Tuesday 24th & Wednesday 25th
On Tuesday morning we were picked up early by Rotarians of RC Club of Hou Kuong headed by their President Peter, Club Secretary Barrie and PP Dora. What a great day it turned out to be. We first went to have coffee in a little coffee-shop called Lord Stowe’s Garden Café. We were joined by Rotarians Lena and Kwang. Kwang is a great singer and according to Brendan, had the country hit “Joelene” blaring flat out in his car. He loves sad songs as we were to discover at the evening meeting.
But first we went to see the amazing statue of the Taoist Goddess A-Ma which stands on top of the highest hill on Coloane Island.
It is a huge structure standing just above the main temple. Carved out of white jade, it weighs 1000 tons and stands 19.9 meters tall. It took 120 sculptors 8 months to carve it. The Goddess A-Ma is the patron saint of seamen, fisherman and merchants. She was a young girl from a poor family who wanted to leave her home because of poverty. She tried to get a lift on many different ships and was turned down. She eventually found a ship where the Captain was prepared to let her come on the voyage on condition that she worked like the other people on the boat, fishing and cleaning fish etc. She agreed and they set off on the voyage. During the voyage a terrible typhoon developed and all the boats in the sea in the area were lost in the terrible storm –all except the boat on which A-Ma was a passenger. When they arrived on the island now known as Macau, she walked up the hill towards the summit and was never seen again. People in the area said that they had seen a bright white light at the area where she was walking and decided that she had been taken up to a higher level of existence. Since then she has been regarded as a Goddess who particularly blesses the Seafarers in the area. When the Portuguese sailors arrived on the island in the 15th Century and asked the name they were told it was the island of A-Ma Ca and the way they pronounced it led them to name it Macau. We heard this from a tour guide and it fits with what we have read elsewhere. Fascinating.
Right next to the A-Ma Temple on Coloane Island is a monument to the Portugal – China Treaty whereby Macau was handed back to China in 1999. The arrangement is much like Hong Kong’s “One Country – Two Systems” where Macau will be self-governed under Macau’s Basic Law for 50 years from 1999, with theoretically only the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Defence controlled by the People’s Republic of China.
After A-Ma Temple we were driven to a beach on Coloane Island known as Cheoc Van Beach.
It is maintained by the municipality and the restaurant concession is owned by a Rotarian PP Luis Lui. He is a flambuoyant entrepreneur and Siyanda was highly impressed with his business acumen and chatted to him about the fact that he has over 30 different companies. Siyanda has “only” five, but as a vocational inspiration, he really enjoyed meeting PP Luis. Siyanda has a dream to take his companies international and what better place than Hong Kong and Macau to receive mentoring in this regard. The lunch was great – It was an Italian Restaurant known as “Ristorante la Gondola”. The quality of the food was outstanding, the tastes were delicious. The beach is pretty and also has a ski-boat launch site. 
After lunch we were taken to the site of the remaining façade of St. Paul’s Church. The church was destroyed by fire in 1835 after having been built in 1602-40. It was originally the Church of Mater Dei, a Jesuit construction.
The façade of the church has been strengthened and remains symbolically as an altar to the city. The view from the ruins is impressive and shows the contrast between old and new Macau, with huge and imposing casino hotels such as the Grand Lisbon and the Wynn in the close distance.
The evening meeting with the RC of Hou Kuong was a blast. The meeting was conducted in Cantonese but the fellowship was universal. One of the dishes was a suckling piglet brought to the table on a plate. It was tasty! Poor piglet. We are not used to seeing all the facial characteristics of our meals, but it is honest.
One of the Rotarians, PP Dora, told us Hou Kuong was a very “naughty” club. It is hosted in a Chinese Restaurant owned by PP Luis Lui situated in the Macau Holiday Inn.
Ayrton's car
Dinner was with a joint meeting of the Rotary Clubs of Guia and Macau Central. Held at the Riviera Hotel, it was a Chinese supper and we did our first presentation without Siyanda. It felt very strange and we split his part of the presentation between Santosh and Brendan. We miss you Siya, mate!
It was also the dinner where we met the shortest Rotary President in the world (has to be) – the pictures show that he is a smidgen shorter than Nivashni. Jonathan looks like an over-fed giant next to him. Still, you never know in the East – he is probably a Black belt 7th Dan Kung Fu sensei, so we treated him with great respect.
