Elite Traveler January-February 2016

INSPIRE MACAU

Ferraris and gambling. That’s howmost people who have never been toMacau would sum it up. (In fact, that's howmost people who have been toMacau would sum it up.) But is that really the full picture? Nick Smith jets to the Chinese super-island to find out for himself. And, after experiencing the adrenaline-fueled thrills of modern Macau, he explores the relics of the old colonial days of Portuguese rule and slips back to a more tranquil time THE CITYOF BLINDING LIGHTS

Opposite: Macau's House of Dancing Water, the world's largest water show

almond cookies and custard tarts. You can buy any of the world’s finest luxury goods as easily as picking apples, while getting rid of your small change on a dazzling smorgasbord of street cooking. I begin my cultural immersion by checking out the island’s second favorite activity: driving. Or to put it more accurately, racing. There’s a hairpin bend on the street circuit in Macau that is so tight, even the best racing drivers have to grind to a virtual halt to negotiate it. I’m on full lock and I’m not sure I’m going to get around it in one go. It should be easy because I’m driving a Mercedes-Benz sedan – but it’s not.

It's a Saturday and I am sitting down to lunch with the renowned TV chef, Ken Hom, at his London restaurant. Laid before us is an eclectic spread of dishes that are all typical of Macau: grilled chili tiger prawns, European-style pastries, macaroons, custard tarts… Talk turns to Macau itself, a former Portuguese colony on the southern coast of China. Hom knows it well. “Macau is a crazy place that you can only really understand by exploring and getting to know it for yourself,” he tells me, swigging a Portuguese beer. “Go and see it for yourself.” So I do. My first impression of Macau, as I speed over the Pearl River from Hong

is built on gambling, yet I can see no casinos. It is the most densely populated place on earth, where roads are so busy you’ll never get out of second gear – yet it is populated by supercars. But even that doesn’t get to the heart of the contradictions that define the place. Dig deeper and you’ll find that, on one hand, it’s an epicenter of ultra- consumerism, while on the other it’s a history book crammed with Portuguese colonial culture, fusion cuisine and oriental charm. Even in the darkest back alleys, among the bamboo scaffolding and food stalls, there are luxury watch boutiques. Rolex, Omega and Breitling rub shoulders with trolleys of beef jerky,

Kong in a jetfoil, is the neon-lit skyline. It appears as if a billionaire city planner has dropped Dubai on some remote Chinese island. Which is not as far-fetched as it sounds. The only real difference between Dubai and Macau is that the former is built on oil wealth while the latter, despite its protests, is created by gambling’s fast-circulating money machine. A third of the city’s tax revenues come from gambling, while a further third is generated from the incidentals such as land rents. The rest comes from retail. What is also immediately obvious is that Macau is a city of contradictions. It