Wowed By High-Rollin', Ex-Portuguese Macau

Asia » Macau
September 7th 2017

Published: September 23rd 2017

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Delek Delek

Rua de Felicidades

The Street Of Happiness and its famous red shutters were featured in several scenes in Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom.

You might know it has the world's highest revenue-generating gambling mecca. You might know it as a former Portuguese colony. You might know it as where James Bond arrives suited and booted at a casino aboard a small raft on a lantern-lit canal, with fireworks going off overhead. Whatever you know about Macau, it is difficult to argue that it doesn't sound like an interesting place. Just a one hour ferry ride from Hong Kong, the opportunity to take a peek at this curious little enclave was too much to resist.

Everything about the ferry ride - from the short distance from Chungking Mansions to the China Ferry Terminal in Kowloon, to grabbing tickets right at the gate before immigration, from the swift immigration and boarding process, to the ride itself in comfortable leather seats that would be considered first class on a plane, was efficient. We faffed around a bit looking for the right bus to catch to our hotel but the ride itself was efficient too.

There is a reason why you don't find Macau on too many backpackers' bucket lists; it's bloody expensive. Well, accommodation-wise anyway. There are no hostels on either the main peninsula of

The Cotai Strip

Macau's version of "The Strip" comes complete with its own Venetian hotel-casino and Eiffel Tower replica.

Macau nor the islands of Taipa and Coloane to the south. This wasn't good news for my paper-thin budget but I got a financial lifeline from my mum who kindly offered to pay for our hotel, which was thankfully about four times the size of our shoebox in Hong Kong and very nice - at least you get what you pay for here in Macau. Food and transport was also slightly better value-for-money over here than in Hong Kong.

With only one full day here, we used what was left of our afternoon to have a wander around Macau's historic quarter on the peninsula.
The Portuguese first arrived here in the 16th century and as a reward for helping the Chinese fend off pirates, were given a lease on the tiny territory of Macau. The lease ran out in 1999 but walking around the streets, it was pleasantly surprising to see just how much Portuguese heritage has been preserved. Signage and information boards are all in Portuguese, which is one of the official languages here, even though nobody here actually still speaks it. Like I could in Brazil, I found that my knowledge of Spanish allowed me to read

Rua do Cunha

The main pedestrian thoroughfare in Taipa Village; not-so traditional as it is flanked by hawkers and has the Venetian hotel-casino looming over it at one end.

and understand most of the signage which was a relief after a month of trying to decipher Chinese characters. The mix of Portuguese and local Cantonese culture however, is truly unique and you'll not see anything like this anywhere else in the world.

The Portuguese legacy however is most visible by Macau's aesthetics; most of the historic quarter has been faithfully restored and the tight lanes, cobblestoned streets and Portuguese tile works made the place feel just like Europe! Add the hills and architecture, and you'd quite easily think that you're in Lisbon!
The narrow streets and tight alleys of the Cantonese neighbourhoods that sprung up around the peninsula's Portuguese core were actually more like what expecting to see in Hong Kong, perhaps what Hong Kong was like 50 years ago.

Of Macau's sights, the area around St Lazarus Church is especially sumptuous, the iconic Ruins Of The Church Of St Paul has its own version of the Spanish Steps (and loads of cake and jerky shops handing out free samples at the foot of it) and Rua de Felicidades - the "Street Of Happiness" - is particularly atmospheric. Scenes from Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom were shot

St Lazarus Church District

The colonial buildings and tiled streets here make you feel like you're in Lisbon!

on Rua de Felicidades, which is named as such because of the brothels that operated behind its famed red shutters.
As mentioned earlier however, Macau's culture is a blend of Portuguese and Cantonese - who were here for centuries before the Portuguese - and there are also some very impressive Cantonese sights to see. The Mandarin's House is huge and is a maze that leads you through serene courtyards, stylishly simple bedrooms and ornate halls. The house is the ancestral home of an author and merchant called Zheng Guanying, who influenced Mao Zedong among others. I also discovered for the first time that this man actually shares my mum's maiden name of Zheng. I have always known my mum's surname to be Tee but this is merely the Fujiao pronunciation of the Chinese character (and Tee may have been an incorrect interpretation of how my grandfather pronounced his name, by whoever recorded and Romanised his name on records when he arrived in Malaysia from China) and that in Mandarin, it is in fact Zheng. So my mum could be distantly related to people with a different surname to her (excluding those married into the family, of course) and we could

View From The Ruins Of The Church Of St Paul

The strange glittering tower you see in the distance is the Grand Lisboa Casino.

be related to this famous author! Amazing! The Lou Kau Mansion was very similar to the merchant mansions I saw in Hoi An and the A-Ma Temple is where devotees pray to the goddess of the sea after which Macau is named; Buddhas are also prayed to at the temple, which is set against a collection of boulders.

