Macau

I'm sorry I've been so silent on the blog for the last two months! I'm way behind and hope to catch up soon, so bear with me. We've been busy, which is a good thing, right? :)

We had a great time hosting our good friend from Urbana, Dave, for ten days in late November and early December. His visit was the perfect excuse to go to Macau for the first time since we moved here. Macau, like Hong Kong, is classified as a Special Administrative Region of China. It was a Portuguese colony from the 16th century until it was officially handed over to China in 1999. Its major industry is tourism, as it's known as the Las Vegas of Asia. Just 37 miles southwest of Hong Kong, it only took about an hour via jetfoil to get there.

Dave, Evangeline, me on the ferry to Macau (iphone pic, so bad quality!)

Let me preface my customs anecdote by saying that over 70% of Macau's tourists are from mainland China. One of the hardest Chinese cultural differences for us to overcome is the "me-first" lack of civility, by our standards, at least. Hong Kong is a tiny bit better because it's so Westernized, but we still get frustrated in our day-to-day life. People crowd on to the metro as soon as the doors open before others have a chance to get off, despite the million posted signs saying to wait. Line cutting is common, and if I had a dollar for every time an able-bodied person took valuable elevator space at the expense of someone who actually needed it, I'd be rich! So the customs experience in Macau was a nightmare. We arrived at the same time as a bunch of ferries from China, so it was very busy. Instead of orderly lines in front of passport control, there was just a mass of people trying to get ahead of everybody else. We were penned in, with the feeling of people constantly pushing from behind. It probably took us the better part of an hour to get through, but once we did, it was smooth sailing.

We checked into our hotel and hit the streets. We ended up staying in Taipa, which is in between all of the casinos in central Macau and the newest hotel casinos on the Cotai Strip, which include the Venetian and the Four Seasons.

A square in Taipa

Evangeline takes in the scene

Dave's expression after trying some durian ice cream

Signs in three languages

You'd feel like you were almost in Europe...

...but then you'd pass something like this

The Grand Lisboa, an over-the-top casino/hotel

Stopping to refuel at a famous cafe

We thought their natas (Portuguese custard tarts) were the best on the trip

Based on the crowds, I think people agreed with us!

The busy tourist streets in Central Macau

Anyone fancy a sheet of beef?

Sao Paolo ruins at sunset

View from the ruins

There goes the sun!

Gelato? Yes, please!

Evangeline gets a fair amount of attention here in Hong Kong because of her curly hair, but she got a lot more in Macau because most of the people were from the mainland. Luckily, she didn't seem to mind having her hair touched everywhere we went, and even agreed to pose for some pictures:

The next day, we went to Cologne, which is the area of Macau furthest away from the casinos. It was beautiful and very sleepy.

Those mountains in the background are in China

A church on a square

It's a lazy life for dogs in Cologne

Trying out the adult fitness equipment in a park

Workin' it!

Post-nata grin

All in all, we liked Macau but it was very weird. Take the inherent strangeness of Las Vegas, mix in a lot of Portuguese, and put it in China, and I think you'd have it. There's certainly nothing else like it, that's for sure!