Asia at last... Macau.

25th February 2010

After a 5 days rest in motherland Portugal I flew to Macau, the starting point of this journey.
Macau because i thought that due to its portuguese influence could be a good transition from my culture to asian culture. And to learn a little more about the impact of Portugal in the world and how its looks like before it gets swallowed by the big casinos! If its not already...



Lets go!




Aeroporto de Pequim, Beijing Airport
Huuuge! This is only half of the 4th floor...





Old streets in Macau


























At the Park Luis de Camões, named after the greatest portuguese poet
Old man gambling, performing and carrying bamboo-made bird cages around...













































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Small
and
tidy
Chinese
Garden
in
town.
Good
for
meditation
or
romance...




























































______________________________________________________________
From the harbour to the restaurants...
Fish are kept alive and sold to restaurants where clients pick the one desired alive from the fishtank.

























































Oh o peixinho amontoadamente feskinho!!
Its weird 'coz you look at them and you kind of build a relationship with them when you are outside, so by the time they get 'murdered' you feel responsible for their death... You feel like a criminal! Hey chinos, bring back the Peixarias (fishmarkets)!!




uma tartaruguinha... não lhes escapa nada, estes chineses!



















Other fish are not that 'lucky'...
















Views over Macau
Contrast: Old and New... New i-thec buildings are being built the last 10 years, since Macau was handed over to China. The elderly say Macau is loosing its charm...



















Roof Tops...

















Budhist monk doing some housework...









Celebrating the Chinese New Year: The year of the Tiger!














Mix and match: Portuguese frame, chinese decoration!
























Portuguese inheritance.
Colonial buildings from the portuguese friendly colonization are scatered through out the city and are the main tourist attraction as they actually land the city good part of its charm.
Theres zillions of asian turists jammed within this buildings... It gets suffocating sometimes!











My hot macanese babe and I on a romantic moment by São Paulo church's ruins...





Vasco da Gama statue, Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the European Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships that sailed directly from Europe to India, opening asian doors the whole world.




















É a Calçada Portuguesa concerteza!!!
Yet again, Portuguese pavement. Polished!!!!

















Capitania dos Portos??? Liiiindo! eheh!
The building that controls the harbour! At full work!
Feels like this could be in say Matosinhos, carago!! Or Peniche, or Portimão, etc,etc... With the difference the portuguese ones are rottening stone... ooops!



















Fortress built up to kick out the dutch and french opressors... successfully by the way...
All the cannons can shoot now is the Grand Lisboa Casino, at the back... C'mon, give it a gooooo!!










Can you believe portuguese men used to dress like this..? What would your dad say if you'd get home wearing this..?
Hmmm... They are pretty cool, tho...
And women like a man in uniform...










And last but not the least... check this out... Pastelinhos de Nata!! Ah pois ééé!! Isso é qué lindo ver os chinos e turistas a lambusar os beiços na nata...
Portuguese custard tarts, made by chinese these days... eheh! Funny...

Street names...

B-ORED !!!!!

















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Ok!!! Enough of Culture now... This is Macau Tower, at its 338m hight.










You can work in the fancy shops on the ground floor, you can work in the bar on the platform, you can get a ticket to check the view from up there... A-maaazing view buy the way...
Or...











...Or you can f***kn juuuump off it!!!!!











82 kilo mark dudes! Just make sure you dont tie me to the 60kilo cable, right?













































Following that..? So read it then... The world's highest!

Am I looking cool..? I was shhhhhhhh... itting myself!!!
But you know... a man's got to do what a man's got to do...

Casinos and more Casinos.
These days Macau is reknowned by its Casinos. They call Macau, The LasVegas of Asia.
Gamble is not allowed in China. Macau is the only place in China where gamblers can loose their savings and life, and since it was handed over to China Casinos have invaded town...
Not sure if its a good thing tho... Attracts undesirable people...

Budhist praires at this little budhist temple... Kum Ian temple



























































Special thanks!!!


Cozinha Armando...


Found this little 'tasca' run by a Macanese man... sorry... not Macanese, but Portuguese!! Armando... the cook and owner... cooks portuguese food, portuguese parents who lived in Timor, born in Macau, never been to Portugal... but his portuguese pride is gigantic... He knows the whole portuguese history and he IS portuguese, he says! Speaks fluent mandarin, too!
I'd go there every day for a meal... and we'd stay talking about portugal after he closed the restaurant. Pá this and pá that... lol.
Last meal in Macau: the leftovers of a pigllet left by 4 chinese ladies... they didnt eat the head and the rice... and miguelito was starving... and the kitchen was closed already... so... miguelito only left the bones... Ate brain and tongue and everything for the first time... Was delicious!!!

Bacalhau à lagareiro em Macau...



My friend Sio Peng...
Remember the old man carrying birdcages in the park?? These are actually not for sale...
In the fresh late afternoon they all come out with their own birds to the park. Instead of walking the dog, they walk their birds in cages. And they all get together and socalize and compare birds and so on... Thought they where for sale, so was very said when Sio Peng didn't sell me his'.
We chatted for about an hour, between clumsy english and portuguese words, he told about his lonely travels to Lisboa, Paris or Las Vegas... I told him a bit about my stuff... Told him also that was leaving the next day and couldnt get a cage elsewhere (I really wanted one for decoration as they are made out of bamboo).
Born in Cambodja, raised in Macau... He interrupted is chilled afternoon to walk me through this old narrow busy underground macanese streets till we get to this old shop...
Sio Peng bought a second hand quite beautifull birdcage, changed his beloved bird to it and... gave me his own cage... I didn't want to believe what he was doing... He didnt accept money from me... I didn't have anything to exchange with him at that moment... But i got his address and in due time Sio will have a nice surprise. People like Sio are rare these days, at least in the western world. Living and learning...














Thanky you my friend, you are in my heart!







And hey!!!
Do me a favor: If you ever go to Macau...
Please, dont spit on the bus floor...

















Next Stop: Hanoi - Vietnam.