FEBRUARY
Chinese New Year
The Chinese in Macau celebrate the same religious festivals as their counterparts in Hong Kong. The same goes for Chinese New Year.

MARCH
Feast of the God Toutei
Tou Tei is the Earth God and he is said to be everywhere. Celebrations are held at the Pou Tai Un Temple on Taipa.

Procession of the Passion of our Lord, The Good Jesus
This is where a statue of Christ is paraded through the streets to the Macau Cathedral. A Catholic procession.

Macau Arts Festival
The Provisional Municipal Council of Macau and the Cultural Institute organizes this festival every year. It is the time when most of the cultural associations and institutes of Macau display their best shows. Normally the program includes concerts, dance, painting exhibitions, Chinese opera, theatre etc. It is an occasion when the cultural diversity of Macau comes to the stage.

APRIL
Ching Ming
This Chinese tradition goes back thousand of years where on this day, families will visit the cemeteries to pay their respect and to sweep the graves of their ancestors. They will also burn joss sticks and paper objects, believing that the dead will receive these items "on the other side." Families will also present roast piglets, fruit and other food to the deceased but the food is not wasted for at the end of the day, there will be a family feast.

Easter Holidays

Anniversary of 1974 Portuguese Revolution
This day celebrates Portugal's left-wing military coup.

A-Ma Festival
A-Ma is a Taoist goddess and is particularly revered in Macau. Also known as Tin Hau, she is the deity of fisher folk and other seafarers. Legend told of the story where a junk, while sailing across the South China Sea, was caught in a tremendous storm and was about to sink. All aboard were terrified but at the last minute, a beautiful young woman stood up and ordered the elements to calm down. It did and the junk reached land safely. This mysterious woman is none other than the Goddess A-Ma. A temple was built on the spot where she landed and it is still there to this day, on the Inner Harbor. The name Macau came to be when many centuries later, when Portuguese soldiers asked for the name of the place, the locals replied "A-Ma-Gao" (Bay of A-Ma). It was eventually shortened to Macau. In recent times, a statue of A-Ma was erected on the highest point of Coloane Island. During the A-Ma Festival, offerings are made. There are also performances of Chinese opera.

MAY
Feast of Buddha
The birthday of Prince Siddhartha, founder of Buddhism, is marked by devotees bathing his image. Born a prince, Siddhartha embarked on years of wandering to seek enlightenment. By resisting all temptations, he found that to attain true knowledge and peace, man had to renounce all of earthly desires and eliminate the self.

Feast of the Drunken Dragon
This is an unusual local festival that is observed by fish traders on the eighth day of the eighth moon. The festive occasion starts from Kwan Tai Temple (near Leal Senado square) where groups of intoxicated men will dance their way through markets and lanes while waving wooden dragons' heads and tails. The performance has also been interpreted as an exorcism or a fertility rite.

Tam Kong
Looked upon by fisherfolk, worshippers at the shrines of Taoist child god, Tam Kung, pray for health, wealth, knowledge and wisdom-and calm seas. It was said that during the Qing Dynasty, the orphan Tam Kung who was raised by his grandmother attained extraordinary power at the age of 12, thus making him the subject of worship. He could heal the sick and control the weather. Just by tossing a handful of peas into the air, he could bring rain. And to stop a fire, he would simply throw water into the air. During this festival, Chinese opera will be staged at Coloane village where there is a temple dedicated to Tam Kung.

Procession of Our Lady Farima
An annual procession of devotees from S. Domingos Church to the Penha Chapel where an open-air mass is said. The event commemorated the miracle of Fátima in Portugal in 1913.

JUNE
Dragon Boat Festival
The Dragon Boat Festival is held on Nam Van Lakes. A spectacular competition, it commemorates a 3rd century BC court adviser who drowned himself in protest against a decision by the emperor to go to war with a neighboring state. Wat Yuen was said to have left behind a beautiful poem before jumping into the river. In order to protect his body from being eaten by fishes, the people quickly launched their boats, splashed the water with paddles and tossed rice dumplings into the water.

Feast of Kuan Tai

Feast of Na Cha

AUGUST
Volleyball Grand Prix
Macau stages a section of the volleyball matches in the spacious Forum stadium with international teams battling to qualify for the finals.

