Traditional Macanese Food at Cafe Litoral

Cafe Litoral is a smaller version of Restaurant Litoral, a well known restaurant chain in Macau.

At Cafe Litoral on Taipa Island we dined on traditional Macanese food which is a blend on many different flavors including African and of course Portuguese and Chinese.

Macau: Nga Tim Seafood Reataurant

Enjoy a Chinese seafood style dinner like the locals at Nga Tim, an el fresco restaurant on Coloane Island.

Incredibly good, the owner is a warm hearted, entertaining man.

And the food was awesome.

These are drunken prawns because they soak them in alcohol until they're dazed then tossed in a pot. Yes, you'll see them moving around--I couldn't look.

These are Pee Pee shrimp because you have to massage the shell to get the meat out. It comes out fairly easily. So delicious.

Macau: Taipa Village

This used to be an open air market. For a while, it was encased in steel walls and was destined to be destroyed until historical researchers discovered its original use.

You'll find Antonio, a Portuguese fine dining experience. And you might come on a night with special live performances of traditional Portuguese Faldo.

Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East Book Review

(This may or may not be cross-posted on Yahoo. It's quite likely it'll be rejected because they tend to be fairly conservative over there. A post on Teen Coming Out parties was rejected because of Yahoo guidelines on material content.)

A good book gets you excited to read something else. And even more. That’s what the Harry Potter books did for me. As did Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East. 

The book by Australian journalist and TV writer Benjamin Law was released in Australia in 2012 but is only getting its first US publishing this June. Documenting queer life, Law traversed Asia in 2010. The fastest changing continent on the planet, many of Law’s portraits are of Out and are dated. But never outdated. In fact, the erstwhile traveler witnessed monumental change in India, experiencing firsthand the aftermath of the repeal of Section 337, India’s law that criminalized homosexuality. That it was four years ago doesn’t render Law’s keen observations and meticulous depictions less relevant.

The book contrasts the over the top rise of transsexual television personalities in Japan to the unstoppable ascension of ex-gay organizations in Malaysia. The outlandish procession of Thailand’s transsexual pageant queens and the colorful proliferation of gay travel spots in Bali are underscored by the bleakness of Myanmar’s sex trade which lends to the country’s increasing HIV rates. According to Law’s sources, 15,000-20,000 people in that country are dying from lack of antiretroviral treatment. 

While Myanmar’s sex trade is as pervasive as Bali’s, it remains one of the poorest countries in Asia. Prostitutes can sell themselves for 3000-7000 kyats per hour, equal to 4-9 US dollars. On slow nights, the rates can go down to 500 kyats, approximately 65 cents in America. Bali’s dependency on tourism, no matter the nature, has its costs as well—the erosion of its environment and culture, Law notes.

I read a small excerpt of Gaysia prior to my trip to Macau. The section on China retold how in the late 90s, LGBT only discovered what they were feeling thanks to the emerging internet. With no outlet and certainly no LGBT center, they met through the forums and websites, many of which were pornographic.

In talking to the only 2 publicly out gay people of a 600,000 population, I found that that was an accurate representation of 2014 Macau. Apps like Grindr are used to meet other LGBT and not just for sex. The only thing close to a gay bar is a wine shop that is gay-owned.

Since reading, I’ve used Gaysia as a model of precision story-telling. In his journeys, Law doesn’t impose judgment on his subjects, cavorting with “gay ghosts” in China as much as conversion religiosos in Malaysia. He’s equally fascinated with marriage beards as he is with the facial growth of Swamiji Baba Ramdev who ties anti-gay rhetoric into his contortionist yoga instruction to 80 million followers worldwide. The diversity of presence that he witnesses instills a deeper pride within himself of his identity.

Law’s story provides a spine but he’s careful never to outshine the stories of his subjects and of the continuingly changing life in Asia. 

In the section on India, Law encounters a closeted man on the train who bemoans the organizers of gay parties who charge relatively high admission prices but give nothing back to the community that fought so hard to decriminalize homosexuality. Unlike many tourists, Law delves beyond the flashiness of falsies in Thailand and Kawai queers on Japanese television. He uncovers multifaceted issues in the flamboyance and façade such as with Myanmar’s NGOs that focus on HIV education but are pillaged and forced to act as pimps by their government overseers.

