The Other Side

By Jenny on Wed, 31 Jan 2007

Even though Macau is trying to be the Las Vegas of the East, don’t let it fool you. There are a few parts of Macau that are still very rural and exotic.

After a plentiful hotel breakfast (free with the room), the Farr Family set out to Coloane, a no-name village on the far end of Macau. This little island has a colorful history. The Song Dynasty extracted most of the salt for China in Coloane from the 900’s until the Portuguese arrived in 1864. They utilized Macau as a trading port but left Coloane untouched. Mostly pirates used it for a base until the early 1900’s. Lucky for us, all the pirates have left and now the island is inhabited by a very small population. This is in great contrast to downtown Macau, which has the second highest population density in the world.

Three bridges connect Coloane and Macau. We got there by way of bus #25, which took less than an hour. This is the first bus we’ve experienced in Asia. I’ve always observed the buses from the street and never really wanted to take part in the constant bobbing of heads and jam packed feeling. We were lucky enough to score some seats for most of the journey.

Coloane is a sleepy little fishing town with beautiful architecture left by the Portuguese. Of course the Chinese have their marks too, by way of Daoist temples and such. We saw no high-rise anything in Coloane, only winding streets and quiet little neighborhoods.

We made our way around one of the mountains. The scaling road gave an excellent view of the surrounding islands. I spotted a rough trail that led to the beach. After soothing Aaron with stories of much rougher paths that I’ve taken Maeli on, he agreed to take the downward descent to the secluded beach.

We were greeted by a beach full of washed-up garbage and a dying dog.

“See honey, aren’t you glad we came this way,” was my response.

After we got past a rough start, the beach turned out to be exceptionally beautiful. It was a tremendous feeling to gaze into the never-ending Pacific contrasting the cramped city living of these last four weeks.

As we took bus 25 back into downtown, with its cramped spaces and unbreathable air, we both hoped we’d have good reasons to escape to the village again. With our time in Macau now coming to a close, that means we need one of you to visit us so we can take you there!

The Haircut

By Jenny on Mon, 29 Jan 2007

So, how do you communicate to someone that you want your hair cut without using words? I was lucky enough to find that out today.

Maeli and I strolled up to the front desk of the Pousada de Mong-Ha (fancy phrase for our hotel). I asked the clerk how much it usually costs to get a haircut. He said that if I went to an expensive salon it should run about 150 Patacas (19USD) but if I went somewhere cheap I could spend around 60 Patacas (7.50USD). I didn’t have 150 Patacas with me because I really didn’t want to spend that much on a haircut. I left the front desk with a recommendation for a “nice” salon and about 100 Patacas in my pocket.

We didn’t even look for the “nice” salon. A few days ago I noticed some cheap looking salons behind our hotel. I walked up to one and the door had some Chinese characters on it. What the hay! We walked in and it wasn’t busy at all.

A chinese man approached us with a look like, “Are you lost?” Of course not, Mister. We’re the crazy foreigners who come to the cheap Chinese place to get our hair cut to make your day just a little more interesting.

So I motioned that Maeli needed her bangs cut and I needed my hair trimmed. He seemed fine with that request and ushered us to some seats. He pulled out a pink booster seat for Maeli and decided that she would be first. I was hoping that he would do my hair first so that Maeli could get used to the whole idea of a strange man cutting Mommy’s hair. But, no… we were just going to dive in.

This Chinese man was probably in his late thirties but he was going for the early twenties look with faded tight jeans and cool sweater with English words scrambled all over. He had the hair and lips of Mac Jagger and the face of Johnny Depp… I mean the Chinese version of Johnny Depp. To top it off he had a silver stud in his left ear.

So Mac Jagger put a cape on Maeli and combed her hair all pretty. Then he crouched down so he could chop off a straight line of hair and Maeli started to cry. “Who is this spiky hair guy in my face with scissors???”

Like most Chinese, this guy was fast on his feet. He swung around behind Maeli and switched from the regular sheers to the thinning sheers. In about 4 minutes, he successfully cut her bangs without any more crying. She now has a nice feathered look in the front.

My turn! I gave Maeli some crackers and a book and then the cape was around my neck. He took a hair dryer and comb and started styling the back of my already dry hair. At home, Aunt Linda always wet and then divided my hair into neat sections. I was going to say something but I took the Aaron approach and let the situation ride out.

After my hair was combed under, The Johnny Depp side to this guy started to emerge. He cut the back of my hair like Edward Scissorhands. Fast snipping and erratic combing were all I could see in the mirror. Johnny Depp must have barely beat this guy for the role. I was beginning to feel like one of those lawn bushes.

When all was said and done, not a lick of English was spoken during the whole event. He only charged 45 Patacas for my cut and 20 Patacas for Maeli. I gave him 5 Patacas extra for the entertainment.

Asia's New Jersey

By Jenny on Mon, 29 Jan 2007

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.

Dealing With Steps

By J Aaron Farr on Sun, 28 Jan 2007

There is a conspiracy in China. In any place where one may be weighed down by luggage and young children, they build steps. I suspect the incentive is to encourage the local economy because wherever these steps are, so too is a throng of eager entrepreneurs anxious to make a few yuan by hulling my luggage up the stairs and to the train, taxi or boat. The rates range from quite reasonable (a few bucks USD) to rather ridiculous (you want $50 dollars for a flight of steps???). With little Maeli dancing between our three and a half pieces of luggage, I’m sure we look like prime customers. Giving in and trusting someone with all our goods can be a nervous experience but when we’ve finally ascended and decended all the flights of stairs between us and our destination, it was money well spent.

I’m not sure what is the most convenient way to get from Zhuhai to Macao. It might be by ferry. We took the land route. The ritual packing was finished by noon, and we climbed into a taxi that took us less than five miles to the border. From there we encountered the usual stairs and our luggage ended up on the cart of an old man who mostly spoke Cantonese. Then the waiting in lines began.

First we waited outside the China exit office… and then we waited inside. After getting our passports stamped (goodbye to China for now) we rushed to the Macao entry offices and waited again. All told it took us about two hours to get from The Holiday Inn of Zhuhai to the Pousada de Mong-Ha in Macao. Thus far we’ve been greeted by beautiful weather, palm trees, cars on the wrong side of the road, voices speaking Cantonese and signs in Portuguese. We’ll be here until February 1st when we’ll take the ferry to Hong Kong.