Macau 2012 - Round 2!

Last time we went to Macau, it was a rather slapdash trip during which we hit some of the casinos, walked around the downtown and all too soon, were back on the speedboat to Hong Kong. This time, I think both Mandy and I would like to plan this visit out a bit more. After watching Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations trip to Macau, I think we'll be spending a lot more time in the old town than the casino areas (although no trip to Macau can be complete without at least a little gambling).

I'm making a google map for our trip so we'll have a gameplan for hitting the highlights, but I really wish there were an option to turn off the Chinese script when looking at the map. They have the English/Portuguese translations but with all those characters, it's impossible to see what's what! The site I kept running across when I searched for "Macau walking tour" was from Frommers, and it is not bad. But the biggest problem for me was that there was no map to go along with the tour! And finding the corresponding streets and buildings on Google Maps was nearly impossible.

Thankfully I was browsing other travel forums and found the site of the Macau Government Tourist Office (duh!) which has SEVEN walks with CORRESPONDING MAPS! It's amazing that despite the fact that in many places I've been, some of the best information is from the tourism office, yet I still forget to look at their site when looking towards my next trip. Argh, well lesson learned...maybe.

St. Pauls Ruins/Camoes Garden

Last time we saw St. Paul's Ruins and the Macau Museum and while I'd like to revisit that area, I'd also like to try something new. Here's the map of the St. Paul's and Camoes Garden walk. This walk starts at the famous Largo de Senada (Senate Square) with its classic wavy tile pattern and works through St. Paul's and over to Camoes Garden. There are some "antique" stores along the route but in general this is a pretty tourist-heavy area.

Guia Hill & Sao Lazaro

This route seems to be a bit less of the shopping side and more of the wonderful architecture to be found in Macau. It starts at the highest point in Macau, Guia Hill and should have some nice views. But one of the things I like best is that there is a cable car!

I'll have to keep looking, but I think these walks will at least give us a start. My next goal is to find some reliable eating recommendations.  Unfortunately, Yelp does not extend to Macau (yet!), but there is a Chinese website, Rice bowl, or something like that that Mandy has been using. Anthony Bourdain's website is ok, but they list only like 5 restaurants, and some are a bit high-priced (like the Michelin starred dim sum).