A Weekend in Macau
Last weekend I spent two days and one night in Macau. I had the most amazing time! The food was fantastic and I had great company.
If you don't know what Macau is, it's an island west of Hong Kong that is also a Special Administrative Region of China, like Hong Kong. It was colonized by the Portuguese and was transfered to China in 1999. It's well-known for Portuguese egg tarts, meat jerky and casinos (there are casinos like the Wynn and Rio in Las Vegas, plus many more).
We took the ferry to Macau and got a taxi (with a really mean driver who gave my friend, Jiesi, a hard time about not being able to read Chinese and paying with Hong Kong money) to our hostel. The hostel was basically someone's apartment that was converted into a hostel. The building was pretty run-down, and the staircase was dark, but the people were nice. Our room was just two bunk beds and a desk with a TV. But the total cost for the room was less than a roundtrip ferry ride.
We left our stuff there and started exploring Macau. The architecture in Macau Square definitely looked European. Street and shop signs everywhere had Chinese, English and Portuguese. Most of the locals spoke Cantonese.
We ate lunch at a small restaurant and ordered the famous Macanese porkchop buns (basically a piece of porkchop sandwiched in a crunchy bun). We also ordered noodles. The bowls were probably the smallest bowls of noodles I've seen at a restaurant, but it was a good size. Everyone else had wonton noodles (the wontons had tons of shrimp) while I ordered beef stew noodles.
Afterward, we walked along this street that had tons of stores selling fresh jerky (pork and beef I think) and freshly made almond cookies. They all had free samples, too! You could also see the workers making the almond cookies out of an almond powder mix. They also made fresh crunchy egg rolls (not the ones filled with meat and vegetables, but ones filled with curry powder or shredded pork and seaweed) using flat, round irons. We had free samples of those, too!
We did a little more shopping/exploring, then we met up with Jiesi's aunt and cousin who live there. They took us to a local favorite that served Macanese food. The food was amazing! Every single dish (except for the clams that I didn't touch) was delicious. And Jiesi's aunt was really nice and paid for it all!
She walked us over to the Sands casino and said goodbye. Most of us exchanged a very small amount of money. I know the guy exchanging my HKD$40 (~US$5) was probably thinking we didn't belong there. We all just played the slot machines (especially because the minimum bets at the other tables were between HKD$100-300). I hardly won any of the times I spun. But I had already learned that I wasn't very lucky at slots from my last experience in Las Vegas.
My friend, Kim, was the only one who won. We went up to the second level with the more expensive slots, which were $1 per spin. She won five free games, and the first game she played she won the minor jackpot, which was about HK$320. I don't think she realized she had won the jackpot until after I started shouting and pointing "Oh my god! You won the minor jackpot!" She promised to buy us all Portuguese egg tarts the next day.
The Sands casino was really nice! They handed out free glasses of milk tea and free water bottles with the Sands logo on it. There was also a free show with singing and dancing. We visited the Wynn next. Only Jiesi and Kim played the slots once more. The Wynn was a lot classier-looking, and the slots and tables cost more, too. There weren't any free shows, and the Wynn water bottles seemed to be only for the people playing at the tables.
We decided to end the night there. We went back to the hostel and slept. All of us got multiple mosquito bites during the night because there was no screen on the windows. We woke up early to take turns showering (there was only one bathroom for all the guests, and there were probably at least 12 of us). Kim bought us our Portugese egg tarts. They were so good! The custard was a lot smoother, fluffier and sweeter than any egg tarts I've tried in the States. I can't compare them to the egg tarts in Hong Kong because I haven't had any, even though they're everywhere (even at KFC). Kim and I really wanted more, but we were heading to Macau Tower for the buffet at the 360 Cafe (it's a revolving restaurant high up on the tower).
We had a lot of fun at Macau Tower! There were a lot of exhibits that were great for taking pictures. We took a lot of silly pictures. The buffet was decent. There was a good mix of food with Macanese, Western, Japanese, Indian and Chinese cuisines. Some of the desserts were very good as well.
We headed back to Hong Kong after the buffet to try to see Jay Chou (a popular Taiwanese singer) at a signing in one of the malls. When we got there we realized only a few people received passes to wait in line to get his autograph. We hardly got a glimpse of him before he left (we arrived about two hours after the signing started). But it was really fun to just go through that experience and see all the girls (and some guys) trying to get a good look at him. It was really funny when all the girls starting screaming when he stood up from the table to say goodbye.
I wouldn't mind going back to Macau before I leave here, but the ferry ride is quite costly (about US$37.50 roundtrip). I am glad my first trip away from Hong Kong turned out to be so fun! Now I have to focus on school work for the next three weeks for final exams and essays. Then it will be time to travel to Malaysia and Thailand!
