Macau, China

I haven't really done justice to Macau in this blog. Being so close to Hong Kong, we go so often it's become almost "ordinary" and so there doesn't seem a lot to write about. However, a lot of you haven't been to Macau and probably would like to know about it.

We're off to the movies shortly (maybe part two of John Woo's Red Cliff, about the wars between North and South China) so I'll have to put this on hold until I have more time, but, in the meantime, let me show you one aspect of Macau that makes it special:

THE FOOD!

Macanese food is so gorgeous I probably should do a full post about it, but since I don't have time now let me show you just one thing worth knowing:

Voila!
Ask and he'll cut a snip off
for you to taste.

Yup, it's sooo worth knowing that around the back of Sao Domingo, off Largo de Senato, in the alleyway up to Sao Paulo, there's ever so many food vendors and they're out on the street with samples of what's new and they let you taste their wares and everything is just so yummy.

Pork smoked in honey.
Each batch has different herbs
and spices mixed in.

Truly yummy!

And this little sweetheart let us sample her peanuts and sesame seed something:

Don't know what it is, but was
so nice we bought a pound of it.

So make note of it: the entire length of the alleyway, there are these amazing foods and you can sample everything. Whenever we have any spare time in Macau, Keith always says "Let's go see what's cooking." and so we saunter up the street grazing.

Keith's not back yet, so I probably have time to show you one more thing that makes Macau special:

THE COBBLESTONES!

For centuries, back in the colonial trading days, Portuguese ships traveled out from Europe empty - since China didn't want anything from The West believing, rightly I think, that everything they made was superior - so, because a ship can't sail empty, they used stone clinkers as balast, and then, once they reached Macau, they'd off-load them and fill the ship with tea and Chinese trade goods for the journey back. And since these stone clinkers were there, piled high, ostensibly as waste, sensible Macanese used them - an early example of recycling? - to build their pavements and roads. And they always arranged them in colours and built them into gorgeous patterns. Let me show you just a few of them:

Stunning, huh! I'd even argue it was these pavements and roads more than anything else that earned Macau it's current World Heritage listing.

And isn't it vaguely ironic that this Chinese refusal to buy anything from the West lead, on one hand, to the British starting the Opium Wars and, on the other, to truly stunning Portuguese pathways!

Keith has just rung to say I'm to meet him at the cinema in ten minutes so I can't show you anything else today!