We were there last year
My fellow BCer hcyong and I went to Macau last year with the main intention to watch at least the finals of the Macau Open 2012 which was held from 27 Nov to 2 Dec 2012 but ended up sightseeing of this small but attractive city, famous for its luxury casinos and tourism.
This is how Wikipedia describes Macau:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macau
"
Macau (
/məˈkaʊ/;
traditional Chinese: 澳門;
simplified Chinese: 澳门;
pinyin:
Àomén), also spelled
Macao, is one of the two
Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China, the other being
Hong Kong. Macau lies on the western side of the
Pearl River Delta across from Hong Kong to the east, bordered by
Guangdong Province to the north and facing the
South China Sea to the east and south
The territory's economy is heavily dependent on gambling and tourism, but also includes manufacturing. The
Cantonese people from Hong Kong and Guangdong especially recent mainland tourism from Mandarin speaking regions have boosted the economy of Macau significantly.
A
former Portuguese colony, Macau was administered by
Portugal from the mid-16th century until late 1999, when it was the last remaining
European colony in
Asia.
Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 1550s. In 1557, Macau was rented to Portugal by the
Chinese empire as a trading port. The Portuguese administered the city under Chinese authority and sovereignty until 1887, when Macau became a colony of the Portuguese empire.
Sovereignty over Macau was
transferred back to China on 20 December 1999. The
Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration and the
Basic Law of Macau stipulate that Macau operate with a high degree of
autonomy until at least 2049, fifty years after the transfer.
By 2002, it had become one of the world's richest cities. It became the world's biggest gambling centre in 2006."
Indeed the Chinese are everywhere in Macau boosted by easy access and linkage to Hong Kong from where we took the ferry across to Macau. However the Portuguese influence and culture remain as part of Macau's history as depicted in writing, architecture, food, etc.
I wish to share with you some aspects of Macau in pictures, especially of its people, food, buildings, attractions and activities and hope you can make a visit one of these days.