Last month we traveled to Macau for visa reasons. When I lived here many moons ago I never visited Macau, had always thought of it as a place to go if you are a gambler, the Las Vegas of Asia!
Well Macau is alot more than fancy hotels and glitzy casino's. Macau is kind of split in half; old Macau and new Macau. New Macau is all singing all dancing. Jam packed with huge light displays, 5 star hotels, casino's and every Haute Couture boutique you can name sitting side by side each other on the sidewalk.
I wasn't interested in the glitzy half of Macau, I wanted to visit Portugal Macau!
Now for the history lesson! ( thanks to Wikepedia)
A
former Portuguese colony,
Macau was administered by Portugal from the mid-16th century until
1999, when it was the last remaining European colony in China.
Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 1550s. In 1557 Macau
was rented to Portugal by the Chinese empire as a trading port. The
Portuguese administered the city under Chinese authority and sovereignty
until 1887, when Macau became a colony of the Portuguese empire.
Sovereignty over Macau was
transferred back to China on 20 December 1999. The
Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration and the
Basic Law of Macau stipulate that Macau operate with a high degree of
autonomy until at least 2049, fifty years after the transfer.
We left our hotel and traveled by MTR to the Macau ferry teminal. We took the hour journey over and then spent nearly 2 hours in immigration, boring! people seem to forget to tell you that bit!
The weather was very humid so really heavy with grey cloud. We took a cab into old Macau and my heart sank I'm afraid. I was dreaming of quaint cobbled streets, side walk cafes and large open squares with fountains. Instead I got huge crowds, noise and no quaint side walk cafes.
But I loved the cobbled streets, European street signs and elegant street lamps so typical of Europe.
And amongst all this European architecture and pastel coloured houses, you see Asia! Neon lights, signs, and high rise apartment blocks. Its so bizarre! The most common mode of transport is the scooter as well, all ages!
This chalk board caught my attention . Loved all the characters in every colour chalk you can find! This shop front and its mosiac entrance was an show stopper for me too, full of colour! I was really inspired by all the colour, put a big smile on my face!
This is my Macau in colour post, next post is Macau in black and white!
We love when you pop by and leave a comment, so please let us know what you think of our adventures here in Hong Kong.
Love Team B xx
