| Walking is the
best way get to know any city, and, more than most, Macau is a city
made for walkers. The town itself encompasses only about 21 sq. km.,
and one can easily walk from the Border Gate to the tip of Macau in
one day, taking in dozens of sights. This guide divides the former
Portuguese colony into eight separate walking tours to allow the
explorer to experience the full flavor of the colonial and modern city
as well as the outlying islands of Taipa and Coloane. Sure-footed and
lively, Todd Crowell takes one down narrow travessas (alleys)
into becos (patios), illuminating every nook in this
450-year-old city. He brings a sharp and well-informed eye to its
half-hidden history, its traditional shops and more appealing
restaurants. Discover Macau is a must for the casual visitor as
well as anyone seriously interested in exploring Macau.
Asia 2000 has also published Todd Crowell's
Tokyo, city on the edge and
Farewell, My Colony, Last Days in the Life of
British Hong Kong.
Critics Comments
"Macau as a destination usually gets tagged onto the
back pages of Hong Kong guidebooks, and as much as this practice
supports the idea that Macau only exists in the shadow of Hong Kong,
at least it means that people get to hear of the tiny, former
Portuguese-administered enclave.
"But it may be the case that it is less and less
easier for the non-gambler to see Macau as a pleasant and relaxing
contrast to the bustle and noise of its younger brother, Hong Kong.
The gambling sub-culture, particularly with the opening up of the
gambling concession and all that this means in terms of
multiplication, seems to be increasingly overshadowing the other
sub-cultures such as Portuguese and Macanese which have for centuries
contributed to the uniqueness of Macau. At the same time, ugly,
low-cost high rises are now literally shadowing the Chinese village
houses, the Portuguese colonial buildings, the quaint alleys and
leisurely lanes.
"But to see Macau only in
nostalgic terms and ignore its modern vitalities misses the point.
Macau is not a museum city; it is a living and breathing region with
its own survival and regeneration powers. Todd Crowell does not miss
the point. His pocket book, Discover Macau, which is
essentially the full description of eight walks across peninsular
Macau and the islands of Taipa and Coloane, gives meaning to
everything the visitor might stroll by. Instead of lamenting the
disappearance of this banyan tree or that coffee-serving cafe, he
proves that what can be seen in Macau is still relevant and
interesting, whether it is 400 years old or four months old."
Annabel
Jackson
The Asian Review of Books
July 2002
Seeing Macau on foot: A 15-year love affair with Macau by
author/editor Todd Crowell has been turned into a handy guide.
The first time I visited Macau was
to find an animal smuggler My flat-mate at the time, the late Anthony
Polsky, wanted to bring his treasured Burmese cats from his home in
Oregon into Hong Kong and couldn't abide being separated from them
during the six-month quarantine that was then in effect. Through the
help of some of his friends in Macau, we found the smuggler in an
ordinary pet shop just off the main drag, Avenida de Almieda Ribeiro.
For a price, he was quite willing to take the animals, consigned
legally to Macau, and then smuggle them past the marine police in to
Hong Kong on a sampan.
I didn't join my friend in the
receiving end of this operation, but can testify that one cat ended up
safely in Polsky's Mid-Levels apartment. The smuggling operation
worked flawlessly, but things didn't go so well in the US. One of the
cats jumped out of the window of the car on the way to the Portland
airport and was not seen again. That was the beginning of my 15 year
fascination with our smaller neighbour to the west, an association
that culminated with the recent publication of my new guidebook,
Discover Macau, a Walking Guide and History.
Looking back, I'm amazed at how much Macau has changed in that time.
When I first went there to look for our animal smuggler, the Senate
Square looked decidedly rundown. Not today. Cars are banned and the
square has been lovingly restored. Portuguese craftsmen were brought
in to fashion a wavy white and black pavement out of limestone and
basalt that gives the plaza its distinctive Mediterranean look.
In those days, the park at the top
of the Monte Fort housed only the small headquarters of the
Meteorological Department and was not very interesting to visit. Then
in 1994 an inspired decision was made to build in its place the Museum
of Macau, comprising three levels, detailing the history of Macau and
its people. The nearby ruins of St Paul's Church have also been
"restored" to the extent that the area behind the stone façade has
been smoothed over and a crypt for Japanese and Vietnamese Christians,
who built the church (400 years old this year) has been added, along
with a small sacred art museum. Of course, nobody would dream of
rebuilding the church itself (destroyed in an 1835 fire) since the
singularity of 'the standing stone wall is its chief fascination.
Since the 1990s the Macau
government has spent millions of patacas on restoring and polishing
the enclave's heritage - Portuguese and Chinese. You can see the
results everywhere in explosions of pink, red and orange. This
programme represents a fundamental difference as to how Macau and Hong
Kong have reacted to the resumption of Chinese sovereignty. Hong Kong,
of course, worries constantly about its precious autonomy, which it
defines almost totally in political terms, such as the rule of law and
democracy. Macau frets about maintaining its distinctiveness, which it
defines in cultural and architectural terms. Macau is a small place;
it could easily be absorbed into faceless, characterless Zhuhai across
the border.
But then the government has been doing a lot more than just restoring
old buildings. I can remember when the old Praia Grande still had
something of its original character, a languid place where one could
sit on the balcony of the old Bela Vista Hotel and watch the sampans
glide into the Inner Harbour. Now, of course the praia has been all
but obliterated by an enormous reclamation project that has created
two artificial lakes" enclosed by a sweeping expressway.
This project has become the
platform for some rather bizarre monuments, such as the black,
slab-like gateway to "harmony," that looks sort of like the black
stele from Stanley Kubrick's film 2001, a Space Odyssey The years
immediately before the 1999 handover were obviously bountiful ones for
Portuguese architects. One wonders, too, what will happen when the Las
Vegas impresarios who won two of the three new gambling concessions
get their hooks into the enclave. But for the moment, anyway, enough
of Macau's heritage and charm remains to keep aficionados happy and
coming back.
The Correspondent
Best foot forward for walks In Macau
“The author, a Hong Kong resident, has been visiting
the enclave regularly since 1987, and he is captivated by its past.
His desire to share his fascination with the less obvious aspects of
the former Portuguese trading outpost has produced an invaluable
pocket guide that is perfect for the first-time visitor as well as old
hands jaded by apparent familiarity. He even manages a readable
summary of Macau’s rather obscure history.
“His analysis of the influences of religions and
peoples may be drawn from well-established sources, but succinctly
sets the scene for the sights and sounds to be found by the thoughtful
and observant on their explorations. Foot-slogging is the order of the
day as readers are encouraged to take one or more of eight walks. All
are bound by Crowell’s attention to detail and determination to
scratch beyond the surface of a place he describes as “seedy”. Macau’s
compactness makes it ideal for walking, yet it is only by going the
extra mile that a true picture emerges of a place that developed into
its current fascinating cross-cultural, social and political identity
through happenstance, expediency, greed and ambition.
“There are a few nuggets
among the usual litany of museums, temples, military remnants, tourist
hot spots and the dreaded places of interest. One is the site of the
annual “stamping of the belly button”. Every spring at Na Cha Temple,
children are marked with a large rectangular image on their stomachs
to ward off evil spirits. Another is the determinedly non-politically
correct thoroughfare that has survived modern sensibilities and whose
name translates as the Street of the Coolies.”
South
China Morning Post
Readers Comments
Extract
Copyright © Todd
Crowell
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