Travel to Macau: My first day

Let me show you Macau through my eyes

View of the Macau Tower.

The day before my trip to Macau was a long Saturday for me. Somehow I always pack last minute and I (again) underestimated the complications of packing. In the end I went to bed at 4am. But I always have a hard time falling asleep the day before any departure, but especially when I fly. I had things on my mind like: Will I be fine? Will I forget anything? Will I safely reach Macau? Will I find my way? This and many more were making it hard for me to sleep. I only slept 5 hours that night.

The next day I met up with my girlfriend at the Banqiao railstation. We took the highspeed train to Taoyuan and then a bus to the nearby airport. We spent some time together, ate and talked and I felt a bit emotional. Even, if I had to leave her for only 3 days, it was like a reminder, that I may need to leave her next month and fly back to Europe. I hope that doesn't happen, but when I passed the Taiwanese immigration and waved bye bye to her, I almost teared up. The image of her through that glass wall was so strange to me. She looked so lovely and sweet, but so far... An image that will remain in my mind for a long time.

So there I was again: flying. I flew with Transasia Airways. There's not much to say, except the flight was smooth and the food was tasty (chicken and rice). We flew about 2h and time literally flew, those two hours passed like in a blink of an eye.

Flight from Taipei to Macau.

And then we landed on what seemed like an island. Macau used to be an island city (but it's now on a peninsula) and the landing strip of the airport is also located on a small island. It was foggy outside, so I couldn't see much. It wasn't cold, but not warm either, somewhere in between.

Macau's airport is small, but modern and neat.

I changed money here, to Macau's own currency: Patacas. They have same value as HK$.

So there I was, facing my first challenge: How to come to my hostel? The aiport is not located near Macau City, but on another big island called Taipa. So you need to take a cab or a bus to Macau City from the airport. Walking is impossible (seriously).

My girlfriend told me which buy to take, it was number 26. Buses are cheap here, I thought with my one big backpack, I will pay 7.2 Petacas (0.72€), but I guess I was totally wrong. Waiting for the bus took me like over 20min and when it finally arrived, the bus driver didn't let me in O_0. There was a Chinese uncle and I wanting to enter. He tried to go in first, but the bus driver said something to him and the uncle didn't go in. So I tried my luck. I wanted to enter, held the coins in my hand wanting to pay... but no, the uncle said something in Cantonese and showed with his hand, that I can't enter. That was a really wtf moment! Why did he stop the bus then? O_0 It shall remain a mystery to me.

Airport building from the outside.

After some pondering, I decided to take a cab. I knew it will be expensive, but what the heck. At least I know, I will arrive at the right place (Ponte 16). So there I go, off to the cabs. A few men, who stood there, sent me to the first cab in line. I showed the driver my map of Macau and pointed to Ponte 16, the significant building near my hostel. And I asked him: Can you tell me around how much will it cost to Ponte 16? Of course he didn't understand a thing and kept talking in Cantonese. I took out some coins and asked again How much, cost? and pointed to the money. He pointed at the taximeter. Suddenly there were other cab drivers gathering around his car discussing my map, laughing and asking me questions - in Cantonese. Then I said: Ok, bring me to Ponte 16, I will take this cab. It took a while, before they ended talking. Finally we drove off and I saw that the taximeter started at 13 Patacas (1.3€), that was already 2 times more than the bus would cost me. The ride was smooth, though. And I realized how long the distance is between the airport and Macau's old city center. We drove like 15min and I had to pay 62 Patacas (6.2€). The price would be about same in Slovenia, I guess, if not more. So that was still ok. But sure, I felt I failed a bit. Cabs are always my last options.

PLEASE BE CAREFUL COLLISION? How can I be careful, I don't drive! And there was no seat belts O_o

Ponte 16, a big hotel with casinos.

