Day 1 - Macau

Shit.

I walked thru half of Macau in a half-day. It wasn't intentional. I met up with my uncle (my mom's friend) at his store. He has a business in Macau supplying uniforms. They are very busy right now. Chinese New Years here mark the end point of the business year ... in the same way that Christmas marks the business year in North America, even if the financial reporting year may be on April.

They are rushing some stuff. So I was left to my own devices. I was just trying to find a nice little wonton noodle shop to have a little lunch in the Ho Lan Un district. It is much older than everywhere else. The streets are mere laneways and mopeds are the primary form of transportation. Unfortunately, I think I came at a bad time, most of the stores in the old district are going under. Cataclsymic changes are happening in Macau. New money from the casinos is pushing prices. Everybody is telling me about how things used to be cheaper. Cost of labor, as the casinos are draining the labour pool has pushed wages up.

My Second Uncle (on my father's side) told me that the price of lai cha used to be 5 Pataca at his favorite restaurant. It's now 6.50. (Still cheap by Canadian standard, roughly $.90.) The other problem is the speed of market adjustment. While wages are about 10000 Pataca a month at the casino, many people in other industries still only make 6000 Pataca. Housing costs are also rising. It's hard for me to say for certain how much inflation is in Macau without looking it up from their Economic Council. But it looks like this inflationary spell is affecting the lower strata much more severly. Somethings like energy, transportation seems to have remained the same.

I saw the Sands and the Grand Lisboa. They pretty much tower over everything else. In fact, the older district of Macau somewhat resembles Hong Kong and Bombay of the late-'70's. Mopeds, mixed-commercial and residential units no higher than 4-stories, lack of large chain stores. This forced me to do some serious self-evaluation: I had always assumed that I came from a smaller version of Hong Kong. Macau, in fact, is highly under-capitalized. I with some trepedation would almost like to use the word "backward."

Also, I noticed the general skill level in Macau is low. Hong Kong, I found, the labor force, even at the middle strata, to be slightly lower than in Toronto. Macau is much, much lower. Clerical postions seem to only demand high school education. Sales people in Macau are motivated, but have little salesmanship training. In Hong Kong, at least, the store clerks rushes you to buy crap. In Macau, they seem confused by more complicated requests. In Canada, the clerks makes you feel like they're your best friend, so that not only will you buy something now, you probably want to come back a few months later to buy more stuff.

On a different note, I saw my old kindergarten and elementry school. In fact, I live right behind the place where I spent grade one. I was woken up this morning by the little kids practising English in the language labs. It's a weird experience. I always felt that the place was like a prision. Looking at it now, it seemed small with it's high walls and gates.

I saw a little bit the most important landmark in Macau, the Ruins of St. Paul's. I was going thru the tourist shopping district. I guess I'll go back later, as the museums and Monte Fort are also there.

The colors. I love talking about colors. In Macau, the Portugese influence meant that most of the buildings are yellow, lime green, and pink. Although, at least, nowadays, most of the roads are no longer cobblestones.

I visited my Second Uncle's house near the Rua da Barca. He told me that it was my grandfather's old house. I was suprised. I used to come to my grandfather's house everyday for lunch and afterschool. I couldn't recognize any of it. My uncle hadn't even renovated in twenty years. I simply don't remember. Everything was small. The doorway, the kitchen. The bathtub is half-lengthed: you have to kneel to bath. My Second Aunt apologized to me when I was there for dinner. They had ran out of propane. A tank is to be delivered tomorrow. Meanwhile, she can't really cook anything for me to eat.

And another suprise. My Second Uncle's daughter, my cousin, not only got married last year, she is five months pregnant. By Chinese reckoning, I'll be an uncle soon.

There is a lot of other stuff that is very significant, but only to me. Like, I saw the hospital I was born in, my father's old house, the cemetery my grandparents are buried. I will go back to many of these places again, so then would be a better time to talk about them.