The Detouring Doctor

Macau was settled by the Portuguese in the 17th century just a short ferry ride from the corresponding colony of Hong Kong developed by England. On lease from China until the close of last century they are still not completely integrated into China. Both colonies have their own currencies and border formalities even between each other. Both have their own legislatures but control is increasingly from Beijing. Hong Kong developed as a financial hub under the British as well as, of course a British port. In contrast Macao became a Portuguese port but developed as a gambling centre. Sometimes dubbed the Vegas of the East this little island state has 3 times the annual gambling revenue compared with Vegas.

Casinos are everywhere and here on Cotai Island the casino strip is a more impressive version of Vegas. Here you can see a massive replica of the Eiffel tower, Big Ben and the Venetian Bell Tower at street level.

I have selected the Venetian and am not disappointed. Apart from the luxurious accommodation there are 3 levels of shopping malls to rival the biggest shopping centres I have ever seen. There are 150 eateries, luxury labels abound and 5 massive casinos. What really impresses is the 3 huge long Venetian canals under a massive dome lit up as if it were the sky. We indulge in a gondola ride which is every bit as authentic in appearance as the Italian version.

The capitol city is Coloane and the main tourist sites reflect the Portuguese heritage of Macau. The pretty main square (Senado Square) is flanked by Portuguese buildings.

It is a short but steep climb to the Portuguese fort built in the 17th century primarily as defence against the Dutch. It seems like the Dutch and Portuguese regularly fought over Asian outposts those days.

From there down to the ruins of St Paul’s Cathedral. Built in 1637 it was destroyed by fire during a typhoon in 1835. The remaining front wall is now UNESCO protected and a popular site for locals and tourists alike.

St Paul’s Cathedral

Lunch at Cathedral Square

Last few pictures are night time at the casinos

Chris and I came to Leshan in 2004 to see the world’s second largest Buddha. In those days it was a long bus ride from Chengdu. Fast forward 20 years and once again the changes are stark. A sleek bullet train takes us there in 50 minutes. We arrive to a massive new visitors centre with all the mod cons.

The biggest change is less about China. We are now visiting the world’s largest Buddha following the destruction of the Bamian Buddhas previously the world’s largest. Situated in Afghanistan the vicious Taliban committed cultural vandalism in 2001 by laying explosives around the feet of these centuries old statutes and blowing them up for the simple reason that it is a representation of a religion other than their own.

The statue was hand carved out of the sandstone mountain between 713 and 803 AD. Standing 71 metres at the confluence of the Min and Dadu Rivers the monks of the day believed that the Buddha would calm the turbulent waters plaguing shipping vessels down the river. As it turns out the carved out debris deposit in the river did actually have that effect. The detail of this massive seated sculpture is remarkable right down to the curls on his head and fingers and toenails.

I hand over my passport and ready money for payment. We are at the ticket office for the Panda Breeding Research Stationon the outskirts of Chengdu. My passport is handed back to me and my money waved away with some Chinese words. The woman behind us interprets and says “there is no charge because your age”. There is a mixture of happiness at being able to enter for free tinged with realisation that I am getting on in years now.

As with everything in mainland China there is a paucity of information combined with the language barrier that hampers independent travel. Signage is in Pinyin lettering, almost no people speak any English and the internet and electronic information sources such as QR codes are on their own electronic platforms that do not interact with ours. Even credit card transactions are mostly with their own financial institutions and informatics rendering our cards useless and suddenly cash is king again! How retro!

I have stressed all night about getting tickets and entry and here we are with a rugby scrum of locals heading into the panda sanctuary with a minimum of hassle. My son Chris and I were here in 2004. We stayed at the now defunct Panda Hotel and visited the, since destroyed by earthquake in 2008, Wolong Panda Sanctuary. We were rewarded by a panda sightings but it was more of a zoo experience with a handful of pandas eating supplied bamboo in sparse enclosures and concrete pits.

Twenty years later and this is a totally different experience. The grounds are massive, green forested and with well maintained gardens. Obviously the pandas are not completely unrestricted but they have generous green, natural enclosures with space aplenty, vegetation including trees to climb. Breeding here seems to be successful and panda numbers are increasing which is fortunate as, in common with other species, deforestation is proving to be the biggest threat to the species’ viability in the wild.

The day starts just after dawn and is hectic early with large numbers of locals around the early enclosures. Nonetheless they were surprisingly less touristically “aggressive” than my experience in previous years and much more orderly. Content with our early sightings we head off for a coffee expecting to then have little to see as the pandas sated sleep the rest of the day off. We settle down after an hour and a half at the cafeteria. It is 9 am and a lot of the “early birds” are leaving. We are at a counter with glass walls up against a panda enclosure. Suddenly a couple of cuddly pandas amble into view and settle down to chow down on bamboo. Here we are spending morning tea with the pandas! Amazingly the next couple of hours wandering around are the best of the day and the crowds have dissipated.

As we leave I reflect on our amazing wildlife experience with this endangered species. Interestingly Suzanne and I are the only “round eyes” (non Europeans) in evidence all day. I smile inwardly that if this is the popularity of pandas to the local population then their future here surely must be assured.

Up until recently Chengdu was the gateway to Tibet. Whilst now one can fly in from Kathmandu or come in via rail from the north, my previous 2 visits to this city was as a stepping stone to visit Tibet. My first visit in 1992 had me on an alien travel permit in a city with only 3 hotels open to foreigners. Us foreigners had to use a different currency to locals and of course there was a different price for us for the same service brazenly advertised everywhere. Approaching locals then was met with a firm “meiyou” which translates to no and was the government directive to Chinese who stumbled upon one of us evil foreigners.

Fast forward 30 years and wow, how things have changed. Cars have replaced bicycles on the roads, massive new high rise buildings everywhere. Designer label shops and marquee cars on the newly built freeways.

We arrive in our central hotel and set out for a couple of hours’ exploration after lunch on Sunday. Our first stop is Tianfu square with a classic very 1960s Mao statute. From there off to the Renmin (People’s) gardens which was a hive of activity on a Sunday afternoon. The pretty green gardens and artificial lake was abuzz with locals. Shopping at the craft market, sipping tea, paddling boats and enjoying open air concerts. What fun to immerse ourselves in this unexpected slice of local life.

A subsequent afternoon sees us out to one of the many Buddhist temples. This city is in Sichuan province away from the western seaboard in the foothills of the Himalayas . For centuries a part of the Tibetan empire and hence the preponderance of Buddhist temples. Wenshu is the most popular. Built in 618 AD and reconstructed in 1706 it is Tibetan in style and it reprises my memories of my Tibetan Buddhist practises of the past.

Finally no visit to Chengdu would be complete for a foodie without paying homage to the unique signature dish that originated here. Mapo Tofu dates back to the Qing dynasty. The name translates to “pockmarked grandmother” a description of the elderly lady who first made this dish. The restaurant that made it started in 1874 and it is still here a bustling busy eatery where the signature dish is one of many Sichuan classics. Our trip to the restaurant sees us in a minor car accident, our taxi driver evicting us from the cab while he filed a report about the accident and us having to walk th final 25 minutes to the restaurant in a tropical deluge. Nonetheless the trip was worth it. Once again we are the only westerners here enjoying a culinary and historic classic.