Amazing Macau

Makau – THE CITY OF DREAMS

I did not expect what I saw. Before coming to Macau I did not read a lot about this city. I knew that it is is one of the two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong and of course I knew that it is a new Las Vegas- city full of casinos in which you can win a lot or loose everything. Before visiting Macau, I thought it is like Mainland China – chaotic, dirty, full of spitting people and totally neglected. I was wrong, I was so wrong.I wonder why I did not compare it to Hong Kong in which I was the last year. Hong Kong in comparison to many cities in China was so clean but it was still a very busy city. Macau turned out to be different.

The first day.

I came to Macau very early. My plane from Shanghai landed in Macau at 9 am. The weather was much better than in Shanghai, warm and quite sunny. Everywhere I saw signs in chinese, Portuguese and English but what I found more interesting, was traffic. First impression? Maybe I am ignorant but I did not know that in Macau there is left-hand rule of the road. Because it was my first time and I did not know where to begin, I went to the hotel in which I booked the room. The name of the hotel is REGENCY. The hotel was located on the coast, next to the bridge going to center of Macau. It was quite expensive but it was worth it, from the tenth floor I could see a nice view of the city. Because it is Island and there is no unlimited territory, buildings in Macau are very high. I was impressed at the time. After taking a shower and eating, I decided to go for a walk. Firstly- I wanted to see the coast. I was so impressed because Macau turned out to be a very green city full of flowers, tree and outstanding architecture. It does not look like typical Chinese. Macau is a combination of old style architecture reminding buildings in Portugal with modernity and an excess of wealth Asia.

The combination is brilliant. I agree that Macau is the city of dreams. It is one of the wealthiest regions in the world and you can see it there. So I took a walk, through narrow streets which were surrounded by small buildings in which you could eat delicious Chinese, Portuguese food and drink cold beer. Above my head I could see huge hotels and casinos such as GALAXY and VENETIAN. It was so close but still these narrow streets were so calm. People looks relaxed here I thought. I am not a type of someone who wants to sit and just enjoy the time but after the view of all these, it took my breath away and  I just sat and drunk ice coffee. I started thinking that maybe I am in the paradise, it is so different that the world that I know in which people are worried, streets are full of begging people and there is no happiness in the air. I really could live there.

After a long walk I decided to rest a little bit and then go to the city center of Macau. I asked in the street how can I get there and luckily for me the person that I asked was going the same way and she was getting out at the same station. LUCKY ME. While driving it turned out that the person who helped me was Filipino. She told me that there are many Filipinos in Macau and they do not speak chinese. She told me that living in Macau is like a dream in comparison to Philippines. I agreed with her – the city of dreams. In the city center I was expecting that will be busy but It was not so much. After living in China I am really patient and do not whine easily. I took  my walk through the city center and I was surprised that there are so many beautiful places and I discovered that their favorite snack is a pork chop in bread. It reminds me of Poland so I bought it and ate greedily. After few hours of walk and glass of wine in the small restaurant, I decided to return to the hotel and sleep in order to be ready for the next day.

The second day.

I woke up at 8.30 and went for the breakfast. To my surprise, there were many Filipinos working in the restaurant and they did not speak chinese. After eating nutritious breakfast I decided to go to the beach as it was recommended to me by concierge at the hotel. I took a bus ( it is so easy to travel by bus- there is information about stations in 4 LANGUAGES!! – Chinese, Portuguese, English and Macau language). The price for a bus is not high. I paid for each drive- 3,6 MACAU PATACAS ( $0.45). After approaching the beach I was not so moved. I saw much more beautiful beaches in my life- especially in Greece. Maybe it was not the most outstanding beach but It was simple and calm. There were some bars and houses around and WEST IN hotel. Nothing else. As it was not so impressive, I decided to leave and visit a place nearby – THE GUILA HILL. It was not far away, 15 minutes by bus and I was there. At the place, I was told that I can see panda bears just for 10 MACAU PATACAS.I was delighted bearing in mind the huge queues in Hong Kong to see one of the pandas and here in Macau there was no queue.

It was an extraordinary experience to see pandas as I was always a big fun of them. They seem to be so innocent and the way they eat bamboo- hilarious. After I spent some time with pandas, I decided to discover the hill a little bit and I took the walk. Finally I was in nature, alone walking on the path built of stones. From the hill I could feel the wind and fresh air but most important is that I could see the panorama of the city, amazing view.

It was a tiring morning and afternoon but I really wanted to see more. I checked the map and I saw another hill which was quite near the center. I took the bus and went there. It was one of the most beautiful place of Macau. Firstly, in order to get to the top of the hill I could choose- walk or take the cabin car. As it was extremely cheap (2 MACAU PATACAS) I took the cabin car. This hill is designed for people doing sports. There are many jogging tracks, outdoor gyms, playgrounds for children and all of these surrounded by trees. I saw many people enjoying their time there, jogging together, training or just sitting on the bench. I just sat on the bench and I was looking at them for a long time. Some of them stop next to me and just said hello, all of them with smile of their faces. Finally I was relaxed. No problems, no thinking about the future, just breathing with the fresh air…

After some time, I needed to go back to my hotel to sleep because of early flight the next morning.

I just came back from Shanghai and I am finishing this post. Macau will stay in my memory forever. Macau – THE CITY OF DREAMS…