Taipa Village. Area between Cotai and Taipa island.
Well, November rolls around once again, and I now find myself once again for a time in Macau! An unfortunate byproduct of traveling is that once you've got the travel bug, it's hard to get over it. At least, one fellow traveler - a young lady from Australia - once told me that. At the time, I didn't take it seriously. Now I begin to understand exactly what she meant! A certain restlessness - a desire to see new places - sets in, indicating its time once again to take to the road and see where that road leads. It can be a lonely path sometimes, but exciting at the same time. For now, it's great to go back to the old haunts and be greeted by familiar folk and find out what's been going on. Macau is a small place but there is quite a bit to see and experience. The world may be quite small and brought together by technology, but the lifestyle, socially and culturally, differences between West and East are still quite stark and fascinating to learn about.
Upon landing in Macau after the short flight from Thailand's international airport - which, incidentally, appears as if it will be perfectly safe from the floodwaters currently surrounding the capital of the Kingdom of Thailand - all the passengers jumped to their feet and filled the aisles before the plane had come to a complete stop. There is nowhere to go, but this appears to be the norm and the flight attendants did their best to keep everyone in their seats for as long as possible. Upon exiting the aircraft, the passengers literally ran towards immigration, racing to be the first in Macau. It is an exciting place, after all, but everyone will eventually end up in line for either the taxis or the buses to the resorts and casinos. I observed the regulars take it more slowly. There appeared to be a heavy police presence last night and I passed at least five or six patrols before reaching my apartment building. Weary from the trip, I dropped off almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.
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While in Macau, always be ready for surprises! This morning in the elevator I met the director for the Cirque du Soleil troupe housed in the Venetian: Macau, a friendly and highly energetic gentleman from Texas. After that, I headed out for some genuine food from "street venders" (first picture, left, below). One tip regarding food that may be suspect is to always go to street venders that have a long line of people. This reduces the risks of potential food poisoning - which wouldn't necessarily be an issue in Macau so much as in other places (Beijing, etc). After snacking a bit, I headed on to Senado Square to take in the sights and the smells (picture right, below). While photographing a church, I was approached by several students, juniors and tourism majors in college, and given a quick interview that tested my knowledge of Macau and my assessment of the facilities offered at various historic sites. To my astonishment, I learned that the church that I had photographed had been established 400 years ago, and rebuilt twice after suffering damage from typhoons and erosion. Macau does have quite a bit of history.
I tried to get away from the tourist crowds by pushing onwards into the heart of the city itself. Soon, I found shops and streets that appeared to be only used by the locals. The shops and streets were entirely different from the shopping districts found in the more "upscale" parts of the city - clean and serviceable and maintaining its own charm, but not as fancy. I walked through a fish market that seemed to have every kind of aquatic life inside. Fishmongers selling massive fish, fresh, to customers. Other venders selling various crustaceans and clams. Everything was fresh - you buy a fish, it's harvested in front of you. I asked several times if I could take a picture, but the venders were not always pleased and indicated they did not want photos taken. The photos below show part of Macau, with the narrow streets and five or six story apartment buildings.
At the end of the day, when the light began to fade, it was time to head home again. Time to write this up and then grab something for dinner. A cheeseburger from McDonald's, perhaps? We'll see. The cravings for Western-style food is sometimes too strong to resist :-).
Well, November rolls around once again, and I now find myself once again for a time in Macau! An unfortunate byproduct of traveling is that once you've got the travel bug, it's hard to get over it. At least, one fellow traveler - a young lady from Australia - once told me that. At the time, I didn't take it seriously. Now I begin to understand exactly what she meant! A certain restlessness - a desire to see new places - sets in, indicating its time once again to take to the road and see where that road leads. It can be a lonely path sometimes, but exciting at the same time. For now, it's great to go back to the old haunts and be greeted by familiar folk and find out what's been going on. Macau is a small place but there is quite a bit to see and experience. The world may be quite small and brought together by technology, but the lifestyle, socially and culturally, differences between West and East are still quite stark and fascinating to learn about.Upon landing in Macau after the short flight from Thailand's international airport - which, incidentally, appears as if it will be perfectly safe from the floodwaters currently surrounding the capital of the Kingdom of Thailand - all the passengers jumped to their feet and filled the aisles before the plane had come to a complete stop. There is nowhere to go, but this appears to be the norm and the flight attendants did their best to keep everyone in their seats for as long as possible. Upon exiting the aircraft, the passengers literally ran towards immigration, racing to be the first in Macau. It is an exciting place, after all, but everyone will eventually end up in line for either the taxis or the buses to the resorts and casinos. I observed the regulars take it more slowly. There appeared to be a heavy police presence last night and I passed at least five or six patrols before reaching my apartment building. Weary from the trip, I dropped off almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.
---
While in Macau, always be ready for surprises! This morning in the elevator I met the director for the Cirque du Soleil troupe housed in the Venetian: Macau, a friendly and highly energetic gentleman from Texas. After that, I headed out for some genuine food from "street venders" (first picture, left, below). One tip regarding food that may be suspect is to always go to street venders that have a long line of people. This reduces the risks of potential food poisoning - which wouldn't necessarily be an issue in Macau so much as in other places (Beijing, etc). After snacking a bit, I headed on to Senado Square to take in the sights and the smells (picture right, below). While photographing a church, I was approached by several students, juniors and tourism majors in college, and given a quick interview that tested my knowledge of Macau and my assessment of the facilities offered at various historic sites. To my astonishment, I learned that the church that I had photographed had been established 400 years ago, and rebuilt twice after suffering damage from typhoons and erosion. Macau does have quite a bit of history.
I tried to get away from the tourist crowds by pushing onwards into the heart of the city itself. Soon, I found shops and streets that appeared to be only used by the locals. The shops and streets were entirely different from the shopping districts found in the more "upscale" parts of the city - clean and serviceable and maintaining its own charm, but not as fancy. I walked through a fish market that seemed to have every kind of aquatic life inside. Fishmongers selling massive fish, fresh, to customers. Other venders selling various crustaceans and clams. Everything was fresh - you buy a fish, it's harvested in front of you. I asked several times if I could take a picture, but the venders were not always pleased and indicated they did not want photos taken. The photos below show part of Macau, with the narrow streets and five or six story apartment buildings.
At the end of the day, when the light began to fade, it was time to head home again. Time to write this up and then grab something for dinner. A cheeseburger from McDonald's, perhaps? We'll see. The cravings for Western-style food is sometimes too strong to resist :-).
There is an orange car in the photo below...
Yes, indeed! That is a genuine, 100% authentic, lamborghini gallardo roaming the STREETS OF MACAU! The market value for a car like that, in the United States - before taxes - is easily a quarter million US dollars. I've seen them in Hong Kong and elsewhere, but never in Macau. The taxes alone on an automobile like that are incredibly high - to say nothing of insurance if you're daring enough to take on the crazy traffic of Macau.
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