Trip to Macau (HKSAR) May 21st.

On Saturday, May 21st our family enjoyed a 1 1/2 hour boat (ferry) trip to Macau. This trip allowed Lucy and the kids to renew their tourist visas. Macau is made up of a series of three islands with a population of about 457,000. It is also a mix of Portuguese and Chinese culture.

We are standing in front of an abandoned Fisherman's Warf Village. Abandoned because the 34 casinos on the main island have taken over the economy. There is also a man made volcano in the background that is no longer in use.

There are a lot of Buddist temples throughout Hong Kong and other outlying islands such as Macau.

Here you can see that people are praying and bowing before a shrine of various objects, and buying sticks of incense to burn and place at each level of altars along a staircased path.

These are the ruins of St. Paul's Church which was built in the early 1600's and destroyed by fire in 1835. Only the front and partial sid facades remain. They have built staircases up the back so people can look out the windows from up the second story.

The kids enjoyed the view from the second story window.

While leaving the ruins of St. Paul's Church we met a lady named Suki who was with a group passing out bags that had Christian literature, CD of songs, and DVD "End of the Spear" all in Chinese. It was a breath of fresh air to meet a fellow Christian assisting in the Great Commission to spread the gospel to all nations.

We were not quite prepared for what happened after we left the ruins for our taxi-van. We have been stopped occasionally and asked to have our pictures taken with strangers, but nothing like what happened this day. A couple asked and the next thing we new there was a crowd around us waiting for their turn (each individually of course). There must have easily been 20 or more pictures taken with strangers. The kids were all looking different directions not sure which camera to look at. Our taxi driver started speaking up and saying we should charge money and then shouting out prices (jokingly serious).

Once the kids got in the car they were a little stunned by what had just happened. Lindsey said, "It was like they thought we were stars or something."

We watched a water/music show out front of the Wynn Hotel (small scale compared to what the Belagio Hotel puts on in Las Vegas).

One of the modes of transportaion is by pedicab. It is literally a cab for two people with a driver biking them around town. We took a van tour instead, which was a little more cost efficient for a family of 5.

We had a wonderful day exploring a new place and renewing our travel visas. We left encouraged by and reminded to pray for those who are sharing God's love with people all around the world.