Take a taxi into the village and your quiet day begins with either a stop at Lord Stow's Bakery for Macau's best known dessert treat (the nata) or just stroll the alleys to the Church of St. Francis Xavier and enjoy a quiet drink and meal in one of the many cafe's that line the courtyard of the church. Head down the road and take in the Tam Kung Temple...and you day is pretty much complete.
Hey, this one is easy, but you need one of these after having walked so much in the city.
Getting a cab out of Coloane can be a pain...be prepared to wait, or have the numbers for the taxi handy so you can call. Then, of course, there is always the bus, which stops across the road from the roundabout.
Continuing on my series of Macau walking tours...this one is a widely available tour/map from hotels and the Macau Tourism Board; the Heritage Tour. I've changed it up just as much as to what we do...and I've added some favorite restaurants as well. Also note, I do this tour backwards from what the Macau Tourism Board shows on their map...doing it their way is mostly uphill...I try to head downhill as much as possible.
This is a long day...be prepared for quite a walk that goes up and down hills. For the most part, our tours have been relatively downhill in terms of difficulty. This one sort of goes all over the place.
Starting at the Comeos Gardens and working your way through the city all the way down to the waterfront area, this is a satisfying walk through the city streets of central Macau.
Depending on your schedule and what you want to do...we have found that we could do this walk in 1/2 a day...arriving at Senado Square early (9:00am) allows you time to gear up with a quick coffee and roll at a cafe and then head out. Taking your time through the sites you can easily use up the entire morning...giving you just the right arrival time for lunch at our favorite restaurants (which I've plotted on the map). If you take lunch in the middle of the walk, you can hit the A Ma Temple and Maritime Museum after you are finished...by the time you are done with that, your day is done.
I've got a couple more of these tours. Shorter in length, but just as fun to walk and enjoy...stay tuned for more.
In my continuing series of walking maps of Macau, we take a short trip through the old tercena district. This is an easy morning or afternoon walk for anyone as it starts and ends at the same location; Senado Square.
This is a walk for the senses...sights, sounds, smells...an overload of the sensors that I find exhilarating.
You start in the familiar settings of Senado Square and peel off towards St. Dominic's market...the rest of the walk is all about merchants of every kind. Looping around to the Hong Kung Miu Temple...and taking in the smells of the incense and the colors of the altars.
Making your way back towards Senado Square you are confronted with more merchants and shops selling a variety of items from aluminum shelving to songbirds.
This walk gives you a picture of Macau as it truly is...
The map above is one of our all-time favorites and it is a full day and can be a killer depending upon the weather. We've done this with a baby stroller quite a few times (of which we asked ourselves this past week...WHY?!?!) as we would have to carry the stroller up and down rocky stairs and across traffic. We took my Mom and Dad on this walk (and I think we nearly killed them too..) on a very hot day in September. But through it all, this walk gives us the best of Macau in a short day...you can see it all on this journey.
Start early...grab your breakfast and head into a cab around 9am, if you truly want to get through the whole thing with some enjoyment. Once again, take your taxi up to the Guia Lighthouse...and like the previous walk, you do the same things until you leave the Flora Gardens.
Upon exiting the gardens, turn left and follow the map through the city to explore Lou Lim Iok Gardens, St. Micheal's church, the Team Seac Square, Senado Square, St. Paul's and the Monte Fortress.
The highlight for us is the Lou Lim Iok Gardens...in the old days they would charge you MOP1.00 for entry, but in the past couple years, it has been free. The gardens are beautifully styled Chinese gardens with a terrific Portuguese style villa in the middle, on the pond. We would sit for a while and watch the community Cantonese opera groups perform...and just enjoy the shade on a hot day.
Continuing on through the Team Seac Square, you will come across the Portuguese Embassy compound, which is about your halfway point in the walk. There are plenty of fast food joints and restaurants to grab a bite to eat and enjoy a couple beers before you head out for the finish.
As you continue into the city, you will noticeably see more and more people. And, as you get closer and closer to Senado square, you will notice the pavement stones changing to the Portuguese style yellow and black design lines. Walking through the crowds to St. Paul's can be somewhat disappointing, as you jostle with the tourists...but once you emerge and see the facade, it is worth it for that first look.
At this point you have a choice...you can head up to the facade and then turn right and go up to the Monte Fortess and Macau Museum. The walk is somewhat steep and at the tail end of your day, you may seem somewhat tired of it all. Alternatively, you could head to the left and go to the Comeos Gardens and enjoy another quiet garden/park with attached protestant chapel and St. Anthony's church across the road.
