2367 Diana and I on the TurboJet Ferry. Look at those roomy comfortable seats.
2371 Part of Macau. The golden flame like building is the Lisboa Casino.
2389 This is the front façade of Saint Paul's Cathedral
2407 View of Macau from the 360 Restaurant on the Macau Tower.
Oct 18 & 19 – At Sea. Once again, not one but two days to catch up on my photos, writing and rest. Nothing exciting happened during this time period except that on the 19th they had another Mongolian cookout for lunch but the Lido pool. Yum!!
Oct 20 - Hong Kong, China. Today we may set a record for visas stamped in our passports in one day. In the old days in Europe it was no problem to collect a bunch of stamps in a day but with the Euro Zone in effect, it's not easy to get you passport stamped unless you run in and out of Switzerland, Norway, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg or Andorra. Today we will have entered Hong Kong, left Hong Kong, entered Macau, left Macau and re-entered Hong Kong. That's five entry and exit stamps in less than 10 hours. Not bad. The Chinese take all this very seriously and since both Hong Kong and Macau have become special protectorates of the Chinese they also take it the same way.
We've been to Hong Kong a couple of time and decided to go to Macau this time. Just like the British in Hong Kong, the Portuguese in Macau had a lease on the area and were separate from China. Both leases have now expired and both have become special protectorates of China and will be for 50 years at which time their status will be reconsidered. If the Chinese are half as smart as I think they are they won't change much. Hong Kong is the financial center for Asia and Macau is the gambling mecca. Gambling is illegal in China and Hong Kong but legal in Macau.
If you've ever been to Las Vegas you know that Asians of all types are big time gamblers and the same goes here. Macau only has 34 casinos but the total take there is larger than Las Vegas, which has almost three times that many. The casinos here are all huge. And I do mean huge. Several represent Vegas interests. There's a Venetian, an MGM Grand and a Wynn casino. The rest appear to be European and Asian enterprises.
Hong Kong has a definite British flair but it is much more Chinese than British. Macau on the other hand is definitely influenced by its Portuguese past. They colonized the area and ruled it for over 400 years before it reverted to China in 1999. In some sections of the area you could easily be in Lisbon. The architecture of whole neighborhoods is in the Portuguese style. It has a more relaxed, easy going feel. The people aren't rushing past, bumping into you like they do in China and Hong Kong. Everyone gives everyone else space.
I picked up our passports from the front desk and at our appointed time we were in the Queen's Lounge preparing to leave. After being scanned off the ship we boarded a bus for what wound up being a one-third of a mile trip to the fast ferry pier. It was here that we cleared immigration to depart Hong Kong.
Macau is about a one hour trip from Hong Kong by fast ferry. The company that operates our ferry is First Ferry Macau and the ferry is called the TurboJet. It's an all inside ferry because of the speed but the seats are large and comfortable and the air conditioning works very well. The ferry is fast. The water is pretty smooth this morning and the captain can push the ship to its max. Sure enough, about one hour later there we arrived at the pier in Macau and it's here that we cleared immigration into Macau. Both clearances were pretty quick but, as it's early Saturday morning, the ferry is nearly full with Chinese going to Macau for the weekend.
After we boarded our bus we headed immediately to New Macau, built on land reclaimed from the sea, to stop at the Venetian Casino. On the drive there we could see them hard at work setting up temporary seating and barricades for the Macau Grand Prix. It's often referred to as the Monte Carlo of the Far East because of this race and the large fancy casinos. I can tell you for sure that the coffee is less expensive here than in Monte Carlo. To sit on the patio of a café across the square from the Grand Casino in Monte Carlo I had to pay the princely sum of 15€, at the time about $19.50US for what could best be described as a mini-mocha. Of course, it came with a small sugar cookie so I guess I wasn't overcharged by much. Here in Macau Diana got a large (Vente) mocha for $5US and got some Hong Kong $ change.
It can be a bit confusing if you're not careful when talking about money here. Hong Kong and Macau both use dollars but each has its own. So if you throw in US dollars you have three different currencies in play all with the same name. Everyone shorthands this by calling our dollars US, Hong Kong dollars HK and Macau dollars Macau. Luckily the HK and Macau dollars are worth almost exactly the same amount. If you go to the bank and trade in $100Macau you get $103HK. So everyone just treats them both as if they are 7 of theirs to 1 of ours. For some reason you feel like you're getting a good deal when you get a $70 t-shirt for $10.
Because so many people come from Hong Kong to gamble, everyone in Macau will accept HK$ and give change in the same currency. I had to ask for a few Macau coins in my change to get a souvenir. Actually US$ were readily accepted everywhere I tried to spend them. I had gotten some HK$ so small purchases were made using that.
The visit to the Venetian was ok but having seen the one in Vegas I can safely report that they are pretty much the same place.
Our next stop was at the ruins of Saint Paul's Cathedral. It's an important sight because the Jesuits (Society of Jesus) settled in Macau in 1565. By 1594 they had established several schools and in that year they founded the College of the Mother of God (Mater Dei), the first western style university in the Far East. When the Jesuits were expelled in 1762 the building was abandoned and later became home to military battalion. In 1835 a fire erupted in the kitchens of the barracks that destroyed the entire compound. In the 90s the front façade was restored and the crypt was turned into a museum.