Feast of Maidens
Sometimes referred to as the Lovers' Festival, it falls on the seventh day of the seventh moon on the lunar calendar and has deep meaning for unmarried women. The festival celebrates the only day in the year when the legendary Heavenly Weaver can meet her lover, the Cowherd, over a bridge of birds spanning the Milky Way.

Feast of Hungry Ghosts
Appease the restless spirits by burning paper and food offering by the roadsides for it is said that during this month, the ghosts are freed from the underworld and is free to roam the world every year for a lunar month. This festival also feature local celebrations such as Chinese opera.

SEPTEMBER
Mid-Autumn Festival
This is one very important festival for the Chinese people and also one of the loveliest nights of the year. It was done in memory of a 14th century uprising against the Mongols when rebels wrote the call to revolt on pieces of paper and embedded them in cakes, which was then smuggled to compatriots. Today, in commemoration of the festival, people eat special sweet cakes known as "Moon Cakes" made of ground lotus and sesame. Children also get to play with colored lanterns and watch the huge autumn moon rise. Public parks such as the Victoria Park will be alive with thousands of lanterns in all shapes and sizes.

International Fireworks Festival
The International Fireworks Festival is normally held around the end of September to the beginning of October. It is a unique innovation with experts from different countries invited to compete with spectacles of fireworks.

OCTOBER
Macau International Music Festival
The Macau International Music Festival is a perfect blend of East and West-a prestigious event with international impact. One factor that makes this festival unique: the Macau International Music Festival is performed at unique locations.

Festival of Ancestors (Chung Yeung)
During the Festival of Ascending Heights, or Double Nine Festival, families offer prayers at the graves of their ancestors and climb hills in the belief that this will avoid disaster.

NOVEMBER
All Souls Day

Macau Grand Prix
The Macau Grand Prix is one of the biggest events in Macau's year. You'll get to see Formula 3 cars, motorcycles and saloon cars compete in this annual spectacle. The exciting event will take place at the tough Guia circuit.

DECEMBER
Macau International Marathon and Macau International Half Marathon
Running of the International Marathon over a full course that circles the peninsula and crosses to Taipa and Coloane Islands. Runners from overseas will join hundreds of Macau and Hong Kong athletes.

Feast of Immaculate Conception
It is a traditional Christian festival with special masses. A public holiday as well.

Winter Solstice
A traditional Chinese celebration, the Winter Solstice is a public holiday as well.

2004

January

01 Thursday - New Year's Day
22 Thursday - Chinese New Year (3 days)

April

04 Sunday - Ching Ming Festival
09 Friday - Good Friday
12 Monday - Easter Monday

May

01 Saturday - Labor Day
26 Wednesday - Buddha's Birthday

June

22 Tuesday - Dragon Boat Festival

September

29 Wednesday - Mid-Autumn Festival

October

01 Friday - National Day

November

01 Monday - All Saints' Day

December

08 Wednesday - Immaculate Concepcion
20 Monday - Special Administrative Region Day
25 Saturday - Christmas Day

Macau International Fireworks Display Contest
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Dragon Boat Festival
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A-Ma Cultural & Tourism Festival
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Macau Fringe
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Mid-Autumn Festival
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Macao's scenic beachside square turned into a stage to make space for the Art Festival. Artists from around the world competed for crowd attention, but it was music from Portugal and German modern art that proved the most popular attractions, offering locals a relaxing evening filled with artistry.

A host of well-known pieces led Macao citizens into the world of classical music. The performers' exotic touches even attracted the attention of many children, not usually the biggest fans of classical works. The orchestra stamped their love for life firmly on their music, and their feel-good set had people smiling all along the foreshore.
The Macao Art Festival treated audiences to visual feasts, as well as musical rapture. This flowing sculpture is being created by a group of colorful, and flexible, performing artists. Chinese Qingong martial arts, African dancing and Mexican masks, these seemingly disparate elements have been fused to create this cross-cultural spectacular.

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MACAO, Nov. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- A total of 1.8 million tourists who traveled in groups visited Macao in the first three quarters, marking a 74.5 percent increase as compared with the same period of last year.

Figures released by the Macao Statistic and Census Bureau Thursday suggested that the number of travelers from Macao's three major source markets including China's mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan was all on rise.

The number of group tourists from Taiwan to Macao recorded an increase of 133.7 percent over the year-ago period to 27,892 in September, while 135,134 people came in travel groups from China's mainland, up 14.7 percent from the same month of last year.