If you don't know what Macau is, it's an island west of Hong Kong that is also a Special Administrative Region of China, like Hong Kong. It was colonized by the Portuguese and was transfered to China in 1999. It's well-known for Portuguese egg tarts, meat jerky and casinos (there are casinos like the Wynn and Rio in Las Vegas, plus many more).
We took the ferry to Macau and got a taxi (with a really mean driver who gave my friend, Jiesi, a hard time about not being able to read Chinese and paying with Hong Kong money) to our hostel. The hostel was basically someone's apartment that was converted into a hostel. The building was pretty run-down, and the staircase was dark, but the people were nice. Our room was just two bunk beds and a desk with a TV. But the total cost for the room was less than a roundtrip ferry ride.
We left our stuff there and started exploring Macau. The architecture in Macau Square definitely looked European. Street and shop signs everywhere had Chinese, English and Portuguese. Most of the locals spoke Cantonese.
We ate lunch at a small restaurant and ordered the famous Macanese porkchop buns (basically a piece of porkchop sandwiched in a crunchy bun). We also ordered noodles. The bowls were probably the smallest bowls of noodles I've seen at a restaurant, but it was a good size. Everyone else had wonton noodles (the wontons had tons of shrimp) while I ordered beef stew noodles.
Afterward, we walked along this street that had tons of stores selling fresh jerky (pork and beef I think) and freshly made almond cookies. They all had free samples, too! You could also see the workers making the almond cookies out of an almond powder mix. They also made fresh crunchy egg rolls (not the ones filled with meat and vegetables, but ones filled with curry powder or shredded pork and seaweed) using flat, round irons. We had free samples of those, too!
We did a little more shopping/exploring, then we met up with Jiesi's aunt and cousin who live there. They took us to a local favorite that served Macanese food. The food was amazing! Every single dish (except for the clams that I didn't touch) was delicious. And Jiesi's aunt was really nice and paid for it all!
She walked us over to the Sands casino and said goodbye. Most of us exchanged a very small amount of money. I know the guy exchanging my HKD$40 (~US$5) was probably thinking we didn't belong there. We all just played the slot machines (especially because the minimum bets at the other tables were between HKD$100-300). I hardly won any of the times I spun. But I had already learned that I wasn't very lucky at slots from my last experience in Las Vegas.
My friend, Kim, was the only one who won. We went up to the second level with the more expensive slots, which were $1 per spin. She won five free games, and the first game she played she won the minor jackpot, which was about HK$320. I don't think she realized she had won the jackpot until after I started shouting and pointing "Oh my god! You won the minor jackpot!" She promised to buy us all Portuguese egg tarts the next day.
The Sands casino was really nice! They handed out free glasses of milk tea and free water bottles with the Sands logo on it. There was also a free show with singing and dancing. We visited the Wynn next. Only Jiesi and Kim played the slots once more. The Wynn was a lot classier-looking, and the slots and tables cost more, too. There weren't any free shows, and the Wynn water bottles seemed to be only for the people playing at the tables.
We decided to end the night there. We went back to the hostel and slept. All of us got multiple mosquito bites during the night because there was no screen on the windows. We woke up early to take turns showering (there was only one bathroom for all the guests, and there were probably at least 12 of us). Kim bought us our Portugese egg tarts. They were so good! The custard was a lot smoother, fluffier and sweeter than any egg tarts I've tried in the States. I can't compare them to the egg tarts in Hong Kong because I haven't had any, even though they're everywhere (even at KFC). Kim and I really wanted more, but we were heading to Macau Tower for the buffet at the 360 Cafe (it's a revolving restaurant high up on the tower).
We had a lot of fun at Macau Tower! There were a lot of exhibits that were great for taking pictures. We took a lot of silly pictures. The buffet was decent. There was a good mix of food with Macanese, Western, Japanese, Indian and Chinese cuisines. Some of the desserts were very good as well.
We headed back to Hong Kong after the buffet to try to see Jay Chou (a popular Taiwanese singer) at a signing in one of the malls. When we got there we realized only a few people received passes to wait in line to get his autograph. We hardly got a glimpse of him before he left (we arrived about two hours after the signing started). But it was really fun to just go through that experience and see all the girls (and some guys) trying to get a good look at him. It was really funny when all the girls starting screaming when he stood up from the table to say goodbye.
I wouldn't mind going back to Macau before I leave here, but the ferry ride is quite costly (about US$37.50 roundtrip). I am glad my first trip away from Hong Kong turned out to be so fun! Now I have to focus on school work for the next three weeks for final exams and essays. Then it will be time to travel to Malaysia and Thailand!
posted by Michelle at
8:10 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home