Macau

[HHTel]

taifoon

I love that spelling!!

[PeteC]

Hong Kong and the entire area is underwater with more to come all weekend long. The numbers are really scary, and record setting.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-66748239

[Bamboo Grove]

Went to Cotai strip today, where all the newest casinos are located. Londoner, Parisien and Venetian, I think, you can guess which photo is from which casino.

Just had a quick look inside the Londoner casino, I'm not a gambling man. All the casinos have five star hotels as well.

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[PeteC]

One of those places has a fountain show, or used to, a few times a day. I think the name is "The Lakes...something".

Bellagio Las Vegas style fountains. May be worth a look when it's not raining.

[Bamboo Grove]

The Londoner has also Changing of Guard, three times a day, four days a week.

https://www.londonermacao.com/macau-attractions.html

[Bamboo Grove]

Went to have a look at the Macau Tower today and saw some people doing the bungee jump. If you look carefully, you can see a jumper being pulled up near the edge of the jumping area.

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This is an area where the local wealthy people live.

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Taipa seen from Macau side. I live somewhere in between the two hills behind those high rises.

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I just read that a new typhoon is approaching the area.

Typhoon Koinu will come into 800 kilometres of Macau as early as Thursday as it continues its trajectory northwest.

[Bamboo Grove]

This sports club wall I saw today in northern Macau somehow reminded me of Thailand.

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[PeteC]

Are those really live tree roots, or a cement replica?

I would say replica but the eyes aren't what they used to be.

[Bamboo Grove]

I would say most likely a replica. I didn't go that close as to touch it. The same wall had some Mahayana style Buddha's heads.

[Bamboo Grove]

It's possible to get a visa on arrival on the Macau-Zhuhai border so I decided to test this. I first tried on Friday evening but because my work finished at 3.30 I was at the border at around 5 p.m. Then through the Macau immigration (fast) to the Chinese side. First there was a gate where you had to show your health clearance, which needed to be uploaded on wechat. It took me while to get this but it was fairly easy. Then I spent around 5-10 minutes at the duty free shop, where there was nothing for me and proceeded further. I saw the Chinese immigration office and went there to apply for the visa on arrival. When I finished the document, an officer came to me and said very politely. Sorry, we are closed now, comé back tomorrow. There was nothing I could do but to return to Macau, guided by 3 different Chinese officials. Went back home and decided to try again on Saturday. Fortunately I was able to cancel my hotel reservation and make a new one for just two nights.

Saturday I started from home at 10 A.M. and arrived at the border at about 11 A.M. Now all the things I needed to do where familiar and I managed to do them rather quickly. That was until I got to the passport check at the Chinese side. The queue was quite long and it took me more than an hour to get through it.

I finally got to the Zhuhai side and found my hotel, not too far away from the border.

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From my hotel, the high rises on the right are on Macau side and in the distance is the Macau/Zhuhai-Hong Kong bridge.

I've now spend two days in Zhuhai and I have to say, I quite like it. Some sights, sounds and even smells remind me of my student days in Guangzhou in 1987, something that I haven't found in quite Portuguese Macau, which is nice in it's own way but doesn't remind me of my old China days. It's even cheaper here than in Macau. I've eaten nice meals for 2,3 Euros and beer in the shops for a half a litre can is 0,6 Euros at it's cheapest. I've enjoyed the space that Zhuhai has, compared to Macau, which is very packed and that my senses remind me of my younger days. The only minus side was the long wait at the border.

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[Motyduke]

Really enjoyable report ! i see you talk about WeChat...i am still struggling to recover my account or create a new one...

[Bamboo Grove]

Yesterday the school had a trip to Handover gifts museum, Handover meaning Macau moving back to be part of China from Portugal in 1999. Today Museum of Arts. The statue of Guan Yin is standing nearby the museums.

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[pharvey]

Well, massive Chinese influence of course. I've always liked the Chinese artwork, but there's a great deal of "Gaudy Cr@p" for my liking. Is that Jade in the last photo?

Hope you're enjoying Macau though.

[Bamboo Grove]

There were jade parts in some of the gifts but as we were with restless kids, I didn't have time to read all the inscriptions. Macau is ok, particularly I'm happy with my salary and the cost of drinks and food in the shops. Drinking in bars is expensive here but 2 litres of beer can be bought for aroun 3€ and a litre of wine for 4€ so that's good.

Planning to go to Yunnan for my Christmas holidays, it's a part of China, I've never visited. Had a plan to go there on my first trip to China in 1986 but it was so much more difficult to get train tickets in those days that I didn't have the time. Maybe now 37 years later, I'll manage to do it.

[pharvey]

Planning to go to Yunnan for my Christmas holidays, it's a part of China, I've never visited. Had a plan to go there on my first trip to China in 1986 but it was so much more difficult to get train tickets in those days that I didn't have the time. Maybe now 37 years later, I'll manage to do it.

Travel to/from/around Yunnan is certainly a damn sight easier than it was 37 years ago!! Kunming is an international hub with a large expat community, but personally I wasn't a great fan - aside from the Pandas! Lijiang is well worth a visit but can get ridiculously busy during (Chinese) holidays - the same could be said for Lugu Lake. Hope you enjoy!