Konni & Matt - Perpetual Travellers: 17 Dec

East Asia

Macau Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China

Rua da Felicidade No. 67

San Va Hospedaria +85328573701 info@sanvahotel.com
Atmospheric and adequate double room (“Grand Room” no. 302) with shared bathroom for MOP (“Macau Pataca”) 170. - or US$ 21.30 per night in an almost 150-year old (“since 1873”) opium-den-turned guesthouse, located in Macau’s once infamous red-light district. Ignorant Chinese staff, zero English.
Beer: 640-ml bottles of cold Haizhou Beer from the mainland (c. 4.1 % alc./vol.) for MOP 5.- or US$ 0.60 per large bottle from any of the eager Portuguese neighbourhood stores.

Click below for an interactive road map of the rugged San Va Hospedaria in Macau and for directions:
N 22° 11.69' E 113° 32.26'

Taking a stroll in Macau’s sanitised old-town district, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with cobblestoned streets punctuated with small Chinese temples and proud Portuguese churches (e.g. the Macau Cathedral located near Senado Square and the 17th-century CE Church of St. Dominic with its treasury of sacred art) and exploring the ethereal ruins of the very symbol of Macau at the 1602 CE Church of St. Paul, probably the greatest monument to Christianity in Asia.

Amazon.ca Widgets

Getting historical context for our discoveries and impressions at (i) the excellent Macau Museum aka Museu de Macau +85328357911 (admission: MOP 8.- or US$ 1.- per senior citizen; motto: "...informing, educating and amusing..."), which demonstrates the way of life and cultures of the various communities which have been inhabited Macau for ages, and (ii) the very authentic but somewhat quaint Tak Seng On Pawnshop Museum +85328921811 (admission: MOP 5.- or US$ 0.60 per adult).

“In poetically well built museums, formed from the heart's compulsions, we are consoled not by finding in them old objects that we love, but by losing all sense of Time.”

(Orhan Pamuk)

Climbing Monte Fort aka Fortaleza do Monte, built by the Jesuits in the early 17th century CE, and picturing to ourselves the arrival of Portuguese galleons establishing their first base on Chinese soil and striking out into the East, opening up a new route for reciprocal acquaintance.

"Macau is China's domestic market. Don't care if you are Chinese, Indian, European; you are supposed to go to the buffet."

(Stanley Ho)

Taking Macau’s convenient airport bus MT2 to the airport (MOP 4.20 or US$ 0.50 per person), flying uneventfully with Air Asia (“Now Everyone Can Fly”) in an Airbus A 320-200 from Macau International Airport over the disputed waters of the South China Sea (“…one flew East, one flew West, and one flew over the cuckoo's nest...”) back to Kuala Lumpur’s KLIA-LCCT for only US$ 64.50 per person, one way and all inclusive, and thereafter, again with Air Asia in another signature-red Airbus A 320-200 (they look like giant Coca-Cola cans) from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok’s revitalised Don Mueang International Airport for a rather steep US$ 71.- per person, also one way and all inclusive, setting our watches in mid-air from Malaysia Standard Time (GMT/UTC + 8:00 hours) back to Indochina Time (GMT/UTC + 7:00 hours), and, after arrival, taking Bangkok's city bus 510 from the airport to the BTS Skytrain’s Mochit Station (THB 17.- or US$ 0.55 per person) and from here the BTS Skytrain (THB 40.- or US$ 1.30 per person) straight to our quarters in Khlong San.

Click below for more blog posts about interesting urban UNESCO World Heritage Sites
10 Jun - 13 Jun 2013 Andong (Hahoe Village)
16 Jun - 22 Jun 2010 Hoi An (Old Town Centre)
01 Jan - 25 Aug 2006 Ashkelon (Tel Aviv's "White City")
30 Aug - 01 Oct 2005 Lattakia (Ancient City of Damascus)
25 Jun - 27 Jun 2003 Hammamet (Medina of Tunis)

Click below for a summary of this year's travels
2012 Map Konni & Matt