Well, I've been going to Macau for the past 13 years, at least a couple times per year, and I can say that I have walked into a casino exactly...once. Macau has too many things to offer in terms of culture, history, food and the overall character of the old city is exhilarating.
The one time I was in a casino was probably in 1996, we wandered into the Lisboa, just so we could say we went to a casino in Macau. Well, my impression was of 5,000 smoking Chinese and after a quick HKD100 in the slots...we were out of there. This time, we were close, as we went to the Venetian Hotel to watch the Cirque Do Soleil show. The show was great...the hotel was way, way, way over the top...it bothered me in a way that is hard to describe. You see, I love Macau for what it is...and here I was inside a building with painted blue skies and people in boats being sung Italian songs by expat rowers. It all had such a Disneyland-ish creepy feel to it.
Words are hard to describe the feelings walking around the city of Macau. It is part Portugal and part China; the small tight roads and alleys of Porto, mixed in with the markets, hanging laundry and smells of Guangzhou. It's about a chaotic sort of grunge to the city that turns some off, but brings out the charm and history in others. Tai-Tai and I love the history that the buildings, churches, temples and gardens present to us. Around every corner there is something new, yet familiar. The casinos have only existed in Macau since the late 60's...yet Macau has endured since the 1500's.
There is so much more than gambling...
Because I have had so many friends as me the above question, I thought
I would try and get into maps exactly what it is we do when we are in
Macau. So, I'll try and post a few entries with maps and instructions
on walking around the city. The great thing about Macau is, its so
small, you can walk straight across the peninsula in probably 30
minutes, if you needed to.
Click on the Google Map image below and then click on each of the points to find out a little about what we enjoy of each. I've also tried to inlcude some details of the walk, so you don't get lost (and here is a link to some photos we took along the way). This particular walk we did for the first time on our recent trip to Macau...from the Guia Lighthouse down to the Mong Ha Fortress. Through all the years of walking around the city, we've never ventured up that way.
All of our trips start with a taxi drive to whatever starting point we choose...it's best to choose a well known site around the city, as the driver can immediately take you there and there isn't any searching about. For this trip, we head to the Guia Lighthouse. Once you have completed your walk, its important to try and observe where the busier streets are in order to find a taxi on the way back. One thing Tai-Tai and I have noticed in recent years...since the advent of the large casino's taxis tend to be a bit thinner on the city streets as in the past. You have to be patient (of which I am not) in waiting for a ride...otherwise, hoof it to another, busier street, and you might have better luck there (which is what we did at the conclusion of this walk).
It was 11
years ago we made our first and only trip to
Bali.
Expat Son was all of 4 months old. We stayed a week back then and enjoyed our
time. Since that time, we had two trips
planned to visit again, but both were canceled due to political unrest
problems. We saw this summer as an opportunity
to make a return trip.
Our first
impression was upon arrival. The airline
didn’t give us any immigration cards and when you step off the plane, the first
thing they want is USD10 for a one week visa. We purchased our visa and then went on the hunt for immigration
cards. This is one of the most
irritating things of all when traveling internationally…filling out the little
form. I really want to see the warehouse
that stores all of these little forms people fill out for various governments
around the world.
We pick a
queue to hop into and wait…and wait…and wait. The problem? A large family has
gone through the queue, gotten up to the officer and had failed to complete the
form. Now, in China or any country for that
manner, they would have been tossed from the line and then the officer would
help the next in line. Nope…not
here. They allowed these people to fill
out their forms while the entire queue fumed.
Finally through, we grabbed our bags from some touts that were hoping to walk them out to our car and went to find our car.
The ride
from town into the hotel was also quite different. Traffic was atrocious…the short trip from the
airport to hotel (which I remembered as a 20 minute ride before) took nearly an
hour in stop and go traffic.
Once in the
hotel, not much had changed. All of the
sights and sounds seemed so familiar. Oh, there were some changes with new restaurants and the like, but it
all felt so familiar.
We found
the next morning, however, that the resort had changed quite a bit…people…lots
of them. 11 years ago, the resort was full
of people, but it seemed as though those people weren’t around during the
day. We snagged a spot poolside and
quickly discovered that everyone else was doing the same…it was loud, busy and
just didn’t have that quiet resort feel to it. Rather, I felt as though I were on a cruise ship…small confined space in
which everyone is crowded around.
The beach
was much the same. What I remembered as
a somewhat quiet, private beach, was teeming with guests and touts of all
kinds.
