We set off for Asia on a bizarre flight plan that took us from México City to Tijuana to México City to Los Cabos to Shanghai to Macau. As you can imagine, this was a very long few days of travel that was made longer by a SUPER COLD overnight stay on the Tijuana airport floor. The initial discomforts were far outweighed by our excitement in watching the sun rise from a China-bound airplane and celebrating our arrival with delicious dumplings in the Shanghai airport. Hopping on our last leg to Macau we were moderately rested, stomachs full and ready to start exploring.
| Macau is situated across the harbor from Hong Kong, both designated as Special Administrative Regions of China. Waiting at baggage pick up, we eventually realized that our backpacks didn’t make it with us from México City. We spent one extra day in our well worn travel clothes, but luckily had the essentials in our day packs and easily made it the extra night. We jumped right in, taking the local bus from the airport to the city center, about a 30 minute drive. Of course we got on going in the wrong direction our first try, but the helpful bus driver kicked us off 2 stops later, told us to wait there, and about 20 minutes later picked us back up going in the right direction. |
We braved our first hostel/guesthouse, SanVa Hotel, and for $18 a night we had a “private” room with a double bed, sink, mirror and ceiling fan in the heart of the city. The bathrooms and showers were down the hall and shared by all guests. I say “private” because the walls didn’t quite reach the ceiling and we could hear all of our neighbors as they could us. We had a particularly chatty and LOUD woman in the room right next to us and heard her give an ear full in Chinese to a lucky soul on the the other end of her cell. If you can get past the fact you’re not staying in one of the beautiful casino hotels, all things considered SanVa was a good place to stay – inexpensive for the backpacker’s budget, clean, great location, safe and delivered exactly what it promised on the website. |
We wandered the city streets for two days, taking in the people, architecture, smells and food. One of our favorite finds was a series of outdoor exercise machines that were repeated throughout the city. The best part is that they weren’t for show. We saw numerous people using them as a part of their workout routines.
Macau was a good city to get our feet wet on our own. After a quick three days…..it’s VAMOS to Singapore!
Macau was a good city to get our feet wet on our own. After a quick three days…..it’s VAMOS to Singapore!