Macau, again.

You might remember my last past about Macau from when I visited in the fall. Well, I went again when Joanna was here.  I won’t write about the things I saw last time again, but I did see some new things! Like this, the ruins of Sao Paulo (Saint Paul) church, the most famous historic site in Macau and an official UNESCO World Heritage site:

You can get a better idea of what the the ruins look like by seeing from above and to the side in this photo. The church was built by the Portuguese (who colonized Macau) from 1582 to 1602 (which probably makes it older than anything but the trees on Hong Kong!). I particularly like this sculpture down at the base of the steps leading up to the ruins. It features what I presume to be a Portuguese man being presented a flower (a lotus?) by a Chinese/Macaunese woman, which I presume represents the “cooperation and friendship among the two countries and peoples.” (This is a fun blog; I will decline to comment on colonization!)

OK, only one repeated photo. Those darn swirly incense things are just so cool! We actually had an awesome experience at the Ah Mah temple (the one on the waterfront in Macau) because as we were perusing the incense and the altars, an older man came up and started chatting us up. Turned out he is part of the family that cares and looks after the temple as they have for generations, so he was able to tell us all about the history of the place and give us an interesting perspective. He even spoke Portuguese (I was convinced that no one in the territory actually still spoke the language), having fled to Portugal after the Japanese invaded during World War II. He also told us that these spiral incense figures (which are made on site at the temple) can burn for up to three weeks; fishermen would often come and light them before heading out to sea in the hopes that it would bring them good luck. They tried to return before the incense burned out. They also had giant incense sticks (literally bigger than me!) that take three to five days to burn down.

After seeing all of the historic sites, we headed out to the casino district to see the other side of Macau. We went to a couple that I hadn’t yet been to, including this one, the Venetian Macau, which is the largest casino in the world with more than 10 million square feet! I’m not big on gambling (I think I spent about $3 on slots while we were here), but I am a fan of the many international stores throughout the building. Talk about some serious shopping options. I think I’ll have to come back here when I feel like doing some real damage.  Like the Venetian Las Vegas (so I hear; I’ve never been), it features canals inside with singing gondoliers offering rides. There’s a Cirque du Soleil troupe, and the gambling part of the Venetian has 800 tables and 3,400 slots. Basically, it’s a really ridiculous place.

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