Hong Kong sunset

We saw the Bounty again this afternoon.

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Hong Kong science and medical science museums

Yesterday we went to the Medical Sciences Museum on Hong Kong island. The place is in quite a nice old two storey building with a basement. They had displays for traditional medicine, pregnancy, neuro surgery, the plague, medical instruments, dentistry, small pox, cancer radiation treatment, an autopsy room and several more I can't remember. A few of the displays full life mock UPS of people. The plague one had two students cutting open rats to check for evidence of the plague, the small pox one had two men preparing a cow with cow pox for collection to make small pox vaccine.

The science museum in Kowloon was quite good also. Although wasn't so much fun battling the crowd. We went on Wednesday because its free entry day so paid the price. They have a DC3 which is the first plane bought and used by Cathay Pacific, it was still flying in Australia when rediscovered in the 80's and brought to the museum.
They also have many hands on exhibits and puzzels as well as demonstrations. We watched the liquid nitrogen demonstration and although the presenter only spoke in Chinese it was still very entertaining.

After the museum we went to pick up our visas for China. Along the way was a small "shop" that had these guys at the front door.

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Macau final thoughts

On return to Hong Kong you realise just how small Macau is. I think we did just about all there is to do there, a few things more than twice, casinos and the St Paul ruins for example. We even went to church one afternoon. It was accidental, we were looking at the building, took a seat at the back, then more and more people came in. Eventually the noodle turned up and started his act. It was quite interesting to watch the show from a scientific point of view, we stayed for about 20 minutes then bailed. Our brains were clean enough by then. It is quite surprising the effect the tone, chanting and acoustics of a huge stone building can have on the human brain.
So the conclusion is Macau was well worth a side trip. It has fantastic old buildings, interesting food ( Sharon's favourite the Portuguese egg tarts ), casinos for a bit of entertainment and if you catch the bus to Coloane you can see some nature and beaches as well.

A few shots from the ferry on the way back.

We also saw the Bounty on HK harbour. It was a bit of a surprise.

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Dr Sun Yat Sen park Macau

Yesterday we visited Dr Sun Yat Sen park, it is right on the northern border of Macau. The strange thing I notice about the fences on each side, both had the spikes on top facing the same way. Probably on the Macau side to keep people out and the China side to keep people in.
We had some snacks and watched the construction over the border for a while then had a wander around.

Yes that's the border. Only about 30m across.

Today we passed a shop full of shark fins and they were happy for me to take a photo. It is quite sad real when you are sure that the sharks were defined and thrown back probably still alive. What a shamefully waste.

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Some Macau and Coloane sights

The last few days we have been looking around Fishermans Wharf and Coloane. We spent a few hours at Fishermans Wharf which is close to and has a great view of the ferry and helicopter terminal which is the main link to Hong Kong. The wharf appears unused by boats and the remainder is a failing shopping complex. There was not a lot people around. The place looks nice, has interesting buildings an amusement arcade, a convention centre and backs onto a few casinos.

We also went to Coloane and looked around. There is a huge statue of A-Ma built in 1998. It is almost 20 m high and weighs 1000 tonnes.
At the south of the island is a beach and up the hill a little bit is a recreational area, it has a dam that was built in 2001 with paddle boats on it so we had a go.

On the way to Coloane we took the casino bus. The casinos offer free busses to and from the ferry terminal, so we take them to save a few dollars. Also it is more comfortable than the normal pay busses. We took the Venetian bus and went through the casino to get to the normal bus stop to take us the rest of the way. Man is it grand. We thought the lake out the front was impressive. The place is huge with chandeliers and painted ceilings. Apparently it is the biggest casino in the world.

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Macau, Taipa and Cotai

Not much exciting stuff been happening. We have found another fortress and this one has a lighthouse and a small chapel. The "artwork" on the walls looks quite old an is very simplistic line drawing style. Kind of reminds you of kindergarten children's drawings.
We also went to the island of Taipa which is south across the bridge from Macau. We had a look at the museum of Taipa and Coloane history which was quite interesting. From here we walked a little way south. It is here that the famous Cotai strip is. I had a fly of the small kite I brought with me and we investigated the City of Dreams casino. The luck was all bad. Nightmarish actually.

Bamboo made water tobacco pipe.

The Venetian casino

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Being arty with the photo

This it the St Paul ruins but reflected in a window.

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Firecrackers, Awesome

We had been following lonely planets walk around the city and it ends at A-Ma temple at the waterfront / river. Sharon went to the restroom and I had a quick look at the temple. There was a small crowd gathering on one side. A lady there explained that a man had had some wishes come true so bought the firecracker roll to say thank-you. It was LOUD. Unfortunately the video won't upload so here's a few pics.

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Mount Fortress

The mount fortress is just up the hill behind us. You can read the basic history on the pic of the plaque, no point re writing the bible, so to speak. It is still covered with the canons and trolleys made in the 1860’s and quite possibly earlier which look in quite good nick. The views are fantastic but could be better with the aid of a chainsaw. We also had a look through the Macau museum that is now housed inside the fortress.

 

The walls are 3.7m wide at the base and 2.7m wide at the top.

Mine mine, all mine. and i can prove it.

 

More manpower less petrol power, the fuel problem is solved!

These 3 images show the changes in the peninsular over time, the most interesting thing is how the coastline has been changed.

 

Macau – Gambling capital of the world

Yes the world. the turnover is bigger n Vegas. There are more than 30 casino’s, we have visited 4 so far and they all have a different feel. Some have free shows, some have expensive decor, all have slot machines and card tables, all have food, all make a killing on your wallet.

Now we've got that out of the way. Macau is the equivalent of Hong Kong but with Portuguese heritage. It was a Portuguese trading post from 1557 and a colony from 1887 until the handover back to China in 1999. We are staying in the middle of town and are close to everything, actually the place is smaller than Norfolk so regardless of where we stayed we would be close  to everything anyway. There are some fantastic old buildings around as well as the ruins of St Pauls cathedral (1602) which is basically just a facade now.

The streets and laneways resemble what i would imagine a Portuguese town to be like with cobbles and bright pastel coloured buildings. i guess we’ll find out if we go there.

Our hotel is, to put it bluntly, a dump waiting for demolition. It is cheap and seems safe but it leaks and is mouldy. Our room is now rid of the mould smell after several doses of Dettol disinfectant spray, virus, bacteria mould and mildew killer, and now is something closer to “Crisp Breeze”. apart from that the place is not well looked after, the carpet, well it used to be carpet, the furniture is old but ok, the toilet needs to be flushed at least twice. On the good side the room is huge, it has a huge balcony, the view is great, you can see all the way to china (which is only 2km away), we have no neighbours in the room next door, that might have something to do with the continual dripping we can hear through the door though. We think the pros outweigh the cons, literally in fact as you can hire rooms by the hour.

Across the river is China.