Meanwhile, the number of Macao residents who joined outbound tourist groups in the first three quarters increased by 40.6 percent as compared with the same period of last year. The most popular outbound travel destinations are China's mainland, Taiwan and Thailand. Enditem

When you walk into the Macau Government Tourist Office, there is a big poster hanging on the wall. The poster shows a young couple standing in front of a castle-style building, enjoying the beauty of the seashore and the ocean breeze.

"How romantic!" That should be the first thought to jump into the viewer's mind -- and that is exactly the way Macau looked.

With an amazing mix of Chinese and Portuguese culture, Macau is full of exotic atmosphere.

"Lots of Taiwanese people only know the casino scene in Macau. However, the region's unique cultural background makes Macau very different. There are lots of other things to see" said Pauline Leung, Marketing Representative of the Macau Government Tourist Office.

"Macau has a unique culture. It is the only place that people can enjoy the feeling of Latin in Asia. On the island of Taipa, the tourists can find a Latino villa full of pink- or orange-colored houses and very specific food," Leung said.

She also suggests that tourists go to the Living Museum to experience the romance and history of Macau.

The museum exhibits the way people lived hundreds years ago and the exterior appearance of the museum is like a castle and very suitable for couples to visit.

The night view is another attraction of Macau. Tourists can go walk along the west seaside. In addition to the great night view, there is a very historic hotel named Sao Tiago worth visiting. It is remodeled from a real fortification used to defend from an invasion by the Dutch. The interior of the hotel still keeps the original style.

Another must-try in Macau is its food. It combines the strength of Chinese and Portuguese styles. That's because, hundreds of years ago, Portuguese sailors travelling from their home country passed the Cape of Good Hope, Malaysia and several other southeast Asian countries. They brought with them all kinds of different spices from their homes and found some other spices along their journey.

Finally they arrived in Macau, settled down in this beautiful place and married the Chinese girls. Those wives created the food of Macau. They used the Chinese way to cook using the Portuguese and Malaysian spices, along with great amounts of Portuguese olive oil, sausages and bacalha (dry fish) This kind of new combination won not only their husbands' stomachs, but also the hearts of Chinese and Europeans.

The Macau curry dish is one of the most famous. With big size and great taste, Macau food is incredibly amazing. Because of the difficulties in finding those various spices at the same time, Macau is therefore the only place to taste this special food, so don't forget to try it.

With a short travelling distance and inexpensive cost, Macau is an excellent travel destination for Taiwanese tourists.

The Macau Government Tourist Office is cooperating with local travel agencies to promote a great value package that is targeted at the young generation. The package includes the airline ticket and hotel, with prices starting from NT$6,999 per person.

Pauline Leung recommends that visitors go to the Macau Government Tourist Office before visiting Macau. Macau is a walking city. Travellers can get all kinds of information and tour guide books at the Macau Government Tourist Office.

The best season to visit Macau is from November to February. During this period, it seldom rains in Macau. If you'rethink of a nice weekend getaway, you could start to plan it now.

China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) received a record 13.69 million visitors in the first 10 months of this year, up 44 percent year-on-year.

According to the latest statistics released by the Macao Statistics and Census Bureau, the number of visitors from the Chinese mainland amounted to 7.8 million during the period, accounting for 57 percent of Macao's total number of visitors. Thenumber also showed a year-on-year increase of 78 percent.

With land coverage of merely 27.3 square kilometers, Macao received a record 11.88 million of visitors last year.

Boosted by the mainland's facilitated individual travel scheme on out-bound tours, Macao expects the whole year's tag to reach 17million in visitor arrivals.

Text by JASER A. MARASIGAN

MACAU – It is rather strange to find a place so tiny with such rich cultural and historical past. Macau is indeed one of those cities, which many may have difficulty locating on the map, but once you have walked through its narrow streets and charming squares, one will start to realize what makes up the unique way of life that its residents have been enjoying. It is a parade of different beliefs, smells, costumes and habits, embodied by Chinese and Portuguese who found a way to live together harmoniously for over centuries now.

The first foreign enclave in China, Macau has long been a crossroads for culture and trade. The Portuguese began settling here in the 1500s. Its economic prosperity continued for more than 200 years but by the mid-1800s, it proved no match for the up-and-coming Hong Kong. Economic decline led a Portuguese governor to legalize gaming, a decision that changed the city’s image and fortunes.