The other
big change…Russians. Loads of
Russians. In fact, the hotel had their
menus printed in Russian and they had a Russian speaking manager at the front
desk. For a child of the cold war…and
through all of the Ian Fleming, James Bond novels I was reading…I was highly
suspicious (during the stay, Russian forces had invaded Georgia and I told
Tai-Tai that I wanted to request the lounge band to play ‘Georgia On My Mind’
to see what the reaction would be) of my surroundings. Heh...
On day two,
we looked a little deeper for a poolside spot that wasn’t so hectic and we
found it, way around back in one of the lagoons. One of the good changes they made was to add
a pool bar to the lagoon behind the hotel…this allowed people to sit back there
and get their beer/food fix without having to search it out. We were firmly planted there the rest of the
week.
Our week
primarily consisted of hanging out poolside (you see a pattern here?), walking
around the beach area and a quick afternoon of shopping. But one thing I definitely wanted to do was
take Expat Son on the same snorkeling trip as I took his sister 11 years
previous. Unfortunately, the initial
days we wanted to do this, the weather was fierce. The winds off the water were very strong and
we were consistenly being told to come back the next day. Finally, on the last day, we were there, the
weather was perfect and we were able to hire a boat to take us out to the reef
and we swam with the fishes for an hour. The highlite were the school of fish that kept following us…and the
angelfish that kissed Expat Sons finger.
Speaking of
the weather…we experienced something I never thought we would in, of all
places, Bali. I mentioned the wind that was blowing the first few days of our stay, in
the evenings we would head to the beachside for dinner and would sit out among
the stars and enjoy a drink and our food. The temperatures were dipping down to 21-23C and with that wind coming
in off the water…we were actually a bit chilled. Tai-Tai said, ‘I should have brought my
sweater.’
Our taxi
driver didn’t know where our hotel was…but was good enough to check maps, roll
down the window and shout questions at people on the street and eventually, we
pulled up to our hotel in a driving rainstorm.
First impression?? There were a
load of burkas in the crowd! Lots of Arab families on holiday; men with beards and expensive watches, children
running wildly around, and women covered head to toe in black with only their
green eyes peering through the slit in the fabric. Tai-Tai, wearing her tank top t-shirt and
shorts, felt underdressed. It was
just…creepy.
The first
order of business in
Bangkok was to re-take a tour that Expat Daughter and I took 3 years ago. You see, we were booked for all four of us to
go back then, but Expat Son woke up the morning of the tour not feeling well, so he and
Tai-Tai stayed back while my daughter and I went to Ayuttayah and the Summer Palace.
There is
only one tour to take when going on this…call the Shangri-La hotel and book
their tour. For around $50 each, you get
the bus ride up to Ayuttayah, the ruins of the ancient capital city of
Siam
with stops
at a couple of ruin sites. The trip then
takes you to the King’s summer palace (Bang Pa In)…this is then followed up with a buffet
lunch and river cruise back to
Bangkok
where they deposit you at the doorstep of the hotel. It is a full day tour and worth every penny of it if you are visiting Bangkok on a tourist jaunt.
Our day
started at around 6am, as we were not staying at the Shangri-La hotel. We had to walk a couple of blocks to the
Skytrain, transfer a couple trains, and then walk a few more blocks to the
hotel. We left so early, because we
figured we’d pick up some breakfast at the hotel while we waited for the tour
to begin and they require you to be there
by 7:30am, ready for the tour.
As I
mentioned, the bus ride to Ayuttayah is about 1 hr and on this trip, the tour
guide took us to three different locations and allowed us around 45 minutes to
explore each. The good thing about this
trip for me, we went to a couple of different locations than what I went to 3
years ago…so it can change with each visit, which was great.
After touring the ruins of the temples and
buildings, we head over to the summer palace for a 45 minute walk-about of the
grounds and the buildings. Meticulously
maintained with a variety of buildings to see, the summer palace is still used
by the royal family, but when they aren't there, tourists flock around the grounds. After that, its lunch and a boat ride back to
the city.
We eventually were back in
town by 5:30pm…it was a long day. We
reconnected with some old friends again and had a few dinners with them. Expat Son took me to see Wall-E at the
cinema. And, on our last day in town, we
took a walk over to the Jim Thompson house and had the tour, which was more
than worth our effort.
Jim Thompson was an American that started a business importing Thai silk to the USA after WWII. He worked throughout Asia to buy and develop silks and patterns for his business. He fell in love with Thailand and its people (not hard to do) and built a home along one of the canals in Bangkok. The home was a collection of 6 various style Thai houses that were put together into one home for his use. Today, it stands as one of the best monuments to these unique styles of homes in Bangkok.
The house has been restored and maintained by a foundation Jim Thompson originally set up and it is a beautiful piece of history and art.
