Home » Macau China » Around the world via China MACAO

1996

Around the world via China MACAO

Bec
2004-09-19 15:38:18

Displayed times (last time: )

Turbo Cat
Most people reach Macao via Hong Kong which has much better air connections from all over the world. Several ferries run the 65 km. distance at different speeds and prices. These Turbo Cats do it in less than one hour for 50 US$. They are fully booked on weekends when an army of gamblers invade Macao.

Hotel Lisboa
It is fitting that the first shot of Macao be that of a Casino, there are many to suit all styles and pocketbooks. I visited one of the floating casinos just to see the show. It was interesting because there were chance games I had not seen before. What surprised me most was the young age of the gamblers! The place I visited must have been specialized for most players were rich teen agers from Hong Kong wasting their parent's money.

Leal Senado
Macao will return to China in 1999, 442 years after being ceded to the Portuguese in 1557. This fine building is not that old but it was the seat of the local government for a long time before housing the Macao Library and some municipal offices. The "Largo do Senado" square where it stands used to be the center of Portuguese Macao. The wavy black and white stone pavement is similar to that I have seen in another ex-Portuguese city, Rio de Janeiro.

Largo do Senado
Macao's Portuguese legacy is still more evident than Hong Kong's British origins because the rate of growth has been slower here. That is changing however and these colonial buildings around the main city square are threatened by high rise office towers as the fever of China's growth spills over the border from Zhuhai.

Behind this European facade lies a warren of picturesque narrow streets filled with pedestrians and bicycle riders dodging the occasional car as they go from shop to shop and haggle on price. I will show a photo of the main street of this Chinese ...