It has been a while since my last post and since then I have been in Macau (Macao), China. For those that don’t know of Macau, here comes a short history lesson. Macau is currently a special administrative region of China (the same goes with Hong Kong). It is run under separate rules and laws that are mostly based on Portuguese Laws. The reason behind this is because up until 1999, Macau was a Portuguese Colony. It first started as an area that Portugal rented from China. After a couple of centuries, and a drug war later, China signed things over to Portugal and the land was then governed by the Portuguese. This was the way it remained until a revolution where Macau residents became unhappy with the Portuguese government and protested.
During this protest, a few residents were shot and the Chinese government ended up having troops ready at the border ready to invade and reclaim the land. At this time, the Portuguese government apologized and offered to return the land back to China, but the Chinese government refused the offer and let the Portuguese government continue to govern it. This however triggered talks about whether Macau should be sovereign to the Portuguese or to the Chinese and resulted in an agreement that it was primarily a Chinese territory under temporary Portuguese rule. Finally they settled on returning sovereignty of Macau back to China in December 1999 and ever since it has been technically China, but still governed by Portuguese laws.
The last time I was in Macau was in 1996 and I have forgotten most of it. It has to be said that I was expecting a run down, not quite first world, type area with minimal luxuries except for those who were high ranking government officials. I was in for quite the surprise. Firstly I was greeted by the most friendly customs officer I have ever met! Since I was the last one through customs on that flight, him and I continued to chat about how I should renew my Macau identification card and all the benefits that came along with it.
As we caught a taxi to the place I would be staying at, I was shocked by the number of luxury cars and sports car that we passed. Given I was technically not in Macau, Macau, China, but Taipa, Macau, China, which is a small island attached to Macau itself.
So what had happened since 1996 and 2013? … Casinos… There has always been Casinos in Macau, but there was an explosion of casinos since I was last there. The government became more receptive to large organizations opening mega casinos there and have been collecting signification amounts of tax from the casinos. It is currently known as the Las Vegas of the world and the casinos there make many times more than the casinos in Las Vegas. How much more you ask? Consider this. The income tax and property tax in Macau is minuscule, the majority of the government’s revenue comes from the casinos. The government gets so much money from them that they barely know what to do with it. They have been focusing on a few areas at the moment. land, recreation, and housing. Land is a problem in Macau. When I was born in Macau, Macau was approximately 16 square kilometers, today, it is at 30 and is still increasing. How does an island grow? You throw money into the ocean. No seriously, the government has literally thrown millions and billions of dollars into the ocean to “make” more land! With that they have also made more parks with fitness equipment focused at helping seniors stay more active. Above is a picture from the apartment I was staying at of the Taipa seawall. They are currently making a seawall with designated lanes for cyclists and pedestrians to use. Housing has been tackled by the government by creating subsidized housing all over Macau. High value land hasn’t stopped them. There is subsidized housing being built next to apartment complexes that are being sold for $6500MOP a square foot, while the government is selling their apartments for $1000MOP a square foot. On top of all this they are still giving money back to Macau citizens! They only thing they have yet to work out is a universal health care system but they have yet to find a model that works to model their system after, so they are just giving people money for health care instead until they can find a viable and efficient alternative.
So I called this trip an expedition, and you’re probably wondering why I did so! Firstly I did summit 3 different peaks!
An old Portuguese Map of the Area
: 
The Lighthouse
The Church
And the Fortress
The next surprise I had was how the city was seemingly composed of polar opposites.
First we have the extremes in housing and architecture:
:
One of the older buildings in a village consisting of alleys.
some older buildings in the downtown area
– Compare that to –
Some more pictures to come in Part 2!
Outdoor Adventures With Ricky 