Macau: Do you know that Macau is not my real last name?

Original link: https://macin.org/2023/05/02/macau-day/

Since completing the Hainan check-in 4 years ago, 34 provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions and municipalities across the country have been unlocked. Since then, every time I go to a place, I will choose to live like a local for a day. If you also like unconventional travel, don’t like Internet celebrity attractions, and improper travel “special forces”, pay attention to “little hands with chopsticks” and show you something different.

Only those who love to travel know how good it feels to be on the road frequently.

Just like there is always an unknown front waiting to be explored in life, instead of being trapped in a courtyard, it turns out that I really need “Miss Li” of “a piece of grassland”.

Get rid of the bad habit of getting up at 7:00 and starting work at 8:00, let us wake up at 9:30 and start a holiday full of energy. I live opposite Hengqin and next to the Jockey Club at the Roosevelt Hotel. I thought I could prostitute a horse race for free. Unexpectedly, there were no races in the past two days, which was a little disappointing.

If you want to experience it, remember to check the races on the official website of the Macau Jockey Club in advance. 20 MOP (Australian dollars) can be used as both an admission ticket and a gambling fund. This is too intuitive for me who does not understand the rules of indoor casinos.

Here, the bus costs 6 MOP once, regardless of the distance, so it is very important to prepare change for the bus every day. The starting price of a taxi ride is 19 MOP. Although it is not too expensive, it is really not cost-effective for two people. If you are traveling as a family, it is still feasible in the small area of Macau.

Set off to visit the vegetable market, which is often called “street market” by the locals. Iao Hon Market is located on the main island of Macau, and it is basically one of the markets closest to the Gongbei Port.

Before entering the central area of the market, the atmosphere of life along the way becomes richer. There are temporary stalls selling all kinds of items, and the stalls selling sacrificial supplies surprised me a bit. There are so many varieties, there are even underwear and pet cats and dogs that can be burned for deceased relatives.

The prices of fruit shops are reasonable. The large green grapes and yellow oranges are both good in appearance. The price is on par with the boutique fruit shops in the mainland. But 30 pounds of durian is really cheaper than many places in the mainland. Coupled with the exchange rate of 1:0.83 and the blessing of red envelopes from Jack Ma’s blue wallet, I decided to buy one for breakfast.

Sitting with a box of durian meat in the small garden by the street and eating, next to the stools are uncles playing chess and mothers and aunts chatting, instantly blending into the local environment.

There are two big trees in front of the Iao Hon Market, and the buds sprout together with the spring. After entering, the first floor is full of aquatic products. Different from the aquatic product market in the mainland, the aquatic product market in the coastal area is my favorite place to visit.

In Chongqing, the fresh aquatic products sold in the farmer’s market are basically crucian carp, silver carp, grass carp, carp, plus loach, eel, various snails and so on; while in this city near the sea, fresh yellow croaker, eight Claw fish, squid, and prawns abound, and the prices are quite exciting. Seeing that I was about to fall into someone’s shop, my husband quickly reminded me that “there are no cooking tools where we live”, it seems like who doesn’t know.

The second floor is a vegetable shop, and the third floor is a livestock and poultry shop. There is a Yaohan hawker building next to it that sells cooked food, and there is a small flower shop between the two buildings. Clothes are sold on the first floor, which is roughly on the same level as the clothes sold in mainland markets, and there are not many shops open.

There are many cooked food stalls on the second and third floors. The booth setup is a bit like a university cafeteria. The bustling level is like a community cafeteria. It is hard to find one during meal time.

Most of the food is wonton noodles, rice rolls, fried noodles, porridge, beef offal, which can be seen everywhere on the street. The key is the price is touching. A bowl of various fried stuffed rice is only 50MOP for two people. A cup of iced soy milk wakes up the stomach and wakes up the day at the same time.

The territory of Macau itself is very small. If you can still feel the atmosphere of a big city in the casinos on the Taipa side, then you can basically rely on two legs on the main island. After coming out of the street market, I strolled to the Three Lights, officially named “Galumier Circle”.

