Visiting Macau!

Wednesday, January 9, 2008
AFTER ANOTHER MEDIOCRE breakfast we walked over to the upscale shopping center that the Ferry building was situated in to get our tickets for Macau. To our disappointment we couldn't get an early boat -- there were a ton of people from mainland China going to Macau to gamble. We bought tickets for an 11:30 AM boat then took a walk as we had time to kill. Passed by some cinemas that were playing "I Am Legend" (a film Charles really wanted to see as it started playing in LA the very day we left!) and vowed to go check this out if we were very bored or had extra time (as it turned out neither situation occurred). We took some photos of some very strange looking buildings (feng shui?) that looked like something out of the "Transformers" movie then headed back to the Ferry to depart.

It was interesting to observe the differences in people from Hong Kong versus people from mainland China. Kind of like the stereotypical "city slickers" vs. "country bumpkins." While the HK folk (dressed in black and speaking in low, evenly-modulated tones on their cel phones) nonchalantly strolled into the correct queue for customs the (mostly over age 60) folks from China, wearing patched-together outfits and odd headgear, yelled and screamed, trampling, pushing people out of the way, grabbing their napsacks and overloaded daypacks as they maneuvered their way into the customs queue. While it was pretty irritating to be around these folks it was fascinating in an anthropological kind of way...

The ferry -- like all things from HK -- was comfortable and well engineered. Very modern and accommodating. They were even kind enough to provide "vomit bags" which Laura unfortunately had to utilize! (see horribly unflattering photo of Laura).

Had to go through customs (again!) once we reached Macau. Again, the Chinese folk (they must have been in some kind of tour group for the aged) started acting up. One of them found a line that was for people over 60 and he yelled at his comrades to bum-rush the line. Seeing these old folks acting with the feverish intensity of hockey fans as they pushed and knocked people out of the way was pretty funny. Unfortunately, after they were lined up (and out of our way!) one of them noticed that they weren't all over sixty -- so, yelling and screaming again, the younger ones rushed to get back the spots they had just given up in their previous line! As these annoying creatures were all going to the gambling casinos (and we weren't!) we bid them a fond adieu once we got past customs.

Grabbed a not-so-cheap taxi ride (none of the taxi rides would be inexpensive anymore!) to the main plaza in Macau ("Largo do Senado") a tourist-filled, yet spectacular area filled with landmark Portuguese buildings. As this was a former Catholic island, Christmas decorations still filled the area. Strangely enough, as we were soon to discover, very few Portuguese remained.

THE HISTORY OF THIS REGION was similar to Hong Kong -- both were areas taken over and governed by European countries for many years and voluntarily given back. Macau, like Hong Kong was also given the "Special Administrative Region (SAR)" status and was proving to be quite the cash-cow for the Chinese government. According to one news report we read it was actually raking in more tourist dollars than Hong Kong -- obviously due to the Western-owned casinos.

The area was intriguing, not only for its well-preserved colonial buildings but for the odd, hallucinatory, swirl-shaped tiles on the ground. Unfortunately, major U.S. food and retail chains like McDonald's and Starbucks have invaded and could be seen everywhere. With the other tourists jostling about it almost felt like strolling down the Santa Monica promenade.

We kept walking down the main road to our (and every other tourist's) ultimate destination: the glorious ruins of St. Paul's cathedral. But, first, we stopped to have a tasty sangria-filled lunch at "Restaurant Platao." The place looked inviting enough -- tables outside in the shade off of a cool alleyway. Laura had some tasty bacalao-and-mashed-potatoes type of dish while Charles had an ideal stuffed crab.

Ah, so good. Yet so bloody expensive -- over $80 for lunch -- this meal alone cost more than all our meals in Cambodia for the one week we were there! No complaints though ... guess we realized that we weren't in SE Asia anymore...

After lunch we stumbled our way over to St. Paul's Cathedral which we had read about and heard about from our Halong Bay friends. On our way we passed through narrow pedestrian walkways that felt somewhat Medieval. The shops seemed mostly tourist oriented--clothing, souvenirs, food, etc. These pedestrian-filled streets had an interesting east-meets-west look with old Portuguese buildings with signs in Chinese, English and Portuguese.

