June 13, 2010 - Egg tarts and historic fun of epic proportions in Macau

I'm taking a trip to Macau mainly to get my Hong Kong work visa activated, but since I have an uncle in Macau, I might as well travel a little before I return to Hong Kong on the same day. Macau is a small island that is an SAR of China; I heard that you can bicycle through or around the entire region in just 2 hours. The TurboJet is one of the three ferries that can take you to Macau. For now, I'll just let pictures do the talking.

the TurboJet

a comfy one hour ride to Macau

farewell Hong Kong...

...and hello Macau!

Macau, the land of casinos and egg tarts

one of the large casinos

a fancy fountain inside the Four Seasons (or was it the Venetian?) hotel; too many hotels and casinos to remember

the architecture of Macau are reminiscent of Portuguese colonialism

in the square of the Ruins of St. Paul's, a famous tourist spot

the Ruins of St. Paul's

mmm curry fishballs

I'm making quite an embarrassing expression, but this picture is too funny to not post

Macau is famous for many things: casinos, Portuguese-style egg tarts, almond cakes, and curry beef jerky; here is a bakery specializing in almond cakes

jerky of all kinds

more almond cakes cooling off

streetside shrine

these pork sandwiches are very popular

more Portuguese-style architecture

crowded, tourist-filled streets filled with food stalls

where's Waldo?

Rua de S. Paulo

Macau Post

inside a shop selling paintings; shown is one of the Eight Immortals crossing the sea (a popular image in Chinese stories)

a portrait of Deng Xiaoping peeks from behind

entering the temple of A-ma, bodhisattva and the goddess of seafarers

a view of the casinos from within the car

a large bronze statue of bodhisattva Kwan Yin, goddess of mercy, on a white lotus pedestal; it shows some Western influences, especially if you look carefully at the face of the statue

mmm, flaky Portuguese-style egg custard tarts from the famous Lord Stow's Bakery

I start work tomorrow morning at 9:30am, so I went home to rest and prepare. Dinner was delicious, as usual.