Macau was home to the father of modern China, Sun Yat Sen, who practiced medicine here for two years before moving on to plan the 1911 Chinese revolution.

After nearly 450 years of colonial rule, Macau returned to China on Dec. 20, 1999. For the next 50 years, the Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) will have a "high degree of autonomy" in all matters except foreign affairs and defense.

The latest development here is its bid to have 12 historical sites added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Among them are the Guia Fortress, Leal Senado, A-Ma Temple, Monte Fort and The Ruins of St. Paul Church. These well-preserved sites are vestiges of the remarkable Chinese and colonial architecture and culture that sets Macau apart.

Situated on the highest point of the city, Guia Fort was built in the 17th century and its original cannon platform today provides great panoramic views of Macau and nearby islands. Rising above the old battlements is the lighthouse, built in 1865, the oldest western style lighthouse on the China Coast. Also in the fort is a chapel, built in 1637, with a ceiling painted with Chinese and Western angel figures.

In the center of the town is Leal Senado, which houses the Institute for Civic and Municipal Affairs, a token of the governing body’s loyalty to Portugal during the Spanish rule in the 1600s. Built in 1784, it features classical Portuguese architecture and art gallery, black woodpaneled library and an open courtyard lined with blue and ceramic tiles.

Adjacent to Leal Senado is the Senado Square paved with a wave-patterned stone mosaic created especially by experts from Portugal, which extends from Senado Square to St. Paul’s. The square, which has been a civic hub for centuries, is now pedestrianized. An elegant fountain, trees, benches, cafés and shops can also be found here. And as if I never left Manila, everywhere I go, in every store or restaurant, there is always a Filipino. But most of them can be seen hanging out at the fountain area of Senado Square. Wong Kar-Wai’s acclaimed movie "2046" was also partly shot here.

At the far end of the square stands St. Dominic’s Church, a marvelous example of baroque architecture built by the Dominican friars in the 17th century. It used to house the original image of the Our Lady of Piat which now rests in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan. Further down the square are the Ruins of St. Paul’s Church, probably the most popular tourist attraction here.

Lying in the heart of the old city, the great carved stone facade of St. Paul’s boasts of a grand staircase leading to the remains of the first Church. Designed by an Italian Jesuit, with the assistance of Japanese Christian stonemasons who had fled persecution in Japan, the church was built in the early 17th century. In 1835, a fire destroyed all but the facade. The Museum of Sacred Art was installed in the original crypt of the church and contains silver altar pieces, gilded statues and paintings by 17th century Japanese artists showing the Crucified Martyrs of Nagasaki and the Archangel Michael as a samurai.

Built by the Jesuits as their headquarters, the Monte Fort provided an effective defense against attack by the Dutch in 1624, but was later taken over as the governor’s residence. Today, it houses the Museum of Macau, which occupies the foundations and platform with exhibits that illustrate the life of Macau and its people, emphasizing the bicultural character of the city with its different faiths and festivals, social customs, architecture, sports, art and cuisine.

The most famous and picturesque temple in Macau is the A-Ma Temple, from which the City’s name originated. The "A-Ma-Gau" or Place of A-Ma was built in the early 16th century and is dedicated to the seafarers’ goddess. According to legend, A-Ma, a poor girl looking for passage to Canton, was refused by the wealthy junk owners but a lowly fisherman took her onboard. A storm blew up and wrecked all but the boat carrying the girl. On arrival in Macau, she vanished, then reappeared as a goddess on the spot where the fishermen built her temple.

The temple consists of prayer halls, pavilions and courtyards built into the boulder-strewn hill and connected by winding paths through moongates and tiny gardens. At the entrance is a large rock on which is engraved a traditional sailing junk.

The towering and graceful statue of Kun Iam has become one of Macau’s popular landmarks, along with the Macau Tower. It stands on a podium under which is an Ecumenical Centre of eastern religions where one can rest and meditate. Along the shore is Avenue Dr. Sun Yat Sen, with trees, plants and benches for people to stop and enjoy the view of the neighboring Taipa Island. After the sunset, have a taste of Macau’s cosmopolitan life with its many bars and restaurants lined along the waterfront.

