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Home » Macau Pt.2 | Taipa in a Day

Macau Pt.2 | Taipa in a Day

If you read last week’s post, you know we spent an entire day walking around Macao. But, in the end, I qualified it by saying we walked around Mainland Macao. That means there’s a whole island to the south we didn’t touch on. On this day, we’ll be walking around all of Taipa, as well as going to the Venetian and Studio City. Our first task was crossing over the island to head to our first stop, the Taipa Houses – Museum. To do so, we walked over an hour over a long bridge to Taipa.

Journey Begins | A Long Road Ahead
Journey Begins | A Long Road Ahead

1. Taipa Houses – Museum

The “museum” is a complex of four houses. Four of the houses were restored to recreate the homes of affluent Portuguese during Macau’s colonial era. The area was much more scenic, overlooking the sea. But, recent land reclamation efforts have left it overlooking a small lake. 

The houses have various artifacts of colonial life inside. The most interesting thing is the various wooden statues throughout the complex. I took photos of several, but there are many more scattered about. 

Taipa Houses | Back Door
Taipa House Statue
Taipa House Statue | Lonely Guard
Macau Houses Statues
Taipa House Statue | Pairs
Taipa House Statue | Michael
Taipa House Statue | Michael

2. Pak Tai Temple

The Pak Tai temple has a history dating back 160 years. Back then in Macau, people’s livelihood was dependent on fish, and so they worshipped PakTai, literally the Northern Emperor, who was believed to have the divine power to withstand floods and fire. The temple was then erected in his name. 

Northern Emperor | Pak Tai Temple
Northern Emperor | Pak Tai Temple
PakTai Temple Close-Up
A Close-Up | PakTai Temple Entrance

3. Museum of Taipa and Coloane 

Close to the PakTai temple is the Museum of Taipa and Coloane. Coloane is a village south of Taipa (sadly we had no time to visit). The museum has various prehistoric artifacts, information, and presentations discussing the history of the area. Honestly, it wasn’t very interesting and we actually skipped it over once before we realized what it was. 

Colonial Building Taipa
Colonial Architecture | Yellow Museum
Shop District Taipa
Shopping at Taipa | Crowded Streets

4. The Venetian

To the south of Taipa is the Cotai Strip. Therein lies the Venetian Macao, our next stop on this trip. The Venetian is a luxury resort and casino, owned by the Las Vegas Sands Company. It is modeled after the Venetian in Las Vegas and has many replicas of famous Venetian (that’d be Venice, Italy) attractions. The Venetian is actually the largest casino in the world, the largest hotel in Asia (single-building), and the seventh-largest building in the world, by floor space.

One of the main reasons we went to the Venetian was to check out its San Luca Canal, modeled after the one in Venice, Italy. There are many shops in the area and you can also ride along the canal in a Gondola. When we made our way towards our next stop, we also passed the Parisian, a similarly styled hotel/resort. Of course, I snapped some pics of that, too. 

San Luca Canal | The Venetian
San Luca Canal | The Venetian
Venetian and Parisian Bridge
Linking Cities | Venetian and Parisian Bridge
Steps | The Parisian
Steps | The Parisian
The Parisian Eiffel Tower
Eiffel Tower | The Parisian
The Parisian Eiffel Tower Bass
Eiffel Tower Base | The Parisian

5. Studio City

Our next and final stop is Studio City. Another hotel and resort, Studio City is the first to integrate studio and film facilities, retail gaming and hotels. Inside the resort are all kinds of luxury shops and other attractions. The main reason for going there was to ride on the Golden Reel, the worlds highest Ferris Wheel. But first, we hit up the Batman: Dark Flight attraction. They advertised some VR, flight simulation thing but it was just a bat-plane simulation. It was still pretty cool and the “plane” was moving (you were strapped in with 20 their people there) while the scene played on a screen in front. It was relatively immersive. 

Speaking of VR, there was a whole VR playground with various moving seats and other equipment. We planned to try it out but it was super expensive and not worth it. With that, we’ve arrived at the end of the post and the end of our time in Macao. Today wasn’t; as packed as our last day exploring the mainland, but it was still fun and the experiences were enjoyable. Make sure you read the previous post if you haven’t, and stay tuned for some (a lot) of Taiwan content. 

Studio City
Final Destination | Studio City
Studio City Fake Times Square
Time Square? | Inside Studio City
Batman and Golden Reel
Two’s a Bargain | Batman and Golden Reel
Golden Reel
Inside the Reel | View of Macao
Samurai Armor
Random Art | Samurai Armor
Studio City Mural
Enlightenment | Studio City Mural

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