Macau

On Tuesday we once again went on a tour, this time it was to the island of Macau. This island, like Hong Kong, was just recently handed over to China. Before it was leased by Portugal. Many of the buildings there take their influence in architecture from the Portuguese. Many of the buildings we passed during the walking portion of our tour looked like they could be in Europe. Macau is not famous for it's architecture, rather it's certainly not most famous for that, it's famous for gambling. Macau is home to many many casinos, it's turning into its own little Las Vegas. In fact our tour guide said that it passed Vegas in the amount spent at it's casinos.

Our tour started with a ferry ride across the foggy ocean to Macau island. When we arrived we met Cisco our tour guide and quickly set off. The first stop was a giant statue next to the bay, it's a beautiful woman facing the city of Macau. Our next stop was a temple, the oldest in Macau, while we were there we bought some delicious egg tarts. They were fresh and delicious and as our guide said the best outside of Portugal. Our next stop was the Macau tower, we rode a very tall elevator up to the observation level. As we stepped out on the tower, we were treated to the sight of someone jumping over the side. The tower offers a freefall type attraction that allows you to jump off the building or walk around it on a sky walk. There was quite a line of people waiting their turn. As each jumper jumped there was a huge burst of applause. Our next stop was lunch, we had a delicious buffet lunch of both Portuguese and Chinese specialties. After lunch we went on a walking tour to see a church facade which has withstood many typhoons, high winds and weather. As we continued the walk we passed places where movies were filmed, including a famous scene from Indiana Jones. We wrapped up our tour at a casino owned by Jackie Chan. I spent 100 Hong Kong dollars trying my luck at the machines. I was completely unsuccessful, but had fun playing. Gabriella and Greg found a park to play at and before we knew it we were headed back to the ferry.

Once back in Kowloon we found a delicious pub where we chose to eat dinner. Greg of course got beer, I got ginger beer and Gabriella had a soda. The food was delicious and we all felt satiated on the walk back to the hotel. Once we got back we packed our bags in expectation of leaving early the next day. Our flight home was uneventful and as we headed back to Okinawa we smiled happily at our successful last big vacation before the twins arrive.