Macau is such as living museum that it hardly needs to build them, but it does and the results are like nothing you’ve seen before. For instance, the Maritime Museum is like a ship moored at the entrance of the Inner Harbour, the Museum of Macau has been built inside the foundations of the Monte Fort and the Taipa Houses Museum, the restored houses on Taipa with neo-classical architecture, combining Chinese and European styles. Of course some museums were purposely built like the Grand Prix and Wine Museums that are part of the Tourism Activities Centre complex. Once you enter them, you’ll find yourself transported to the world of Formula 3 racing or the vineyards of Portugal.

Once a small fishing village and port for trade with neighboring Chinese islands, Coloane village located opposite the Mainland, is a sleepy, tropical China coasted village.

At the center of Coloane Village stands a chapel dedicated to St. Francis Xavier, built in 1928 to enshrine a relic bone of the saint. It has a fine baroque facade painted cream and white. The relic has since been moved but the chapel still attracts pilgrims, especially from Japan. It looks out on a European-style square paved with stone mosaics and a memorial to a pirate raid. On either side are ancient banyan trees and arcades that shelter sidewalk cafés and a strip of traditional, open-fronted stores.

The historic heritage of Macau is a testimony of the first lasting encounter between the West and China. Its remarkable collection of heritage buildings forms the most notable example of Macau’s multi-cultural identity, presenting the oldest and richest European architectural legacy still standing intact on this Chinese territory.

Macau's old world charm, colorful festivals, and Las Vegas-style entertainment circuit are drawing high-rollers, leisure travelers, and culture enthusiasts to the former Portuguese enclave, a tourism promoter tells the Taiwan News.

And the Taiwanese are not immune to Macau's allure.

"This year, we are expecting around 1.5 million Taiwanese arrivals in Macau, making Taiwan our largest overseas market," said Pauline Leung, representative of the Macau Government Tourist Office in Taipei.

Hong Kong and China, two of Macau's top tourism-generators, are considered domestic markets, Leung added.

A Chinese coastal territory that is less than an hour by boat from Hong Kong, tiny Macau is a big player in the travel and leisure scene. It's tourism industry is blooming, said Leung, thanks to astute and careful planning on the part of Macau's tourism advocates.

"Macau authorities have always put the delivery of quality tourism products and services at the top of their list," the official said.

To date, Macau has the capacity to receive 15 million visitors a year, and tourism cheerleaders insist that visitor arrivals be kept at that level. In the next five years, Macau will be building over 60,000 posh hotel rooms to accommodate the hordes of travelers eager to sample its world-class entertainment menu.

"We want to make sure that we have enough hotel rooms to handle capacity, and that there will still be plenty of space for visitors to move around and enjoy Macau at a more leisurely pace," Leung said. "Macau, unknown to many, is a treasure box waiting to be explored. It's a place jammed with wonderful surprises."

Famous for its casinos - Las Vegas Sands has jumped into the fray and opened Sands Macau - Macau also caters to visitors who want to be entertained, revitalized, intrigued, and enriched by the territory's unique culture, Leung continued.

"Macau's landscape reflects its cultural diversity," she said. "Yes, we have exciting mega infrastructure projects but we have also been developing and preserving 'old Macau' from its ancient theaters and stately villas to its historical parks and ruins."

Leung also encouraged travelers to visit Macau on weekdays, and to explore its environs for at least a couple of days.

"Fly to Macau on Sunday night and return to Taipei on Tuesday or Wednesday," she said. "And to make your stay even more enjoyable, do some bit of research about Macau and you will appreciate it even more."

Taiwan supplied the former Portuguese enclave over 1.02 million tourists last year, down 33.28 percent compared with year-ago figures. The decline was largely attributed to the SARS scare that hammered many Asian destinations in the second quarter of 2003, Joao Manuel Costa Antunes, director of the Macau Government Tourist Office, said in an earlier interview.

This year, however, Macau's tourism industry is enjoying phenomenal growth.

"Macau is growing very fast. Despite last year's SARS scare, our tourism industry still managed to grow three percent in 2003," Antunes said during one of his Taiwan visits. "Macau is a value-for-money destination. It's a city of festivals."

Leung echoed the official's sentiments.

"Because of its cultural diversity, Macau celebrates Chinese and Catholic festivals," she said, noting that Macau's European side was evident in its heritage, gastronomy, architecture, and even in some of its products.

"Wear your sturdy walking shoes and visit the old churches, the temples, the quaint shops, and those romantic Portuguese-style buildings," said Leung. "Macau will enchant you."

