I’ll soon be off on a new adventure to a place that I have only seen in pictures, Macau. It will be one that I certainly am looking forward to, given the opportunities that will be presented to photograph its wonderful diversity of culture and architecture in the former Portuguese colony.
Macau, one of the earliest European colonies in Asia, and also the longest held, offers and interesting blend of east and west.
The adventure will be one that I will take in the company of an equally diverse group of bloggers, diverse from the age range and areas of interest. That in itself promises to make the four day trip, kindly sponsored by the Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO), with flights there sponsored by Tiger Airways which flies there everyday. The itinerary is also one that makes the trip one to look forward to. MGTO has lined up an exciting programme that will include visits to some of the main attractions such as Macau Tower, Macau Grand Prix Museum and Wine Musuem, the Butterfly Pavilion at MGM Macau, Ice World @ The Venetian Macau, The House of Dancing Water, Coloane Village and Taipa Village. During the time, we will also have an experience of some of the scrumptious cuisine that combines the best of east and west.
Macau Tower and the Macau International Fireworks Display Contest.
The highlight of the trip could possibly be the Macau International Fireworks Display Contest, which is in its 24th year. Held over five Saturdays, the event will see ten teams compete with their creative displays for the top prize – two each evening. We will get to see the first set of teams – from Korea and from Thailand on the first evening – and I hope to see and hopefully photograph a spectacular show that evening.
Senado Square.
One of the things that I will look to be doing – especially with a free afternoon after what should be an interesting Amazing Race style race that is planned for the morning of the second day, would be to explore some of Macau on my own. I would be particularly interested to try to discover the mix of east and west in a territory that was one of the earliest European colonies in the Far East. Macau also is the earliest European colony on Chinese territory and the last to be held by a European nation and is certainly a place that is steeped in the history of the golden age of Portuguese ‘discovery’ in Asia. This is a subject that I have been fascinated with since my introduction to it attending a church in Singapore that traces its history, interestingly enough to the first Catholic missionaries who arrived in Singapore, coming from the Portuguese colony of Macau, as well as in the ruins of the A Famosa and St Paul’s Church in Malacca.
A-Ma Temple.
For more information, and also to follow the ten bloggers on the trip, do visit the My Macau Experience page on omy.sg http://blog.omy.sg/experience-macau. We will be updating with blog posts on our experiences before, (maybe during), and in the few weeks after the trip as well flooding it with instant feeds on Twitter (#sba2012) and Instagram (#surprisingmomentsinmacau) during the trip.
Photographs in this post courtesy of MGTO.
The Long and Winding Road 
Did you want same picture for Senado Sq., and A-ma Temple??