Musings of an Idiot

I woke up at 6.00 AM without the need for an alarm and I got ready and walked over to where the China Ferry Terminal is supposed to be from where I could catch the ferry to Macau but was again thrown off by the lack of any foot traffic and it looked like the building was closed. Around 6.30 AM I decided to brave it and just walked into the building since I saw a couple of people walk in and to my surprise the ferry terminal was actually open and it was set a little further towards the water, so you had to take a lift up and then walk some to get to the main ticketing areas. I couldn't find the ticketing service for First Ferry and as I was roaming around lost, one of the security guards came around and pointed out the till from where I could buy the tickets. Macau is a SAR {Special Administrative Region} just like Hong Kong, so you have to go through the immigration process and get a visa to go to Macau. It took me only 5 minutes since it was still early in the morning.

The ferry takes about an hour to get you from HK to Macau. I landed in Macau and was expecting to get a head start by getting all the information I needed from the information centre and then doing the things I planned. And again I hit a major hurdle - I had caught the 7.00 AM ferry, which meant that I was in Macau departures around 8.15 and the information centre was closed and there were no helpful signs or information whatsoever as to what to do and where to go. There were free shuttle bus services to one of the many casinos in the region but I had no intention of going to a casino and I didn't want to sign up for any local tours as I wanted to explore things on my own. I tried asking one of the security guards at the terminal for information but they couldn't speak English, so I decided to walk around a bit and while away another 35-40 minutes before the information centre opened. I wish I knew how to speak Portuguese or Mandarin or Cantonese as it probably would have made things a lot more easier and made a mental note to try and learn some conversational Malay before next year's trip to Borneo.

At 9.00 AM I was back at the information centre and got all the information that I was seeking and got around to catch a bus to the main street which runs through Macau. Hong Kong dollars are accepted in Macau and have equivalent value to the Macau Patang. and bus rides cost a flat 3.20 for travel anywhere within the city. The down side is that you have to tender exact change and if you don't then you end up loosing a chunk of change.

Macau to me was a weird experience because it felt like such a transitionary city/state. Maybe it was because of the casinos that overpower the city or maybe because I went there on the weekend but it had this pretty empty feel to it. The best part of the whole experience was the Portuguese influences - on architecture and on food. Once you get down near the main fountain - all the main attractions are walking distance on both sides and it is probably the best part of the entire city. An interesting fact that I picked up was that because it was a Portuguese colony - the Portuguese government decided to award citizenship upto a particular year to all inhabitants of Macau. I am not sure of the year - it might be 1980 but a further read of this article only muddles things up.

When you walk towards the old ruin's of St. Paul's there are various eating joints and shops and I highly recommend you give them a go. You can walk in and have taste samples of pretty much everything in the shop except for Portuguese style egg tarts. Talking of which - the egg tarts are amazingly wonderful. They are crispy and hot on the outside and once you bite into it you hit cool custard filling in the center. The taste and texture is amazing and as an added bonus they are pretty reasonably priced. Another thing you need to taste are the various kinds of jerky that are available - do give them a go as well.