Living Out My Dreams in Macau

Macau is self-proclaimed 'the City of Dreams'. I'm not sure if people dream about spending their time in sleazy casinos, or just dream about striking it big. Everyone wishes they would luck out, and never have to worry about money again. Macau was not exactly the city of dreams for me, but then again, I am not much of a gambler.

I managed to catch one of the 24 hour ferries to Macau and spend the better part of the day there. The TurboJet boat only takes an hour to traverse the Pearl River Delta (Hong Kong is on the exact opposite side of the wide mouth). As the boat slowed and began to pull up to the dock, I noticed that the water was opaque and murky, probably from deposits and erosion further up stream. The skyline is much less developed than Hong Kong, but considering that the population is only 1/20 of Hong Kong it is understandably highly developed. 

I caught the bus number 3 into the city of the historic district. The infamous Saint Paul church was destroyed in a typhoon, but one wall was left standing. This wall has become a symbol for Macau other than the Cotoi Strip (the eastern equivalent of the Vegas Strip). It was strange standing in Macau knowing that mainland China was less than a couple miles from me, yet I felt as if I was in Europe. Macau was a Portuguese colony and governed by them until the official hand over in the '90s. The official languages are Chinese (Cantonese) and Portuguese, albeit no one speaks Portuguese except a just a few. All signs were posted in both and sometimes in English. There is a tremendous selection of Portuguese and Chinese fusion restaurants. 

I managed to find one on a sleepy little street right off of Rua Campo named 'Rico's'. Part of the reason I wanted to go to Macau was for the food. I had baked vegetables in a Portuguese sauce with coconut sprinkled on top. It was delicious! I finished and walked around a bit more, even briefly hitting up the Casino Lisbon. After losing $3 USD to a slot machine, I had my gambling fix taken care of. I really wanted to play the table version of mahjong, but I could not figure out, for the life of me, what the rules were. After taking a free shuttle back to the ferry station, I hopped a ferry home.