The territory's calendar is also packed with arts and cultural events all-year round, Leung added.

The list included the Macau International Fireworks Display Contest and Carnival, the A-Ma Cultural and Tourism Festival in October, the Asian Motocross Championship, the Asian Karting Championship, the Macau Food Festival, and the Macau Grand Prix.

MACAU – As reported by Ponto Final: "Macau, which has just 451,000 residents, logged a record 1.52 million visitor arrivals last month, an increase of 45.6 per cent on the same month last year, the Macau Statistics and Census Bureau said on Friday.

"According to the official figures, Macau recorded a daily average of 49,160 visitor arrivals last month, corresponding to nearly 11 per cent of its resident population.

"In the first seven months, Macau recorded 9.25 million visitor arrivals, a 51.4 per cent growth on the same period last year. A total of 57.5 per cent of all arrivals were mainland Chinese, 30.9 per cent were Hong Kong residents, and 7.3 per cent were Taiwanese.

"…Tourism and gaming businesses are Macau's chief economic activity."

Late on a Saturday morning at the border crossing from the mainland city of Zhuhai to the former Portuguese enclave of Macau, the long lineups made it clear I should have risen much earlier.

Even at 11 a.m., two prostitutes clutched at my arm as I walked to the border post. After several weeks of back-road travel in sweaty southwest China, I was keen to get to relatively open, clean, and cosmopolitan Macau as soon as possible. But grey and grubby Zhuhai seemed to be holding me back.

I knew Macau as a haven of winding, balustraded roads and pastel-coloured mansions hung with lurid bougainvillea, viewed by most visitors as an exotic one-day side trip across the Pearl River Delta from shiny Hong Kong. But genteel Macau, all colonnades and churches, is also the girls-and-gambling weekend resort for Hong Kongers.

The Portuguese lease of the tiny peninsula and its two adjacent islands began in 1557, nearly 300 years before the British took Hong Kong, and ended in 1999, two years after they left. The Chinese built a wall across the isthmus in 1573, and in modern times, before the mainland reopened to foreign tourism, a trip to the border gate for a peek at "Red China" was part of Macau's attraction.

After Deng Xiaoping launched China's so-called opening and reform policy, the little-used gate to Zhuhai provided shrewd visitors with quick access to the mainland. But as I shuffled slowly along, pushed and shoved by thousands of over-eager mainland day-trippers, it was already becoming clear that since my last, pre-handover visit, Macau had changed.

It wasn't until midafternoon, after multiple lineups and arguments with queue-jumping mainlanders at the taxi stand, that I checked in at the Mandarin Oriental, still easily Macau's best hotel, and justly famous for its prescient service. I managed to drag myself out again in the early evening for a stroll to one of the more prominent local landmarks, the gaudy wedding cake of knobbly concrete known as the Hotel Lisboa, surely one of the planet's most hideous buildings.

The Lisboa's bustling basement casino--circular, chandeliered, and of shabby allure--had never been the scene of James Bond*style, martini-fuelled chemin de fer, but I'd always found entertainment in looking over the shoulders of Hong Kong gamblers at games such as fan-tan.

This Saturday, there were no tuxedos to be seen. Instead, the room had the same atmosphere as the mainland border crossing or a busy Chinese bus station, and indeed was thronged with the same people. Village matrons in cloth shoes viciously elbowed their way to the tables, shouting to be heard over everyone else, and the air was foggy with cigarette smoke.

The passageway ringing this circular bedlam was lined with impossibly slender mainland teenage girls in constant competition with their sisters to take the arms of single Chinese males and lead them upstairs for a different kind of gamble in the hotel rooms above. Most of the men struggled to shake off their vicelike grip. As a foreigner, I was ignored until I incautiously spoke a few words of Mandarin, then was forced to flee.

Outside, down the Avenida Almeida Ribeiro, past a centro de disco lacer (fake-DVD shop) and comida leve tipica Tailandesa (Thai restaurant), blasts of pop music and refrigerated air swept into the street from shop doorways, mixing with the smell of soy chicken, fresh western baking, and two-stroke exhausts.

I watched groups of mainland visitors ignore the traffic lights just as they would at home, but look the wrong way before stepping out, setting off choruses of screeching tires and screeching motorists. Macau, like Hong Kong, still drives on the left.

