Macau - Vegas of the East

Ruins of St. Paul's Church

Macau was given to the Portuguese in 1557 as a reward for getting rid of pirates that invaded the islands. Macau is its own island and territory which meant that I had to go through immigration completing a form and then go through customs and security. The American young women I met at the hostel and I decided we would take a fast ferry to the island.  We went from Kowloon island (which is where I am staying) to Macau main terminal but we had to go to the island of Taipai to come back and then they dropped us off on the island of Hong Kong and we had to take a metro back to Kowloon (talking about an adventure whew trying to figure that out!!  whew). The Macauans have there own money but you can use the Hong Kong dollars as well. The language of Macau is Portuguese and Cantonese. The architect is very Mediterranean and there is a lot of history. At one point the Portuguese government tried to give back Macau to the Chinese but fearing the economic shock that it would have on Hong Kong they decided against it.  But in 1999 the Sino-Portuguese Declaration Agreement Macau was given back to China but they were given special administration rights (like Hong Kong). Macau has mushroom in casinos just like Las Vegas and is in fact known as the Vegas of the East with large hotels, entertainment and casinos (Wynn, Venetian and Sands casinos are here to name a few)!! I didn't go for the casinos I went for the history.  Ruins of the church of St. Paul is right in the middle of the city and it is considered to be one of the greatest monuments to Christianity in Asia.  The church was designed by Italian Jesuit and built in 1602 by Japanese Christian exiles and Chinese craftsmen.  In 1835 a fire destroyed everything but the facade.  The island has several churches and they all have a story. Further up the road we came across St. Anthony Church, we went inside and a Macau docent came up to us and started giving us background on the church. Built in 1560 with bamboo and wood, was one of the oldest churches in Macau.  Many weddings were performed in this church and it became known as the flower church.  It was told that late at night a typhoon hit the island and many residents were swept out to sea and because the church was on the hill, it caught on fire and the people who were in the water saw the light and were able to swim back to shore. This church had its first Korean missionary Andre Kim and he became a martyr after going back to Korea.  In 1984, Pope Paul II gave him sainthood. Here are pictures of my day:

Center of town

At the bottom of the stairs!!!

Going to the Ruins of St. Paul

Back of St. Paul''s church (or what's left)

St. Anthony's Church

St Dominic's Church

Andre Kim Korean Missionary (left)

At a park

Still at the Park

Middle of  Macau.. so MANY people!!

Life Challenge: Believe you can and you are half way there.......Theodore Roosevelt