We needed to leave Hong Kong this weekend to renew Maeli’s visitor visa. I am still the only one with a proper Hong Kong ID card, Aaron is still waiting for his. Maeli’s visas will eventually be processed through JadeTower, all in good time. So in the interim, we have to make boarder runs. The easiest and cheapest way to do that is to visit Macau.
This is my third visit to Macau and I finally got to see the historical district. Our neighbor, Yolanda, tagged along because she also had to make a visa run. During the hour-long ferry and between Hong Kong and Macau we ended up picking up another traveler named John. From Dallas TX, John was visiting the South Pacific on business. Since he was alone, we invited him to lunch and a historical tour.
Aside from being the Las Vegas of the Far East, Macau is also known for its 442 years of Portugal’s rule. Since 1999, Macau has been under China’s command and joins Hong Kong’s status as a Special Administrative Region (SAR). All the street signs are still in Portuguese though not many people speak it. We found this out because John, being fluent in Portuguese, could not find anyone to speak with. The other obvious remnant of Portugal influence is the architecture. It makes for an interesting clash of East meets West. Check out our pictures on Flickr
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seems like your link to flikr is down
Thanks for the tour of Macau. It brought back some great memories of the day I spent there with Maeli. I loved the historical district and the Portuguese architecture. Glad this trip was better for you than the last one!