Couple of days ago I looked through some of the posts I had from 2024 and realized, to my surprise, that I hadn't written anything specific about Macau, or even the journey there.
The thing about going to Macau isn't merely about being there.
It is also about the journey getting there.
Maybe one wouldn't feel so much if one had flown there- Macau does have an international airport after all, but one feels more when taking the land, or sea transport over from Hong Kong.
Taking the ferry is a scenic (if rocky) experience.
Taking the bus, however, is a whole new experience altogether.
I'm talking about the view.
Never had I known that the land route to Macau via the New Territories would be so scenic.
And never had I known that the sight of rolling hills falling into the sea would have such an impact on me.
It's one thing to know about the hills on the Kowloon side leading to the New Territories.
It's another thing, however, to experience them through the windows of a moving bus driving you from a little shop counter space in Jordan to the Venetian Macau.
The view was breathtaking.
What made it more interesting, though, was the contrast between Hong Kong and Macau that you saw right after you emerged from the undersea bridge.
It's as if the sea became your connection from untouched elements of nature to the elements of urban.
Because right after the blue of the sea, after your bus had passed a jetty and a car park everything, you landed yourself the sight of a petrol station, an overhead bridge, and a hotel.
Pretty much the regular day to day feels of Macau.
You could practically imagine a motorcycle stopping at the petrol station to pump fuel.
Or a group of people walking intently across the overhead bridge, taking shelter from the mid-day sun.
Seeing the structures of their everyday life fascinated me.
Akin it was to getting a glimpse into their styles, their lives, their (seemingly) ordinary day to day.
Subsequently, as I went around on the bus to the other side of Macau (where the Tower was), out the bus window, I'd get to see more, and may I just say, I'm so glad.
They might not be the best colors- the bus windows were tinted and I didn't want to adjust- and they might not look glittery or glamorous, but there is a sense of solidness to them that refuses to be ignored.
Big, huge, towering, sturdy, some say too concrete-y and brutalist, but they are a sight of Macau oft not featured, oft not talked about, oft set aside.
And in all honesty I don't know why they should be.
People do live there, sleep there, work there, shop there, eat there, after all.