The facade of St. Paul's Cathedral was at the end of one of the main walkways. It was quite stunning to see the facade of an old Portuguese built church. The history of it is quite interesting -- it was built in 1602 by "Japanese Christian exiles and local craftsmen under the direction of Italian Jesuit Carlo Spinola." After the Jesuits were kicked out it was used as army barracks, then:

"in 1835 a fire started in the kitchens and destroyed the college and the body of the church. The surviving facade rised in 4 colonnaded tiers, and is covered with carvings and statues which eloquently illustrate the early days of the Church in Asia. There are statues of the Virgin and saints, symbols of the Garden of Eden and the Crucifixion, angels and the devil, a Chinese dragon and a Japanese chrysanthemum, a Portuguese sailing ship and pious warnings inscribed in Chinese." [Source: macautourism.gov.]

It is difficult to describe in words this magnificent structure. Suffice to say, we took many photos, and shot some Super-8 film and video in a vain attempt to capture the spectacle. After shooting the cathedral from every possible angle (and dodging the millions of tourists doing the exact same thing), we wandered over to the "Bone Relics of the Martyrs." This was a crypt behind the cathedral which proved to be quite creepy as we were able to get up close and personal to the tombs of Japanese and Vietnamese "martyrs." Apparently this area was overgrown and forgotten until the local government did restoration work from 1990-1995. (More info here). After leaving this eerie interior, we started walking towards the backside of the Cathedral facade. As we were walking over to the facade to get not only good shots of the Cathedral but also the crowds we could not help but notice one horrible woman yelling and berating her companions in Chinese. Very odd as she continued to shout for ten minutes straight.

Walked up to Mount Fortress ("Fortaleza do Monte") which at one time had been connected to the Cathedral via underground tunnels. Nothing much to report here other than a few cannons situated here and there to repel invaders -- but there were some spectacular views of Macau, including some of the casinos.

Took a cab to Coloane Town Square, a separate part of the island. We had been briefed thoroughly by Jill and Steve (Halong Bay trip) that we couldn't pass up Lord Stow's "tastiest versions of egg tarts in the world" pastry shop. Since we were still stuffed from our $80 lunch we decided to walk around this area first, maybe do something different like take a few photos/video (ha ha). Actually this was a very interesting area, filled with crumbling Portuguese buildings (it reminded us a bit of the old Spanish parts of New Orleans) Buddhist temples, and, best of all -- NO DAMN TOURISTS!

It was so quiet it was eerie. After the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong and the touristy part of Macau we were pleasantly surprised to see that any place existed in this part of the world that was so peaceful and unpopulated. We spent an hour or so walking around the alleyway, met a bohemian German/Polish couple who had been traveling through Asia and Russia for 8 months, saw a couple of unassuming temples including one that was burning offerings, heard loud machine gun fire from a nearby range, played with some skittish cats, then, with our appetites coming back, headed over to Lord Stow's to drink some coffee for our caffeine pickmeup and finally taste the world famous egg tarts.

As we had some time left before our return ferry, we took a cab to another neighborhood we had heard about, a few miles away. Taipa Village is a small, picturesque community that we right away wished we had gone to earlier as there were plenty of interesting pubs and restaurants around the colorful alleyways and streets. At first we couldn't figure out where the main drag was (since the taxi driver didn't know either!) but we followed some local-looking dudes and soon found it. This is one situation where we wished we had decided to stay overnight! Maybe next time. Took some good photos, including one of the "Dumbo Restaurant." Laura got her "historic house fix" when we stumbled onto the Casa Museu da Taipa (Taipa House Museum) by accident. These were described as:

five colonial-style buildings lining the street -- homes that belonged to Macanese families in the early 1900s. Combining both European and Chinese design as a reflection of the families' Eurasian heritage, the Casa Museu has a dining and living room, study, kitchen, upstairs bedrooms, and large verandas that face banyan trees and what was formerly the sea (now reclaimed land), reflecting the fact that most entertaining in this small colonial outpost -- a boat ride from Macau -- took place at home. The home is filled with period furniture, paintings, art, and personal artifacts reflective of a dual heritage. [source: Frommers]

An interesting juxtaposition to the house museum lay directly across the water. Several casinos could be seen including the almost-completed Venetian. This looked like the one in Las Vegas, quite a shock to see in this part of the world.

Quite an exhausting -- yet exhilarating day. Alas, it was time to find a cab and head back to the ferry for Hong Kong. Nothing much to report on this ferry ride except for the entertaining eco-conscious and public health PSAs that were being broadcast on tv monitors as we headed back into Kowloon harbor. It was pretty amazing to see Jackie Chan in a PSA talking to an old man about the need to quit smoking and how he could utilize the services of his family ties to help out; or to see commercials advertising the power of peer pressure to stop littering. Amazing. Something the U.S. could definitely copy!

As we headed into the harbor the beautiful, brightly-lit buildings in the skyline ended yet another spectacular day.