or the budge jump but only the safer option of the inside tour, from the tour which I would recommend doing as the views were so good and gives you a better prospective of Macau, so after going to the top of the tower and taking some nice photos we then descended down into the shopping mall below and guess what another small casino but this time all automated so we just had to have a go. Well I did and again won just over 100 pounds sterling so this day was just getting better and better. Around now we were all starting to feel rather hungry so we jumped back into a taxi and asked the driver to take us to the best Portuguese restaurant in Macau; strangely enough we started back at the temple at the restaurant next to it .when we arrived we were told they were fully booked but once I explained it was my brother and his wife ruby anniversary they kindly gave us a table. The meal was very good and we all enjoyed it. After our meal we headed back to catch the ferry into Kowloon Hong Kong and arrive back around 9 pm at night what a great day out we all had and I was so please that I treaded them all to a day they will remember. After arriving back in Kowloon we went and had a look at some of the attractions and night markets before returning to their hotel around 12 midnight, but that another story for another day i hope you enjoy the photos and if you want to ask me anything please do as there is a link via electric Scotland or you can contact me via my website www.wetalkchina.com and use the contact button

P.S ferry takes around one hour each way and are around every 20 minutes