Macau

The kids and I just returned from two nights in Macau.  We stayed at the Westin Beach Resort which was nice since we were there to relax.  We did do a little sight-seeing, but not too much.  We did not get into the ocean as we were warned in advance that the water is particularly dirty here and there have been cases of e coli.

Macau was a Portuguese colony and you can definitely see the Portuguese influence all around!  I would say that the Portuguese influence is much more evident on Macau than the British influence on Hong Kong.  Everything on Macau was in three languages:  Portuguese, Mandarin and English.  The architecture had a definite Portuguese influence to it.  While there were many locals who looked Chinese, there seemed to be almost as many who looked Portuguese.

We took the Turbojet ferry from Hong Kong to Macau.  It was very crowded, but thankfully only an hour ride.  Unlike other ferries I have taken, we were assigned a seat and there was no walking around or walking out on the deck.  Poor Meg had a woman in front of her getting sea sick on the ride over.

The weather on Macau was beautiful!  Perfect for a little Marco Polo in the pool.  There were very few people in the pool, which was good considering the competitiveness of our family games:)

 


We went to Fernando's for dinner that night.  This restaurant came highly recommended from several people.  Fernando's is little more than a shack on Hac Sa beach.  It is a "no fuss" place, but serves incredible food and it was packed.  I had the garlic shrimp.  They come with the shell and head still on.  PJ tried one and said "That's the best shrimp I've ever had!"  PJ and Grace had the grilled pork steak.  I am not a huge pork chop fan, but that was the best pork steak I've ever had.  Meg had the pork ribs which were also fantastic.  It is definitely worth visiting Fernando's if you are ever in Macau.

Waiting outside of Fernando's

Waiting outside of Fernando's

Waiting outside of Fernando's

Waiting outside of Fernando's

The next day we took a trip downtown to visit St. Paul's Cathedral.  St. Paul's was built in the 1500s and burnt down in 1853.  The facade is still standing as a reminder of times past.  A definite piece of Macau's Portuguese history.

 

 

 

 

The kids wanted to do a little shopping so we walked around a bit.  We finally made it down to Senate Square and the shops on the streets surrounding it.  It was a little like Stanley, with slightly better prices.  There wasn't much to Senate Square, but again, it was neat to see the architecture and how it differs from that in Hong Kong.

 

 

Before leaving Macau this morning we took a trip to the Giant Panda Pavilion.  There were two Pandas, Kai Kai and Xin Xin, ostriches, lemurs, different types of monkeys and a pair of black swans.  It is always fun to see the animals at play.  Unfortunately the pictures of the lemurs didn't turn out well because of the fence.  They were the funniest of all the animals there and we enjoyed watching them follow each other around, play leap frog, etc.

 

 

This video, with the picture that follows, is for all of you that I know will find it humorous:)