Adventures in Taipa Village.

One day I decided that it would be super fun to go exploring Taipa and see the Buddhist Temples that are in the area...I found an online listing that gives directions of walking tours, so off I went! Except I'm not well versed in buses and I ended up somewhere where I wasn't entirely sure where I was.  I drove all around Taipa, Main Macau, Senada Square, and then back to Taipa.  I got off the bus a couple of times because the drivers take breaks.  The just pull the bus over and shut it down and then you sit there while they hang out and when they are ready you run back to the bus and start riding again.  If you are me and you have no idea where anything is you, you ride until the bus takes you on the full loop and then you get off the bus and wonder what the hell you were thinking.

A few days later while wandering around City of Dreams in a desperate search for a bathroom, I saw my roommates and Eric who were running to catch a bus to Taipa Village, which is exactly where I had wanted to visit a few days prior.  Turns out there is a free shuttle from City of Dreams. Would have been nice to know...

Taipa Village is nothing like the outlying area that is full of astonishingly ornate casinos.  It is much more traditional and the Portuguese architecture is wonderful and the shops are awesome.

Yay Soda Panda!

The shop is a collaborative between Macau Creations and Choi Heung Yuen Bakery.  It's called the Cunha Bazaar and it is hip or whatever.

Pak Tai Temple.

Incense holder, they are all over the streets.

The Bazaar lit up at dusk.

Wall paintings at the Bazaar.

I made a second trip to Taipa with Johnny and Alexa today while they filmed their final project for our class. This is my final project, a presentation of my blog and what I have experienced while in Macau.  I went to a part of Taipa that I hadn't been to and also got a chance to take some more photos of the very serene botanical garden, a fountain in a separate park and visited two other Buddhist temples.

The Botanical Gardens and all of its wonder:

Walking the streets of Taipa, saw two more temples!  I went in to pray but the the lady looked at me as though I were a suspicious character and then I felt awkward when I prayed and I kind of shuffled out as awkward as I came.

Second temple I saw, but I didn't go in.

Fountain at the second park we went to.

Statue at the park. I have no idea who this guy is, ha.

View from the stairs from where the statue is located.

ME!

ME, AGAIN!

Hey thats me too!

Would ya look at there, I'm in ANOTHER picture!

Empty streets of Taipa.

Shrine that was in a back street that we walked on.  They are pretty much everywhere and it is very cool. They almost always have burning incense as well, they don't let the incense burn out.

Another shrine.

It was a nice easy walk around the city, but it was also very hot.  I'm glad that I  got to check out more of Taipa before heading home, which is tomorrow. Well, technically I am heading back to Guam, and THEN home...