Country No.4

I first visited Australia in 1988. It became the fourth country on the list of those I’ve visited. I was flown to Sydney on 16 November by Procter & Gamble for a series of interviews after being shortlisted for its graduate intake program. At the time I’d just finished the final exams required to complete my Bachelor of Management Studies at Waikato University. The US giant flew me and one other candidate across the Tasman to meet its senior executives and determine which of us would fill the single intake position on offer.

The company put us up in a hotel for three nights. We then endured two days of meetings, psychometric testing, and interviews at its Villawood campus in Western Sydney. I recall being taken for dinner at The Rocks one evening and enjoying a meal in one of the original sandstone buildings at Campbell Cove. It was quite the introduction to Sydney dining with the Opera House and Harbour Bridge as a backdrop.

I decided to extend my stay for another three nights at my own expense. I booked a homestay room with a couple living in Hunters Hill and spent my time exploring Sydney’s most iconic sights including Bondi, Manly, and the recently opened, Harbourside Mall at Darling Harbour. I also booked a day tour to Canberra and experienced my first taste of the Australian capital. I must admit that, given this all occurred in the pre-internet era, I don't know how on earth I managed to book a homestay.

Procter & Gamble offered me a sales role in New Zealand, rather than a graduate placement. I wasn’t surprised. During my final interview with the Managing Director, I’d expressed uncertainty about what I wanted to do with my career. At the time I decided I’d be honest about my motivation on the basis that if they hired me at least all parties knew where they stood.

However, I wasn’t interested in spruiking the benefits of soap and toothpaste to regional pharmacies. Instead, I flew home on 22 November ready to spend a year working full time on a friend’s dairy farm. My time on the farm ultimately set me on a path that saw me return to Australia 15 months later.

Little did I know that, as I flew into Sydney for a six-month training course in February 1990, my life would never be the same again. 33 years later I never could have imagined that my graduate interview would become the first of hundreds of flights I’d eventually make in and out of Sydney’s Kingsford Smith Airport. This blog only captures a handful of them.

Sadly, I didn’t take any photos during my time in Sydney. As a result, I’ve scanned a few old photos of me at university to illustrate this post. I can’t see this guy spruiking acne cream any time soon.

Saturday in Macau

I've experimented with preparing a Kodak-era post. My chosen subject? Macau. It's taken more than five hours to research the following post, draft its copy, and then scan and edit all of the hard-copy photos. Converting my pre-digital photo albums into niffy blog posts is clearly going to be a massive project. I've always said that this task would become a retirement hobby. After today's effort, I think that boast has proven rather prescient. 

I visited Macau on a day trip from Hong Kong on Saturday, 18 March 2000. It was an interesting time to be visiting this former Portuguese colony. Just four months earlier, on 20 December 1999, Portugal had transferred the sovereignty of Macau to the People’s Republic of China. I was curious to see how much had changed since the handover.

I'd arrived in Hong Kong two days earlier. From the moment I landed the weather had been poor – or rather – the air pollution had been extreme, to say the least. Increasingly, as China's economy develops, the Pearl Delta was, and still is, frequently smothered by a dense blanket of smog in Winter. 

During my visit, the view of Kowloon from my company’s office simply vanished into the haze. This was all the more alarming given its location in Two International Finance Centre, a waterfront building overlooking Victoria Harbour's narrowest stretch.

I caught an early morning, high-speed hydrofoil ferry from the Sheung Wan terminal to Macau. The trip across the delta took just under an hour. Sadly, haze smothered the coast for much of the journey. Before arriving in Macau, I’d mapped out a comprehensive walking tour. The final route took me past most of the Special Administrative Region’s popular colonial highlights, plus a few sights commemorating the 1999 handover.

My first destination was Guia Fortress. This historic complex sits on Guia Hill, the highest point on the Macau peninsula. Its two most famous sights include the Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Guia and the Guia Lighthouse. The lighthouse was constructed between 1864 and 1865, making it the first Western-style lighthouse ever erected along the Chinese coast. Both buildings are painted brilliant white and finished with stunning mustard highlights. Sadly neither building was open to the public that day.

While on my way to Guia Hill, I took a brief detour to view the Arco Oriente. This 28-metre-high monument was erected in 1996 and sits above a major underpass on Ave. do Dr. Rodringo Rodriques. Its looping arch of steel portrays Macau as the intersection of Chinese and Portuguese cultures. It was built to commemorate the friendship between Portugal and China in the lead-up to the colony’s handover. Almost thirty years later it’s interesting to read the commentary online. Apparently, the monument is rusting, temporarily cordoned off, and generally despised by the locals.

The next stop on my walking tour was the picture-perfect, pastel-lime chapel of St Michael. Set in the beautiful, landscaped Catholic Cemetery, this small chapel, built in 1875, is one of Macau’s most iconic locations. I was surprised to learn that, despite appearances, this isn't Macau's oldest cemetery. In fact, it's one of its more recent colonial additions, having only been opened in 1854.

