Here's a new perspective on an old favourite. I don’t usually sightsee by
looking at my toes, but on the top floor of the Macau Tower, I’m seeing the
changes to a territory I used to know quite well. Standing on a glass floor,
I’m looking down at the traffic along what is currently Macau’s waterfront.
It may not be the waterfront for long. Hong Kong’s tiny neighbour has big
plans and nowhere to realise them, so it has reclaimed land from the sea not
only along the edge of the peninsula but also between its two islands of
Taipa and Coloane, forming a new area that will quite logically be called
Cotai. This is where the largest building in Asia, the Venetian Macao Resort
Hotel, a development of hotels, casinos and entertainment venues that has
trademarked itself as “Asia’s Las Vegas”, is opening on Tuesday.
Outside the window, I can see China proper, close enough to swim to across the
Pearl River. Today the view is unimpeded by anyone taking a “Skywalk X”, or
stroll along the outside observation deck, which is less than two metres
wide and has no handrails. Safety, if not complacency, is assured by
clipping walkers on to an overhead rail.
The tower also boasts the world’s highest bungee jump and a mast climb so that
you can get the best view of the South China Sea in one direction and, in
the other, the 52-storey Grand Lisboa, one of Macau’s newest casinos, whose
design is variously said to have been inspired by a showgirl’s headdress or
a Fabergé egg.
Just the thought of all this activity is enough to make anyone turn towards
lunch, and this is just one of the ways Macau proves itself different from
Hong Kong. For roughly the same period Hong Kong was British, Macau had
Portuguese rulers, who bequeathed to their territory a heritage of food and
wine that is even better than it was before Macau’s handover in 1999.
When I worked in Hong Kong, we made for Macau when we wanted to relax. Gentle
Macau, now as then, is exceptionally safe for visitors, though you can sense
the frenetic 24-hour noise of big money won and lost that is the sound of
the casinos and gives the city its edge. Tellingly, the Macanese call their
slot machines “hungry tigers”.
For a weekend feast, everyone still makes for Fernando’s, almost on the beach
in Coloane, where children run around and diners forget their stressful big
deals over huge plates of freshly grilled prawns and Portuguese wine.
Macau’s blend of Chinese and Portuguese home cooking is a delicious fusion
that you won’t find anywhere else, inspired directly by a shared history and
enthusiasm for good produce, particularly seafood.
But restaurants do not on their own a 21st-century destination make, and Macau
has invested its share of those gambling profits in developments both old
and new. Whereas Hong Kong has ripped down many of its old colonial
buildings, the smaller territory’s more laissez-faire attitude meant that it
had many crumbling ruins left. Now splendidly restored, they are a joy and
an ornament and have earned Macau World Heritage status.
The centrepiece is the façade of St Paul’s, all that’s left of the Jesuit
cathedral that perished in a fire in 1835. Behind this there are two of
Macau’s state-of-the-art museums, one of sacred art and another giving
insights into the way life has been lived as Macau grew from fishing
encampment to international trading port. More atmospheric are the tiny
pawnshop museum on the main drag where you can stamp your own pawn ticket
with a red “chop” and the traditional-style shops of the Rua da Felicidade
across the way from it.
An excellent bus network means you can shoot up in minutes to the border gate
with China, where the shopping bargains of the special economic zone of
Zuhai are within walking distance. Then head across to the wine museum for a
tasting from the widest selection of Portuguese wines I’ve ever seen and the
Grand Prix museum for boy racers of all ages, or down to Taipa village to
see the bakers rolling traditional Chinese biscuits in the bakery windows.
It’s fascinating to walk around the Protestant cemetery – “the history of
Macau in stone”, a friend called it – reading how early colonists died:
“fever”, “falling from a ship’s mast”. Or to rub shoulders with the locals
at A-Ma temple, where crowds make offerings under smoking coils of incense
so huge that each one takes two to three weeks to burn and you feel you are
back in the days when the Macanese survived on fishing and firecrackers.
If you are not an especially diligent tourist, these historic attractions have
the saving grace of being focused and not too big. By the time I reached the
fine art museum I needed a good lie-down, and where better to recuperate
than The Spa at the Mandarin Oriental, where I submitted to an expert
massage.
But the best touch came last. As well as all the ferries and hydrofoils plying
between Macau and Hong Kong, a TurboJET ferry can take you straight to Hong
Kong International Airport, where your luggage is checked at the
harbourside, and you are whisked to the departure lounge, calm, rested and
ready for the next stop in your jet-set life.
Macau at your fingertips
SEE
A casino. You don’t have to gamble, just go and soak up the fervid
atmosphere and try out the restaurants, bars and entertainment. Compare the
old Lisboa (it used to mark the junction of the main drag and the
waterfront) with the new Grand Lisboa, or take in the Sands, the world’s
largest (www.sands.com.mo).
Pick a museum. If you have time for only one visit the Museum of Macau
at Monte Fort (www.macaumuseum.net,
closed Mondays), or tour a few with the Macau museums pass: adults MOP25
(about £1.60), children and over60s MOP12, giving entry to six museums over
five days.
Especially if you have children in tow, enjoy the frankly fake Fisherman’s
Wharf – Macau’s answer to Hong Kong’s Disneyland. Take the rollercoaster
around the man-made volcano or stroll around the themed seafront boulevards,
which include a Roman colosseum and New Orleans French Quarter-style bars.
Relax in the Lou Lim Ioc gardens, where greenery is interspersed with
rocks and temples and high-rise dwellers meet to chat, practise Chinese
opera or t’ai chi.
Experience one of Macau’s big annual events: the international fireworks
display contest in late September, the Macau Grand Prix (November 15-18) or
the dragon boat festival (in June). See www.macautourism.gov.mo
for details.
STAY
What used to be the loveliest hotel in Macau, the Bella Vista, became
the Portuguese embassy after the handover, but there is a good choice of old
and new.
New places open weekly, but the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel resort on
the Cotai strip – complete with a campanile modelled on that of St Mark’s,
canals and gondolas – promises to be memorable (opens August 28, double
rooms from £80 a night (00 853 2882 8888, www.venetianmacao.com).
To immerse yourself in Macau’s history, stay at Pousada de São Tiago
(2837 8111, www.saotiago.com.mo),
characterfully converted from a 17th-century fortress.
Doubles from £180 a night. If you’re on a budget, try the Pousada
de Mong Ha (2851 52222, www.ift.edu.mo/
pousada/eng/index.htm), another former fortress, run as a hotel-training
school by Macau’s Institute for Tourism Studies. Doubles from £37 a room.
EAT
The expat favourite is Fernando’s on Coloane (2888 2264; booking
advisable) or try whole sea bass in town at the Portuguese-tiled O Porto
Interior (2896 7770).
Tip towards the Portuguese tradition by choosing from the ambitious menu at Restaurante
Espaco Lisboa (2888 2226) on Coloane. Renata Rubnikowicz
Need to know
Getting there: Renata Rubnikowicz flew with Virgin Atlantic (0870
5747747, www.virginatlantic.com)
from Heathrow to Hong Kong. Fares start at £455 return. The TurboJET ferry
(00 853 790 7039, www.turbojetbooking.com)
from the airport to Macau Ferry Terminal is about £12.60 one way.
Staying: The Galaxy StarWorld Hotel (00 853 2838 3838, www.starworldmacau.com)
has rooms from £82. The Spa at Mandarin Oriental Macau (793 4824, www.mandarinoriental.com).
Further information: www.macautourism.gov.mo.