The four-tiered façade give us a feel for what the cathedral must have been. Now were finally talking about something I understand, church architecture, specifically cathedrals of the 15 and 1600s. It was a typical three nave design with the central aisle being wider than the side aisles as well as at least 50% taller. The interior of the standing façade shows that there was a choir loft above the entrances and probably aisles around the second floor. Judging by the ornamentation on the façade it must have been a pretty grand place.
The lower tier of the front façade has the typical three entrances, the central one being wider and larger. Not much going on there except for the IHS over the outer doors and the inscription 'Mater Dei' over the larger central door. The next tier up is dedicated to the four Jesuit Saints, Francisco de Borja, Luis Gonzaga, Francisco Xavier and Ignatius, the founder of the society. I know of Catholic schools named after everyone but Borja. Either my knowledge is deficient or he was robbed. The tier also has symbols of the work of the society, missions, etc. The next tier up is dedicated to Mary and events in her life. The top tier is dedicated to Jesus and his work in securing the possibility of redemption for mankind. In the tympanum at the top is the dove of the Holy Spirit. Any symbol of God, the Father seems to be absent. You think He would have figured in there somewhere.
The carving is also rich in symbolism. For example, there's a ship being guided by the sea star to show the Jesuits commitment to foreign missions and the statue of the young Jesus is surrounded by the implements of His crucifixion, the crown of thorns, hammer, the nails, the whip and the spear. The interior must have been splendid.
Next we drove by the Purto do Cerco Gate that stands at the old border between Macau and China. It's still used because there are some formalities to go between the two for foreigners but Macaoanese and Hong Kongese just pass through. I know, but that's what our guide calls each group so that's what I'm using.
Then it was on to the Macau Tower, the tenth tallest free standing tower in the world. We're stopping here because we're going to eat lunch on the top. They have one of those revolving restaurants up there. The only thing higher than the restaurant is the TV tower and at the base of the TV tower is the bungee jumping tower. It's certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the highest architectural bungee jumping site in the world. Lunch is going to be a buffet and that's fine with me. The food is usually better than a set lunch on these tours.
The restaurant's name is 360˚ and the views from there were very nice. It moves so slowly you can't really feel it but you can see the motion if you look out the floor to ceiling windows. Only the eating area moves so you didn't have to search for the buffet you wanted to select from. Just wait a few minutes and it will be just up the steps from your table. They had oriental, Indian, English and Portuguese cuisine to choose from. That is, in addition to the salad, dessert, fruit and bread bars. The Oriental food included food from several countries, sushi and dim sum in addition to the Chinese, Thai and Japanese choices. I liked the fragrances coming from the Thai and Indian bars and that's what I chose for the main meal. I had to sample the dim sum and to be honest, what they serve in Chinatown in Los Angeles is better than any I've ever had in China. This was pretty good but still not as good. I didn't try the sushi, it was all cut rolls and while they are ok, I prefer nigiri or te maki. The lunch was very good and I'm sorry I didn't take any pictures of the restaurant, just out the window.
From the tower we drove to the Macau Temple complex. It's sort of like a planned community for temples. They have about 8 temples in a very small area and each is either to a different god or belief system. If you wanted to cover all the bases of Eastern Religion this is the place to come. Each small temple scattered up the hillside had its own shop selling incense, ribbons to leave on the premises, charms, amulets and I don't know what else. If you're really serious they have the incense coils for sale here. The first I've seen this trip. The incense is about .75 of an inch thick and coiled like a rattlesnake but of course there's a gap between the coils or they'd all burn at once. You can buy them in one week, two week and one month sizes. Now that's a serious amount of devotion to show to the particular deity you're honoring.
When we arrived there was a band playing and a Chinese dog dancing. The dog was the 2-man operated variety. They seemed to be having a good time, I know the temple visitors were. Just down the street there was a bakery. You know my reputation for wanting to try the special local treat. Our guide said they made a wonderful egg custard pastry. Sounded like just like the ticket. It was even better than I hoped. The 'egg custard' wound up being exactly like one of my favorite pastries in the world, the pasteshe (sp?) de Belem. It's Portuguese and I have no idea how to spell it but I'm pretty sure it means 'pastry of Bethlehem'. Actually I'm sure about the Bethlehem part it's the pastry part I'm not sure of. (I'm expecting a note from my friend Jan about how badly I butchered this.)
Anyway the pastry is a small cup of crust filled with the creamiest custard that's baked until it's a little scorched on top. I got one for Diana and one for myself. No splitting this goody. At about 2.5 inches in diameter it's not really big enough. I tried to split one in Lisbon and the flaky crust just disintegrated making for messy eating. I'm not making that mistake twice. Yikes, it was good!!
After that it was the ferry back to Hong Kong. Just reverse the explanation of the trip over and you've got it. It was a good but long day and it was nice to get home to the ship.
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