Macau

Just came back from a one day trip to Macau... Kind of inspired by TK. Returned not understanding why TK made such poor comments last time... Macau is not all casinoes. I did not even step into one. It is a small place with a rich culture. Something like a much more modern Malacca. Food in Macau is excellent. Lot's of famous stalls and restaurants which really lives up to their fame. Such stuff includes pork-chop buns, broiled milk, red bean puffs (don't think can even find similar standards for the former 3 items in HK), wanton noodle, Macanese-style Portuguese cruisine (unique to Macau), almond cookies, Portuguese egg tarts and all kinds of traditional Cantonese snacks. Of course you must go to the right places, and the good thing is that those places are all very close to one another. Macau's road names and signs are very exotic. They are written on white procelain plates in blue, and are always as short as a fire hydrant. And that strange combination of Chinese and Portuguese is the one and only in the world. And a lot of buildings there still bear vivid European architecture. It is quite interesting to see these buildings embedded between those residential blocks which are plain, grey and soulless. Macau's symbol (NOT the ugly lotus on the flag), St. Paul's cathedral with only the front wall left, demostrated vividly the interactions between the West and the Orient in the 17th century. And it's great pleasure trying to figure out all those Catholic symbols used on the wall. Basically all the old churches in Macau bear similar architecture... was wondering whether all Spanish and Portuguese churches look like that. I did not manage to cover a lot of places... time is a limiting factor and less physically fit family members another. If you have a chance to go there do not forget to pay some money to try one or two of the adventures the Macau Tower offers... really exciting stuff. They can make you climb 100m from the observatory to the top of this 300+m tower. However, there are things to be tolerated. 1: cigarette smoke, inscence smoke, all kinds of smoke everywhere. I really appreciate Singapore's clean air. HK is as bad. I'll first be seriously stuck by chronic asthma then killed by lung cancer if I live there for long. 2: PRC tourists: with all due respect to our scholar friends, your comrades visiting the 2 SARs have really irritating behaviour. Firstly they come in huge flocks, at one temple I visited one whole Hwa Chong of them were there. Secondly, they are shameless: they beat queues as if they are the kings. And they respond to neither polite requests nor blunt yells. Thirdly, they are rude: they push you around and blow smoke onto your face. Luckily I'm yet to find one who spits onto the floor. And also, do not go with a tour: set off in HK, buy a guidebook and go yourselves!