KISS & FLY Travel Blog - Macau's Many Delights
MACAU - Even Sweeter the Second Time Around
by Janis Turk
When you return to a place you’ve been years before, it can sometimes feel strange and new. Other times, it feels like coming home. Returning to Macau, I felt the latter. It was good to be going back.
It was morning as I boarded the SeaExpress Turbojet ferry at the airport in Hong Kong. As a spray of wind and water hit my face, I felt a familiar happiness—an ease in my shoulders that I rarely feel in Asia, a land and a culture so different than my own. It had been five years since I’d last visited this little peninsula off southwest mainland China, and when I scanned the gray misty horizon that morning and Macau lay before me in the distance, I was excited and eager to arrive.
Many people don’t like to vacation in the same places they’ve already been; after all, there are so many wonderful lands to see. But in the hustle and bustle of travel, with all its joys and discomforts these days, I also appreciate continuity and familiarity. I like feeling at home in the world wherever I go, and sometimes that means staying in the same hotel each time I visit a city like Paris or Havana. I like it that the bartender at Bemelmans’ bar at New York’s Carlyle hotel knows how I like my martini. I like to dine in Los Caracoles in Barcelona and order rabbit. And I like it when I see the same sights, take in the same views, sip coffee in the same cafes and relive happy times in places I’ve enjoyed. Really wonderful destinations deserve an encore visit—or two.
Returning to Macau for a second visit, I was struck by both how much and how little it had changed. For once a place had grown and improved without losing its charm. What a pleasant thing to find the second time around.
Macau looks like an island—or two islands, really, joined together by a bridge. Originally it actually was an island, but over the ages, a narrow isthmus emerged from meager beginnings as a sandbar, and in time land reclamation would establish it as a peninsula. Just 37 miles (60 kilometers) southwest of Hong Kong, Macau offers 25 miles of coastline and comprises the Macau Peninsula and the islands of Taipa and Coloane, connected via the Cotai Strip. Edged on either side by both the Pearl River (or Zhu Jiang estuary) and the West River (Xi Jiang), there is also an over-land border between Macau and China called the Portas do Cerco (Barrier Gate) on the Macau side. As that name suggests, Macau is a different kind of place than one might expect in Asia—and it’s not entirely Chinese. Like Hong Kong, Macau has become since the late 90s a special administrative region of the Republic of China, but that’s where the connection, for the most part, stops.
For more than 400 years, Macau was under Portuguese rule. In the 16th Century, Portuguese sailors, fishermen and tradesmen first settled in Macau, and it has remained a Portuguese colony (founded in 1887) until December of 1999. Naturally, a strong Portuguese prevalence in language, food and culture remains in this beautiful, exciting place, though glorious Chinese markets and delicious Chinese cuisine are also found at every turn. In Macau, the official languages are Portuguese and Chinese (Cantonese), but English is spoken in most places there, as well.
Because Portuguese navigators first came to Macau and the goddess Matsu appeared to some of them like a lighthouse in the storm, the Temple of the Goddess A-Ma (built in 1448) and the nearby Maritime Museum, seemed a good place to begin my first day back in Macau. The scent of hive-like coils of incense hanging from the terraced temple filed the air with a honey-smelling haze of gentle smoke. In the park and plaza below the temple, Macanese dancers in traditional garb began to dance. The Maritime museum nearby, as modern and high-tech as the traditional temple is not, tells the story of Macau’s history as a busy port.
From there, I traveled by a trishaw or pedicab (a combination rickshaw and tricycle) driven by a weathered old Macanese man through the streets and past fortresses, lakes, palaces and churches, until we stopped for a traditional Portuguese Sunday lunch at the historical Military Club, a villa with spacious rooms swept in soft pastel colors. There I enjoyed a typical Portuguese meal, including a “Cozido a Portuguesa,” a dish of different sausages and meats.
So far, except for the temple, I had seen little trace of China except in people’s faces. However, I would soon see once more how seamlessly Macau incorporates the best of both Asia and The West.
Crossing a long slender bridge from the Macau Peninsula to the island of Taipa, we went to check in at the Altira Hotel, a five-star 38-story high rise hotel with arresting views of the harbor and Macau Peninsula\. I’ve stayed in several fine new hotels in Macau, but the Altira is surely one of my favorites (www.altiramacau.com). Featuring 216 lavishly appointed guest rooms, including 24 deluxe suites and 8 astounding villas with views of the water, the Altira features modern interiors, created by world-renowned designer Peter Remédios. The hotel has the rare quality of being warm and comfortable, yet sleek, sophisticated, and cutting-edge contemporary. With all the amenities Western travelers have come to expect and that seasoned international travelers demand, Altira Macau is also home to a host of world-class culinary experiences, a great bar and nightclub (often with live music) and an award-winning day spa—one of the finest spas I’ve visited in years.
The restaurant and bars in The Altira are best enjoyed at night when views of the city lights shimmer after sunset. Altira’s award-winning infinity pool with its stunning view is also a must-see. But I couldn’t just stay in a hotel, so I set off for a casino tour of the Macau Peninsula across the bridge.
In case you’ve been under a rock and haven’t heard, Macau is considered the “Las Vegas of the Orient”—which is a term that makes me cringe, for it pigeonholes Macau into a category where it doesn’t quite belong. First of all, there is so much more to Macau than casinos and buffet dinners. The art, architecture, museums, temples, cathedrals, markets and more, as well as the strong Portuguese influence, means Macau is a cultural Mecca for travelers. Visitors are looking for Las Vegas are often surprised how enchanted they are by everything else Macau offers. Second, if one must draw a comparison between Las Vegas and Macau, Macau beats Vegas in every way. International high rollers say Macau is more like a mega-sized Monte Carlo than Las Vegas.
