Not Quite Leaving, yet...

I left Macau by Hydrofoil at night, already checked in for my flight at the port, with still a lot of time to kill at Hong Kong Airport, a fitting metaphor for re-entry in the Western world.

This has been the most exhausting trip I have ever taken; other previous trips might have felt as hard to me at the time, though I am not sure that time alone has just dulled their hardships. It is difficult at this time to gauge what I have learned from my present experience (other than it not being finished, it ain’t over till it’s over; I hope there are no”exciting surprises” around the bend), I hope it will turn out to be somehting upbeat and useful. Thank you all, my friends, for following my trials and tribulations: I wanted to share them, as a way to immaterially be with you, in the world that I call mine, but that in part of the year is just too cold for me. Soon it’ll be spring and I will be back home.

Although this is going to be my last written entry on this blog, I will continue to post the best of the hundreds of pictures I have taken in Macau, though at the time of this writing I am back in New York and while it is officially Spring, it is raining heavily.

Exotic Fun at Macau's Fisherman's Wharf, Continued

The Charm of Macau's Fisherman's Wharf, Continued

Nonetheless (or perhaps contributing to the commercial failure) hotel rooms are expensive, in the 3-400 US $ range (minimum) for the most renown brands, all the way down to almost Chinese standards in the “local” part of town, far from the casinos and closer to the historical parts. Once I found the historical center, I realized Macau does indeed have some charms and most visitors seemed to agree with me, since they mostly congragated in the Portuguese built XVI century castle, the facade remainings of the St. Paul church and the dedalus of streets surrounding them, which had the feeling of both Europe and a much gentler Far East. I ended up spending my time in Macau there, recurring to the casinos only for their convenient free shuttles, which I used as transportation.

Macau, Arrival

Leaving Bangkok Airport, Landing in Macau

From Bangkok, I took a flight to Macau. Despite all kinds of lores (including the current “it makes more money than Las Vegas”), mine was the only flight arriving during the hour plus I spent at the airport, which has no jetways and seems really like a “regional” one in the US. I was promptly picked out of the crowd by two zelous police official (man and woman, god created them) for an interview with their dog, who didn’t find anything to talk about, in spite of the handlers’ insistence, I petted the dog and was allowed to continue without further interference. The impression of the place is somnolent: the casinos are concentrated around the airport (new batch, with new Las Vegas franchises like the Venetian) and the sea port, where the quainter and kitschier settled in the beginning. I am tempted to ascribe the lack of congestive activity to the 2009 economic downturn, but both and either casino areas seemed rather deserted, except some indication of life right at the green tables and slot machines. All the shops, high end and low were deserted; most in fact downright closed, especially at the super kitsch “Fisherman’s Wharf”, a failed theme shopping mall (judging form appearences during my stay) where iconographic references of Ancient Rome, Ancient China and modern day Middle East by way of Hollywood and Las Vegas fail to conflagrate in a commercial bonanza.

Flying away from Bangkok