Living in a place that is surrounded by millions of buildings, do you like that? For me, absolutely not, however, we have no authority to change the city. So, what can we do? For me, I choose to seek a place that belongs to me for a short time.
Years ago, I found a place in Macau: Coloane, which is comfortable and allows me to put all the pressure and irritation away for a while, especially after days of work. When I stay in Coloane, I can say the time that I stay there is my own time, no work, no harassment and no fear. Staying alone with the sea and the dogs wandering around.
To many locals, Coloane is a tourist spot that is full of visitors. People go there mainly for the Portuguese egg tarts as well as the pork chop buns.
Therefore, in previous years, there were fewer local people going there, including me. With the outbreak of COVID-19, we are not able to travel to other countries as easily as before, so we have to stay where we are to find a feeling of “travelling” in Macau.
We can say Coloane is a “simple” place, however, it is not simply mentioned because of the food, such as egg tarts. Instead, it is a “simple place” that shows things that are hard to see and feel in a “modern city”, which are neighbourhoods and lifestyles. Coloane is a review of Macau in olden times: a small fishing village.
When Macau was a “small fishing village”, people trusted their neighbours, they chatted together, shared things with each other; they opened the door for airflow even at night, to them, a thief was impossible to imagine. Although some of these features are not seen in Macau anymore, some still remain in Coloane.
Step into Coloane, passing through the area that I call a “modern” place, a place that is full of landmarks, for example, the St. Francis of Assisi Church, as well as a widely recommended restaurant, such as Lord Stow’s Bakery. In this area, people mostly come from other places in Macau, those who live in a crowded place with shops and buildings around – I am one of them.
Going through the “modern” area, we get to “the village”, where we will see many houses standing side by side. In the village, kids are free to run wherever they want, men are sitting around a table playing chess while women are chatting outside the houses. All these pictures draw me back to the memory of my ancestral home, Jiangmen, where people know each other well.
Apart from the atmosphere, the sea there is also one of the reasons I like to stay in Coloane, especially when I get tired. Every time I want to relax, I would ask my friend to go to Coloane with me, sitting opposite the sea with an egg tart and a drink. Although we are sitting together, we seldom talk but stay quiet to feel the wind which helps to cool my brain and stop me thinking about the things that bother me.
Living in this busy and high-pressure city, seeking your own place to go may provide you with a chance to find your spirit, or we can say “yourself” without the stuff around you. Enjoy the things that are brought by the place you choose. For me, I embrace nature, such as wind; the touching moment from a close encounter with strangers, for instance, the neighbourhoods in Coloane.
Photos courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