This place is similar to a small square, stretching out like an octopus to 7 or 8 streets, and there is a lamp post in the middle of the circle. Although there are four shining light bulbs, no matter which direction you look at it There are three lamps, so it is called “three lamps”.

Open-air stalls, Filipino women gathering in the square, South Asian girls taking selfies, Vietnamese noodle shop, Myanmar chamber of commerce…the exotic atmosphere here is brought to the extreme.

Along the road of the block, it is almost the most famous old street in Macau, “October Fifth Street”.

The first time I know this street is because of a TVB drama called “Moonlight on the Fifth of October”. When I was walking on the street, I found a photo album about the old street on the Fifth of October in the bookstore. Many people come here to miss this old street.

And this interesting name has nothing to do with the fifth day of October in the Chinese lunar calendar. The reason is that the Macau-Portuguese government commemorated a revolution that overthrew the monarchy in Portugal on October 5, 1910. Meng Street was renamed Fifth Street in early October.

On this street, I sat for several hours in the Dalongfeng Tea House .

The sun was very hot, and it was very hot to walk outdoors, so I found a teahouse to rest and have a cup of tea. Unexpectedly, it turned out that Dalongfeng is the only teahouse in Hong Kong and Macau where you can drink tea and listen to Cantonese opera. Before, I only knew Tang Disheng’s “The Emperor’s Flower” and “The Story of the Purple Hairpin” in Cantonese opera. Today, I was groggy and sipped the boss’s special tea, and I listened to the whole afternoon performance inadvertently.

I know a little about Quyi, and I have specially taken Kunqu Opera courses, and I have also been familiar with our local Sichuan Opera Troupe. For me, Cantonese Opera is a superimposed buff of Quyi + voice. If Bai Xuexian’s Princess Changping is my first impression of Cantonese opera, then listening to “Luoshui Menghui” and “Under the Moon” sung by some uncles and mistresses here will let me talk about Chinese folk tales It deepened the impression that art itself is not high or low, but the arias of “Emperor Flower” that say home and country are bound to be better.

After a few songs, the audience in the audience felt at ease. I couldn’t help but chatted with Abo who played the huqin. Abo was very happy to learn that I had learned the erhu for more than ten years. In fact, I wanted to get close to see if I could Couldn’t try Arbor’s gao hu.

The little brother who plays the dulcimer is the only young man in their spontaneous team. The rest of them play the gongs, drums, flute, fuyueqin, and huqin. It is quite happy to live like this in retirement.

After killing time in the teahouse, I followed the sunset to the Xiahuan Market to eat something. Unexpectedly, the fourth floor of the Xiahuan Market turned out to be the library of the Civic Activity Center. I couldn’t stand the temptation, so I sat down and watched it for two more Books for an hour (the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government donated a lot of books here), it was almost dusk after I came out of the library, and the dinner I planned to have at the Xiahuan Cooked Food Market was wasted, and the market was almost closed.

I can only continue walking with my legs that have taken 20,000 steps, hoping to find delicious comfort and visit the Wu Zang Temple. After all, it was treated badly because of the pursuit of spiritual food.

Beef offal pot, Liuxin chocolate dirty cake, egg tart, when my stomach felt full and not empty, I finally recovered some strength, took the bus back to the hotel, thinking about going to see the colleges and universities in Macau .

As for why it must be Macau University of Science and Technology, because its abbreviation is “MUST (must)”.

This school established in the first year of the 21st century is really too young, and it complements the Wynn Palace, Venetian, Londoner, and Parisian next door. I sometimes wonder whether the ascetic study advocated by the ancients is not feasible in Macau, or whether the key to the test is to find tranquility amidst the hustle and bustle.

It’s the graduation season of 2023 undergraduates. I almost forgot that I can still be so light when I saw the young girls wearing their bachelor’s uniforms and taking pictures with flowers and bears, and the youthful figures galloping on the sports field under the lights. . As long as I move, worry will never catch up with me.

Chopsticks Little Hands Travel Notes:

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