After looking through some Hong Kong guidebooks when I got there, I realized I could take a day trip to an entirely different country (well, different special administrative region in China) called Macau. Like Hong Kong, it used to belong to a foreign power, (Portugal) and has only recently been given back to China. And like Hong Kong, it is a special administrative region, and has its own rules about certain things (like allowing US citizens to enter without visas). So, once I figured out it was legal to go, and it would be an entirely new stamp in the passport, I decided to make a day of it, and explore Macau. Its accessible by helicopter, or an hour-long ferry ride. I took the ferry there in the morning, spent the day, and made it back in the early evening, early enough to have drinks with my wonderful host, Michael (who is a gracious, very kind person who put up with me crashing on his futon for a week). It honestly took me longer to get back from Lantau (which is a part of Hong Kong) then it did to get to and from Macau, which is technically an entirely different country.
One of the main squares in Hong Kong. I thought the pavement was really cool.
Macau’s current claim to fame is that it is the Vegas of Asia. There are tons of casinos all around the peninsula. Other then that, it has the tallest tower in the world, which people can bungee jump off of.
A casino on the coast
There are historic temples which are similar to the ones around Hong Kong, and also historic churches because of the Christian influence that its had over the years.
One of the historic churches
I got a tour around the city to see the highlights- and got to go up the tower and see the city from a birds-eye view. Unfortunately it was rather smoggy, but it was still a really neat sight to see.
The two black towers across the water are the entrance to the Schenzen region (mainland China)
The Macau tower, the tallest in the world
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