thatsmagazines.com - Beijing Features

thatsmagazines.com - Beijing Features: "Bright Lights, Little City It's the perfect time to witness Macau at a crossroads Text and photos by Lisa Chiu The chain-smoking general manager of one of Macau's largest resorts is speeding, causing the four passengers in the backseat of his BMW to be whipped left and right as he rounds the corners of Coloane island. I'm one of them. I'm trying to take in the scenery of this tropical island in the moonlight but 50 Cent is blasting from the speakers and it's hard to think about Macenese history when 'I'm a P-I-M-P...' is reverberating in my ears. In the short time I've been in Macau, I often feel this way. There's culture in every step, but invariably you're distracted by the glittering casino lights, the thousands of mainland tourists that pour in each day and the dodgy characters that crowd the streets by night. Visitors to this former Portuguese colony come to gamble and say they've been to the 'Monte-Carlo-Vegas of the East.' And while it's easy and hackneyed to put a Western simile on it, the recent liberalization of the casino industry and growing numbers of mainland tourists are actually making Macau a very complex place as it undergoes an amazing and awkward rebirth. 'I was born in Macau, I live in Macau and I'll die in Macau,' says Cheang Chi Tat, a 34-year-old DJ for the AM rock station Radio Vilaverde. 'I lived in Hong Kong for a month, and it's so different. In Hong Kong, even if you're just going to dinner with friends, you need to plan what time,when and where. Here you just pick up the phone and say come to dinner.' The laid-back atmosphere is evident everywhere. Business calls are never made between eleven-thirty and two-thirty - that's lunch 'hour.' Forget about getting anything done on a Friday, and it's customary to wait a week for someone to return a call. To be here is to learn to appreciate that, in a world where every minute is planned, some places operate just fine on their own schedule. Perhaps it's the influence of nearly 450 years of Portugese rule - something else that's evident everywhere on this island. From baroque Catholic churches, to remnants of forts and garrisons and every single street name, Portugal's influence never really left Macau after 1999. Excellent examples of colonial architecture can be found on any corner."