Macau

19-June-2005

Macau is 70 kilometres southwest of Hong Kong and 145 kilometres from GuangZhou. It consists of Macau Penisula, and the islands of Taipa and Coloane. Macau was once an island but gradually a connecting sandbar turned into a narrow isthmus.

Pursuant to an agreement signed by China and Portugal on 13 April 1987, Macau became the Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China on 20 December 1999. China has promised that, under its "one country, two systems" formula, China's socialist economic system will not be practiced in Macau, and that Macau will enjoy a high degree of autonomy in all matters except foreign and defense affairs for the next 50 years.

I always wonder, what will happen to HK and Macau after 50 years later?

We were waiting for the arrival of the turbo jet at the Hong Kong - Macau Ferry terminals.

An enduring symbol of Macau is the façade of São Paulo (or, officially, Madre de Deos, Mother of God) Church, built in 1602 next to the first Western college in Asia, the Colégio de São Paulo. The college and the main body of the church were destroyed by fire in 1855.

We see this place as the ruin of the church, but vincent see it as a playground. He was sliding down without any fear.

Luckily this is only a statue...

We were invited to taste the freshly made "almond cookies" by the enthusiastic shoppers. Of course we were happy to do that for them. Well, we can't be that mean to reject their good intention mah...And frankly speaking, the cookies are really yummy

The thing is, the more we ate it, the more we couldn't resist the temptation to buy it home too. We ended up buying a few packets of almond cookies. See, the tactic works. There is no free lunch in this world.

Largo do Senado (Senate Square) has been restored to its colonial-era grandeur.

A night scene from our so-called sea view hotel room.

The next morning, we didn't go anywhere, just relaxed in the hotel. After breakfast, we played water in the pool. My mom prefer to sit on this comfortable sofa and watched the kids playing water.

This is a nice pool. The best part is it's like our own private pool.

The boys were so happy and excited whenever they see a big pool of water.

After 2 hours playing, we felt tired. So, we dragged the boys out from the pool, bathe them with some fresh water. Then get ready to leave Macau by taking the afternoon time ferry.

Besides historical Chinese and Portuguese world-heritage relics, Macau's biggest attraction is its gambling industry and casinos. However, we have little interest to go to casinos or to the historical temples. Basically, we went there for sight-seeing and to enjoy the local foods. The best food I ate was crab porridge and almond cookies. Whenever I think of those foods, my saliva is drooling...