Enough
of this city life…we needed some down time in quiet and warm surroundings…off
to Bali.
Our journey
started off on the luckiest day of the century; 8/8/08. Yes, our entire plan was to get out of
country during the Olympics. There was
just too much hype and too much crazed nationalism surrounding the games and I
was just getting a bit sick of it. Add
to that the multitude of doping and cheating scandals that have surrounded many
athletes and, well, I was feeling a bit cheated by it all..
As it was
the big day, we expected our trip out of the airport to be fraught with long
queues and jostling crowds. We were
incredibly surprised to find the opposite…the airport felt barren. Arriving at check in two hours early ensured
us of a 1 hr a 45 minute wait.
We arrived
in Bangkok on
time and walked the 2km from our gate to the immigration counter. Yes, the new Bangkok airport is huge. After popping through immigration we hopped
into a car to take us to Hua Hin, a normally 2.5 hr drive from the
airport. But, our luck would have it, we
arrived at about 5:15pm on a Friday…traffic was a problem. The normal drive was extended an hour…so
after spending 2 hrs in the airport, 3 hrs on the plane, it was another 3.5 hrs
in the car before we settled into our hotel room.
Our mission
in Hua Hin was simple…chill out poolside, enjoy some good food, and catch up on
reading some books. We did get out for
one quick tourist trip. Expat son had
never ridden an elephant, so we took him out for the ride.
It was 12
years previous in which I had taken my first elephant ride with Tai-Tai and
Expat Daughter…little did we know at that time, Expat Son was along for the
ride too (he just doesn’t remember it).
We took a
30 minute ride on the animal around a park which is run specifically for the
tourist elephant ride trade. The
‘drivers’ chat with you while you are on the animal and they really care for
and love their tools of their living. In
fact, the elephant that I was riding was pregnant, expecting her second baby
(the other baby was walking around the complex as well).
There was
the expected stop to try and peddle some jewelry to us in order to help ‘feed
the elephants’, but I didn’t need that…I just slipped them a few extra baht at
the end of the ride for their time and thanks.
Essentially
we spent hours and hours in the pool tossing the ball, talking, laughing and
just enjoying some well deserved downtime for the lot of us. After 4 days, we were on the move again…back
to Bangkok.
Below is a little video of the ride...if you like looking at elephant butts, this is the video for you.
It's taken me way too long to start gathering my thoughts for some blog posts. Ever since we returned, we have been busy catching up with work and home. So, with my first attempt to sort out what went on last month, I present a map of our destinations.
Our first stop from GZ was the beaches of Hua Hin, Thailand. Normally, this is a 2.5 hr drive from Bangkok Airport...but, since our flight arrived at 5pm on a Friday, we hit it just in time for rush hour and our journey took about 3.5 hrs (this, after a 4 hr flight, and remember you have to be at the airport for international flights 2 hrs ahead of time).
After 4 days of sun, pool and beach, we headed back into Bangkok to spend a few days in town. This gave us an opportunity to visit some good friends and, of course, have some good food. We missed the excitement in Bangkok by about 10 days.
We were off to Bali for a week of sun and pool at a resort we hadn't visited in 11 years. There were changes, but yet, it still felt the same as before (just more people). I was even able to take Expat Son on the same snorkeling adventure I took Expat Daughter on 11 years earlier...and it was just as amazing.
After 7 days of lazing, we headed off to Singapore and the resort island of Sentosa for 4 days. This was surprisingly good...the island had loads of things to do and we still had the ease of heading into town if we wanted.
But, we did want to have some shopping fun in town, after 4 days on Sentosa, we headed off to Orchard for shopping and eating. It was our trip to Singapore that put me over the top in terms of eating...gawd they have good food there.
I'll try and get to work on some posts on each individual location. On the right hand column you will find links to photo albums of pictures I took along the way...and down at the bottom of the right hand column, my Vimeo widget has a few new videos I took as well. As I mentioned, I'll try and get some blog posts up to explain some of those pictures and videos.
In the meantime, plug around on this map to see where we stayed in each location.
I plunked some photos quickly into an album...here. I didn't get a chance to edit them very well, so you will have to crook your neck 90 degrees to the right to see half of them.
The gist of the photos are from the Jim Thompson house, a cruise and tour of Ayuttayah, and a quick elephant ride in Hua Hin.
I'll get around to doing some sincere editing and re-post the photos soon.
Disclaimer:
The views expressed on this website/weblog are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of you, my employer, my mom, my church, the corner market where I shop, my cat or anyone else. They are just that...my views.
