Beyond the casinos and glitz of the Cotai Strip lies the real Macau, with its colours and sounds, its smells and sights. It was in this real Macau that we discovered the territory’s people, its history and culture.
We’d woken on our second day in the city to brilliant sunshine and it was tempting to just sit by the pool and enjoy a relaxing day. But it was our last day before heading to Hong Kong so we left our hotel early (after another lazy breakfast in our suite).
We grabbed a cab and made for Senado Square and the Lou Kau Mansion, built in the late 19th century by a successful local merchant. Like the Mandarin’s House we visited on our first day, it was a dark but cool space with fine carvings, tile work and sparse furnishings. Small courtyards helped create breeze and shade during the stifling days of summer.
And it was heating up as we moved on to the Street of Happiness – the Rua de Felicidade. Featured in one of the Indiana Jones films, it was once the red light district of Macau but the hookers have long since moved on and today it’s lined with simple white-washed buildings with red shutters, cafes, shops and restaurants. Most were shut when we walked through, ahead of the lunchtime rush.
In fact, the narrow and busy streets nearby proved to be more fascinating. Full of market stalls, more cafes and restaurants, many with shop-fronts boasting garish neon signs and fish-tanks stocked with potential lunch dishes, we found them buzzing with life. The streetscape is tatty by western standards but full of atmosphere, and the signs and menus are notable for their hilariously mis-translated Engrish. This Macau is madly congested. Buildings have been wedged together and not an inch has been wasted. Rusting railings and ironwork, worn decoration and collapsing plasterwork adorn apartment blocks and modest balconies overflow with plants and drying clothes.
We walked on to the St Lazarus Church District, an attractive part of town that’s managed to retain some of the older, colonial buildings from the Portugese era. It’s been turned into something of an artistic enclave, its cobbled streets peppered with vibrantly painted homes and work spaces. It made a change from the chaos elsewhere and perhaps unsurprisingly reminded me of the Portugese capital, Lisbon.
And then we discovered St Michael’s, a tiny, pastel-green church encircled by a calming cemetery. There wasn’t much to do other than walk around but it was a beautiful space, full of greenery and well-tended graves, many with photos of lost loved ones in pride of place. We walked on in the heat to the generally unremarkable Dr Sun Yat-Sen home, where the founding father of the Chinese Republic lived for a brief time with family. Beyond is a gondola lift that takes visitors up to Guia Hill, the highest point in Macau, where there’s plenty of shade beneath the trees but we found no escape from the racket of helicopters hovering around the nearby maritime terminal or the sports cars circling the temporary Grand Prix circuit below.
The hill is home to a still-functioning lighthouse and the abandoned Guia Fort. On its own there’s precious little to see other than an underground bunker but the attached chapel is a little treat, with recently discovered frescoes dating back centuries. We stopped to take in the views of Macau and beyond into China proper through the smoggy haze.
We walked down and trekked back towards the ludicrous Grand Lisboa hotel – our planned route blocked by the ever-rumbling Grand Prix. While the hotels out on the Cotai Strip are full of bling, the Grand Lisboa takes things to a whole new level, and looks very 60s with it. So I was stunned to discover that it only opened in 2008. The opulence is astounding and the artworks on show in the lobby, including some intricately carved ivory, must be priceless. We had lunch in one of the cafes and then went for a wander around the neighbourhood, before returning to our hotel for a beer and our constitutional afternoon nap.
In the evening we plumped for a Portugese restaurant at The Venetian, which was just about OK. Afterwards, we headed to the roulette tables again and discovered the casino absolutely rammed with weekend gamblers. Graham had a very successful time, coming away with healthy profits. I lost another $500HKG, proving that lady luck had deserted me on my holiday.
Gambling in Macau isn’t the best. There’s an air of determination and humourlessness about it, which I won’t miss. The lighter atmosphere you get in Vegas and even London is definitely missing.
A few drinks later and it was back to bed, ready for Hong Kong.