28 March 2011
Macau
As mentioned above, the plan this afternoon was to go to Macau, and thats exactly what I did.
On the way I had sushi for lunch, from Genki Sushi, it was exactly the same as any other sushi train place in any other country, so I did not take any photos. However the chinese girl next to me kept telling me 'hot hot' whenever I put wasabi on things, she was quite concerned.
The ferry left soon after, getting through customs was easy, basically no line, although I forgot to bring a pen so I didnt have my departure cards, arrival cards and everything else in order, and each stage I had to go pen hunting.
Bear in mind I didnt take a bag with me, all I had was my passport stuffed in my jeans pocket, my phone, my wallet and my camera. Thats how you travel to what is effectively another country.
Once I got there, it was around 3pm, and time for a lot of walking. So much walking.
Eventually it got dark and I checked out some casinos. One had a live show on a stage on the main floor, showgirls, can can dancers, contortionists etc. I watched for about 30 minutes but then they started repeating acts so I moved on.
Then I went into the Grand Lisboa, which has an upmarket mall bit, this is the meat market. It was amazing. 100 or so prostitutes dressed to suit walk up and down this 50 metre or so indoor mall, stop, pivot, repeat.
At either end groups of boys wait, and point and I assumed discuss which one they want. But I never saw anyone make a purchase.
I had a plan for my dinner, it didnt happen, for dinner I ended up having an ice cream and some pringles on the ferry!
Whilst I was in the ferry departure lounge, a girl came and sat next to me, explained she was from the university, and doing a study on travel habits.
So I agreed to do the survey, it went for ages and she was going really very fast, every possible question on spending habits, marital status, household income, visits to the movies each year etc. She even looked in my passport to see where I had been, well she asked and I said it would be easier to just look.
I noticed there were a few people about the place doing this.
For my troubles I got the stick pin think in this picture.
This is a crap shot from the inside of the ferry. I had a middle seat, I nearly fell asleep. It takes about an hour exactly on the slow ferry, I was in no hurry so took the slow ferry.
You can see my ferry here, it looks very small, it actually holds 278 people. I know that because I read the ferry information card 15 times during the journey.
Once you get off you are swamped by free mini busses that will take you to any casino. I had no intention of gambling, but they dont even ask or try and sell you anything. No need for public transport in Macau, just go to the nearest casino and get on a bus.
heres the main piazza area, I photographed it last time as well. Its quite nice.
Nearby is this great park, had lots of giant rock sculpture things which I have failed to photograph. It was full of old people looking after it, doing their exercises, playing mahjong, playing that one stringed guitar thing with a bow while someone sang.
The view from the top of the garden, across the river is mainland China. Zuhai I think, or at least the outskirts of it.
A typical Macau street, according to wikipedia Macau has the higest density of any 'country' in the world. Unlike Hong Kong and Singapore there are no jungle/forest parts left untouched. Much of the population now lives on reclaimed land (except this photo is the hilly part), everyones pretty confident there wont be a tsunami!
The portugese custard tart. Absolutely superb. They dont taste as good as this elsewhere, I dont like them at all unless they are burnt like this one.
Look how evil I am!
The remains of a church that fell down when an unfaithful woman went near it. I like the contrast with the sky. Looks as evil as me in the above photo.
Further up the hill is the old fort, the view is pretty great.
The view towards the casino part of town, I took photos of that gold colored one last time. Im still amazed it doesnt fall over.
I used my ninja skills to sneak around the fort. I dont know why I did this. Most other people were having a picnic.
School let out and a million people descened on this little shopping street all of a sudden.
A casino garden forecourt, they are really strict on not taking photos inside casinos, so I could only sneak a couple.
This is a casino lobby, it has some huge jade statues that chinese folks were pretty excited about. Actually Jade is everywhere for sale, the idea being if you win big at a casino you stumble outside drunk and decide you need a life size green jade monkey statue to try and carry home.
This is I presume the Falun Gong protesters. They had been protesting here all day as theres a Chinese tourism fair happening right next to them. Both groups had competing loud speaker setups.
It finally got dark, heres the grand old casino lisboa, probably the original casino in Macau.
And heres the bottom of that building I think is about to fall over thats made of gold.
Onto my dinner failure.
Last time I was here, I visited this place called fishermans wharf. The idea is that its the one part of Macau without any gambling.
I remembered there were about 40 restaurants along here, all different kinds...
Well a year later, and the adventure into an area without gambling is a terrible failure, as absolutely everything is gone or shut. Those that are shut I think arent about to open again.
Its very strange, theres no one there but the loudspeakers on light poles are still blasting music, and theres still people in coats working security.
Unfortunately this is right by the ferry terminal and I didnt want to venture back in the other direction for food, theres also nowhere to eat in the ferry terminal, so I got no dinner!
This is one of the bridges linking the various islands. Not very exiting I know, but I like bridges.
And finally, I am on the ferry going back again, so I played with my GPS using my locally cached copy of google maps. The ferry went at about 80kmph, and a few times between islands it got choppy enough for us to get airborne and people to scream. I enjoyed it.
A few lightweights seemed to run off to the bathroom carrying sick bags. Honestly it wasnt at all rough, it would be amusing to do the trip in rough seas, but I guess they go slower then so you dont fly off the top of waves.