macauThought of pouring all my memories of the 2-day weekend Macau trip to the blog last night after dragging my exhausted body and the huge heavy bag of souvenirs (food for everyone yaaay) back home last night, but well well well I was too tired to do so. Hope my memory's still clear after the marathon sleep and manage to write all about the gist I've got from Macau.
It was an amazing trip. I'm starting to miss my two days in Macau with my twin-sister-in-my-past-life Carrie already. I just love Macau. Wish I could have two more days there so that I can adjust my pace fully with that of Macau.
Promenading through the avenues in Macau was magical, it's like you naturally tune your own pace with that laid-back rhythm and start relaxing yourself when you see elderly leisurely chatting in their very antique shops, the motorcyclists going very slowly on the road with their kids or girlfriends riding in the backseats and the lingering smiling chattering young people in the plaza.
Didn't go to many tourist spots during the trip, instead me and Carrie just kept eating and walking and eating and walking...haha sounds like we've wasted the trip but it's not. To see Macau is not to see all those famous tourist spots, coz you won't get a up close sight of the heritage with all the tourists flocking aronund taking photos. To see Macau, is to walk spontaneously or even randomly and let the roads lead you to discover Macau from new angles. It's the same with eating, you won't get the chance to sneak into those restaurants on the magazines anyway coz they'll be fully packed, instead, it's so much more fun to browse through the place and get into any restaurant that impresses you at the very first sight. And the intuition of me and Carrie's is correct (and it always is)... haha we've had superb food at the restaurants we visited on the way...Pizzeria Toscana (okay I know it's Soler's bro's restaurant but to be honest we had the best food there, cheers to Mr. Acconci), Solmar (that 木糠布甸...a masterpiece), Serradura (the girl there is prettier than any 美少女廚神 you see on Ronald Cheng's show...haha and the raspberry surbert is so refreshing), 露素餐廳 (very homy portugal restaurant, a family business I guess), and the most delicious ice cream in the world--洪馨's ice cream freshly made from coconuts etc. etc. Even breakfast at Hotel Sintra was better than we've expected.
Love the architecture there so much, those little houses in portugal style melt my heart, those pastel creamy colors, those windows, those carvings. My favourite is the little rosy red houses in Travessa de Paixao, 戀愛巷 as in Chinese, very romantic name and indeed a very romantic little avenue where you can see the Ruins of St. Paul from a very very very edgy angle. It's perfection, from the houses to the little rocky road to the sight of Ruins of St.Paul in that tiny avenue. Standing in the avenue made me feel like a girl living in Italy, getting ready for a date with an Italiano (or an Italian-Myanmar guy named Julio Acconci hahaha) who would ride in a motorcycle with tulips on the backseat.
The exhibition of Niki de Saint Phalle in the Macao Museum of Art was magical. It was actually one of the reasons why I've planned this trip to Macau. I didn't know a lot about the artist, but I felt an urge of seeing her works up close just by one look at her colorful sculptures on a magazine weeks ago. And the works are amazing, and Phalle herself was fascinating enough. She's gone through so much, the glamorous life as a model and an actress, the years struggling with mental illness. Maybe her life's tragic, but it's at the same time the trauma which makes her so enchanting and her works so moving. Her scultptures are chubby with colourful patterns, it makes you happy to look at her Nanas but at the same time you feel Phalle had translated her trauma and her sadness into her Art, it's an optimism, it's the sunshine through the rain she's kept in her Art despite all the darkness in her life, and that gives her works life and layers of meanings. I love her sketches the most, or more I love the humour in her work. It's more than a piece of work, it's an attitude towards life.
I felt so touched when me and Carrie accidentally dropped by the Nikiland in a wasted construction site at Rua dos Mercadores. It's an activity of the whole Niki de Saint Phalle project. It's a place where people can freely inject their creativity and make it a place dedicated to Phalle by making works of Art in Phalle's style. It's amazing to see all the scupltures and drawings and graffiti made by students, artists and people in general, coz they all offer interpretations of Phalle in a new light. And I was so impressed by a group of artists working on a huge wall painting with sponsor from Coca-cola. Yea, it's an ad of Coca-cola, but then making it in Phalle's style and letting the artists freely swirl their brushes on a huge wall canvas is such a brilliant idea. It's a crossover of commerce and Art, and it shows that the two can be compatible, you dun have to give up on any one of them, they can mix, they can integrate and become something new.
To me, Art's always more than the exhibits stored behind glass in the museums. Art is anything that touches your heart. And Nikiland's exactly my definition of Art, it involves people, it let artists and common people connect and interact, and it makes everyone an artist too. It's all about being an outlet for people to express themselves and to communicate with others.
And the architecture of the Macao Museum of Art is wonderful. It's the way how the interior design leads you to see what the architect wants you to see that fascinates me. It's like every window I looked through is a picture frame, framing the best part of the Macau landscape. The museum is structured in a way where you feel the vastness but not emptiness. It's spacious and the works are organized in a way that gives you enough room for a quiet personalized contemplation. And I was so impressed by the little metallic moving flower which me and Carrie discovered after stepping out of the exhibition hall. It's located somewhere in a corner of a corridor. It's moving because of the magnetic fields (ok an Arts person will not attempt to explain anything science here...haha), and the best part of it is the shadow on the white floor, when the sun shone on the flower, the shadow's so delicate, almost like a water lily waving in the breeze, a huge contrast to the rather cold metallic flower itself, a manifestation of yin and yan.
Macau, it's the place to be.
But yea, it's no fun if you dun have a companion on the way, so thank you Carrie my twin sister coz the trip wouldn't be half as fun if you're not around.
And yea of course,
邪事永在我們左右. Amen.
Didn't take any photos coz I hate taking photos...haha I prefer seeing things with my own eyes then photographing them with my own mind than to limit my vision to a digital camera screen.
看風景--嘉琳
來來回回 街中飄泊 人堆中穿過
微涼紅茶 邊走邊喝 陪一起經過
茫茫人潮 千種感覺 難得可給我
沿途來回望 在街中探戈
紅黃霓虹 照影轉角 迷惘的軀殼
沿途圍欄 記低一切 甜美的觸覺
微黃門牌 細心轉載 情緒加感慨
遊人來回盪 沒止境等待
若 纏綿與嗟怨 晝夜 連場不中斷
氣候 隨時冷或暖 問那些應該眷戀
場景跟風向轉
他放肆著 他用盡氣力 路上跳
只盼跳得好 對著鏡偷笑
他天天穿梭這馬路 那個會知曉
是因紀念那 心愛遠走了
他匆匆想找友伴 那計較多少
為想證實這 軀殼有心跳
隨意街中轉 我任意挑選 誰說的小說
那人歌的詩 風景轉換了 對白記低了
但我輕聲笑 尋新的故事了
來來回回 街中飄泊 人堆中穿過
微涼紅茶 邊走邊喝 陪一起經過
茫茫人潮 千種感覺 難得可給我
沿途來回望 在街中探戈
為何常常 到訪轉角 迷惘的軀殼
為何常常 記低一切 甜美的觸覺
原來和弦 細心轉載 情緒加感慨
遊人來回盪 用心的等待 愛
