Coloane: The Beauty of Wandering
On my first weekend of my year living in Macau, I discovered one of the perks of living somewhere instead of visiting. There is no urgency to make use of every moment because it will be over in a few days. So when my co-fellow Alison and I set out for Coloane to eat egg tarts at Lord Stow’s, I didn’t feel the need to plan out the day further than that singular mission.
Of course, one of the drawbacks of minimal planning was that we got off the bus a couple miles before we were supposed to. But what followed was a day filled with surprises and authentic experiences that would never have happened if we had stayed on the bus.
We got off the bus by what looked like a park. I had gone into the day hoping to wander around a bit and just see what we could find. We walked into the park and quickly crested a hill. It seemed like a normal park until we came upon an enclosure with two ostriches in it. Upon descending further we realized that we had wandered into the Macau Giant Panda Pavilion.
I was fairly vocal about how happy I was to have stumbled upon a red panda enclosure. One of the men working at the Pavilion heard me, and directed us to the ticket booth to buy tickets to see the Giant Pandas. It only cost us $2, and we got to see four different giant pandas.
I was still riding a high that can only come from unexpectedly getting to see pandas, when it became clear that we had gotten off the bus far too early. We decided to try and walk the rest of the way, and followed the sidewalk down away from the main road.
We continued down the road and found ourself walking past what looked like old boat repair yards. We could look across the ocean to see the University of Macau out the back of these enormous structures being overtaken by the jungle.
Eventually we arrived in Coloane Village, a little tired and very sweaty. Lord Stow’s was luckily open, and we got our egg tarts which were fantastic. They weren’t too sweet, and the custard filling in them was wonderful. We walked around the winding streets of Coloane as the sun began to set. Eventually I spotted what looked like a restaurant along the coast that looked out across the ocean at mainland China.
We got a table at the restaurant which was about as local Coloane as you could get. No one spoke English, but we were able to order some beer. As the sun set, other patrons got up to sing karaoke in Cantonese. The sun dipped behind the hills, and a resort in China began to set off fireworks.
It felt scripted, as if something so well timed couldn’t possibly have happened spontaneously. We finished our beer before finding the bus stop we should have gotten off at earlier in the day, and rode back to the University.
There was no way to plan a day like this. If we had gotten off of the bus at the right stop, it would have been earlier in the day. We would have gotten our egg tarts and likely would have looked around a bit before heading back. Without the sun beginning to set, I wouldn’t have been looking for somewhere to watch it.
It is still one of the best days of travel I’ve ever had. As the year goes by, I want to make a concerted effort to continue to wander places, and not let myself get so wrapped up in plans that I end up missing the joys of the unknown.
