Part Four: Adventures, Mishaps and Tasty Foods (pour mangia) for May 2015

After a bit of collaborating with a friend of mine, I've decided to put together a monthly post that hits a few of the smaller points that may get left out of the main blog ideas. These smaller points can be something as small as a tiny shop I happened by and thought was neat (some things are just really neat to me, I can't explain it), a certain car/bike/truck I see, or just a way of life that contrasts what I'm used to in Canada/North America. Either way, it's bound to be NEAT.
Since adventures and neat experiences also come with embarrassing or otherwise unfruitful outcomes, there will also be stories about how an outing, day or series of days went south due to any number of reasons (often, my own obtuse qualities). This week, as expected, you will hear about my first weekend in Macau that entailed me visiting the hospital one day, and being locked inside a Panda park on the next. I also want to devote a small portion of it to new and interesting foods that I've come across as each month passes. At the risk of coming across as a turd-burglar (yes, you read that correctly), I will try and sneak some pictures of some of said foods and drinks. Since it's impossible to individually use these generally neat, embarrassing and tasty little moments as the basis for an entire post, I've collaborated all of these neat little things into one monthly post. Now that we have those formalities out of the way, here's the first recap of Adventures, Mishaps and Tasty Foods (pour mangia) for the month of May 2015.

Adventures: I don't have a specific adventure to put out there this time, but I thought I'd chat a bit more about what it's like to live here in Macau. Generally as places go, Macau is a neat one. However, as places go, Macau is a different one in many ways than Canada. It is a geographically small place, but while it is inhabitants are 95% Han Chinese, they possess particular differences to what we call 'Mainland' Chinese people. Being under Portuguese rule for such a long period of time has had its impact on the city-state, and when put in contrast with the Chinese tourists and workers that travel in and through Macau on a daily basis, they become evident fairly quickly. The Macanese locals, as a whole, are generally friendly, tidy and organized people. They don't honk at others in traffic, they give up their seat on the bus others, and they do their best to be polite while you butcher your way though a Cantonese 'Hello' or 'thank you'. I've made a local friend since arriving, and we've chatted briefly about life in Macau as a local: How things are now, what it's like to live with your family in a dense city center, how things have changed due to the past decade of new money and development. It certainly makes me more aware of things outside of my own Western perspective (how to act on that though, that's a different story). 

Mishaps: After my first night out drinking with some of my new work collegues, I accidentally my whole weekend. The whole thing, that's right. It started by joining the staff for a few drinks on a Friday night (I had a grand total of four pints, by no means beyond what I can handle in Canada), and felt in surprisingly rough shape by the end of it. Catching a cab home, I went to bed with a glass of water expecting to use the rest of my weekend to explore the city and do fun things. Upon waking up, I felt worse than I ever had before, wondering if I hadn't caught some kind of illness, or perhaps food poisoning. After most of the day passed without any end in sight (nausea persisting throughout the entire day), I sought medical assistance as I was concerned that this wasn't any regular sickness/hangover. Upon my arrival, they proceeded to force a tube through my nose into my esophagus, which was probably one of the single most unpleasant experiences in my life (it didn't help that it constantly triggered my gag reflex due to it being lodged in my throat). Anyways, that fun aside, they filled me up with a saline solution (hydrogen peroxide perhaps?), checked to see if there was anything in my stomach that was causing the trouble (NOPE) and then gave me some medicine and sent me on my way. The culprit of my illness has only become evident to me recently: Due to the sheer and relentless heat and humidity that is the climate of Macau, I can no longer consume alcohol. "But Stuart can't you just hav-" No. I cannot just have. I cannot. I am on the verge of dehydrated all day, and a bottle of beer, glass of wine, or drink of whiskey will easily put me over the edge and make me feel hungover before I even have a chance to pour myself another. So it was just a very potent and relentless hangover (Only...), and this was only Saturday mind you.

