I Visited Macau During the Pandemic
As a resident of the Greater Bay Area, a trip to Macau was once the simplest of things. But the pandemic turned the ordinary into a challenge. Visas now required advance online booking and an in-person visit to the visa office. Before departure, you also needed a negative nucleic acid test taken within seven days, and before crossing the two borders—Zhuhai and Macau—you had to separately set up both health codes (Macau has a dedicated health code for visitors, and Guangdong residents can easily find theirs on the ‘Yue Sheng Shi’ app).
First stop, Macau Tower.
After finally making it to Macau, we stuck to the original plan and headed to Macau Tower. Since we planned to have lunch at the tower’s revolving restaurant and the weather was excessively sunny (scorching), we didn’t hesitate to grab a taxi. The once-long queue of people waiting for cabs now had only a few scattered individuals; instead, it was the taxis that formed a long line. The fare from the Border Gate to Macau Tower was about 75 MOP. If you’re not in a rush, you can take a free casino shuttle bus to the Lisboa, then transfer to a taxi or bus, or simply walk.
The revolving restaurant offered great views, slowly spinning to give a full panorama of Macau. But its main draw is the scenery, and the price is relatively low among Macau buffets, so if you’re after top-notch food, this might not be your place.
Our group-buy ticket also included an observation deck pass for Macau Tower, so we went upstairs to take a look around.
For thrill-seekers, Macau Tower has a must-try bungee jump. But as a scaredy-cat, I just quietly watched from the sidelines.
It’s worth mentioning that the revolving restaurant is right below the bungee platform, so during your meal you might see someone plunging down from above—quite a sight to see!
After whiling away the morning at the tower, in the afternoon we leisurely made our way to the hotel.
Second stop, The Parisian Macao.
What prompted our spur-of-the-moment trip to Macau was discovering how incredibly cheap hotels were during the pandemic. A room with windows facing the Parisian’s landmark cost just 500+ MOP. From the window, we could see the landmark and the hotel’s swimming pool. The hotel also had a gym and spa (at an extra charge).
Though the pandemic situation in Macau was relatively stable and there were quite a few tourists, it was naturally much quieter compared to the usual hustle and bustle.
Stop two-point-five, Rua do Cunha.
We went to nearby Rua do Cunha for dinner, where we easily snapped photos of street corners without a tourist in sight. We ate at a place a friend remembered as always having long queues. Of course, we didn’t have to wait at all. (I forgot to take photos of the food.) Maybe due to the pandemic, while we were still chatting and eating slowly, we were reminded that they were about to close. So we hurriedly finished up. After stepping out of the restaurant, the sky was still bright. Even though we’d just been too full to eat another bite, we passed by a stall and ended up buying a portion of braised radish and beef offal.
Last stop, Studio City’s Ferris wheel.
As we strolled and the sky gradually darkened, we suddenly remembered there was one more place to visit. We quickly hailed a taxi to Studio City. In Taipa, hotels, shopping malls, and food streets are all very close together, so you don’t really need a taxi, but if you’re not familiar with the area it can be quite a walk.
Likely due to the pandemic, the Ferris wheel only operated until 8 pm. We caught the very last ride. Hanging in mid-air, I still felt a bit scared. My friend remarked that we’d been challenging our fear of heights all day. The figure-8 Ferris wheel completes a rotation in about ten-something minutes. We bought group tickets on a group-buy app for around 50 yuan per person.
From Studio City, it was just a short walk back to our hotel. We returned again to this hotel corridor with its strong cinematic vibe.
The next day, as it was too hot during the day, we kept shuttling between hotels and shopping malls. Many of the hotel complexes had sky bridges, making it easy to go from one hotel to another without stepping outside. After lunch, we wandered all the way to The Londoner Macao, where we found many familiar restaurants like Haidilao and Tai Er pickled fish. Finally, we left by taking a bus from the hotel.
Since I was already quite familiar with Macau, we basically didn’t visit classic spots like the Ruins of St. Paul’s, and instead spent the whole trip checking off things we hadn’t done before. Bonus: a photo of the Ruins of St. Paul’s ‘back view’ that I took on a previous trip.