Some may be tempted to skip over the underbelly of issues that Law presents and just go for the romp, as the book is highly entertaining. But as the author demonstrates, the complexity is there for the seeing if people care to look. Gaysia is worth the look.

Japanese Toilets at Galaxy Resort's Banyan Tree Hotel

I geeked out at the Galaxy Resort’s Banyan Tree Hotel rooms because of the toilets.

I just read in the Wall Street Journal that there’ll be increased distribution in the US for these Japanese toilets. I’ve seen them at Dwell at Design and at CES but never had time to take a look at them closely.

I wished I had to use the restroom to try them out—they have all these cool features.

Warm seats and different bidet modes are just the beginning. They also can synch with your mobile device to play music.

You can choose your pillow preference

Yes, this is in a suite

Macau: Outdoors in the Neighborhoods

The government of Macau pays attention to its citizens.

In many places, you’ll find free outdoor gyms where locals get fit.

As residences tend to be fairly small, people spend a lot of time outdoors.

 In fact many people construct balconies to get more room.

The community maintains the area while public restrooms are maintained by the local district government.

You'll find many shrines for varying honoring.

This one is dedicated to the Monkey King and is on the cusp of Camoes Garden.

There are many Tai Chi classes that you can participate in--the normal procedure is that you speak to the instructor and take them out to lunch to ask if you can join.

Joining was one of the most emotional highlights of my trip because of the sheer generosity in spirit of the people.

A scene from a Bruce Lee movie was shot here.

Macau: Ruins of St. Anthony

Only the facade remains of this church, but the destruction wasn't an invasion. It was fire.

Along with the facade and several large blocks of the original building, you can walk down the stairs to a small gallery made up of several rooms. Recovered artifacts are showcased.

If you go up the long set of stairs to the right facing of the facade, you'll reach the top of the fortress with amazing views. There's also a museum up there.

The House of Dancing Water Extravaganza at City of Dreams Resort

I’m not a fan of touristy shows. No matter how spectacular they are, story always outweighs spectacle. That makes for a meaningful experience for me.

But I wanted to like The House of Dancing Water, the show that packs in 2000 people each night in Macau at the City of Dreams Resort.

And it is a spectacle. An amazing water pool has motorized stages including the towering sails of a ship rising from the depths to the ceiling then completely disappearing, incredible feats of athletics including gymnastics, stilt walkers, contortion, high diving, water acrobatics, and pyramiding, and BMX motorcross, and bombastic music and theatrics. 

But I didn’t get the story. 

And I didn’t get the casting.

From the mind of Franco Dragone, known for his Cirque de Soleil shows, you’d expect more spectacle than anything decipherable as far as story. More concept than anything else, it’s supposedly a familiar love story with some dude saving a captured princess from an evil person. Then there’s a fisherman and some African tribes who help the dude and a lot of hot pirates swinging their hot bodies on ropes and diving in the water. Luckily we didn’t sit in the front rows or else we’d get wet. Most who did brought umbrellas and ponchos—blankets were handed out as well.

I didn’t understand why the dude was white. In fact, most of the pirates were white. So was the evil queen. The princess was Asian and so was the fisherman who I guessed turn into the next ruler.

As strong as the Chinese diving program is, I didn’t understand why there weren’t more Chinese performers. This was Macau, after all!

This is the only theater that this can be performed—it utilizes 1.7 million gallons of water which is more than five Olympic sized swimming pools, and it’s been going on for four years now. 

The use of different hydraulic stages is unique with different levels of water play at any given moment.  The press info says that the costumes are made of neoprene which makes the costumes able to withstand the effect of water and the cosmetics are water proof, imported from France.

The use of the contortionist and the pyramiders, all of African descent, was quite odd…and seemed a little racist. Anytime a group of people are depicted as a group of people and not individual is bound to be taken as such. 

But the biggest problem is the odd story. If there weren’t an attempt at a story, I’d be happy with just a feature of incredible athletics. Instead this mixture of spectacle and story doesn’t splash down with any resonance.