Macau Photo Walk – Part 3

Once you get away from the touristy side of Macau (see Parts 1 & 2) there are some great back streets full of thriving traditional communities which look like they date back some considerable time. With camera in hand, I ventured inside the labyrinth of narrow alleyways to explore how some of the locals live.

Old Macau Community

Our journey begins outside a tattered old two-story building with a precarious-looking balcony on the first floor crowded with washing lines and electricity cables hanging haphazardly all over – clearly pre-dating a lot of our modern conveniences.

Hidden Life

The alley at the back of the buildings opens up into a small residential street lined with the detritus of many years of everyday life taking place in a world that time forgot. Those who live here appear to be mainly older folk looking after their grandchildren.

Welcome Home

Scarred doorways left ajar shed little light on what lies beyond their threshold. Who knows what secrets they hold…

Entrance to Another World

Just inside another gated entrance black and white family portraits can be seen hanging from the wall. Whether these are of the present inhabitants from younger days or a shrine to the deceased I’m not sure.

Rusty Ride

A rusting bike lies half under a tarpaulin, unused for who knows how long. Bicycles and mopeds seem to be the predominant form of transport in Macau which isn’t surprising considering how small it is.

Broken Bike

Another motorbike lies gutted against the wall as if waiting for a heart transplant from an unwilling donor. Will it ever be ridden again?

Macanese Cat Escape Pt1

Walking down the narrow lane I spot a cat frozen in its tracks with its eyes fixed upon me. As I raise my camera to take its picture it suddenly darts up the side of the door…

Macanese Cat Escape Pt2

…and makes a quick escape through a crack at the top. This has to be my favourite photo of the whole trip!

Bold Buddha

A wise old man and a laughing buddha look on at the retreating feline with mixed expressions. I take the two-finger salute as an invitation to leave.

Barred Windows

On my way out I hear the rattle of dice inside one of the houses and see a group of elders playing Mahjong through the window – it was a wonderful photo opportunity but I didn’t want to impose on their privacy.

Ripe Bananas

Bananas hang from the front of a shop next door selling all the essentials in one place. I love the controlled chaos of it all – no neatly stacked shelves around here.

Forgotten

On my way up another street, I come across an old brick house jutting out on the corner of an intersection. It looks completely abandoned, although judging by its size you have to wonder if it was ever inhabitable at all. Its only purpose in life now seems to be as a junction for the jungle or wires leading to and from it.

Macau; City of Mopeds

Behind yet another row of stationary mopeds, the peeling plaster presents a small red wooden door (locked).

Sopa De Fitas E Cafe Chiu...

Opposite a small cafe serves its customers a late lunch of local fare under the constant glare of fluorescent strip lighting. Although many of the signs are in Chinese and Portuguese only about 0.6% of the population can speak the latter.

Lonely Tunnel

An archway beneath one of the buildings leads through to another maze of quiet residential streets. Even on a Saturday afternoon many of the shops here were closed.

Faded

Land reclamation in the 17th century transformed Macau into a peninsula with generally flat terrain, though numerous steep hills still mark the original land mass. In Part 4 of this photo walk, we’ll head back into the centre to take a closer look at some of the old shops and traditions in Macau.

David avatar

7 responses

  1. in all my years ive spent living in shenzhen, i cant believe how little time ive spent in macau. but what time i do spend there is always good. but im left with one question – how the heck did they reclaim land in the 1600s?

    1. A very good question – a quick Google doesn’t provide a definitive answer but it seems a connecting sandbar gradually turned into a narrow connection to land, therefor changing Macau into a peninsula. After this more agressive land reclamation took place – knowing China I imagine huge numbers of migrant workers from the mainland with buckets and spades! Would be interesting to find out the real story here…

  2. Awesome photos. Looks like we’ve been walking around the same area 🙂 I just realized how small the old Macau is.

  3. Kenny Lee avatar
    Kenny Lee

    The “wise old man” is Guan Yu, and the Chinese (mostly Cantonese people) revere him as their deity to keep the devils away because of his battle skills, righteousness and loyalty. Below is a Google translation of his information found on the Chinese Hudong Encyclopedia website. The Chinese version is also included. By the way, missing on his right hand is a his well-known weapon — long handle broadsword. see http://news.ifeng.com/history/1/jishi/200804/0430_2663_516488.shtml

    guan yu (? -219 years), some born in the eastern han huan years, the word kung, the word for longevity county east solution (now shanxi yuncheng), the eastern han dynasty (three kingdoms period was believed to contain) important generals of liu bei's forces. guan yu is most special about a private respected by his death, and praised by ancient sealed until the "emperor", it is also known as kuan, referred to emperor guan, kwan tai. general instructions from the buddhist community as one of protective deities, known as the buddhist temple buddha. popular belief is that guan yu and liu bei, zhang fei was sworn brothers, guan yu, ranked second, commonly known as the as the guan gong, guan classic, guan er ye, guan brother and so on.

    关羽(?-219年),约生于东汉桓帝年间,字云长,本字长生,河东解县人(今山西运城市),东汉末年(有人认为包含三国时期)刘备势力的重要将领。关羽最为特殊之处是其死后受民间推崇,又被历代褒封,直至“武帝”,故也被称为关圣帝君,简称关帝君、关帝。佛教界一般奉其为护法神之一,称为伽蓝菩萨。民间普遍认为关羽与刘备、张飞是结义兄弟,关羽排行第二,俗称其为关公、关老爷、关二爷、关二哥等。

    1. Hi Kenny – thanks for identifying Guan Yu, I thought he looked familiar! Maybe he was left out in the street because he lost his weapon… 😀

  4. Margaret avatar
    Margaret

    love the escaping cat!!

  5. I really like the small island,maybe i will go to there again:)

    How are you recently?

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