Macau

We headed over to Macau for the day to see some friends who were visiting from Taiwan. Macau is technically a different country, but is considered a special administrative region of China - like Hong Kong. It takes about an hour and a half to travel there by ferry.

The kids and I had never been on a ferry like this before so it was pretty exciting - it is a hydrofoil and it lifts up out of the water for a very smooth ride.   

After going through immigration and customs we headed out to see our friends at Fernandos and to get some delicious lunch. Scott and Jerry went to school at Uof U together but haven't seen each other in years.  It was good to get to connect with him again and meet his wife and friends. 

 Drew had  a little interruption in the middle of lunch when he lost his tooth.  He was a little surprised and excited to lose it in Macau, just for the novelty.

 We ate and ate until we were full, then headed out to see the black sand beach - which was not so black.  There was a story that all the black sand got taken home handful by handful, but as we discovered later it was just covered up by brown sand to preserve the treasure.

 Black sand or not, the kids had a little fun playing at the freezing cold beach.

Macau was a fun little change from Hong Kong - it looks different and smells different and was just nice to mix it up.  Macau is still very much Chinese, but for a long time it was a Portuguese colony, so it has some different architecture and feel to it.  The signs are also written in both Chinese and Portuguese.

 We loved the cobblestone streets and European design.

 It was a little strange to look out from the ruins and fort and see all the casinos in the distance.  It is like a small Las Vegas with a ton of casinos.

 We ended the day with a little dessert and Taylor wanted a picture with all his new found buddies.

We went home on a ferry that was not a hydrofoil and did not have such a smooth ride.  Oh boy!  That sure was a mistake - the lady puking a couple rows in front of us was probably regretting her decision as well.  Next time we know - the hydrofoil is the way to go!