It’s time for a travel entry.

Seth and I just got back from Macau, and I have to say — this place surprised me. It was awesome.

The first time I had ever heard of Macau was in “Skyfall,” one of the more recent Bond films to grace us in the past decade. Daniel Craig spends a lot of time in suits and casinos (OK, that’s not really a suprise) and there’s a beautiful golden tint to the whole movie. I remember thinking, “Macau looks gorgeous!” and then learning somehow that it is an incredibly expensive place, and therefore probably way out of my realm of possibilities, so I should probably forget about it. In my mind, Macau was an island where the elite go to gamble in the middle of the Pacific, and only the uber-rich could afford to get there in their private jets and then lose millions of dollars in the glitz and glamour. That’s why I was so surprised to learn it’s literally right next to Hong Kong, when we decided to give this China thing a shot.

In my opinion, Macau is one of the most interesting places in Asia. Similar to how Hong Kong was annexed by the British (1898-1997), Macau was annexed by the Portuguese between 1887 and 1997. Also like Hong Kong, Macau is classed as a “special administrative region” and in transition to fully becoming a part of China in 1949. Hong Kong has their own currency (the Hong Kong dollar, so original) and so does Macau — the “Pataca” (best name of a currency I’ve ever heard). In Hong Kong, signs are in Chinese and English. In Macau, they’re in Chinese and Portuguese (this is where my Spanish really came in handy). But whereas Hong Kong is notoriously less than thrilled to be in its state of transition, Macau is kind of like, “whatever, sure, that’s fine.” Although I realize I’m probably being insultingly simplistic, I think these differences kind of sum up the differences between the two islands.

The Portuguese have been a big part of Macau for over 500 years — which makes sense, when you consider the colonial history of Portugal. I mean, when was Portugal last a big colonial presence and conquering lands left and right? Yeah, like 400 to 500 years ago. From a language nerd standpoint, though, that makes Macau CRAZY cool. The Southern Chinese culture merged with Portuguese, and made a really interesting, blended subculture called “Macanese.” The language is Patuá, which is a combination of Cantonese and Portuguese. I know, stop, it’s so cool. Here’s a clip I found on youtube of people speaking Patuá, if you want to learn more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmPYVbKWF70. The island also speaks a specific dialect of Portuguese, also called “Macanese” (kind of like how Brazilian Portuguese is different from Portugal Portuguese) and a lot of people also speak Cantonese, the dominant language here in Southern China.

Macau is the only place in “China” where gambling is legal. As a rule, Chinese people don’t really love being outdoors in the sunny daytime. They’re not werewolves, they’re just very conscious of their skin. So when it comes to indoor entertainment, they really know what they’re doing. The malls and underground shopping centers in China are therefore pro-level, and casinos are really just indoor playgrounds for adults. What I’m getting at is that the casinos are gorgeous, showy, and, well — gold.

It’s really hard for me to do the place justice with my phone camera. It’s times like these I think, “I really need a nice camera and some photography skillz” but then I remember that I am mortal and totally busy. So maybe later when I’m not busy (haha).

ANYWAY. To get to Macau from Shenzhen, you need to take a ferry. Not being able to navigate the Chinese ticket website (or even knowing that such a website exists), Seth and I woke up at 5:30 and took the metro over to the port at 7:30AM on Thursday morning hoping to get a ferry to Macau at 8. Imagine our surprise when we learned that at this time, the busiest time of the year to go to Macau (Chinese National week when everybody is off), the first available ferry ride was at 1:00PM for about $60 per person in the first-class cabin. We reluctantly started to buy the tickets, when I saw a man next to me with different times available on his self-service ticketing screen. “Ah! Are you going to Macau?” I said in Chinese. He replied, “No! Zhuhai!” which is the Chinese city across the border from Macau. I quickly cancelled my order and purchased 2 tickets to Zhuhai (pronounced “JEW-hi!”) for 8AM.

We got to Zhuhai and crossed a very congested border into Macau with our friends Andy and Taylor, some teachers at Seth’s school who were spending the week in Zhuhai. Once we had crossed the border, Andy exchanged some Chinese Yuan for Patacas, and we went to withdraw cash from our Chinese bank accounts from an ATM. That’s when Andy casually mentioned that non-Chinese nationals were not allowed to withdraw money from Chinese bank accounts in Macau. Having never heard of this rule, Seth and I were baffled and tried 4 different ATMs with our Chinese card. Each time, we were denied money. Luckily I had about $30 of Chinese cash in my wallet, which will buy you about 3 cups of coffee in Macau. So we exchanged that and kept trying to withdraw money while sadly drinking our expensive coffee. That’s when we found ourselves in a Chinese bank trying to withdraw money from the American credit card we had used to book our hotel, and the ATM machine ate my credit card then randomly rebooted, updating its software. We spent the next hour pleading with the employees at the Bank of China Macau branch to give me back my credit card. Lots of tears, two lucky pieces of self-identification and about 15 concerned yet helpless employees later, we walked out of the bank with my credit card — and still no Macanese Patacas. Luckily, Andy had planned ahead and brought extra cash with him, which we bought from him promptly, and he was very nice to sell it to us.

The rest of the trip, however, was fantastic and included some of the best food I’ve had in China so far: the least chewy octopus of my life, paella, sirloin, and GOOD wine at a 5-star Portuguese Michellin restaurant in Taipa; drinks on a terrace at the Galaxy Hotel and Casino; and a Portuguese chicken curry kind of soup. Oh yeah, and some ice cream!

We also roamed the streets of Taipa, the southern island of Macau that has an older, more European feel with a Portuguese plaza surrounding a Buddhist monastery. The streets are covered in gorgeous tiles, with public benches and beautiful Eurasian Macanese residents enjoying their beautiful weather. There are also old remnants of the Portuguese occupation like a fort and a cathedral, of which only the facade still stands. We also ran across a graveyard which was half Christian, half Buddhist! That was pretty cool.

My conclusion on Macau? If Macau were a dude, I think he would be chill, sunny, and approachable. And he would have really good taste in the finer things in life. The island seems to get really overshadowed by its more established colonial brother, Hong Kong (who would be a stressed out dude in a business suit). Whereas Hong Kong seems to really want to be its own New York City or London, however, Macau embraces its gaudy casinos and shows off to people who will take the time to go there. The island also has the 4th highest life expectancy and one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world. Personally, I loved it and definitely want to go back.