I took the speed ferry this morning to Macau. As I could not find a place to stay on Airbnb before Friday, and hotels were way too expensive (and I’m really not into dorms and hostels anymore), I decided to take the trip to Macau now.

The boat ride took about an hour, through the outer islands of Hong Kong and over the Pearl River Delta, to the other side of the coast.

There was not much to see, you could not go out on deck at that speed, and the sea was grey with low hanging clouds.

Macau is like Hong Kong’s little sister. Just as the british colony, Portugal had secured a trading post in the 16th century and successively taken control.

The country wanted to get rid of its colony in 1974 after its revolution, but China actually asked the Portuguese to stay on and manage an organized hand-over. Just like Hong Kong in 1997, the colony was returned to China in 1999, and since then is a Special Administrative Region (SAR).

Which for me meant a different immigration scheme and no need for a Chinese visa. The city retained its internal autonomy, with Beijing having a close eye on things, and continues to be a free port.

It’s business model though is slightly different: Casinos. Gambling is legal here and the city has set itself to become the Las Vegas or Monaco of the East.

With success, especially since they ended the monopoly on gambling, and Vegas has built its casinos, mostly on newly claimed land in the sea. In 2006, Macau actually overtook Las Vegas in gambling revenue.

Good deal for the citizens, as 70% of the city’s budget come from gambling taxes, and local taxes are exceptionally low.

I wasn’t interested in the Casinos or the main shopping malls that have risen up, and found a hotel in the old part of town with its tiny windy streets and small back alleys, full of shops, street food vendors, old craft and repair shops and Portuguese colonial buildings.

Some houses and areas have preserved the colonial heritage well, some are clearly run down and half in ruins…

Then there’s a number of modern building, more characterized by the number of air conditioning boxes on the facade than by any architectural style.

What is common to a lot of them: people in Macau like their balconies cage-style. Most of them look like bird cages.

I just wandered around all day. I sampled different street food… fried noodles, rice dishes, a soup… and walked through the alleys and shops, parks and cemeteries…

The catholic cemetery was most interesting. Mostly Portuguese names, and some Chinese ones, most graves adorned with pictures of the deceased.

Most inscriptions were in Portuguese, but you could also see some dutch ones, a hint to a dutch presence here. After all, they were all seafarers and traders.

There is the most interesting variety of shops, so old it feels like time travel. Old printing presses where the employees make flyers by hand, one by one…

Old ladies sewing clothes, metal crafts,  electronics shops, clothing’s, antique furniture, jewelry, Chinese pharmacies selling all the magic animal products you can think of…

As well as a number of shops that are totally impossible to identify. They are crammed with… stuff. Piles of paper, figurines, clothes, electronics… It looks like a hoarder’s home (and sometimes the owners sit on a couch and watch TV).

I have no idea what they are actually selling there, there’s no pattern or theme. It seems as if one of every single thing that mankind has ever produced has found its way into their shops.

Maybe I am judging this wrong from a Westerner’s perspective who would qualify most of it as junk. Nothing of it seems to be in any working order.

Maybe those are not shops at all but homes. Maybe they are hoarders and all this does have some value here, and might be used… I have no idea, but it’s a fascinating walk.