#18 Macau

My mother’s maiden name was Morales (meaning: Place with abundant blackberry plants), while her mother’s name was Gomeze (meaning: Son of Gome, Gomo or Gomaro, also of Germanic origin), which are relatively common Latino names. However, she was born in the (former) Portuguese colony of Macau, which is a one-hour, high-speed ferry ride, south-west from Hong Kong. So, it was only natural for me (as a filho de Macau) to visit the old place when I first landed in Hong Kong.

 

If you ever visit Macau, there are two characteristics of the place that you should watch out for: 1) the mañana attitude of the locals and 2) the preservation of Catholic/Portuguese architecture.

 

 

You would never see anyone in Hong Kong walking around town in the middle of the road with their hands behind their backs! See what I mean about mañana?

 

The first time I visited Macau was in 1985.  This is when I took the photographs of this post and explains why they look kinda old (sort of sepia-like). The transformation of Macau in the past 20 years has been quite astonishing. Basically, the government of Macau adopted the Broken Windows theory that was highlighted by Malcom Gladwell in his book, The Tipping Point (see page 141). When I first visited Macau, the place was run down and seedy. As the photograph below illustrates, although the buildings were quaintly Mediterranean and the atmosphere was decidedly relaxed compared wth bustling Hong Kong, underneath the denegration, the town was basicly being run by gangs of triads who were fighting for control of the gambling and prostitution rackets that still dominate Macau’s economy.

If you go to Macau today, you will be hard pressed to see a building in this much disrepair. The place has been spruced up, and the crime rate has declined proportionately.

 

The preservation of the Catholic architecture is best illustrated by Macau’s main landmark, the ruins of the Cathedral of St. Paul’s (which was built by Jesuits and badly damaged in a fire in 1835). I have posted two images of the ruins, one of my pictures of the remaining facade, and a sketch from 1834 by Macau’s most famous documentor, the 19th century English artist, George Chinnery (who lived and drew/painted scenes of Macau for 27 years until his death in 1852 – i.e. 24 years before the birth in Macau of my great grandmother Esperanza).

 

Along with the highly visible churches, Macau’s Chinese temples have also been maintained, thus enhancing the East meets West feel of Macau and adding a splash of red to the usual pale yellows and greens. Here are two images of the A-Ma Temple - from my 1985 trip and a sketch by Chinnery from 1833.

As I have familial connections with Macau, I thought it would be appropriate to invest in two sketches by Chinnery (a banana tree and a junk – both of which are inscribed with his unique codes), which I have posted below.

 

#17 Smoker

I’m a smoker: I admit it. I’m a drug addict. I know it’s wrong. But how was I to know? I was 13 when I started, my father and his father smoked. It seemed the natural thing to do back in those days. There were no health warnings, although, on reflection, it seems pretty clear now that inhaling smoke is not a good thing for your lungs. Anyway, all the other guys at school (see below) were doing it.

 

Passing around those little No.6s in the fire escape of the dormitory.

The Jesuit priest who was our head of year at school used to roll his own. We were always impressed when he rolled one, with one hand, and we watched in awe as the thick smoke rose in the air above him. I moved from No. 6 to Benson and Hedges because my father smoked them.

 

 When I first arrived in Hong Kong I had given up smoking. It was mostly an economic decision, although, the process of stopping was something akin to a “moment”. I suddenly stopped while taking in a drag, and asked myself what was the purpose of inhaling in, and breathing out this stuff? As I couldn’t answer, I decided to stop. It worked. I started up again, several years later, because my wife-to-be was puffing away on very light Silk Cut – the ones in the yellow box.

I eventually switched to Salem Lights or Green as they have recently been rebranded.

 

The economics of smoking in Hong Kong are relatively friendly. Cigarettes are dirt cheap at HK$29 a packet (US$3.72 or Stg1.86). In fact, most people smoke duty free cigarettes brought over the border with China or bought at the airport by acquaintances. These only cost HK$11 a packet.

 

Hong Kong has been smoke-free in public places such as restaurants and bars for one and a half years, but you wouldn’t really know it. I haven’t seen a noticeable decline of smokers on the streets. In fact, our numbers have increased, as smokers from offices now congregate in particular areas of the street to pollute the atmosphere together. In the old days, smokers in the organizations I’ve worked for were allowed to smoke in their offices, or in special areas around the office, or in the fire escapes. Nikko had a special room for smokers, because the Japanese have always been the most accommodative of nations when it comes to cigarette smoking (they still have smoking flights). My current company actively encouraged it, with smoking at meetings common practice. The poor non-smokers were often forced into inhaling the smoke on a regular basis, because committee meetings used to take up most of the working day. In effect, they were smokers. The particularly nasty habit of leaving a cigarette to burn away in an ashtray, unattended, made the situation even worse. Some meetings were so bad that it was hard to see from one end of the room to another. The chain smokers didn’t seem to notice, as they were too busy stubbing out their cigarettes and starting up another. I made a point of never smoking in meetings, although, I got my fair share of nicotine just from breathing in the air.

 

Combining my daily nicotine and caffeine addictions should have produced some devastating damage to my insides. But, for the moment, the God’s have deemed that I can steer clear of the negatve effects of these terrible drugs, and simply enjoy the benefits.

 

What benefits? Well, other smokers will confirm that a cigarette after a meal somehow tastes goooood! Although smoking a cigarette produces an elevated heartrate, this could be good thing because the heart is being exercised. However, the effect can be neutralized by drinking coffee.