Macau

Holy Macau!!!!!
This place is great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's a city of Portugese sin...and now the gambling capital of the world, surpassing Vegas for money spent and the largest casino (counted by the number of tables).

Stepping off of the ferry from Shenzhen we struggled to find a taxi, primarly because they were driving on the wrong side of the road. We were surprised to find out (and a bit embarassed) the Macau-ians drive forward on the left side of the road. Of course, this still being China it's MOSTLY on the left side of the road, which is why it took us several minutes to realize.

The road signs are in Portugese and the taxi drivers speak Cantonese and since we barely speak English, we just walked to the hotel. Since we're used to Canada maps---the neverending country---the hotel was about a 5 day hike away----turns out, just around the corner. Probably the reason the cabbies wouldn't take us there.

During our long and arduous walk, which was 17 times longer than necessary (since we didn't know where our hotel was), we were able to see a lot of Macau, which is great.

The city used to be a Portugese colony and has a lot of great architecture. It is a gorgeous city of tiny laneway streets, cobble stone paths and a great mix of people. Most of the buildings are short and old, but the new Macau, which is a festival of casino sin, brings some sass to this quaint little town.

Though we were only there for 24 hours we were able to see a great variety of things, from the Portugese area, complete with little shops and old churches, to the Billion dollar casinos on the newly developing strip, to the Chinese developments (which remind you that this city is still in China).

This is a typical street in Macau, with light coloured buildings and stone streets.

The Portugese architechture that abounds in the city.

This is the view from our hotel room. Unlike any of the cities we've seen in China, this one in short. The average building is only a few stories, which makes you feel like you're really in a tiny town in the south-eastern part of Eurpoe.

Macau never sleeps though. The party starts in the shopping area and when closes moves to one of the many casinos in the downtown area. The Grand Lisboa is the biggest and best.

Because of the New Year, we saw a Chinese tradition...the dragon dance. Much different from the western concept of a dinosaur-like fire-breather, the Chinese dragon is serpetine and held up by several people, who spin him and create a wonderful array of colour and noise----holy drum beating Batman!!!!


Yet another sign for Kelly. What fakes do they mean?

These are the ruins of Saint Paul's cathedral.
It's really just a wall left...there was a big fire a few hundred years ago, but you get the drift.

A typical Portugese street sign.


Another cute street.



This is a building in a Christian cemetery. With the Portugese influence, Catholocism is big here.

This is one of the funniest signs I've seen here. The whole don't squat on the toilet thing is not so funny, since it's nice to let people know that those facilities aren't for squating (southern China is the only place we've seen toilets anywhere outside a western hotel). The part that's funny is that this sign is in a washroom that doesn't have toilets...only squatters. If I can't squat here---in a squatter---what do I do?

Just 24 hours in such an interesting city still leaves you wanting more, but considering it's half the size of Penetanguishene---yeah figure that one out----we didn't really need more time...though, if given it we'd definitely take the chance.