"Magical Macau"

Joy e Len Rutledge assinam este artigo publicado a 3 de Novembro de 1978 no jornal "Papua New Guinea Post-Courier". Aborda, entre outros temas, os na altura novíssimos jetfoil, o hotel Lisboa (inaugurado 8 anos antes), os casinos... Inclui duas fotografias: Igreja S. Domingos e Casino Flutuante.

Magic and intrigue seem to go hand in hand with our thoughts of the Orient. We dream of smoke - filled rooms where shadowy figures plan deals worth millions or dream up plots to os, overthrow the world - Nowhere are these thoughts put more to the test than in Macau, that tiny Portuguese enclave on the south coast of China.

Our recent visit to Macau dispelled some notions that had been harboring in our minds but much of the magic, and intrigue remains. Here on the back porch of the People's Republic of China are rococo churches and tiled roof-houses, winding; cobblestone streets and sidewalk cafes, cannon - studded fortreses and old men wearing berets.

It was here that East and West first met. Their embrace started a love affair that continues to this present time. This is the oldest permanent European settlement in Asia. It's diverse people appear now to live together in peaceful and harmonious co-existence. It was not  always like this. Macau remains a mystery to many. You look up an airiline time-table and you don't find it listed, for Macau has no airport.  No cruise ships will list it as a port of call and there is no railway.

Unless you are a Communist Chinese, the only way to visit Macau is by boat from Hongkong. In fact there are three choices. The leisurely way is the 3 hours crossing by ferry. The popular way is the 75 minute trip by hydrofoil. We went the so-called exciting way by Boeing jetfoil.

The jetfoil ride is an experience in itself. These revolutionary craft "fly" on underwater wings. The result is the fastest and smoothest luxury passenger sea transport in the world.

Macau, like Lisbon and Rome, is built of seven hills and like those famous cities it too has a glorious and somewhere tempestuous past. The city has grown up with a Portuguese ambience which is proudly displayed in the charm of its buildings. its traditions and its religious festivals. But it is also a very Oriental city, alive with the pulsing rhythms of China, ancient and modern.

Macau is perhaps the most distinctly Chinese place left anywhere in the world. Or perhaps it is just what we Westerners would like China to be? 'We asked Gloria Azedo, our guide from the

Tourist Department, what she thought. Her answer confirmed our thoughts. "In China, the character of the cities: has been largely changed by modernisation and low cost housing  programs and many old Chinese institutions have been sunweased there as remnants of the past." 

In Macau, they all survive and in fact many thrive. There are the small Buddhist and Confucian temples, the traditional lotteries, the many pawnshops and markets and the timeless fishing junks at rest in the harbor.

Macau is surrounded by China. Through the border gate flows a steady stream of food, water and supplies. The so-called bamboo curtain seems hardly to exist here. We watched trucks with dual Macau and China number plates passing through the border with hardly a glance from the guards.

Clearly Macau, could not exist without the close co-operation of China. We wondered just how much, influence China has on life in Macau. There are stories of deals, of Red Chinese control of many activities, but no one will, feall'y say.

Equally Macau in its present form could, not exist without gambling. It is  currently the gambling mecca of the Far East. Macau has always existed by doing things that others considered too daring, dangerous or devious. At other times its major source of income has come from the illicit trade in gold and opium, acting as a middleman in the profitable China-Japan trade when the Chinese were forbidden to trade with Japan and from its opium dens, easy women and unregulated  gambling halls. 

All but the gambling has gone, but as if to compensate for the lost, notoriety gambling has diversified into virtually every form imaginable and its all legal and more highly organised, than ever before.

As the jetfoil approached the shore Macau looked as sleepy, as picturesque and anachron existeally colonial, as anything described by Somerset Maugham with one glaring exception. The exception is the improbable 600 room Hotel Lisboa, whose architecture should only exist in Disneyland, and the adjacent road bridge which rises in curved splendor to pass over the shallow muddy waters of the Pearl River Estuary.

Once you are ashore the atmosphere rapidly surrounds you. A stroll along the waterfront boulevard with its century old trees is a delightful experience. Turn a corner and in a moment you leave the Chinese vessel fishing scene and enter a world of pastel colored "palatios", 17th century-churches and-towering ruins that sneak of Europe.

You can stroll for a whole morning thourgh the humpbacked alleyways and barely see a  European face, yet around the corner are avenues lined with ancient banyan trees which should only exist in Meditarreanean Europe.

Gambling in Macau never stops and, once in Macau, it is almost impossible to avoid a visit to a casino. All city tours include a stop on the itinerary and even if you decide to see Macau on foot we strongly advise you to visit either the casino in the Hotel Lisboa or the floating Macau Palace.

The Lisboa casino has a quiet luxury about it with its carpeted softly clean and well ordered rooms. The floating casino, which was featured in the James Bond film "Man with the Golden Gun", has a more exotic Chinese style of decoration and certainly more noise. There is no entrance fee or formality and without spending a dollar you can watch little old ladies rubbing shoulders with, systems operators and raw tourists.

Distinctions of race, culture and language disappear when the chips are down; then they are all simply gamblers. You will either find the casinos invigorating or depressing. We confess to finding the fanatical gamblers - engaged in - a rather squalid pastime and our stay was fairly short.