Macau is known as the Vegas of Asia. TIt's not set up like Vegas with a strip, not that I've ever been and actaully seen it but Mcau looks different from pictures of Vegas. There are a lot of Casinos and big hotels in two different areas. We walked through the MGM Grand Casino and played the 10-cent slot machines, which is about $0.04 US Dollars. I lost a little less than a dollar, katie lost 3! There weren't many people walking around the area where the casions restaurants and bars are and I was pretty suprised. I expected there to be a lot more people there, but maybe not since it was the day after Halloween weekend!
The Lisboa Casino & Hotel
When we got there we decided to go straight to the Cable Car since we had enjoyed the one the day before so much. This cable car was nothing in comparison to yesterday. Instead of a big glass bottom car that seats 8 and lasts 20 minutes, this was a less than 5 minute ride in a tiny car fo 2. There was a little park at the top and a stone wall that I think was an old fortress. We could see the harbour from the top so the 5hkd ($0.70) was worth it I guess. When we went back down the old man who was working at the bottom was asleep so we let ourselves off.
We walked through the city on a "World Heritage" walking trail which led us through the old historical part of town, which was much busier with tourists and people!
Me in front of the ruins of St. Paul's Church.
We were surprised by how European the city felt. I knew Macau had been a Portuguese colony but you can really see the Portuguese influence in the arcitecture and design of the buildings and houses. It reminded me of Spain! I was also surprised that all the ssigns are in Portuguese too, and ether in English or Chinese.
A plaza in the city center
We decided to walk from there to the Macau tower. The maps in Asia, as we have found out, do not label all their streets and its usually the ones we need that are missing! Somehow we had taken a wrong turn, or thought we were following a street which turned out not to be the one we really needed, and after jay-walking throgh many streets, and by walking I mean bolting across big roads so we didn't get hit, we finally found our way to the tower. We went to the observation deck on the 61st floor and saw amazing 360 degree views of the city and the other islands of Macau.
You can bungee jump off the tower - obviously I didn't - and we saw someone do it!! I was so nervous just watching him!
After all that walking we decided to take a taxi back to the downtown to grab some dinner before heading back to Hong Kong. The taxi ride cost us about $1.50 each, so it was totally worth it!
We were both tired and there wasn't much going on as far as nightlife so we took an earlier ferry ride back to Hong Kong, and I was seasick yet again but at least I fell asleep this time!
Today we slept in which was nice because I haven't been feeling 100%, luckily I got the flu vaccine before I came and we wash our hands about 100 times a day, so I'm not too worried. And don't worry dad I've been drinking orange juice and eating lots of fruits with vitamin C everyday! My new favorite juice, which you would love dad, and everyone else too, is white grape with aloe, which I first saw in Japan and hadn't seen again until we got to Hong Kong. It's delicious!!
We went to the Temple of 10,000 Buddha's today. The path leading to the to temple is lined with 10,000 Buddha's of all shapes and sizes, in different poses or with different props, from all over the world. There was even one holding a ptich fork, which I thought was weird.
The 480+ stairs lined with 10,000 Buddha's that lead to the Temple on the top of the hill.
We decided to have some fun with the Buddha's!
Rubbing the Buddah's tummy for good luck!
Then we just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. At dusk we headed over to theTemple Street Night Market, which is Hong Kong's version of Beijing & Shanghai's fake markets, just not as grandiose. We had sushi again as our last meal in Hong Kong because we love it so much. I tried a spicy octopus roll this time! We got ice cream on our way back to the hotel. What I thought was black raspberry turned out to be ube, which means purple yam. Apparently ube is used in many desserts and sweets. ets just say I will never have purple ice cream again while I am in Asa, just to be on the safe side.
Hong Kong has been a blast and I'm sad to leave. We had so much fun here and I love the city. I will definitely be coming back here some day in the future! But I am so excited to be going to the Philippines tomorrow!! Unfortunately we have to get up at 5am to get to the airport!!
Buenas Noches!
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