Macau's other face of course, is its reputation as the "Vegas Of The East". Despite being a third the size of Vegas in area and having roughly half of the number of casinos, Macau in fact generates more gambling revenue than Vegas and all other major world gambling destinations combined.
Thus it is no surprise to see so many advertisements here promoting symbols for high status and success everywhere. Think ads for luxury watches, jewellery and perfume. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be successful and all, but for the majority of Chinese and the majority of gamblers - of which Chinese make up the majority - success and financial riches are the be all and end all when it shouldn't be.
Macau's mega-casinos are actually all relatively new. Up until 2001, casino tycoon Stanley Ho had a monopoly on all

Studio City

The gaming floor at Studio City hotel-casino.

gambling activity in Macau and the big Vegas casinos only moved in once competition was allowed. Thus Macau's "Strip" only has a handful of casinos on it. "The Cotai Strip" is named as such because it is built on reclaimed land that used to separate the islands of Taipa and Coloane, hence the name "Co-Tai".
You can't helped but be impressed by the scale and flashiness of the hotel-casinos but I perhaps wasn't as wowed as the first time I visited Vegas. Having seen the real Venice and the real Paris, I was kind-of left feeling that the Venetian and the Parisian hotel-casinos were a bit contrived.

There is definitely a different atmosphere here in Macau as opposed to Vegas; whereas people have fun in Vegas, the gamblers in Macau are there to gamble and win. You won't find free drinks being handed out here as the Chinese believe that it reduces their skill; where people are just looking to have a fun time whether they win or not in Vegas, gambling in Macau is a much more serious business.
Like Vegas, the older casinos in Macau are located in the north, whereas the mega-casinos reside on the reclaimed land in the south, in Cotai. We

Macanese Alleyway

Typical lived-in alleyway on the Macau peninsula. They are really crammed in here, like I had expected to see more of in Hong Kong.

walked past the old casinos which is just a short stroll from the city centre on the peninsula and we entered the grand old lady of Macau's casinos, the Grand Lisboa, with its massive and distinctive glass tower.

On our last afternoon and evening in Macau, we tried to go up to the Guia Fortress & Chapel, which is atop the highest point in Macau. Unfortunately, it was closed due to damage from a typhoon that ripped through here just over a week before. There didn't seem to be any damage to buildings but there were definitely a few trees bent over around the city.
We then concluded our stay with a visit to Taipa Village, a tiny pedestrianised neighbourhood of tight alleys, Portuguese architecture, shouty food vendors, decent restaurants and traditional Chinese shops. It is completely surrounded by apartment towers, with the mega casinos just around the corner. Nice and peaceful as it is - long-time residents still live there - the place does unfortunately feel like a bit of a commercial gimmick, particularly the main drag flanked by food hawkers with The Venetian in full view at the end of the lane. It is nevertheless nice to

Lo Kau Mansion

The traditional Cantonese mansion of a rich merchant that was built in 1889.

see some island heritage preserved.
It was here that we tried some local specialities including the famous Macanese pork chop bun (which is exactly what it says on the tin - nice, simple but I still can't believe I paid £5 for one), serradura or "sawdust" pudding (frozen cream topped with fine biscuit crumbs - quite nice), the good ol' Portuguese egg tart and some Portuguese fare for dinner (the bean and veal stew was deliciously smoky but the baked chicken was dry and disappointing). Egg noodles and mochi (chewy, sticky, glutinous balls of cold goodness with sweet fillings) were also tried on our customary adventure of the local cuisine.

Overall, I have to say that Macau is certainly unique. A little odd too. You have this blend of Portuguese and Cantonese food and cultures with a pace of life that is definitely slower than it is in Hong Kong (which is nice). There is also a sizeable Filipino contingent here as well, bringing with them excellent English skills, smiles and a friendliness that you don't always get with the locals. The flash casinos on then give Macau another fascinating dimension.
And I think that we both actually (and perhaps

Ruins Of The Church Of St Paul

Macau's one iconic sight comes with its own version of the Spanish Steps.

controversially) preferred Macau over Hong Kong! There just seems a calmer and more nostalgic atmosphere here that I thought I might feel more of in Hong Kong; in many ways Hong Kong is just like any other city. Macau is beautiful, novel and has many sides to it; I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Macau but I am certainly glad I decided to sate my curiosity and check the place out!
My mum enjoyed the experience too, for which I am glad and it was now time for us to part ways again. I will see her again in three months time back in New Zealand!
For now though, my break from mainland China was now over and it was time to head on back!

回头见 (guong dong wah) / Até logo,
Derek

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