After more than nine weeks, the final day of our summer trip had finally come. Our departure from Hong Kong was set for seven in the evening, providing us with over half a day to explore before our van arrived. However, since we had already explored the peninsula and Taipa, I struggled to think of how to occupy the remaining hours in Macao. Instead, we opted to visit the mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai, where we had made a brief stop in 2015. My three objectives were to check the border crossing between Macao and mainland China, to get a closer look at the tall skyscrapers visible from afar, and to discover if the Chinese had indeed developed the city in the Inner Harbour. Although it seemed far-fetched, Google Maps displayed a network of streets filled with restaurants extending over the water. From the Macao side, I didn’t see any sign of this, and I realized it was likely just a mapping artifact, yet I felt an odd urge to confirm it for myself. We took the bus from the hotel to Mercado Iao Hon, where we enjoyed another hearty meal at the food court. This might not have made much sense since we hoped to find seafood restaurants in Zhuhai, but I knew it could be problematic if everyone went hungry and no restaurants turned up. I had largely given up on finding good Chinglish T-shirts during this trip after striking out in Liaoning and Yunnan, but I was pleasantly surprised to find some decent ones at the clothing stalls outside the market. After weighing my options, I eventually chose one that nonsensically celebrated space travel. It wasn’t an instant classic like "DON'T DICK" or "VESRACE", but it was an improvement over a couple I already owned.
From the market, it was a short walk to the Portas do Cerco border crossing. A huge mural featuring Hello Kitty characters seemed to bid us farewell from the world of commercialism. The border building was the size of a city block, and it took some wandering to determine where we needed to go. I was surprised at how long it took to get through immigration, considering Macao is now part of China, yet it still feels separate in many respects. The Zhuhai side appeared more vibrant than Macao, with a large shopping arcade just below ground level. A series of large hotels stood outside the border area, likely to accommodate Macanese wanting to stay close to home while doing business in Zhuhai.
We found a taxi driver to take us to the modern part of Zhuhai, also built on reclaimed land, similar to much of Macao. Here, several towering skyscrapers rose, and surprisingly, there were hardly any people around. The entire district felt completely deserted. I estimated we were about twenty minutes on foot from that unusual water neighborhood I had spotted on the map, so we decided to walk north along the shore. To our right, a lovely promenade beckoned, but we were separated from it by a metal fence topped with razor wire. Occasionally, a jeep filled with security officers would pass by along the promenade, and I couldn’t see the need for such precautions. Did security really think people from Zhuhai would leap into the Inner Harbour to reach Macao? To photograph Macao, we had to hold our cameras up through the gaps in the fence. Fortunately, we managed to capture good images of the Sai Van Bridge and the Grand Lisboa.
After a longer walk than I had anticipated, we finally encountered signs of life in Zhuhai aside from the border crossing. We came across a building with sheets of drying fish outside what turned out to be a dried seafood market. Other than us, there were no customers or visitors, and the vendors were engrossed in their cell phones. We were still glad to stumble upon an area with commercial activity, even if it wasn’t bustling at that moment.
Continuing along the road parallel to the shoreline, it became clear that what had looked like floating restaurants on Google Maps was merely an artifact. There was nothing there aside from convenience stores and offices. Restaurants seemed to be on the other side of the highway, so we crossed an underpass and found a long line of seafood vendors in an alley beside a series of adjoining restaurants. As soon as the vendors spotted us, they all began shouting and gesturing for us to come over. Mei Ling realized before I did that we were in the same spot our driver had taken us to ten years ago in Zhuhai, where she had bought us a horseshoe crab after some intense negotiation. Although we didn’t see any horseshoe crabs this time, there was a breathtaking assortment of live shellfish. The arrangement allowed customers to buy live shellfish in the market and then pay a restaurant to cook it for them. This was the area I had seen on Google Maps, though in reality, it was a couple of hundred meters inland rather than situated in
After over nine weeks, the final day of our summer journey had finally come. Our departure from Hong Kong was set for seven in the evening, providing us with more than half the day to explore before our van picked us up. The issue was that we had already covered much of the peninsula and Taipa, and I struggled to think of ways to fill the remaining hours in Macao. Instead, we opted to visit the Chinese mainland city of Zhuhai, where we had made a brief stop in 2015. I had three objectives: to explore the border crossing between Macao and mainland China, to get a better look at the impressive skyscrapers we had seen from afar, and to discover if the Chinese had actually extended the city into the Inner Harbour. It seemed unlikely, but Google Maps displayed a network of streets filled with restaurants extending over the water. From the Macao side, I couldn't spot any signs of this, and I realized it was likely just a quirk of the map, yet I felt an unusual need to see it for myself.