Old Macau (by kerouac2)

[Deleted]

   

If I use the term old Macau it isn’t to show 19th century photos of rickshaws and opium dens, but just to show the last photos of Macau under Portuguese administration. My last trip there dates to 1999, the year it became a Chinese S.A.R. like Hong Kong.

Everything has changed since then, because when I was there, it received 8 million visitors a year, but now that its gambling industry has surpassed that of Las Vegas, it gets almost 30 million visitors a year just 10 years later.

Actually, my first picture is a picture of Hong Kong that I took right across from the Macau hydrofoil terminal. One of the big “WTF?” discoveries that Westerners make in China is that skyscrapers are built with very flimsy looking bamboo scaffolding. You always think “isn’t there a good chance that it could all fall down?” but it never seems to. Well, the night before I left for Macau, there had been a big wind storm, and I was vindicated at last.

It only takes about 45 minutes to reach Macau from Hong Kong.

Here is a waterfront 'first chance/last chance' casino next to the terminal where all of the gamblers from Hong Kong arrived, plus a few random tourists. No (legal) gambling in Hong Kong!

Gambling was first authorized in Macau in 1962, and the historic casino is the Lisboa. A new annex had just been added when I was there, and it looked impressively large at the time. Apparently, it is laughable now, compared to the huge places that have been built since the casino floodgates were opened in 2002. The Venetian Macau is reputedly the 4th largest building in the world, and the MGM Grand Macau is right behind.

One of the wonderful things about Macau for anybody arriving from Hong Kong was how peaceful and uncrowded the streets and plazas seemed, compared to that other place.

A more recent photo that I found on the internet would appear to indicate that things have changed somewhat in the old part of town.

Impossible not to go and see the façade of St. Paul, the former cathedral of Macau built in 1602. It was destroyed by a fire during a typhoon in 1835. It is the icon of Macau.

Naturally, there were also a few markets and temples to see.

And, as always, the vegetation of the parks and gardens of Asia mesmerizes me.

That’s all I have to say about “old Macau” for the moment, until I find the photos from my previous trip there, when it was looked even older.

[bixaorellana]

Interesting! This is one of those cities that lives in the imagination -- great to see pictures of it.

All of those older brick buildings with the arches seem to have been built in the same era. True?

Oddly, I notice a tree with foliage that really intrigued me today. It had the same foliage as the one with the amazing trunk in your picture. Does the trunk form a letter/word? All of the park pictures are gorgeous.

The temple is something else, with all the indoor/outdoor elements and the strange "modern" touch of the incense coils, if that's what they are.

What are the big spiny fruits in the market picture?

[spindrift]

For me the name 'Macau' has long conjured up wild dreams of an ancient port around which are clustered stately old and dilapidated buildings, opium dens, junks in the harbour and street food. So it's startling to be brought down to earth to see high-rise buildings and learn that the vice of gambling has increased its hold to such an extent (although I had heard this was the case).

I have never visited China or its territories and would love to put this right, one day. Thank you for this most interesting thread.

[Deleted]

Jun 5, 2010 6:30:33 GMT bixaorellana said:

What are the big spiny fruits in the market picture?

Those are the inevitable durians.

And yes, the giant coils are incense.

[bixaorellana]

I was sleepy when I looked at this thread last night, and it's fun to see all the great details I missed the first time ..............

The wavy design on the plaza, which looks somehow out of place.

The giant curved, mirrored building is growing out of that mellow, arched pink building below it. It's grafted on to a windowed but featureless slab painted the same pink as the old building.

The wonderful, huge neon tea cup over a sign that says "Human shoes". For humans, or from humans?

I wonder if all those Jetson-styled casinos still look so clean.

[Deleted]

The tiles on the plaza are typical of Macau because they are typical of Lisbon.

The Lisboa is the really old (Jetson) casino and it has always looked fine when I have visited. But I'm sure it looks pitiful compared to the new places that I have never seen. Let me see if I can dig up a photo of "new Macau".....

