Yesterday my friends and I went to Macau for a day trip. I wasn’t really sure how I was going to make it through the day since I had gotten horrible nights rest the past 3 nights and went to bed super late the night before our trip. Either way though I was excited for our trip to Macau and can’t offer any review of the ferry ride besides it was a great place to sleep J. One tip though- buy your tickets for the ferry in advance online and print out your ticket invoice to bring with you to the counter, it makes your morning much easier.
Once we got off the ferry all of us were very lost and confused although we did have the complementary maps / guide books of Macau in our hands. (I would recommend grabbing one as it has a great path you can follow through the historical center of Macau.) We ended up taking the wrong bus and got a view of the residential side of Macau and after transferring to another bus we eventually made our way to what was the last stop on path and worked our way through the city’s sights.
One of the first places we went to was the Ruins of the Church of Saint Paul. And even though they were so so touristy, it was awesome!! I loved looking at all the details in the wall. It was beautiful and touristy as excepted but so cool. Be sure to get a stamp while you are there at the visitors information stand behind the ruins. Walking down the streets of the historical center of Macau, I felt as though I had been transplanted into a European Village, with Chinese signs and language hahaha. There are so many samples down the touristy main roads. If you forgot snacks you can fill yourself up with samples of cookies and jerky offered at every other store. We had a quick lunch of a meatball bun that was delicious. We watched them cook them fresh in a clay kiln. The insides were a peppery meat mixture along with green onions all covered in a toasted and crunchy outside topped with sesame seeds. SO GOOD!!!! And only 18MOP.
The yummy meatball bun
We continued on to the Largo de São Domingos. I really liked this square and was mistaken many times (2) for being Portuguese. Saint Dominic’s Church was also really pretty, especially the ceiling, and has a stamp inside as well (many of the tourist spots in Macau have stamps). The rest of our day consisted of looking at city squares, churches, historical buildings, and temples. The A-Ma Temple is really cool with all of the incense coils. From the A-Ma temple we took bus MT4 to the Venetian hotel on the other part of Macau, Taipa. Taipa also has some historical stuff and many big casinos and hotels call this place home. By this point in our trip we were all tired and hungry. Some of the girls mustered enough energy to walk through the Taipa Houses- Museum, which shows how people in Taipa used to live and Macanese culture. We also stopped quickly at the Church of Our Lady of Carmel.
Our dinner was also very simple as we were to lazy to look for a restaurant (or at least a non-touristy restaurant as there are many that line Rua da Cunha and in the casinos) and just bought delicious pork chop buns at Tai Lei Loi which I later found out was recommended in my Lonely Planet guidebook. For desert I had to try a Portuguese Egg-Tart. I really enjoyed it and find it to be much yummier than the Hong Kong Style Tarts.
Our night finished off in the Venetian and Parisian Casinos & Hotels. We strolled through the “streets of Venice”. I wasn’t really impressed because I have this so close by in Las Vegas but my friends thought it was crazy that there is a fake city, with water and gondolas in the middle of a building. I’m not sure why but the fountain in the Parisian really had me in awe. We skipped the viewing level of the Eiffel Tower ( I would too) and just went outside the Parisian to look at the Eiffel tower and take pictures in front.
(sorry for the low picture quality, we took this on our phones
We then took the Parisian shuttle bus back to the outer harbor. I would give their bus a 10/10 because there was no line, its free, the seats are comfy, it has free wifi, and there are USB charging outlets at every seat. We than waited in the standby line for the ferry ride home (our tickets home were for 11:59 but you can leave any time before your stated ticket time, but not after).
Overall it was a long and tiring day in Macau but I had a really great time with my friends. I couldn’t gamble and don’t find the glitz and glam of the big hotels and Casinos attractive so I don’t feel bad that I didn’t spend the night, granted laying my head on a pillow that was a little closer than Hong Kong did seem very attractive when I was sitting on the floor of the Venetian waiting for my friends to finish using the restroom. I was able to do everything that I wanted to do in Macau so I was very happy. My day in Macau was awesome!