Macao, tiny place

I was pretty surprised one day when I was searching for Macao in Google Maps. I was expecting a visible small strap of land in South China that would turn out to be three islands, and then I would have found it. I searched and I searched, till finally I realized where it was; the sea between Macao and China is almost imperceptible, and you can't tell from a distance (of a satellite) that it actually is an island.(well, this image is from wikipedia... It seems Google map's terms of service forbids external use of its images, no matter the purpose, so.... no nice satellite photo for you - or you can try finding it by yourself, it can be fun. I live in Taipa island's waterfront, between Ponte Governador Nobre de Carvalho and Ponte da Amizade)
I hadn't realized before how long the Taipa - Macao bridges were. To have a better idea of how small Macao is, it takes around 5 minutes to cross the middle bridge by bus... And as you can see, this bridge is almost as long as Macau island itself!
I searched for information, and found that Macao has only 28.6 sq km land area, only around 2.6% Hong Kong's area. Another impressive number is the islands' population density: 17310 inhabitants per sq km! No wonder Macao buses are always full...

Contrasts

"Aahhh....nothing.....................................
.............Actually, I was just wondering about all these crazy buildings around us. And about how obvious are all the changes that Macao has been running through. You see, that construction is very soon going to be a huge casino... and what surprises me the most are......aqueles dois singelos edifícios, enfurnados no meio dessas mudanças loucas, parados no lugar onde sempre estiveram... (~those two humble buildings, just living on with all the changes, just as if nothing happened)"
No matter how fancy the stores in the casinos are, how many international events may happen, Macao's identity seems to remain always the same, and all changes seem to be received and incorporated in a surprisingly harmonious way.

A nightwalk in Macao

First of all, let's explain my motivations to write this text. I come from São Paulo, in Brazil. I think it's quite well-known, even abroad, for not being a very safe city... I don't use to take nightwalks in São Paulo... No, almost never...


Well, and something that drew a lot of my attention, and that I found very curious about Macao, is how safe it is, even in the darkest alleys, anytime between sunset and sunrise...

In our second day here, me and Olivia went from Taipa (where we live) island to Macau (main-island). We explored there till night, and like every prudent paulistano, decided to go home before 9pm. But, sad fact, none of us can read chinese... we took the right bus, but... wrong direction.
We stopped in a completely unknown place, and completely weird for us at that time. Dog race bets were being placed in the building beside us, and right in front, a street-market.

9pm, perfect time to buy fruit! Whoa, I was scared... The market atmosphere was completely isolated from the outside, completely different... It was a weird combination of colors and moods. The vivid colors of the fruits, the energy of the salespeople, but with that weak light, no other costumers around, and that such a weird end-of-the-day sensation you don't usually find in street-markets, but more likely in your tv room, right before you go to bed... when we got out of the market, once again, a completely different place...

By then, I was already so tired I can't remeber anymore how we got back to East Asia Hall... What I can remember is whoa, we walked a lot...


I was pretty scared in my first walk through the above alley.

"Follow me, I know a shortcut!" It was around 9:30 pm and we were returning from the supermarket when we decided to follow the girl, Yuna, who had been in Macao since the previous year. Mud, abandoned cars, and a "gutter moat" stood in our way.I take this shortcut pretty often nowadays... You can actually see people stopping around and chatting. Everyone uses it.

I just find it so curious... and fun... What about these abandoned cars? What about the huts in the way? Does anyone live there? This place looks miserable and abandoned, but the fact is, it isn't...


People and places here deliver such a variety of different moods and reactions to such different situations and scenes...


Yes, There is something about Macao...