Macau casinos sit side by side with Portugese and Chinese heritage

Just a short ferry ride from Hong Kong, fast-growing Macau is a fascinating mixture of new and old.

The ruins of Sao Paulo Church in Macau.

The signs on the street hint at Macau’s multiple personalities but don’t reveal the charm to be found inside. “Casa De Cha Long Wa” says an ageing Portuguese sign, just above a second banner, in Chinese script and equally old, also welcoming patrons to Long Wa Tea House, a wonderful corner of old Macau that sits just across the street from a busy produce market.

Atop a tired set of stairs, it is a sprawling space of plywood booths and folding chairs where tea and yum cha delicacies have been served for decades. Busy from early morning, patrons no longer bring their caged birds here but a fading photo of Mao Zedong hangs on a wall and at weekends artists continue to gather at the old tables to practise their crafts.

With its faded turquoise walls and enduring atmosphere, Long Wa Tea House is like an Eastern version of an old Italian cafe, and not what we expected when we arrived in this commercial corner of Macau earlier in the morning, headed for the distinctive brick Red Market opposite, where locals buy fresh fish and vegetables.

Then we leave the market via its back entrance, cross a little side street, past outdoor vendors selling bunches of flowers and racks of cheap clothes, and the appearance of the original signs to the tea house hint at yet another version of this surprising city.

Macau, former Portuguese enclave and, since 1999, Special Administrative Region of China, is not always what it seems. With its ever-expanding skyline, the first sight for many visitors arriving from Hong Kong via fast ferry are skyscrapers and the seemingly endless parade of cranes that tell of the settlement’s continuing construction boom.

This is not just a place of newness, but of renewal and long traditions, where Chinese and Portuguese influences sit as comfortably together as the shiny new casinos and old villages. The most densely populated country or dependent territory on Earth, with 640,000 residents crammed into 30sq km, Macau is a place of showy architecture and carefully restored Macanese houses, three-star Michelin restaurants and tiny takeaways, and a melange of cooking styles that boost its gastronomic credentials. Contrasts are among Macau’s greatest allures. One minute it is an old teahouse, where the air of past decades lingers below slowly turning ceiling fans. The next it is Disneyland, or Asia Vegas, on steroids.

Macau excels at flashiness, and that is especially obvious in the newish Cotai district. A few years ago, this area did not exist. The 5sq km on which Cotai and its many edifices now stand is reclaimed land, and it links two of Macau’s previously separate areas, Taipa and Coloane. A fourth district, the Macau Peninsula, is the commercial hub. It is hard to imagine the first of the new breed of casinos opened on this once non-existent piece of land just a decade ago.

Today, Cotai is a hub of gambling and tourism, all done on a scale to rival Las Vegas.

Already there is a Venetian-styled resort, complete with gondola rides, and an enormous Eiffel Tower replica has been built, ready for the opening of a Parisian-themed centre later this year. The massive Wynn Palace, still under construction, will welcome guests via cable car.

At one end of Cotai sits Galaxy Macau, almost a small suburb with its six hotels, 120 restaurants, about 200 shops, multiple casinos and cinemas. Taking up one of its three gold towers is the 31-storey Banyan Tree Macau, opened in 2011 and billed as the territory’s first high-rise urban resort. Its villas come with private pools and gardens, while suites have Japanese-inspired wooden bath tubs and their own indoor “relaxation pools”. Floating in your air-conditioned swimming space, many floors up and within steps from your bed, and gazing at a futuristic skyline might seem like a surreal experience, but in Macau it somehow feels luxuriously acceptable.

The hotel is linked to Galaxy Macau via a vast deck featuring multiple outdoor pools and gardens, an artificial beach, a wave pool and rapids. This is two storeys above street level, so you can wander, slide, swim or walk at leisure, away from the drone of the traffic below.

When you can relax no more, a pocket of old Macau is surprisingly close. Taipa is a quaint village, separated from Cotai by a busy street and an under-construction light rail system. Sitting in the shadow of Cotai’s glitzy towers, its cobbled streets display an eclectic but soothing mix of Macau’s heritage. The Taipa-Houses Museum features five restored Macanese buildings from the 1920s, and provides an intimate insight into old Macau. For a more current perspective, wander the village’s streets and lanes in the early morning when the comparatively few people about are heading to or from the local market. At night, the narrow thoroughfares are full of revellers sneaking free food samples from the stalls on the pedestrian route Rua do Cunha or spilling out of an Australian-themed bar.

A few blocks away, and inside one recently restored building with a dark wood-stained trim more suggestive of Europe than Asia, a Portuguese guitarist sings of old Lisbon over a rich repast of goat’s cheese and grilled cod. Antonio Coelho has been presenting Portuguese food at his eponymous restaurant Antonio since 2008, importing most ingredients from his homeland. A meal here, beneath a beamed ceiling and to the sounds of traditional fado music, is quintessentially Portuguese — and, in turn, most definitely of Macau.

Taipa is connected by three long bridges to the Macau Peninsula, home to many of the city’s best-known sights, including the ruins of St Paul’s, an old church facade that has become the city’s symbol, and the adjoining Museum of Macau, housed in a fortress built by the Jesuits in the 17th century. Both are in the UNESCO World Heritage-listed centre, which contains the oldest lighthouse in China, as well as a colourful mix of historic oriental and western architecture.

With its public squares and meandering streets, ambling through this area can reveal some delightful surprises. Wander down the steps from St Paul’s, past the endless stalls selling peanut candy and sheets of dried meat, and turn left. From a Chinese scene just metres ago, you will find yourself in a square from old Europe, with an ornate fountain, mosaic-tiled cobblestones, and yellow-hued buildings with shuttered windows. A few metres away again, at a Portuguese cafe exuding the strong aroma of freshly ground coffee, an elderly man sits at a table for one and sips a glass of wine before his midday meal of salted cod.

There are other faces of Macau. A few minutes from here, the gracious mix of European and Asian architecture gives way to a sensual overdose. The area around the Hotel Lisboa, a retro tower that has been a prominent feature of Macau’s increasingly tall skyline since 1970, is hectic any time. Outside the Wynn Macau, a free fire and water show plays every 15 minutes, while the nearby Grand Lisboa Hotel, shaped like a giant lotus flower, has 1.2 million LEDs covering its bulbous base.

To restore a sense of peace, head back towards Taipa and stop at Coloane, Macau’s version of the great outdoors. An area favoured by expats, it is comparatively green and boasts several beaches. In true Macanese style, Coloane will soon be home to a seven-star hotel but for now there is solitude to be had by simply stopping at a small square to dine, hawker-style, under a starry sky, or strolling the waterfront at dusk, munching on a warm Portuguese egg tart from Lord Stow’s, famous for its baked goods since the late 1980s.

Birds twitter in the trees as the day ends and, true to Macau’s great love, another meal awaits.

CHECKLIST

For details of accommodation, sightseeing, dining and entertainment, contact the Macau Government Tourism Office. More: [phone]; visitmacao.com.au. Banyan Tree Macau has a special package including two nights’ accommodation, breakfast and MOP1000 ($173) credit for use at the hotel’s restaurants, spa or gallery. More: banyantree.com.

Cathay Pacific operates more than 70 flights a week between Australian ports and Hong Kong, including four daily flights from Sydney and three from Melbourne. More: 131 747; cathaypacific.com.au.

Fiona Harari was a guest of Macau Government Tourism Office, Banyan Tree and Cathay Pacific.