[Deleted]

Another set of random photos, still appreciating how uncrowded the streets were compared to Hong Kong...

[Deleted]

Great pictures, Kerouac. It's an area I have always wanted to see. My dad was born and raised in Hong Kong, and I need to visit it one of these days. I still have distant family that live there...

[hwinpp]

Whenever I was in Hong Kong I made a run over to Macao, even if I only had half a day.

I loved it for its relative peace, its Portuguese colonial food and because it was slightly cheaper.

[Deleted]

Now that Macau has surpassed Las Vegas as the gambling capital of the world, I absolutely must return there some day.

[hwinpp]

Me too!

I need the Portuguese food and the vinho verde though.

Forgot to mention the ubiquitous sound of mah jong.

[Deleted]

Ah, the click clack of all those tiles!

[bjd]

I had never seen this thread before. I would have liked to go to Macau in the old days. The wavy tile decorations on the ground are exactly the same as in Lisbon.

I have no interest in going there now -- I'm not a gambler and don't appreciate the idea of "bigger than anything in Las Vegas". I have heard that the Chinese will gamble about everything and anything, so I imagine the casinos are always full.

[hwinpp]

I don't think that much has changed. The casinos are still outside town, in the harbour area and even further away on that island.

The other parts of town haven't changed much.

www.worldcasinodirectory.com/macau/map

[Deleted]

Yes, the historic center is well preserved -- much better than anything in Hong Kong.

[mickthecactus]

Is the food quarter called Big Macau?

[Deleted]

with large fries?

[mickthecactus]

Not Flench flies?

[hwinpp]

Flench flies with flied lice!

I think I ate more at Portuguese restaurants than at Chinese places when I was there last.

[Deleted]

I am going to have to find my colour slides of Macau and convert them. However, I still can't imagine what Macau looks like now that it has passed Las Vegas as the gambling capital of the world.

[anshjain97]

Great shots! I can't believe how less I remember.

[questa]

Do you mind if I add some photos from 2006?
New bridge, tower and statue of Kuan-Yin just opened.

[mossie]

More exotica. I had not seen this thread before and was with Spindrift in having that mental picture of junks and opium dens.
How wrong I was.
I suppose the Venetian MGM etc are the same people who own these places in Las Vegas. I believe the Chinese are the worlds greatest gamblers, so it is well placed.

[questa]

Macau is still a magic name, even without the gambling. I found some more pics, Kerouac 2 will forgive me if we have both photographed the same things, I hope.

This is the fast ferry I travelled in, still in Hong Kong.

Macau skyline





Streets lead to the main Senate Square

The Portuguese loved their archways...so graceful

St Domingo's Church was getting a facelift

To take the next picture, I must have been standing on the exact spot that K2 stood (be still, my beating heart)
If you count his map as # 1 and count down to the 9th picture, you can see they have a lotus pond now.

Façade of St Paul's Cathedral

Chinese Temple with 4 small chambers for Confucian, Taoist, Buddhist and combined 3 religions. The smoke coming from the chimney is the result of burning paper Mercedes-Benzes' cars, fake US dollars, fancy yachts and anything the departed relative may want in the after-life. Big industry in making these paper offerings, just to be burnt.

Over-whelming incense smoke.

The temple is for the goddess of the sea...much in demand to keep the people safe.

and a cute little bus station.

[Deleted]

I love seeing how our photos resemble or differ from each other. I still need to find my photos of the Macau Museum. I loved that place.

[bjd]

It's nice to see that a little bit remains of the old stuff among those glass "it could be anywhere" skyscrapers.

I also enjoy seeing those Portuguese arcades and wavy tile decorations in places so far away from Portugal.

[curt]

I really enjoyed Taipa. Unfortunately, it is also going under the bulldozer. This old factory is just wainting demolition to make way for new, "better" construction.