"I maintain that if you're a novelist and you go into an art museum, you'll come out a better novelist.
And if you paint a picture for an hour,
you're a better painter at the end of it."
~ JOHN HAWKES ~
We went into the museum to spend the remaining hours before we had to go back to the terminal and catch our ferry back to Hong Kong at 6:30 p.m. (We were worried there would be another chaotic situation at the immigration checkpoint like what we had experienced when we were there in the afternoon.) Lucky enough, the museum was not that big so we just had to spend a short time here. Nevertheless, the exhibits in this building were impressive, telling the history of Macau and the highlight was definitely the era of Portuguese colonization back in the 16th century and how Christianity was spread and influenced the culture and geography.
After visiting a few museums abroad, I really feel that we should have a more proper museum in our country. Our history is very interesting indeed to be shared with tourists from other countries and to do that, we must be able to have better ways of telling the story to the world. Based on my experience visiting the local museum, one word to describe what we have is "SAD". But that was like many,many years back. I wonder whether things have changed.
One of the sections that I like is the houses of Macau people. We had the opportunity the various and distinct architecture of the original local houses up close.
Actually, the best part of the museum would be the section where there were displays of Macau maps dated back many centuries ago which was drawn manually and were all still in good condition. How did people draw maps when satellite technology was still a non-existence. However, that very spot was heavily guarded by two policemen, and they were looking at the museum visitors with suspicious eyes, making sure that no pictures were being taken by anybody.
We had successfully explored all parts of Macau Museum and hurried down the hill, making our way to the ferry terminal. That concluded our one day trip to the historical Macau, a place that I had never dreamed of going, but I was glad I had been there.
*travel tips*
1. On weekends, it is advisable to get your ferry ticket back to Hong Kong once you arrive at the Macau ferry terminal to avoid you getting stranded for not getting any. (2) Many tourists would go back a bit late to Hong Kong as they want to see the beautiful and colourful lights at the casino area. (3) We bought the 6:30 p.m. tickets but we arrived at the terminal much earlier and were allowed to board the 5:30 ferry trip as there were still many vacant seats available. Thank god, as we didn't have to wait and waste an hour there, and there was no queue at all at the immigration counters when getting out of Macau.
