Taipa
Taipa is more of the residential section of the city. With the really tall buildings, intense traffic, and busy streets, it's nice to escape to a more quiet area. Breathe in deeply, and take a stroll through the local park. It's not hard to reach an area without many people around, but the park is quaint and enjoyable.
This is a small, relaxing park in Taipa. During the week and the weekends, many children come here with there parents and play on the swing sets and jungle gyms set up in the corners. Older people come and relax, practicing Kung Fu - or whatever it is they do here - and relax under the pagodas. The water seems rather murky, but this is deceptive. The ponds team with all kinds of fish of different types and colors. Also, notice that the lily pads come straight out of the water and don't droop over!
This is a picture, a close-up, of one of the "flowers" that adorn the lily-pads. I'm surprised this shot came out, since I was actually fairly far away and zoomed in on it. Perfect specimen though!
This is the backside of a local school's stadium. The track (and field) can be seen towards the left.
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Trek Around Taipa
Yes! These are the pictures from my lonnnng walk last weekend. This weekend I am too tired for that so I've just been relaxing around the apartment this afternoon and decided to post these pictures. Note that some of the pictures can be clicked on to enlarge them.
The lower part of the building, with the light-colored plastered exterior, is a hotel. I don't remember which branch, but it's international!
There is a small park across from a construction site along the Estrada Coronel Nicolau de Mesquita (which would mean "Road to..."... perhaps Zanzibar?)
Wall and path nearby the junkyard. The path and road ended at one point, and abruptly turned to the right. At this point, I dodged several cars and ran across to get back to my path.
I always wondered what these stone designs were in the side of the hill. A memorial? Some sort of storage place? After almost wandering into the place - and discovering that it was a graveyard - I decided to backtrack. For one thing, I didn't know what the cultural norms are regarding graveyards. Another good reason not to go in was the fact that I wanted to see new things, more specifically, downtown Macao.
A view of some trees growing beside several houses on the University of Macao hill.
The American Corner of the library. On the left is information about past and present presidents and other important figures, the media, and other information. On the right, beyond the doors, is a map of the United States and more geographic information. The area looked comfortable and I saw several student sleeping inside the reading section!
This is a huge something that was on display in the lobby of the library. The student in the background gives a good indication of the actual size of this thing. Can anyone read the Chinese?
Several multi-million MOP apartments line the waterfront. In addition, some houses - houses! - can also be found next to the water. The cost for these must be absolutely staggering. The above statue is next to a playground and the ocean can be seen on the other side of the tennis courts.
Remember that Macao University is built on a hill? Well, what you are looking at right now is about 20 stories of supports below several of the student dorms. I can't see how the cliffs are supported - everything is covered in shotcrete - but there are drainage pipes coming out of the cliff supports in many locations. Just looking down made me sweat, since the railing only really came up to a little below my waist.
Cul de sac outside the main Macao University Administration building. This building is absolutely fantastic... huge, built into the side of the mountain, and just everything all over the place! Gardens in some levels, car garages on others, the place reminded me of an ant-hill!
Flower inside a garden on the building.
University logo perched atop the building's highest point.
View inside the building's highest "courtyard". Here, we are about, oh maybe 120 feet above the road level below.
Another view of the courtyard.
More of an "artistic" shot down. You can see the road, about 150 feet below me, and then, at the upper-right hand corner a shot of the road even further down at the base of the hill. See those tiny cars? That's much further down, dunno how much further exactly though!
Northern shore of Taipa.
View of the apartment buildings in the residential sector of Taipa. See the brick roof at the bottom of the photograph? That's already ten stories up and across the street from where I took the picture.
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Taipa
Back to Taipa!
Gumby! You're back! Shanghai World Expo representative.
Interesting shots of some rocks.
Stones along a path in Taipa park.
Somehow these just don't look like the trees back home!
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This isn't officially Taipa, but part of the Cotai strip. This inlet of water is filled with lily pads.
Above is the third resort hotel/casino project currently under construction in Cotai. It looks like it'll be worth seeing once complete!