From here it was onwards to Fortaleza do Monte. This colonial fortress, on Mount Hill, overlooks Macau’s most famous sight, the Ruins of St Paul’s Cathedral. It also offered superb views of Macau’s densely populated districts and a spectacular view back towards St Miguel Arcanjo Cemetery.

However, without a doubt, the highlight of the day was my visit to St Paul’s Cathedral. Almost any mention of Macau includes an image of this iconic structure. It's an elaborate building, built between 1602 and 1640 by the Jesuits. At the time, it was one of the largest Catholic churches in Asia. It was destroyed by a fire during a typhoon on 26 January 1835. Today, all that remains standing, is its intricately carved southern stone façade.

 

The façade sits on a small hill and is reached by climbing 68 stone steps. It's decorated by carvings of Jesuit images with Oriental themes, such as The Blessed Virgin Mary stepping on a seven-headed hydra, described in Chinese characters as 'Holy Mother tramples the heads of the dragon'.

The façade is impressive, to say the least. Behind it, a series of carefully preserved stone stub walls outline the original building's footprint. A series of handy tourist plaques (in English) bring the structure of the building and its history to life. I spent almost an hour exploring the ruins before moving on to my next destination.

The Lonely Planet recommended a walk down Rue de São Paulo. This narrow, winding, cobblestone street is lined by beautifully restored colonial buildings. Each building is painted in pastel hues making for plenty of classic Instagram-worthy moments. Sadly, it’s one of the last remaining places where you can still experience the original look and feel of Macau’s colonial past.

My walking tour then took me towards the southwestern shores of the Macau peninsula. This included a stroll along Nam Van Lake. On the edge of this artificial waterway is the Macau Government Headquarters, another stunning colonial building, finished in elegant terracotta hues. It was once the Governor’s Residence. Today, it’s the official office of the Special Administrative Region’s Chief Executive.

My final tourist destination was Portas do Entendimento, also known as the Gate of Understanding. This rather austere monument, consisting of two concrete pillars, sits at the end of a short causeway on the shores of Macau’s Inner Harbour. It’s another Portuguese-commissioned edifice. This one symbolizes a desire for harmonious relations between Portugal and China, that is, between West and East.

Much like the Arco Oriente, two decades on the monument is rather neglected. It's in an increasingly dangerous state of disrepair and has been cordoned off from the public. There’s clearly a theme emerging here. That is, in an increasingly nationalistic era, structures invoking the dying days of colonial rule are clearly much maligned. I guess I was lucky to see them in their prime.

After walking for more than 7kms I decided I’d done enough sightseeing for one day and caught a taxi back to the ferry terminal. However, my return ferry wasn’t scheduled to leave for another 90 minutes. On a whim, I decided to treat myself and booked a helicopter flight back to Hong Kong. Earlier in the day I’d noticed a heliport next door to the terminal, and a second heliport next to the ferry terminal in Hong Kong. The flight took less than 15 minutes. Sadly the view was limited thanks to lingering smog haze. An occasional ship would suddenly appear out of the haze below and then vanish just as quickly.

I've finished this post with an image above showing a high-speed ferry sailing past the Amizade Bridge. This four-lane bridge links the Macau Peninsula with Taipa Island, one of two main islands that, along with the peninsula, make up the Macau Special Administrative Region. It opened in 1995 and was the second crossing to link Taipa Island with the mainland. The ferry passes under it en route to and from Hong Kong.

Foodie week

Garry and I have been traveling to Melbourne at the end of July (or early August) on business for the last eight years. Every year our company exhibits at the annual Reed Gift Fair held in the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on Southbank. It's our biggest trade show of the year.

It's always an intense week that kicks off with an early morning flight to Melbourne followed by two hectic days of setting up our trade show booth. We then spend five days exhibiting at the show itself. The final day then concludes with a five-hour flurry of activity as we break down the stand and pack it away for another year.

In between all of the business activities, Garry and I always try to find time to indulge our foodie interests while we're in town.  Over the years we've dined at some of Melbourne's top restaurants and enjoyed some memorable meals. This year was no exception.

We kicked off our foodie week with a reunion dinner at Rockpool. A good friend, Jon, was in town from Vancouver. He was speaking at a conference so we made the most of being in the same town at the same time.  Later in the week, we dined at Nobu for the first time since our memorable evening in Hong Kong in 2009. We also had dinner with our staff at Meat & Wine Co, as well as enjoying a Thai meal we traditionally have at Bang Pop on our final night in town.

However, this year's main event was an evening at Embla, a tiny "hole in the wall" wine bar on the edge of the central city.  It had been recommended to us by friends. We also received plenty of positive feedback from other locals whenever we dropped the name in conversation on the trade show floor.

Embla proved to be a real find. The restaurant gave us a table in the back corner. This offered plenty of cozy ambiance while giving us a view of the entire room, including its tiny kitchen containing a spectacular flame-fed grilling oven. The menu was limited but every dish we tried was a genuine taste sensation. We ultimately decided that the vongole with pork sausage was the evening's stand-out dish.

It just goes to show that sometimes the big culinary names aren't the only foodie game in town. We'll definitely be back to try Embla again.