On the Sunday that succeeded it, I decided to get some air to help soften the blow of my entire body. Next to the apartment complex I was staying in, there is a small zoo & park that has a collection of birds, monkeys, woodland creatures, and a Panda (this picture was taken inside the zoo, with my former living space in the background). We call it 'The Panda Park' because we can't read the signs and it has a Panda on it. So, wanting to see the panda and get out of the house, I wandered into the zoo for some pictures, 'wild'-life and fresh, hot, moist-and-soupy air. After taking a walk around the bird and monkey cages, I went for a hike in the mountain that the zoo sits at the foot of (there is a designated trail that runs parallel to the zoo, and spits you out at the other side, takes about an hour to do the whole thing). I take my time, snap some pictures, and struggle with the intense temperature (have I mentioned the heat here?) as I explore the cool rivers, trees, pathways & whatnot. The first dilemma: I could not finish the trail, as the last 500m was closed for construction. It was walled off, with a sign in Cantonese that I could only assume meant 'NOPE WE'RE CLOSED SORRY BUSTER. That meant I had to go back through the entire course. Mind you, at this point I had been outside in the heat, sweating profusely, for about an hour and a half. I was already (as I learned later) still quite hungover, and being obtuse, I did not bring a water bottle (of course). I decide to head back through the train until I can at least see the zoo again, and then cut through the forest before I get any more dizzy than I already was. I found a clearing with a courtyard in the distance, and trudged my way through the loose muddy soil (while there were not many mosquitos or other pesky bugs, there were a ton of spiders. LOVELY), grabbing onto trees and vines for support as I got my new shoes and shorts covered in mud, being careful not go drop my glasses (which were already falling off my face due to my face dripping in sweat). I can confirm that there was heavy breathing throughout the entire ordeal. After finally reaching the bottom, I made my way towards the gate, ready to go home and crawl into a cold shower and then back into bed. As I approached the main gate, I saw that it had been closed, which was odd considering that the zoo was a public park type place, which I thought wouldn't close to the public. Thinking that I could just let my self out, I tried the gates, only to find that they were locked tight. I looked around for some assistance (or another route out), and found the zoo to be completely empty. Like I mean completely. Families were gone, security guards had called it a day, not even any custodians or groundskeepers hanging around to clean up. I had actually gotten myself locked in a zoo at a point where I was at serious risk of passing out. Dumbfounded by my own level of obtuseness, I eventually wandered around the park long enough to find another gate that I was able to climb around (there was a steep-ish hill that I managed to climb over) and escape Macau's first attempt to trap an oblivious newcomer. NICE TRY MACAU. At the end of the day, all I had to show for it was ruined clothes and a hangover that persisted even longer. Oh, and these photos, at least they were pretty good.
http://i.imgur.com/6zqglT4.jpg


Tasty Foods (pour mangia): On my way to work in the morning, I pass by a local bakery called Maxim's. It's a small chain run by a Hong Kong restaurant company that is popular both there and here in Macau. When I was living on the equivalent of about $20 for a week, I would stop at Maxim's for some cheap buns and croissants to keep me tied over (free school lunches helped out too). What's really neat about places like this (as there are other cake shops/bakeries all around Taipa and Macau), is that when you get to the bakery, you pick up a tray and a pair of tongs from the front, and proceed to put on things that you want for yourself. Since I'm more indecisive than a young child given free reign to adopt any pet in the animal shelter (ooh what a wonderful but challenging task that would be), I try to stay out of everyone's way as they choose from a selection of different baked goods. Some are familiar to us (dinner & sandwich buns, croissants, etc), some are a sort of bastardized version (sweet buns with tasty goop inside, pizza with sweet tomato sauce & corn, baked hot dog-bun combos) and some are just plain out of the ballpark (meat-floss buns come to mind in this case). 

That's in for now, I'm struggling to upload all of these pictures on my new apartment's poopy 3MB/s (download) & 0.4 MB/s (upload) internet. It's the one main downfall of the new place. More posts to come, perhaps a tour of the new apartment & neighbourhood by the end of the weekend!