Zhuhai: Gate Between Two Worlds
February 16th, 2007 -- Posted in travel | No Comments »Second day of the trip.
First stop was… of course… TimSum Breakfast. How can we go on a long day without enough food?
Gone are small dirty eateries. These are huge timsum restaurants of greater China.
... and off we went on our roadtrip to Zhuhai, gate to the west (or east).
One of the many bridges for the highways through China…
More bridges…
Toll station… looks so chinese, doesn’t it?
Finally here at Zhuhai…
Zhuhai, or “Pearl Sea” when literally translated from mandarin, is a prefecture-level city on the southern coast of Guangdong province in the People’s Republic of China. Located in the Pearl River Delta, Zhuhai borders Jiangmen to the northwest, Zhongshan to the north, and Macau to the south.
Before heading for the immigration checkpoint to Macau, we checked in Catic Hotel, a spacious new modern hotel with a minimalist’s touch.
Lots of glass and lighted space… I like.
Dad at the check-in counter… or desk.
Just like how most uber modern lobby look… stiff and neat.
View from the inner corridor… Lots of mirror (a lil bit too much)
Now this is what I call lounge couches…
Nice bedsheet that reminds me of home.
Nice tones of yellow and grey.
Separating the bathroom and bed is just a pane of glass.
Nice clean shower and toilet… without the sewage pipe backdraft like the GZ apartment.
Now it’s time for our excursion of the day to Macau. For those who do not know, Macau is just a tip corner of the larger Zhuhai. To get to Macau from Zhuhai is just a short walk away through the immigration center.
Large square outside the immigration center.
Before…
... and After.
Macau, or also commonly known Macao (Traditional Chinese: 澳門, or informally known as 馬交 maa-gau) is a small territory on the southern coast of China. Administered by Portugal until 1999, it was the oldest European colony in China, dating back to the 16th century. The administrative power over Macau was transferred to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1999, and it is now one of two special administrative regions of the PRC, together with Hong Kong.
Fact about Casino industry in Macau: With the opening of the Sands Macau, the largest casino in the world as measured by total number of table games in 2004 and Wynn Macau in 2006, gambling revenues from Macau’s casinos were for the first time greater than those of Las Vegas (each about $6 billion),making Macau the highest-volume gambling centre in the world.
The name “Macau” is thought to be derived from the Templo de A-Má (Temple of A-Ma or Ma Kok Temple (媽閣廟), a still-existing landmark built in 1448 dedicated to the goddess Matsu.
Next stop, the Macau Tower. It’s not the first time I’ve been here, but it’s definitely one of the best view to catch of Macau.
Nice view of one of the many bridges of Macau.
... a view of the world through our feet.
After the Macau Tower, we were starting to get hungry again, so we headed towards the Fisherman’s Wharf.
Sunsun spotted this nice flower along the way to the wharf…
Recreated Portuguese styled buildings.
... and building of various other eras and parts of Europe (?) I’ve never been to Europe, so I can’t be too sure.
The BIG GOLDEN glass building of Sand’s Casino.
... and next to it is just this Tang City.
Sitting in the middle is a replica a volcano.
A floating restaurant… these things just never go away after all this while.
Colorful lightings on the casino buildings… can never beat Las Vegas.
Right after the WOO~ and the WAH~ at the musical fountain in front of one of the casinos (I can’t remember which), we went in for some tries at the slot machines, playing at HK$20-50 each round. After several rounds of wins and losses, we decided to call it a day and headed back to the immigration center back to Zhuhai for dinner.
Initially Dad wanted to bring us to a nice restaurant at the hotel, but by the time we got there at 10pm, it was already closed. At 10 pm? Strange. Think it might be closed even for the day.
So we just headed to a nearby restaurant joints and found this interesting place serving chilli-oil boiled fish…
This is how the sliced fish get cooked… in a bowl of boiling chilli oil.
This is when the oil cools down and the fish slices are cooked.
To this point, I wasn’t yet aware it was oil. I was about to taste a spoonful when the waitress stopped me… “It’s OIL. Don’t drink it!”
Well… that’s it for the second part of the trip. Next will be the Hong Kong part. Been there countless of times, but never tired of the city…
