( picture from http://compass.ups.com/goingglobal/article.aspx?=558 )
After several days in Hong Kong we made our way to Macau to spend a day before catching our flight to Hanoi. Like Hong Kong, Macau is a Special Administrative Region of China (SAR). It is a former Portugese colony that was signed over to the Chinese in 1999 following Hong Kong's reunification with China from British rule in 1997. We caught the hydrofoil jet ferry with 100s of Hong Kong tourists escaping the city for a gambling May holiday in one of Macua's many big casino hotels. Macau is the only region in China where gambling is legal and the area is under continous development as a high-end resort getaway doppelganger to Las Vegas. Needless to say Zach and avoided the costly casino hotels and sought out cheaper accomodation in the historic sector of the island. Beside the glitz of the casinos, Macau is also a UNESCO world heritage sight and is home to some beautiful churches dating to the colonial 19th century-era. By far the highlight of our day was sampling some of the local Macaunese food that is a blend of Portugese and Chinese dishes. For dinner, we ventured off the Macau island to the Kotai Peninsula where we found an outdoor waterfront cafe set up in the sqaure of a beautiful old yellow church. We followed the example of the locals that packed the cafe and ordered some local Macau beer and seafood. With full bellies we caught the bus back to our hotel, driving by the docked gondolas at the Venetian hotel, the bright lights of the Wynn, the Sands, and many construction projects. The next morning we made our way to the airport where we caught the first of two flights to get us to Hanoi and began the next leg of our adventure....
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