Macau - The Leal Senado Building.

On the opposite side of Senado Square in Macau, there is a lovely building whose courtyard we explored. It is the building at one point held the Municipal Council of Macau as well as the Legislative Assembly of Macau when Macau was under Portugal. This beautiful and historic building is called the Leal Senado Building. 

I love that Macau maintains the original structures and history of their buildings. This building was built in 1784. I could just imagine the many other people who have walked through just as my family and I was walking through. 

We really enjoyed the beauty of the courtyard garden in the back of the Leal Senado Building, which has maintained its layout throughout the years. 

Macau - Ruins Of St. Paul.

This trip to Macau I experienced a little more of an in-depth tour since we had a local friend acting as tour guide. Unlike my previous trip with a bunch of girlfriends when we had a driver giving us a time limit at each place, this trip we were able to take our time and browse at our own convenience. It's neat to explore places when you know the history surrounding it. 

I enjoyed taking my time and walking through what is probably Macau's most famous landmark, the Ruins of St. Paul. We went on a Monday, so the crowd wasn't as thick compared to what it would be on a weekend. Without having people constantly bumping into me and rubbing elbows with strangers, I was able to notice details on the facade that I hadn't noticed on my previous visit.

When you walk through the facade, there is a museum as well as crypts that you can read your way through to learn about the history surrounding St. Paul. 

We visited the ruins and then walked over to the fort. Unfortunately the fort was closed because it was a Monday. It will definitely be a place I would like to explore again at a later visit.

Macau - Robert Morrison Grave Site.

As I've previously mentioned, my parents are missionaries. It was only natural that when we took them to Macau so they could meet up with one of their coworkers who lives there, she took us to the grave site of the first protestant missionary to China, Robert Morrison. In a little corner of the backyard of a tiny church, that is still functioning, lie Robert Morrison, his wife, and their child. You can read more about him and his work by clicking here.

The rest of the Old Protestant Cemetery in Macau is just as peaceful and beautiful. Tucked between old apartment buildings the cemetery has rows of trees. The cemetery was established in the early 1800's when Macau was predominantly a Roman Catholic country, and had no Protestant cemeteries. Placed to rest in the grave sites are many naval officers as well as a couple missionaries.

    

Macau With The Grandparents.

While my parents were here we took a day and spent it in Macau with one of my parent's coworkers who lives in Macau acting as tour guide for us. We were able to get a great look at Macau from a local's perspective. 

I love that Macau has preserved the history of their buildings. It's a completely different feel from Hong Kong. Hong Kong likes to tear down buildings and build brand new. Macau is a little more quaint compared to Hong Kong. I also feel like I'm in a totally different country when I'm in Macau. It's not as westernized as Hong Kong is. The Portuguese influence is still seen through the architecture. 

We ate local food indicative of Macau - pork buns, Portuguese egg tarts, and a chicken dish with rice and melted cheese on top. Everyone keeps telling us to eat at Fernando's, but we ended up eating at a local restaurant that our tour guide friend uses a lot.

Tourist Spots In Macau.

With our driver doubling as our tour guide, our first stop on our Macau trip was to the Fisherman's Warf. Just as Hong Kong was at one point a former British colony, Macau at one point was a former Portuguese colony. Today, Macau is synonymous with Las Vegas, with gambling and casinos. The Portuguese influence can still be seen throughout the city.

We made a quick five minute stop to view the giant female Buddha bronze statue, Kun lam Ecumenical Centre. This Buddhist Goddess of Mercy stands a little over sixty-five feet tall above a lotus shaped dome.

Our driver dropped us off at Senado Square, which is the Macau Business Tourism Centre. It was colorfully decorated for the upcoming Chinese New Year celebrations. The crowd of people was thick in this area of the city. We made our way towards the Ruins of St. Paul's by following the sign posts which were clearly marked and placed in prominent places. We stopped in one of the many stores selling jerky of all kinds {beef, spicy beef, pork, spicy pork, chicken, spicy chicken} to sample some jerky. There was plenty of street food to purchase and sample, although prices were high.

Visiting the Ruins of St. Paul's was the one stop I really wanted to check out during our trip to Macau. Once again, we were constantly rubbing elbows with fellow pedestrians.  This beautiful facade is all that is left of this 16th century church that was once destroyed by fires and typhoon weather.

Our driver spoke English reasonably well, but we still had some communication barriers. I was under the impression that we were being dropped off to view the Kun lam Temple, but based off the pictures I've found on the internet, we visited a different temple.

One of our final stops was to see the panda's at the Panda Pavilion. We only saw one of the two panda's living in this sanctuary. It was voraciously eating piles of bamboo during the twenty minutes we were there. Once it had finished both piles of bamboo, the panda meandered over to a few exercise balls that were hanging down, and the panda proceeded to play around with them.

A Day Trip To Macau.

Saturday morning, I grabbed my passport and left my family at home. I met up with a bunch of girlfriends at the China Ferry Terminal on the Kowloon side so that we could all take the ferry to Macau. We were celebrating a 30th birthday milestone in the group. 

As a group of single ladies {and everyone excluding myself being Caucasian} we seemed to have a sign on our foreheads loudly proclaiming us to be tourists and to take advantage of us. At the ferry terminal we ended up paying forty extra dollars for our round trip tickets. Once in Macau, we ended up renting a private vehicle that came with our own driver. It was pricey, but well worth the cost. He took us to every tourist attraction {including an hour stop so we could eat a late lunch at a restaurant with a Portuguese influence} and waited for us while we meandered through.
 

Macau {as well as here in Hong Kong} does not have great quality air control. What I like to tell myself is just fog, is in actuality smog. The pollution was thick in Macau. These pictures of the Macau Science Center and the Macau Tower {that you can bungy jump off of} tell a lot about the pollution we encountered on Saturday.