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Macau

Posted by Stuart at 08:48 PM on December 15, 2002

Looking for something a little different, Todd and I took a one-hour ferry ride over to the former Portuguese colony island of Macau. From the way Lonely Planet described the place, we were expecting a sleepy little village. But instead big skyline with a huge needle tower welcomed us.

The first hour of our time in Macau was less than exciting. We disembarked from the ferry and started walking. All that we could see were ugly dirty apartment buildings and hotels. We perservered, however, and things quickly improved.

Among the places we visited were St Michaels Cemetery and Chapel. The cemetery was small, but packed full of unique headstones and monuments from the past 200 years. The chapel was a small but beautiful lime-green building in the middle of the sloping cemetery. On advice from Lonely Planet, we took stairs up to the roof and saw something we have never seen before: there, out in the sun to dry, were 5 or 6 human remains. Next to one there was even a picture of the lady who I assumed used to inhabit the neatly laid out bones.

Next we visited fort built on top of a big hill in the middle of the island. Inside the fort was the Macau Museum, which was AMAZING. Todd and I were both shocked that it was so impressive. It was truely a world-class facility that everyone should see when they visit Macau.

After the museum we visited the ruins of St Peter's Church where just the elaborate facade remains. (It looks like they are rebuilding the rest of the church, though.) Then we walked through the old colonial part of town, where they have renovated all of the two hundred year old buildings and turned them into a pedestrian shopping mall. As much as I don't care for renovating old buildings just so they can house Starbucks, it was still a nice enjoyable walk.

On the way back, we slipped into the casino at the Hotel Lisbona and saw many gambling games that we have never seen before and have no idea how to play. In other words, if it wasn't for the slot machines by the door, I would have left with all my money. As it stands, I put HK$10 (US$2.25) into the machines with exactly a 0% return.