The Macau we discovered on our first night in the city is modern, glitzy and built for tourists, lined with hotels and casinos. Known as the Cotai Strip, it’s in stark contrast to the historic, atmospheric old town.
That old town has elegant, colourful Portugese influences from colonial times, while its streets are crowded with old apartment blocks, temples, shops and the rough and tumble of everyday Chinese life. It’s a fascinating mix of east and west.
We prepped ourselves for the day ahead with breakfast in our rooms at the Conrad Hilton. Decadent yes, but we had an upgraded suite to fill. We also got an early start, allowing us to get some serious sightseeing done. A cab took us the main island and the UNESCO World Heritage heart of old Macau, through the Cotai Strip and its forest of giant hotels and casinos, building sites and cranes. There’s nothing remotely Chinese about the new Macau developments and we could’ve been in any big city anywhere on earth.
Beyond were more skyscrapers, most of them apartment complexes for local workers. Some were modern, others in the process of being built, and a few older ones looked as if they’d seen many better days. But they were all absolutely massive, in scale beyond anything I’d seen in the West.
We crossed the water, arrived at the famous 15th century A-Ma Temple and discovered the crowds. The area was absolutely rammed with people, from devout locals looking to pay their respects to the Chinese sea goddess Mazu to tourists taking photos. The stench of incense was overwhelming and Graham found himself struggling with asthma so we moved on through the back streets, overlooked by creaky looking, aged apartment blocks that had been crammed into every square foot – much like Macau’s neighbour Hong Kong. They were colourful in places but the city’s humidity had played havoc with the rendering, much of which was afflicted with mould, algae or moss. Many of the metal balconies had long since rusted. They looked quite tatty, and there was clearly much poverty, but there was a strange charm to the streets even so.
In between the hemmed-in blocks of flats and shops, the narrow streets lined with scooters and the posters that warned against spitting and littering, there were occasional reminders of the city’s Portugese past. The Moorish barracks were a riot of yellow, while quiet and shaded Lilau Square was full of fine old buildings. There, locals out for a quiet morning of stretching and chatting were snapped by roaming bands of rather insensitive tourists. Nearby we found the grandly restored Mandarin’s House, a rambling collection of rooms and courtyards that made for a delightful break from the noise and bustle outside. Like all the attractions we visited in Macau, it was free to enter.
Our route took us past and into some impressive churches, St Lawrence’s and St Joseph’s to name but two. The picturesque St Augustine’s Square continued the trend of colonial buildings on a human scale, colourful and Mediterranean. There, we visited the small Dom Pedro V theatre and St Augustine’s Church.
Emerging from the quiet back streets, we found ourselves in the busy heart of the old town. Senado Square was colourful and exciting, dominated by the grand Leal Senado building. These days the square is overwhelmingly commercial and while we were there people milled around watching the Macau Grand Prix on a giant TV screen. Shops were a mixture of familiar names from the west and local outfits. Bakeries and other take-aways filled the gaps, many of them selling a strange and rubbery, much-processed gloop that was supposed to be meat and was clearly popular with the locals. We steered clear but eateries were thin on the ground for lunch, at least places where we could sit for an hour. And I needed to sit. Lunch is on the go in Macau and we struggled to find anywhere that was suitable, plumping depressingly for Starbucks. I didn’t feel proud about it…
In the afternoon we visited the city’s premier tourist attraction, the ruins of St Paul’s Church, which was destroyed by a fire during a typhoon in 1835. Sure, standing on a hill they offer up great views of the city but I’m not quite sure what the fuss is all about. So we wandered around the nearby fort and drank in the views out towards the towering blocks of modern China in the far distance.
With my legs suffering, we moved on a little further and discovered a street of antiques shops and the Casa Garden and Protestant Cemetery, both of them quiet and green. One quick cab ride later, back at the hotel, we grabbed a beer, got a late afternoon nap and then headed out. EVen though I didn’t feel up to it we ate at Canton, a lovely restaurant in The Venetian Hotel, where my diced pork was a real delight and the service excellent.
We’d opted to stay on the Cotai Strip because of the casinos and, to our deepest joy, we found a roulette table in one with a minimum bet of $25. Not that it stopped me from losing $500, while Graham broke even. The night also proved to be a very different experience to gambling in Vegas and London. Finding a beer was nigh-on impossible and the locals took it all so, so seriously. We found that Baccarat was the game of choice with cash-laden Chinese and table after table was devoted to it. The few black jack tables had far too high a minimum bet for our wallets.
Before we crashed out, we grabbed a few more drinks back in the bar at the Conrad. And I nursed my broken bank balance…