Joking, we really liked him, a great guy. President Anna of Macau Central had to leave early for an MC’ing gig so the stand in Macau Central President was IPP Joyce Choi who is also Nivashni’s for the first half of her Macau visit.
Once again, Macau is a beautiful place – so most contrast of old and new. Great people and I am impressed again at the youth of the Rotarians. I am sure it is because of the strength of Rotaract in the District. Especially in Macau. There are many, many Rotarians in their 30’s here.
As you have seen a really busy two days, but very interesting and satisfying. Until later.
On Tuesday morning we were picked up early by Rotarians of RC Club of Hou Kuong headed by their President Peter, Club Secretary Barrie and PP Dora. What a great day it turned out to be. We first went to have coffee in a little coffee-shop called Lord Stowe’s Garden Café. We were joined by Rotarians Lena and Kwang. Kwang is a great singer and according to Brendan, had the country hit “Joelene” blaring flat out in his car. He loves sad songs as we were to discover at the evening meeting.
There was a bit of hilarity about the difference in size of Jonathan and PP Lena's hands!
Viking and Chinese hands
But first we went to see the amazing statue of the Taoist Goddess A-Ma which stands on top of the highest hill on Coloane Island.
It is a huge structure standing just above the main temple. Carved out of white jade, it weighs 1000 tons and stands 19.9 meters tall. It took 120 sculptors 8 months to carve it. The Goddess A-Ma is the patron saint of seamen, fisherman and merchants. She was a young girl from a poor family who wanted to leave her home because of poverty. She tried to get a lift on many different ships and was turned down. She eventually found a ship where the Captain was prepared to let her come on the voyage on condition that she worked like the other people on the boat, fishing and cleaning fish etc. She agreed and they set off on the voyage. During the voyage a terrible typhoon developed and all the boats in the sea in the area were lost in the terrible storm –all except the boat on which A-Ma was a passenger. When they arrived on the island now known as Macau, she walked up the hill towards the summit and was never seen again. People in the area said that they had seen a bright white light at the area where she was walking and decided that she had been taken up to a higher level of existence. Since then she has been regarded as a Goddess who particularly blesses the Seafarers in the area. When the Portuguese sailors arrived on the island in the 15th Century and asked the name they were told it was the island of A-Ma Ca and the way they pronounced it led them to name it Macau. We heard this from a tour guide and it fits with what we have read elsewhere. Fascinating.Right next to the A-Ma Temple on Coloane Island is a monument to the Portugal – China Treaty whereby Macau was handed back to China in 1999. The arrangement is much like Hong Kong’s “One Country – Two Systems” where Macau will be self-governed under Macau’s Basic Law for 50 years from 1999, with theoretically only the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Defence controlled by the People’s Republic of China.
After A-Ma Temple we were driven to a beach on Coloane Island known as Cheoc Van Beach.
It is maintained by the municipality and the restaurant concession is owned by a Rotarian PP Luis Lui. He is a flambuoyant entrepreneur and Siyanda was highly impressed with his business acumen and chatted to him about the fact that he has over 30 different companies. Siyanda has “only” five, but as a vocational inspiration, he really enjoyed meeting PP Luis. Siyanda has a dream to take his companies international and what better place than Hong Kong and Macau to receive mentoring in this regard. The lunch was great – It was an Italian Restaurant known as “Ristorante la Gondola”. The quality of the food was outstanding, the tastes were delicious. The beach is pretty and also has a ski-boat launch site. Team - Jonathan with restaurant owner and entrepreneur Luis Lui next to him and Rotarians from the "naughty" club
After lunch we were taken to the site of the remaining façade of St. Paul’s Church. The church was destroyed by fire in 1835 after having been built in 1602-40. It was originally the Church of Mater Dei, a Jesuit construction.
The façade of the church has been strengthened and remains symbolically as an altar to the city. The view from the ruins is impressive and shows the contrast between old and new Macau, with huge and imposing casino hotels such as the Grand Lisbon and the Wynn in the close distance.The evening meeting with the RC of Hou Kuong was a blast. The meeting was conducted in Cantonese but the fellowship was universal. One of the dishes was a suckling piglet brought to the table on a plate. It was tasty! Poor piglet. We are not used to seeing all the facial characteristics of our meals, but it is honest.