I walked from Ponte 16 to the area (historic center), where my hostel was located. The first thing, that surprised me in Macau was how run-down were some buildings. The old city center is a mix of traditional Chinese buildings, which are usually old and not very clean (something like what I've seen in Xinzhuang, Taiwan) and well maintained Portuguese buildings, that really stand out from all the other surrounding Chinese ones. It's really an amazing city, a fusion of Chinese and Portuguese elements. All the sign boards and street names are in Portuguese and Chinese.

Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, the main avenue in the old center.

Another thing you notice quickly: Macau is very crowded! Not only it's one of the most densely populated cities in the world, it's also a huge tourist destination. You can see people from all over the world, but most of them are from Chinese Mainland and Portugual and Brazil. There was also many Filipinos. But I don't know, if all of them are tourists, some may live or work here. The tourists are usually the ones with the cameras taking tons of pics (like me). ;-)

After 15 min of walking, I finally arrived at the most famous spot in Macau: Senado Square. After seeing this place on tons of pics, I finally saw it in real. And it's impressive! But there are tons of people, it's so hard to take a photo. There will always be someone passing by or posing for his own photo. But I was fine with it, I wasn't really shy to take photos of people, although one girl, who walked straight into my lense, smiled at me and I apologized and smiled back. Well, if you start to mind people, you just can't take any pics in this city.

My first photo of the Senado Square. Looks like a Portuguese city, right?

Another famous building in the area: St. Dominic's church.

I walked further up in the square and saw streets full of people, it was amazing. I felt as if I was in a crowded Taiwanese night market, because I was literally squashed between people at one point.

Masses of people, fancy shops on every side, usually branded sunnies and watches.

Even more people! This street is full of food vendors, but nothing special IMHO.

These are the busiest streets, because they lead up to another famous sight in Macau: The Ruins of St. Paul's. It's truly an amazing structure and as you can see, there's also a lot of people, same as on the Senado Square. I took few pics and then started to look for my hostel.

People from Chinese mainland love this place.

And that turned out to be a real ordeal. My map was not so acurate, because it didn't show the tiny little streets you see everywhere in Macau's historic center. My backpack started to become very heavy, I sweated and became a little pissed off. Where's the hostel? It should be here near by, I even had a small photo, but I just couldn't spot it. All streets and buildings looked same to me. And unlike Taipei City, which looks like a chess board, Macau is like a maze! The streets are so random. I walked in circles and I just couldn't figure out, how to find my hostel. I went back to the Senado square, sat down and took a breather. I nearly wasted 2h and my mood was at the lowest point. But then I noticed the maps they have all around the city. I took a photo of one and zoomed it. And I slowly started to go into the right direction. And after 10min I finally found my hostel! At last, hooray!! But guess what? I was so stupid, I passed by there twice before, but I haven't noticed it (facepalm). OMG, I was so stupid. But well... It's my first time in Macau, please cut me some slack. I guess stuff like that is part of every trip ;-)

The hostel, named Welcome 51 A, is great! I have a big room with a bed for two on the 3rd floor. It would be such a fun, if my girlfriend could be here with me, but what to do, she couldn't get leave. She told me to have fun and take many pics. And so I did! After unpacking, I took a shower and left out to walk around a bit. I went back to the Ruins of St. Paul's and Senado square and snapped many pics.

The lights at Senado square at night are beautiful.

Something funny happened at St. Paul's: There was a lot of turists taking photos and I was doing the same. But suddenly a Chinese girl came to me and asked in English: Would you take photo with me? I said ok and had to chuckle inside. Why do people want to take photos with me? I've seen tons of other White men in Macau, but never seen anyone asking them to take photo together. Is it my freckles? The tone of my blond hair? My big nose? Do I look strange, weird, unusual or maybe... handsome? (And that's the last thing I'd assume.) I don't know, does anyone have any ideas?

Soon after that I headed back to the hostel. It was an eventful day. More about my Macau adventure next time. You can look forward to many pics of the most famous spots. Hope you'll like it.

[My MACAU page][All photos by MKL, 2010]