Macau

Had just enough time yesterday for a quick trip to Macau which, if you don’t know, is a Special Administrative Region like Hong Kong. First settled by the Portuguese in the 16th century, it was handed back to China in 1999 making it the both first and the last European colony in China.

The fact that it’s a Special Administrative Region meant that we had to get our passports stamped on both ends of our journey. We knew that, of course, and were prepared for it, but we weren’t prepared for the long lines which added another hour to the trip.

While on the ferry we were shown a video of how to sneeze into a tissue, and how to properly dispose of it afterwards. We were handed special health declaration forms by a woman in a mask and rubber gloves. At the ferry exits in both Macau and Hong Kong, there were two men in lab coats and face masks manning an infrared scanning device, surrounded by several armed military personnel, also wearing face masks, standing ready to escort anyone who showed up hot on the scanner to a quarantine camp. Thankfully, we waltzed right through.

Not sure what to expect at the airports when we fly home tomorrow.

The ferry terminal is walking distance to several large Las Vegas-style casinos which would’ve been fun to see at night, but since we were there in the daytime, we opted to head for the historic district, instead, which is also walking distance to the ferry terminal, but not without working up a sweat in the relentless humidity while dodging hundreds of speeding cabs and gazillions of scooter-riding kids. Scooters are definitely the way to handle the narrow and bumpy streets that wind up and down the hilly city. It made me wonder why I didn’t see more of them in Hong Kong.

I was scheduled for a special dinner back in Hong Kong so we didn’t as much time as I would’ve liked, but I’m glad we went. It’s a lot more different from Hong Kong than I expected. I read that Macau is one of the wealthiest cities in the world — and was told that despite being hardly more than a shoe box (granted a luxurious shoe box) Macau’s Louis Vuitton store is the fifth busiest in the world. But like Las Vegas or Atlantic City, Macau’s gaming cousins in the U.S., Macau’s high rolling wealth is offset by ramshackle outskirts, including entire blocks of corrugated metal shacks and dilapidated apartment buildings with birdcage balconies.

We arrived back in Hong Kong with just enough time for me to shower and change for a special VIP dinner at a private residence located at the top of Hong Kong’s famous peak. Tried as I could to finagle an invitation for Deborah, too, I just don’t have that kind of pull. The party doesn’t know what it was missing. Deborah was jealous of course — being picked up by a limo, served a bottomless glass of champagne and a delicious meal in a beautiful house with a beautiful view among famous artists, designers, VIPs, CEOs, and Hong Kong socialites — but I was equally jealous of her, with time to herself to luxuriate in the hotel without feeling like a fish out of water the way I did — trying to explain who I am or why I’m here.

To simply say, “I designed the Stephen Sprouse room,” was enough for some — “Oh congratulations, the room looks great” — but for one Chinese writer from Shanghai in particular, I needed to provide a full length resume and she still didn’t seem to understand why the hell I was there. Understandable, I suppose, in a room full of people where just a name should suffice.