Sometimes one must wander alone (also sometimes one must leave the country briefly for visa reasons but that is neither here nor there). I had a delightful little solo adventure to the village of Coloane in south Macau. It is the quaintest of places, which is awfully refreshing to find in a 'country' that is the island version of Las Vegas. (Macau, like Hong Kong, is a Special Administrative Region of China so sort of it's own country but also really not, technically).
It's a 50min ferry between the two SARs, with a trip there and back costing around HKD300, midday midweek tickets being the cheapest. When you get to the Macau Ferry Terminal in Sheung Wan, HK there will always be someone standing near the ticket office selling slightly reduced tickets for the next departing ferry ride. So you really don't have to bother planning ahead with your ticket booking although you may end up running to the ferry. Immigration is a fairly quick process usually, visitors will take longer than HK residents who can just swipe through with their HKID cards. Hint: Always pack a jersey and maybe even socks for the ferry ride, whoever is in charge of the air-conditioning is rather very enthusiastic.
For this little adventure, I google mapped my route in Hong Kong before leaving, no roaming charges for me. Afternoons by oneself are all the more pleasant with no buzzing notifications, emails that always turn out to be from Groupon or the stream of (lately very depressing) news articles that hit mid-afternoon from my six hours behind homeland. I pressed pause. I had a day away. It was quiet and delightful.
From the ferry terminal in Macau, I hopped on the 32 bus towards Macao Tower. It seems one must make quite the effort to hail down the bus, even if standing diligently at the correct stop. Although Macau has it's own currency from Hong Kong, it is perfectly acceptable to use HKD coins on the public transport (and to pay in HKD in general, although you should expect change in MOP). I went 6 stops and alighted at Praca Ferreira Amaral, which seems a central exchange bus stop. From there I got on the 25 towards Hac SA Beach and went 20 stops to Coloane Village.
The village is bright and crumbling but somehow never seeming run down, just full of character. One can hire bicycles and there's a promenade along the harbour and fascinating little side streets that you are sure hold many secret memories. I chose to just meander along, my Lonely Planet guide in hand (such a tourist). The main sites to see include the yellow Chapel of St Francis, built in 1928 which sits behind a fountain and monument commemorating the final routing of pirates in 1910. There's also the Coloane library and some beautiful temples.
After my stroll I popped into Lord Stowe's Cafe for some pomegranate tea and to try their famous pasteis de nata (egg tart). I sat in the corner by a window with my book, I was brought more hot water for my tea without even having to ask and the tart was a perfect afternoon nibble. Today has been a wonderful day I think.
And then I get back on the 25 to Praca Ferreira Amaral, which from there one can take any of the 3 3A 10A 10B 12 to the ferry terminal, and then it's back on boat and hello Hong Kong before you know it.
