Hong Kong is a pulsating, superlative-ridden fusion of West and East, an exercise in controlled chaos, a densely populated place that simply ‘shouldn’t be, but is.’ Hong Kong is like no other city on earth. – Steve Fallon, author of Hong Kong & Macau
There you have Hong Kong in a nutshell. Aaron and I almost went there today. We were at the ferry docks in our Sunday best about 5 minutes too late. As we would say playing pinocle back home, “This hand is a day late and a dollar short.”
“Oh well,” we said. “Let’s see what Macau has to offer.” Yes, Macau … we have discovered the New Jersey of Asia. (They may say it’s the Las Vegas of the East but we know better.) Now long in Hong Kong’s shadow, Macau is often passed over. Casinos and unique architecture still draw tourists to this quaint, quiet backwater though. We haven’t yet seen much of the architecture yet, but we did see the casino with the mini volcano.
I’ll tell you what though, I like this place. Nobody stares at us here. Folks are relaxed. I have yet to be harassed by a small business owner and we even went to a night market. It still feels like we’re in Asia, but we’re not in mainland … that’s for certain.
Aaron’s note: Macau is also amazingly dense, second highest in the world in fact. And it’s small. Who knew the map they gave us was life sized? Walking the streets of Macau feels like hiking the narrows of Zion—a stream of people, cars and scooters flowing at the bottom and walls of concrete and drying laundry towering above.
Hong Kong and Macau are Special Economic Regions (SARs) in the Chinese Government. That basically means that there is an open market and local government control. It shows. With a freer market, the people tend to be less weary of outsiders and more importantly, more accustomed to outside influences.
So Macau is my first taste of Asia outside of mainland China and I’m excited to get a bigger bite, of Hong Kong, that is.
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