Our charming MACAU trip

We landed in Macau Airport through a thick bed of fog. I instantly felt like we were far away from home even though the flight was a mere hour and a half. Not only was the weather different but so were the architecture, the signs (English/Cantonese/Portugese), and the general atmoshere.


Signs in Portugese and Chinese

After breezing through customs Nuni and I looked for transportation to the city. There are several ways to get to the city center:

take the cab

take the AP1 bus

make friends with a fellow country(wo)man and take the scenic route to the city



Nuni by the bay

Note: if you have Patacas or HK dollars bring them with you. You don't want to change money at the airport.

From the airport you should take the AP1 bus. But since Macau is so small you can afford to be adventurous and find your way to the city using any bus. We befriended a Filipina woman who had been there before. She took us to a bus stop just outside the main avenue San Ma Lo. It was a 20 minute walk (longer because we were carrying our bags) through some hilly neighborhoods.

Buses in Macau are quite cheap. You pay a flat fee to get where you want to go and they don't go for more than 20 Patacas. You can get a map of the bus routes and the city at the airport. When you get to the city you'll probably be getting around on foot, bus, and taxi.


Me after a good meal

Accomodation

There are several affordable (P1200-P1800) hotels in the San Ma Lo area. Have a walk around and you shouldn't have much trouble finding one. We stayed at Hotel Nam Tin in the heart of the city for only 1400 pesos/night(approx). The location is nice and it's near the trendy part of the city.



Hotel Nam Tin(Travende da prande Grande N4)

Restaurants

We didn't get to eat at Fernando's but apparently it's one of the best in Macau.

There are many things to do in Macau and I think they can be done in a matter of days. Casinos await all you gamblers out there and at the same time there are many historical sites to be visited. The area around San Ma Lo is very charming, especially at night and I highly recommend you go for a stroll around here and look for a good gelato stand.


yummy gelato!


Charming fusion of the old and the modern

Nuni and I spent a little less than 48 hours in Macau. It was good enough for us and we felt we had done all that we'd wanted to do so we decided to set off for Hong Kong...


Clean and lovely city

Now this...

ANNOYING things about nuni. Oooopsss...it's livi's fault!

This is in response to Nuni's annoying entry

Nuni didn't pack a good pair of walking shoes. Plus I take bigger strides when I walk. Often she'd lag behind. Tsk tsk.

I thought we could've spent our money a bit more wisely. Sometimes we ate at overpriced restaurants (because nuni wanted to) and didn't get enough street food even though all the streets smelled like food. =PPP


Nuni behind a huge closed church door in Macau

If you have questions about Macau, you can leave us a comment here or email:nuniadventures@gmail.com.


NEXT: Our Hong Kong Adventure!