At the Caffè Toscana just off the Largo do Senado, a wedge-shaped "square" that is the centre of the old town, I intended to order a coffee and one of the creamy, crumbly egg tarts for which Macau is famous. But as its name should have told me, the place was Italian.

The elegant, birdlike owner was nevertheless of Portuguese descent ("I'm Macanese," she insisted), and after I'd finished a superb tagliatelle in salmon cream sauce, my first serious western food in weeks, she drew me a map to Margaret's Café e Nata, the source, she said, of "the best egg tarts in Macau".

The old town's back streets were still as tangled as her pasta, but the café was found within minutes, and when I brought back an extra tart as a thank-you, she beamed. Our simple exchange of courtesies seemed an echo of the sleepier, more dignified Macau I remembered from past visits.

Back in the square, the past turned out to have been heavily restored in the run-up to the handover. The 19th-century buildings, now up-lit, were admired by strollers enjoying the evening cool. The former Leal Senado (senate) building of the 1870s was still open, and I took a staircase lined in blue and white tile up to a tiny deserted courtyard at the rear, sat down on a bench near a statue of the Portuguese poet Luis de Camoens, ate the still-warm, vanilla-scented tart, and listened to the fountains.

Even a walk back along the canyonlike spaces between new utilitarian apartment buildings, through a gauntlet of runway-ready Russian women in heels, failed to spoil the mood.

In the light of Sunday morning, after a leisurely breakfast at the Mandarin's extraordinarily comprehensive buffet, the Largo do Senado looked like it had been airlifted in from some small Andean town, the colonnaded buildings of two or three storeys now revealed in fresh pastel greens, pinks, and ochres. Hong Kong clothing stores, Starbucks, and McDonald's were doing brisk business with Sunday crowds, and I escaped into the church of São Domingos, reopened since my last visit, and now attractively redecorated in a warm yellow with white details and deep-green doors and shutters.

A sign inside rather optimistically requested silêncio. The atmosphere was less than reverent but the babble was at least reduced, and the monastery behind now housed a worthwhile four-storey display of religious art, vestments, and paraphernalia, from crosier to pyx. A sign on the top floor denying entry to more than 10 persons at a time was cheerfully ignored by mainland visitors. Heaven might be closer than expected.

Around the corner, past fashion and furniture shopping, the narrow street climbed and opened up in front of the baroque São Paulo, Macau's signature building, although only the impressive four-storey façade remains. Here, further enhancements had added stairs and a platform at the rear allowing visitors to add themselves to the rows of niched saints, although equally at risk from the pigeons.

The neighbouring Museum of Macao had replaced the penitential plod up to a hilltop fortress with a combination of air-conditioned escalators and stairways; these pass its intelligent re-creations of the individual lives and broader histories of the Chinese and European populations. The fortress still gave panoramic views in every direction, although the ancient iron cannon between the flowering shrubs would now have to take out a few high-rises before reaching any seaborne invaders.

I returned downhill for lunch at the dignified Clube Militar de Macau of 1870, where I felt I was invading a colonial-era family party. New arrivals would be greeted simultaneously from several snowy-clothed tables, and the head waiter seemed to know everyone personally. The wooden floor creaked pleasantly and ceiling fans stirred the soupy air. I chose African chicken from a menu of Portuguese staples, matched the bite of its chili-and-coconut-laced sauce with a crisp Portuguese white, and let the afternoon quietly slip away.

Like Hong Kong, Macau might now be looking mainly to the mainland for its tourism income, but there are corners where it still seems a piece of misplaced Mediterranean with a memory of things past.

Almost 90 million tourists -- a designation that includes visitors from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao -- visited the Chinese mainland from January to October this year, a year-on-year rise of over 20 percent, said the National Tourism Administration (NTA) Tuesday.

Fewer than 14 million were foreigners, up 52.7 percent over the same time last year and 400,000 more than the whole year of 2002 when the number hit an annual record high, the NTA said.

Tourism of the Chinese mainland earned 19.26 billion US dollarsin the ten months, 1.85 billion more than the whole year of 2003, the administration said.

In October the visits totaled 9.88 million, a rise of 15.58 percent over the same time of last year.

Last year China's tourism suffered a slump as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) ravaged the country in the spring.

