I finally took the leap. I finally got the courage to start traveling the world.

I was feeling a little anxious as we wait for our flight to get called. I looked at my passport one last time before it'll experience getting stamped.

It had a little delay, but when the our flight got called, I suddenly felt a little nervous. It was my first time. New country, unfamiliar people and a culture I'm not accustomed to. With high hopes in my pocket, I dragged myself along with my heavy duffel bag.

We arrived at about 10pm. I looked outside the window, and I only saw blurry haze of city lights with thick fogs. I tried to look closer with more focus and then I started to see beautiful buildings in technicolor. Its like taken straight out of a scene from The Jetsons. This is it. I have finally arrived. I'm now stepping in a foreign land.

I was impressed on how disciplined the staff were. Yes they were a little stern. A little smile wouldn't hurt, but I guess they were just doing their respective jobs. One more thing I learned about Macau Airport is that taking a picture is strictly prohibited. Some people have learned that the hard way.

We were welcomed by my sister at the airport terminal. I was then again impressed on buses with designated routes. I was thinking of my country that time. How cool would it be if the buses would actually follow routing schemes like this? Would we have a better country? Could it lessen the heavy Metropolitan traffic? But those were just my wishful thinking.

My sister dropped coins on the bus' automated fare counter machine and I stood behind her in awe. Like how cool would it be if there are no bus conductors going around the bus asking for fares? Again, I found myself comparing Macau to my own country.

We were dropped off at Barra Region. We stopped and ate at a local 24-hour noodle shop where we have tasted our very first meal in Macau. It was really good. The addition of pickle gave the noodle some special flavor. Our night was off to a good start.

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It was hard waking up the next day. It was cold and I was climbing back to bed but my brain was pushing me to go up and move because there's so much to see.

We planned on walking to San Malo but we have lost our way even before we have reached the place. It's fun getting a little lost. A little detour would actually make you see and experience something more than what you've researched for. We saw a fellow Filipino in one of the places and he taught us how to reach San Malo.

I love the buildings here. The designs are a mixture of western and eastern cultures. Its trapped between to compelling cultures and have created beautifully-colored architectures.

We found ourselves stuck in the bustling roads of Barra. Fortunately, after roughly an hour, we have found our way to San Malo. It's much too different than Barra. The buildings are almost all pastel-colored.




Taking pictures with the Ruins of St. Paul was the hardest. People are everywhere and it's hard to take even the picture of the Ruins alone. We were bumped too many times and some tourists would really go in front of you - in your own shot. But I guess that's the backlash of going to the most popular attraction, people would really be in your face, literally. Thank goodness we have found a lone Korean girl, who's also touring Macau. We took each other's photo and we're like friends for that moment. I will never forget how accommodating she was. She had patience in taking our pictures.




It was a steep slope heading to Fortaleza da Monte. Korina, my college friend, declined to climb up and just waited for me below. It was difficult climbing up but it was worth it. Nothing beats the view from the top. I saw a 360-degree view of Macau. Despite being covered in thin fogs with faint sunlight passing through, Macau was undeniably a beauty.





One funny incident happened here. A guard kept looking at me as I walk back and forth taking pictures. Then I looked at his badge and nameplate and figured out he is a Filipino. He was laughing because he can't decipher if I was either Korean, Japanese or Filipino with mixed ethnicity.