On my first night back in Macau, I visited the Star World hotel for a cabaret-style performance before walking to the nearby Wynn Hotel for its fabulous lobby-entertainment, the “Dragon of Fortune” show, in which a fire-breathing gold dragon emerges from the ground and rises through a fire-filled circle in the ceiling. We also watched the dancing waters of Wynn’s music fountain show, before crossing through a below-ground walkway to see the Grand Lisba Hotel across the street.
But I wasn’t in Macau just for the glitz and glamour of casino lights, so my friends and ventured out to visit an outdoor restaurant I had visited last time I was there, called Tai Pai Tong. It’s a delightful place where Anthony Bourdain ate during an episode of No Reservations. We sat in front of historic Portuguese-style buildings in an outdoor plaza and dined on traditional Chinese “street hawkers” sea food. You pick your dinner from small fish tanks and the staff cooks everything to order (sometimes even before your eyes in steaming dishes at the table). Our dinner included interesting cuisine such as “Pissing Prawns,” “Poc Poc Crab” and “Drunken Sauna Shrimp.” It was an unforgettable meal—delicious and magical in a place where the moon’s rays lit the facades of soft yellow and pink stucco buildings encircling us. The scent of the sea was sweet in the summer wind.
The next day, we spent the day on the Macau Peninsula visiting the Old Christian City, a UNESCO world heritage site home to the famous Ruins of St. Paul, the Na Cha Temple, the Mount Fortress, Macau Museum, the Saint Dominic Church, Senado Square, the Rua de Felicidade (“Happiness Street”), and a charming avenue that is my favorite place in Macau to shop for antiques. Before lunch at the Rosio Restaurant of the MGM Grand Macau Hotel, we visited the Macau Science Center, designed by architect I.M. Pei, a building at harbor’s edge reminiscent of The Guggenheim in New York. Inside an interactive museum geared to children and family wows visitors.
That evening, we visited the City of Dreams on the Cotai Strip, a mega-hotel/resort/casino complex encompassing three towers, including the Hard Rock, The Crown Towers and The Grand Hyatt. This City of Dreams also houses an enormous shopping mall, numerous restaurants, bars, day spas, and more, along with venues where the spectacular live shows draw crowds.
The most amazing live show I’ve ever seen—beating anything Las Vegas has ever known—is The House of Dancing Water. Uniquely created for the City of Dreams Macao by Franco Dragone, this $250-million (U.S.) show was five years in the making and is housed in a theater with a stage pool holding a record-breaking 3.7 million gallons of water, equivalent to 5 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The show is everything at once—a Cirque Du Soleil-style acrobatic extravaganza, a traditional Chinese acrobat show complete with motorcycle tricks, and then something more—something no one has really accomplished before: the stage starts as solid ground, changes into deep waters and back. Water, wind, fire—each moment is an explosion of color, light, music and magic, including death-defying feats. There at the City of Dreams, we also spent a delightful half hour at another show—a cinematic wonder of multi-media excitement called The Bubble Show: The Dragon’s Treasure.
The rest of my stay in Macau passed quickly. My group and I moved to the enormous brand new Galaxy Resort Macau hotel with its gigantic rooftop pool. The hotel’s Macallan Whiskey Bar & Lounge offers a warm and inviting Western-style vibe: the perfect end to a busy day of sightseeing.
The next morning I visited the Old Village in Taipa Island, with a stop to try a cherry-made Portuguese liquor called ginginha and warm egg tarts called pastel de natas. Then I went to Macau’s Panda Pavilion to visit the two adorable giant pandas living. Then it was time for a traditional Macanese lunch at the Café Litoral at Taipa Island, and then that night I enjoyed a fabulous Portuguese dinner at Manuel’s restaurant, a favorite of locals.
In Macau, I felt like I was in the movie Inception, when people fall asleep only to awaken to a new reality in a new place, only to fall again to a new level where they’re in an entirely different setting, and then to move into yet another world again. In Macau, one moment I am in Portugal, the next I’m in China, the next I’m in Las Vegas, the next I’m in a comfortable bed that feels like home. In this manner, Macau is exciting and unexpected in a way that Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and other cities are not. Here each place, each meal, was multi-faceted—layered with nuances: other ways of doing things, eating things, seeing things.
No trip to Macau would be complete without a visit to the top of the famous Macau Tower, which looks a lot like Seattle’s Space Needle, only it sports the world’s highest bungee jump. We also visited the Handover Museum, housing a collection of masterpieces of Chinese Art presented as a welcome gift from China when Macau was handed back in 1999. Then we enjoyed gondola rides at The Venetian Macau, a chilly stroll through an exhibit of indoor ice sculptures in the Ice World Gallery there, and even the exciting ZAIA Cirque Du Soleil Show. The Venetian is the second largest building in the world—and I actually got lost there for several hours.
Our farewell dinner at the Michelin-recommended Antonio Restaurant at Taipa Island was my favorite meal of this trip—one of Portuguese delights, like grilled spare ribs, Pata Negra, Bacalau cakes and more. It seemed like we were dining in a family home in Portugal, so it’s no wonder I felt so welcome.
Leaving Macau once more, I remembered Sinatra crooning about how much sweeter love is the second time around. How true. Macau was great the first time I went, and it was even better the second time. Now I can’t wait to go back.
- Janis Turk
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