Interview by Rui Pastorin
If you’ve ever looked up videos about Macau, there’s a chance that you’ve come across a YouTube Channel called “Get Sidetracked in Macau & Hong Kong”.
Sitting at over 24,000 subscribers, those tuning in get to see different parts of Macau from its well-known busy streets to its quiet and lesser-known patios, all through the lens of Kevin Maher, who runs the channel.
The channel has over 5,000 videos, and apart from the videos about Macau, it also features those about Hong Kong, the Chinese mainland, and different parts of the world that Maher has been to, as well as other content.
Behind the camera
In a recent interview with the Post, Maher said that he has lived in Macau for 11 years. He is a senior English-language instructor at the University of Macau (UM), a writer of two books, namely “Moon over Macau” in 2023 and “No Couches in Korea” in 2016. He is also a father of two.
Originally from the US, he said he was used to moving around at a young age, and had already lived in four to five American cities by the time he was in his 20s. He first came to Asia in 1996, living in South Korea and Japan before coming to Macau, predominantly teaching English on his travels. “Prior to Macau, I had never lived in one place for more than three years maximum”.
He eventually grounded himself in the city, a place that he said he likes a lot. “I love Macau. I like living here and I like seeing my kids grow up here. And I like my job, so I just feel completely content”.
Filming the streets of Macau
Maher said that his channel did not initially start off with Macau-related content, but notes: “I was thinking of some kind of Macau content and I really liked walking, so I’d always walk around in Macau. I always enjoyed just getting to know the city through walking and taking buses”.
Maher always has his small camera, a GoPro, in his bag, and though he does not film daily, carrying it around enables him to capture footage whenever he feels like it. On choosing what to film, sometimes it would be random or he would find a spot while driving around, while there are also times when he would read or hear about something interesting going on that would prompt him to visit a particular area, according to Maher. “Sometimes it’s just me wanting to go out”.
Once he finds a particular spot, he films five or six videos, spending between an hour or two hours in total and accumulates footage for later uploads. The videos, which last around 10 to 12 minutes, feature Maher walking around and exploring areas, accompanied by some narration. “When I first started, I tried not to narrate very much, but now I try to do something I call grounding the street, where I give context to it”, pointing out landmarks and aspects that he thinks are relevant to the area.
Having recorded a lot of the city’s different areas over the years, he said that he still tries to look for places that he has not yet filmed, or just a bit, avoiding to capture footage of the same area too much. Sometimes he would also learn about new places to film through his viewers, noting that the places to explore are endless.
Regarding his viewers, Maher said there are from many different places, including local and Portuguese viewers. He added that he also has Filipino viewers, some of whom are interested in working in Macau, have family members living here, or had worked here in the past. He also has got subscribers from those who watched his videos that are not about Macau.
Moreover, he has had American-Chinese or Canadian-Chinese viewers who grew up on a certain street in Macau who would request him to visit and film it.
The best parts about filming
Maher said he thinks that he finds value in the documentation aspect of what he does, where he not only watches the city change, but also films and records it as it changes. “If I keep doing this, which I probably will, then it will be like documenting the changes of the city street by street”, he said.
Maher also spoke about the “meditation quality” that he gets while walking around and filming, as well as it being a form of stress relief. “When I film, I am basically able to get out of the house, I’m walking around. I’m kind of distracting myself a little bit, so I kind of just get into that space of that street or that area and I’m just thinking about something besides myself, so it feels like a distraction, stress relief”, he noted. This also allows him to learn something new each time he sets out to film, which he said he really likes.
Moreover, he acknowledged he thinks that there are other channels that are more interesting than his, but he enjoys what he does and does not really think about the number of subscribers or what kind of content would be popular, emphasising that he focuses on what he likes doing, which is walking around and filming Macau’s streets.
This recently taken photo shows Kavin Maher posing in Largo do Senado, the city’s main square. Photos: Rui Pastorin
This photo shows Maher’s camera, which he always has with him.
This screenshot taken last night shows a video grab of an intro of “Get Sidetracked in Macau & Hong Kong” – Rua da Alfândega.
