Dealing With Steps

There is a conspiracy in China. In any place where one may be weighed down by luggage and young children, they build steps. I suspect the incentive is to encourage the local economy because wherever these steps are, so too is a throng of eager entrepreneurs anxious to make a few yuan by hulling my luggage up the stairs and to the train, taxi or boat. The rates range from quite reasonable (a few bucks USD) to rather ridiculous (you want $50 dollars for a flight of steps???). With little Maeli dancing between our three and a half pieces of luggage, I’m sure we look like prime customers. Giving in and trusting someone with all our goods can be a nervous experience but when we’ve finally ascended and decended all the flights of stairs between us and our destination, it was money well spent.

I’m not sure what is the most convenient way to get from Zhuhai to Macao. It might be by ferry. We took the land route. The ritual packing was finished by noon, and we climbed into a taxi that took us less than five miles to the border. From there we encountered the usual stairs and our luggage ended up on the cart of an old man who mostly spoke Cantonese. Then the waiting in lines began.

First we waited outside the China exit office … and then we waited inside. After getting our passports stamped (goodbye to China for now) we rushed to the Macao entry offices and waited again. All told it took us about two hours to get from The Holiday Inn of Zhuhai to the Pousada de Mong-Ha in Macao. Thus far we’ve been greeted by beautiful weather, palm trees, cars on the wrong side of the road, voices speaking Cantonese and signs in Portuguese. We’ll be here until February 1st when we’ll take the ferry to Hong Kong.