Today was our day trip to the former Portuguese colony of
Macau. It is also the gambling capital of the world, with more money gambled
there than even in Vegas. On our way to the ferry terminal we stopped at the
most delectable bakery we had previously seen on our street. The pastries were
still warm. Mark and Dale had pineapple buns (called melon pan in Japan) and I
had a custard bun. Oh my foodness! It had real custard inside, nothing like the
pudding-like substance that goes in most US custard doughnuts. We took the
first ferry of the day from Kowloon to Macau, about an hour’s journey.
Close to the Ruins of Saint Paul was the old fortress of
Macau, which now houses its Museum of history. It was a pretty cheap admission
so we decided to go inside. The museum showed the convergence of Chinese and
Portuguese culture in Macau, including a description of the history and
production of firecrackers. What stood out to us the most was a traditional Chinese
bridal sedan, very ornately decorated. Once we exited the museum we were able
to walk around the top of the fortress which afforded great (but hazy) views of
Macau.
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| Chinese bridal sedan. Seriously crazy. |
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| I love these trees. And they're everywhere! |
For lunch we wanted to make sure we had Portuguese food. We
walked back to the tourist office to see if they could give us some
suggestions. It was the most bizarre tourist office I have ever been in. We
were the only tourists inside and it was dead silent, with 4-5 workers behind
the desk either staring at their computer screens or mobile devices. No one
looked up to even acknowledge us when we walked in, and we stood around for a
good 2-3 minutes before anyone looked at us or spoke to us. In the end we did
end up with some restaurant suggestions and went on our way. We found a
Portuguese restaurant with a special lunch menu and it was oh so delicious! We
all started with a pureed vegetable soup, and then Dale and I had the mussels
served with cheesy potatoes and Mark had some pork smothered with onions and
other delicousness with French fries. We were quite pleased with our lunch choice.
After lunch we hit up a couple more touristy spots,
including an old Chinese mansion that has recently been partially restored.
Then we found a street that sold one of Macau’s specialties, jerky.
Interestingly enough the jerky was being sold in pastelerias, or pastry shops,
along with other sweets. There were samples galore! The jerky was being sold in
many varieties and it’s presented in big sheets rather than more bite-sized
pieces that we are accustomed too. The jerky is also kept warm which was a bit
unusual. We didn’t appreciate the flavor of many of the jerkies – many just
tasted like dried pork chops – but we did find a garlic pork jerky tasty enough
to buy. We also bought some Portuguese egg tarts to try. They were oh so flaky
and buttery and oh so delicious!
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| Part of the Chinese mansion |
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| Stock photo of jerky. Apparently I only thought I hit the button to take a photo on my phone. |
When we had exhausted the historic centre of Macau we
decided to check out some of the casinos we had seen on our way there. The
grandest of them all and also the one with the most interesting building shape,
the Grand Lisboa, did not disappoint on the inside. There were fancy sculptures
and lots of decorative crystal beading. Two of the featured sculptures were
carved from mammoth tusks, and others featured plated gold or jade. We watched
the fountain display outside of the Wynn hotel and then checked out the fish
tank inside the MGM Grand. Lucky for us, they started fish feeding time shortly
after we arrived. The fish tank was pretty impressive featuring thousands of
fish and over 100 different species including a sting ray. There was a cute
girl about Claire’s age that came up to us and waved and said “hello!” while
her mom filmed the whole thing.
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| Another stock photo |
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| Love the dangly crystals! |
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| Mammoth tusk carving |
By this point we were very exhausted and decided to head
back to the ferry terminal a little early and just hang out until it was time
for our early evening ferry. Once we arrived back on Kowloon, we immediately
stopped to get some dinner at a mediocre Chinese place. It’s not really worth
mentioning any more about the food there so I won’t. We went back to our Airbnb
for some recovery afterwards, then went on a little stroll so we could force
ourselves to stay awake until a decent bedtime. This was the second day in a
row that we had a total step count of over 30,000!
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| I found this McDonalds kiosk on our walk home through Kowloon Park. They only sell drinks and desserts. I'd never seen anything like it before! |
OBSERVATIONS:
- I expected the Hong Kongese to be similar to the Japanese in terms of chivalry. Boy was I wrong! Trying to get on a bus or up an escalator or even across a street at a crosswalk, you must be aggressive. And "priority seating" for the elderly and mothers with small children is almost never observed on the trains. On two separate buses in Lantau no one offered to give up their seats to mothers carrying babies who got on board. I made Mark do it to set a good example and show some American manners.
- Toothpick obsession. At several restaurants we've been to, toothpicks are automatically provided to us at the end of our meals. And in our Airbnb kitchen, there's no salt or pepper or napkins but there are definitely toothpicks!
- I've noticed many restaurants and even a food truck featuring toast, whether it be just plain buttered toast or something more extravagant. I'm guessing that stems from the English influence of the city?
Thanks for the newsy update.
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