Finally I made it to Zhuhai and Macau last weekend. It sure was worth the wait of all these years I have been telling myself I will go soon!
We arrived in Zhuhai early Friday evening and proceeded to walk for about 15 mins to find a hotel close to the border crossing. When I say 'we', I mean Carl and I. The trip to Zhuhai was quite uneventful, except for the traffic jam in Haudu as we were right in the middle of peak hour.
Around 8:30 pm, we met Stephanie and then found a hotel for the weekend, where we unloaded out backpacks. Following this we went in search of a much needed drink and to celebrate our arrival. We ended up finding 'Bar Street' and in this street one will find small booths in the street, full of young girls all yelling out for the single guys to drink and play the famous Chinese dice game, which can be very noisy when inside a room and you have 5-6 ppl pounding the dice container on a wooden table.
While enjoying out drink and working out what the following day will behold for us, we notice a few locals playing this game and the girls were winning :-) girl power rules in China, as far as I'm concerned :-) One of the guys playing was downing a glass of beer every time he lost the round, so I had to help him by saying 'Bottoms up!', of which he wouldn't refuse as if he did then he would be insulting me :-) As I said - girls rule here!
We finally decided to drag ourselves away and head back to the hotel for a good nights sleep. How wrong I was in thinking this. I was kept awake all night by machines near by and of which went all night. They just don't know when it's bed time here for some strange reason.
On Saturday morning we eagerly set of across the road for the border control while at the same time trying to beat the hoards of locals who also were heading for Macau. All went well and we crosse within an hour. then we exchanged some money and found some breakfast before setting off to explore this vast wonderland.
First stop was the beach at Taipa and I must say I was quite impressed with this beach - the sand and water was clean, not the normal yellow/brown colour one sees at most beaches here. We walked along the beach, chatted to some local students who were out for the day to enjoy a BBQ, instead of being in class. Along our way we also decided to play on the playground equipment and where Carl and I decided to have a horse V dinosaur race. Needless to say, the horse won :-)
Next stop was at the Square and here one will find all the old original buildings, which were a delight to see, providing one could see them over the sea of Chinese heads! Lunch was at a Japanese restaurant and while devouring our feast I promptly knocked on the window and to Carl and Stephanie's surprise I was waving to one of my students - Winson.
After lunch we headed off to Fisherman's Wharf where we promptly collapsed to enjoy the views at an outside area of the hotel. Afterwards we ambled down the road, heading towards the Sands Casino where we were catching the free shuttle bus to the Venetian Hotel, back at Taipa. this hotel is absolutely amazing and takes up a whole block. On the outside are canals and Gondolas and the buildings are of the old style, quite impressing.
Inside is another story......on the second floor one will find shops set out around a canal and complete with gondolas and gondoliers singing their hearts out. On the ceiling was painted clouds and a blue sky, which depicted different times of the day in each section. Above all of this was the rest of the hotel. Finally and after walking around and seeing all the shops we headed downstairs to look at the Casino. It was huge and full of ppl. We opted on having a coffee and watching the world wander on by, plus Stephanie had a blister and found it hard to walk. After 3 hours we decided to it's time to go back to Zhuhai, find some dinner and check out more of Zhuhai's nightlife.
Reaching the border crossing around 6pm, I swear all the ppl of China were there going back to China! We did a quick flip and found a great restaurant for dinner. This restaurant is known as Magic Cafe and lived up to its name. A guy came round and did a card trick for us after we demolished a great meal. the best of this place is yet to come. I needed to visit the 'little girl's room' and was amazed when I went inside. All around me, from floor to ceiling, on all four walls were red roses! It's the best loo I've seen here yet in China.
We finally made it back to Zhuhai around 8:30 pm and this time it was easier to go through the line and headed off to bar street again, checking all out as we went.
On Sunday, Stephanie went back to Macau, where she works and Carl and I went in search for breakfast, where we found at the Port Plaza. We had some time to fill in before the bus departed back to school, so we wandered around the market, making our pockets lighter and much to the shopkeepers delight. I liked this market as one could bargain the prices and we ended up with some great bargains.
We finally arrived back at school around 5:30 pm and proceed to have an early dinner before locking ourselves away in our apartments to re-coup. I was lucky, well so I thought, as I have Monday's off. I am still recovering from this trip and now I am looking forward in going back again to explore some more, but first I have other places to visit.
My next stop will be Foshan and I am already planning my time there. With luck I will get there in a few short weeks and will write about my experiences of this city when I return, so keep watching.
