Taipa Pequena

With beautiful weather lately, we took the opportunity to explore a part of Taipa we've not been to before - Taipa Pequena, one of the two highest hills in Taipa.  This hill has hiking trails, a kid's park, and a large sculpture complex.

The hiking trails wind gently up and around to the top of the hill.  We chose a trail with stairs and although Abby's trying to look weary by wiping her brow it was an easy climb with lots of green trees, bushes, and colorful flowers.  It was wonderful to be surrounded by nature - the sights, the sounds, the smells, the feelings - it was all so therapeutic for our family.

As we were climbing the hill, we met the most happy, spirited old man.  Every 3-4 steps he stopped, stretched his arms high above his head and circled them slowly back down while joyfully exclaiming HAhahaHAhahaHAhahaHAhahaHA.  The first few times we heard him we thought it was a bird singing.  When we passed him he greeted us with a bright smile and a hearty Good Morning and then continued down the stairs pausing frequently to repeat his singing stretch.  Fascinated, we just stood and watched him until he disappeared.    

We encountered this happy old man again at the park.  This time he was stretching his legs with giant kicks and balancing poses and he was still smiling and merrily humming.  He was so entertaining - we could have watched him for hours.  He continued on his happy walk while we played at the park.  We kicked a soccer ball around, swung on the swings, climbed on the jungle gym, and just enjoyed being out in the bright, warm sunshine.  

The Taipa sculpture complex is a huge, white, zigzagged wall, inspired by the Great Wall of China, and shows day-to-day activities of life in Macau.  There are areas for outdoor gatherings such as morning Tai Chi classes that are very popular here.  And, the views from the top of this complex were some of the best we've seen in Macau.  

This view shows the first of three bridges built that connect the island of Taipa to the Macau peninsula.  Although it's not clear in this picture, we could easily see the entire peninsula east to west and pick out many of it's distinguishing landmarks, like the Macau Tower, home to the tallest bungee jump in the world, (far left in this picture).  Just last week while riding a bus across one of the bridges, I saw someone bungee jump off the tower.  The Macau Tower is still on our to-visit list but there will be no bungee jumping for the Kisebachs.

As you can see, the weather is beautiful, so if you need to get away from those unusually cold winter temperatures, come to Macau.  This is the best time to visit :)