Excursion to Macao and Farewell to Hong Kong

Saturday we decided to experience Macao.  We took the metro to the main island and found the Macao ferry.  The economy class was sold out for another hour’s worth of ferries so we decided to pay for Super Class which left immediately.  This was highly comfortable and spacious and we got a little snack tray too.  We needed to clear immigration on both sides but it was pretty quick.  In Macao we queued for a taxi (unable to figure out what bus would be appropriate).  We went to the central old part.  Macao was not what we expected.  On this Saturday it was packed with shoppers from China.  The crowds were overwhelming.  We did admire the faded colonial buildings reminiscent of New Orleans or the Caribbean but could not really enjoy the atmosphere because of the crowds and the total focus on shopping.  We walked the several blocks to the ruins of Saint Paul Cathedral.  This façade was impressive and evocative but it would have been much better experienced in a less hectic environment.

View from near the UniLodge - again the humidity slams my photo lens but you can get the idea

One of the mini buses that run from the university to the metro stop / mall at Hang Hau.  These are cheap, fast and run constantly.

Randy on the metro - it was mostly standing room only when we rode

Super Class on the Macao ferry

Leaving Hong Kong

On the pretty but crowded streets of old Macao

Notice the Portuguese on the building

Macao was crammed with tourists for shopping from China on this Saturday

This attractive building stands out

Detail

Signs were in both Chinese and Portuguese

A grouping of venerable buildings all now shops on the ground floor

The main historic attraction - Ruins of Saint Paul's

An impressive and rather sad sight

Alice with this icon of the Far East

Randy reads about it

The ruins are lit at night for an even more spectacular sight but we did not stay to witness this

An interesting East meets West detail of a dragon - the workers on this church were Chinese and Japanese

Another nice Macao detail on the facade of a sailing ship from the time

I wanted to have Macanese Portuguese food but saw no restaurant along the way of this type.  We got a taxi and tried to communicate with the driver to take us a restaurant on the south end of the former colony that was listed in one of my guidebooks.  The communications between us and the driver were basic, at best, and as he negotiated the heavy Macao traffic we really had no idea if we would end up near the restaurant or not.  However, it turns out that he left us out quite close to the restaurant area and found another restaurant, Litoral, that was also recommended.  This was a great find.  It was quite late by then and the place was not crowded.  It was dark and cool and served excellent bread.  We ordered a bottle of Portuguese white and both had shrimp bisque and salad.  My salad had pieces of bacalhau, the local salt cod.  Everything was so tasty and we were happy to have European food again.  

Our lunch spot in Macao was Michelin recommended according to the sign on the door and it did not disappoint

The shrimp bisque in a bread bowl - the bread was really good at this restaurant

The salad with pieces of the traditional salted cod - it tastes much better than it sounds

Our cool and peaceful dining room - we ate late so there were not many people

We walked down to a historic temple, the A Ma, close by and checked it out.  We also bought four egg tarts from a local bakery.  These were similar to those of Hong Kong but bigger and with a flaky rather than cookie crust.  Randy wanted to see a Macao casino and we embarked on a long, sticky walk to the closest one, the Hotel Royal.  Macao is the only place to gamble in China and is full of casinos and gamblers.  We quickly dropped a few bucks on the slot machines and queued up for the free bus back to the ferry terminal.  There, we reversed the process and went back, this time to the Kowloon side, in Super Class luxury.  The trip between Hong Kong and Macao took about an hour each way and was peaceful and scenic.  It was the best part about our excursion.  In Kowloon we walked to Hanoi Street, a place with some restaurants that Russell had recommended.  We ended up eating at the same German restaurant that he and Robin ate at a few nights earlier, the Biergarten.  This bar cum restaurant was crowded on this Saturday night but we secured a table near the entry (the place is open air to the street) in the bar.  We had reasonably priced and eatable German food which satisfied our inner European.  We then took our usual route of metro and mini bus to the UniLodge.

One of the pretty colonial buildings off the beaten track in the south side of the Macao penisula

The historic A Ma Temple was nothing special

Decorations on top

A religious place on the temple grounds

A carving into a large rock on the temple grounds

Another example of the dual language signs

A ceramic tile detail on an ordinary building

One of the historic homes in this quiet area painted a tropical color

It seemed like every Chinese city has a tower similar to this

The Macao flag on left and the China flag in the center

Yes, there is a lot of money in this place - Bob, this photo is for you

A man reads his newspaper in a peaceful park

A mix of old and new buildings including a church at left

There were a bunch of kayakers in the bay as we walked by

Randy at the slot machine

This hotel / casino, the Hotel Royal, had a royal motif needless to say and had non-Asian men dressed as you see.  We witnessed the "changing of the guard" by happenstance

A fellow high speed ferry heads to Hong Kong island while we went to Kowloon

Our dinner spot on Hanoi Street that night

Glad to be back in Hong Kong

Our drink that night was German beer instead of Chinese beer

Bizarre footwear as seen on the metro on the way home

unday we had a night flight to Shenyang in northern China and had arranged to keep our hotel room all day.  We did more wash in the morning, lounged with the internet, ate the egg tarts from Macao and generally relaxed.  We took the mini bus to the Hang Hau station where two connected malls are.  We bought some baby clothes for grandson to be and ate at The Spaghetti House.  This Hong Kong restaurant chain was started by a duo from Australia and Great Britain.  I did not have high hopes for the food but it was really good.  Randy enjoyed his spaghetti with meat sauce along with garlic bread and I loved my thin crust pizza with cheese, mushrooms and smoked salmon along with cheesy broccoli.  Yum!

A clearer view from our part of the campus out to sea

The apartments surrounding Hang Hau metro station

The place itself

The larger of the two malls at Hang Hau

Our lunch spot at the mall was surprisingly good

My pizza was amazing and I shared half with Randy

Randy also had spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread while I added the broccoli in the foreground

At at the UniLodge, they arranged a taxi to the airport.  We arrived way early and waited in the outer terminal for the China Southern counter to open.  There was pretty good free WIFI and I joined Facebook (finally) during this period.  We checked in, made a brief stop at the VIP lounge and boarded our night flight to Shenyang, nearly four hours away by air.

To summarize our impressions of Hong Kong, we liked it very much.  It is more different from China than we expected and is a true mix of West and Far East.  The public transport is amazing.  It is full of restaurants and shops, many of them high end.  It seems to cater a great deal to rich Chinese from the mainland who come to Hong Kong (and Macao) to drop suitcases of money in return for luxury goods from prestige brands.  However, Hong Kong is blessed with a natural beauty not dissimilar to that of San Francisco.  It is clean and well run.  The infrastructure is superior and a far cry from what we found in China.  We both agreed that we could return to Hong Kong and spend more time.  The universities that hosted us were more than hospitable and we especially enjoyed the secluded comforts of HUST and its UniLodge.  Even Macao merits a return visit but not on a weekend day.  Perhaps a weekday would be less frenetic with Chinese shoppers.  One can hope.