Amid a final stage of preparations for the World Heritage bidding, Macao is making a global promotion of its cultural assets, which would upgrade the city's tourist value in addition to the gaming and amusement industry.

The beauty of Macao, where westerners first landed 400 years ago, was densely embodied in 12 cultural relic sites that the local government has listed as a package in its bidding for the World Cultural Heritage.

Macao's bid has been designated as China's only nomination to apply for the World Heritage selection of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2005.

The 12 priceless cultural heritage sites including China's oldest church, Christian cemetery, lighthouse and western theater were inscribed in Macao's bidding under the name of the Macao Historical Architecture Clump for the World Cultural Heritage.

The cultural sites scattered in Macao's urban areas are among the oldest, best preserved and largest European-style architecture clumps in China. They together blazon a typical architecture manner borrowed from southern Europe, the building materials and details of interior decoration of which, however, reflect obvious oriental features.

"Macao's World Heritage bidding should not only focus on the promotion of the designated sites, but also a face-lift of all 128 spots of cultural values around the city to give visitors an overall picture of Macao's 400-year history," said Heidi Ho Lai Chun da Luz, president of the Macao Culture Institute.

Over the past five years, the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) government has appropriated 100 million patacas (12.5million US dollars) in cultural protection funding, which went to the refurbishment of 20 cultural sites on average every year, he said.

The year 2004 has been named as the "Year of Macao's Cultural Protection," when the SAR government appropriated a more heavy funding than a normal year for renovating historical buildings and tourist facilities around the sites.

Ho said that among the 12 listed sites, 11 spots are under refurbishment and maintenance so that the heritage value can be better protected and exploited.

The Macao SAR government's conservation work has begun to pay off. The restoration of the Tak Seng On Pawnshop, a 19th-Century building was awarded an Honorable Mention in the 2004 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards in October this year. With the prize, UNESCO recognized the restoration effort and the commercial development of the cultural reserve.

Next year, all the conservation and development work of the historical buildings will be completed. The Mandarin's House, the largest ancient residence in the Pearl River Delta region in southChina, which covers 3,700 square meters, is expected to take the longest time. The finishing touch of the repair will be done by the end of next year.

The cultural sites are frequent stage settings for international artists coming to Macao. The scenery and performance together present Macao residents and tourists a genuine visual satisfaction.

Along with the tourist attractions, the gaming city enjoys an unique upmarket elegance in promoting tourism. In the first half year, Macao received 7.73 million visitor arrivals, which exceeded the total number of the whole year's counting in 1999. In the first 10 months of this year, the number amounted to 13 million, which was 1.8 million more than that recorded for the whole of last year.

It was announced today that Macau has been chosen to host the 11th Asia Pacific Life Insurance Congress, a convention that will be attended by over 8,000 people, the largest convention ever booked to the city. It is also the first major convention booking by the MGTO’s Macau Business Tourism Centre since its opening last year.

The organizers of the convention, the Asia Pacific Financial Services Association (APFinSA), have chosen Macau to host its annual gathering in the spring of 2009, after a site inspection, which was coordinated by the Macau Business Tourism Centre.

The announcement was made today at the opening of a Macau Government Tourist Office seminar on business tourism, where the chairman of the Singapore-based Convention Bureau of APFinSA, Abdul Sani Abdul Kudus, the organizer of the convention, is one of the guest speakers.

Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) director, Joa~o Manuel Costa Antunes, said that the news is a good start for the Macau Business Tourism Centre.

“Macau is honored to be chosen to host such a prestigious event that has been rotating throughout the Asia-Pacific,” he said.

“This is one of the largest conventions being held every year in the Asian region - it is a very big win”, Costa Antunes pointed out, “and its impacts will be felt all over the city.”

The event is expected to attract between 8,000 — 10,000 delegates in Macau in April of 2009.

APFinSA was formed in September 1991 when a total of 11 member financial services associations from 11 countries started their 1st convention in Singapore with more than 5,000 delegates. Since then, the attendance has swelled to over 10,000 when the meeting was held in Malaysia in 2005. The meeting that held in Taipei this year with the attendance of 9,000.

source (http://macaudailyblog.com/macau-tourism/macau-to-get-largest-convention-ever/#more-928)

Costa Antunes is fucking good! He is doing a proper work on behalf of Macau Tourism Office.

A good start for Macau, hopefully we can see some more international events or conferences helding in macau in the future once all the convention facilities completed.