Piggie, piggie
One of the Rotarians, PP Dora, told us Hou Kuong was a very “naughty” club. It is hosted in a Chinese Restaurant owned by PP Luis Lui situated in the Macau Holiday Inn. RC Hou Koung secretary Barrie (left) and President Peter (right)
“Naughty” meant that a lot of wine is drunk during the evening and turns into a Karaoke-singing session that in this case lasted until 12 midnight. These guys take their fellowship seriously and the GSE team were happy participants with Santosh revealing some great vocal skills and Siyanda doing a great Peabo Bryson imitation.
Wednesday was the turn of the RC of Guia to host us and PP Mildred, a delightful lady who has been involved with Rotary since her Rotoract days collecting us for a visit to the Guia Lighthouse and Chapel. The Lighthouse is a world-heritage site on top of the Guia Fortress which was built between 1622 and 1638. The lighthouse was built in 1865 and is the first modern lighthouse on the Chinese coast. Both the lighthouse and the chapel are symbols of Macau’s maritime, military and missionary past.
Nivs with PP's Mildred and Anna 
Lunch was at a delightful Portuguese Restaurant with PP Mildred and PP Anna Lam. Sadly, it was our last meal with Siyanda.
“Naughty” meant that a lot of wine is drunk during the evening and turns into a Karaoke-singing session that in this case lasted until 12 midnight. These guys take their fellowship seriously and the GSE team were happy participants with Santosh revealing some great vocal skills and Siyanda doing a great Peabo Bryson imitation.
Santosh and Rotarian Kuong (sad song lover)
Wednesday was the turn of the RC of Guia to host us and PP Mildred, a delightful lady who has been involved with Rotary since her Rotoract days collecting us for a visit to the Guia Lighthouse and Chapel. The Lighthouse is a world-heritage site on top of the Guia Fortress which was built between 1622 and 1638. The lighthouse was built in 1865 and is the first modern lighthouse on the Chinese coast. Both the lighthouse and the chapel are symbols of Macau’s maritime, military and missionary past.
Team with PP Mildred at the Guia Lighthouse and Chapel
Nivs with PP's Mildred and Anna Lunch was at a delightful Portuguese Restaurant with PP Mildred and PP Anna Lam. Sadly, it was our last meal with Siyanda.
Siyanda’s mother suffered a heart attack over the weekend and we had to arrange for his speedy return to South Africa to be with her and the family. While we were very sad to let Siyanda go home, we fully understood the situation and would have done exactly the same in his position. DG Hennie and GSE Chair Annette in SA’s District 9270 were most understanding and so were District 3450 GSE Chair Stella. Siyanda caught the 3pm ferry back to Hong Kong where our dear friend PP Joseph Chan met him, arranged for collection of his luggage, changed his ticket and got him onto a plane. What a star PP Joseph is and continues to be. It will be such a privilege to host him when he comes to visit us in RSA.
Siyanda, when you read this blog, just know that we miss you very much. You were such a great person on our team. Loved and admired. Your contribution was great and the Rotarians of Hong Kong and Macau took you to their hearts. We are looking forward to you joining the team again when we return to SA. Thank you for giving of yourself and sharing with us. Everyone here sends love and best wishes for your Mom’s full recovery.
After saying good bye to Siyanda, we visited the inner-city A-Ma temple – the original ‘mother” temple of the Goddess A-Ma whose statue we visited on Coloane Island yesterday. It is situated on the spot where she disappeared into the bright light.
The Macau Grand Prix museum was great. It is a Formula 3 race in November every year, through the streets of Macau and the museum is full of actual cars and memorabilia. Racing greats like Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher have won the race in their pre-Formula 1 days and it was great to see the cars they drove and feel some of the history especially for a petrol-head like Jonathan.
Siyanda, when you read this blog, just know that we miss you very much. You were such a great person on our team. Loved and admired. Your contribution was great and the Rotarians of Hong Kong and Macau took you to their hearts. We are looking forward to you joining the team again when we return to SA. Thank you for giving of yourself and sharing with us. Everyone here sends love and best wishes for your Mom’s full recovery.
After saying good bye to Siyanda, we visited the inner-city A-Ma temple – the original ‘mother” temple of the Goddess A-Ma whose statue we visited on Coloane Island yesterday. It is situated on the spot where she disappeared into the bright light.
The Macau Grand Prix museum was great. It is a Formula 3 race in November every year, through the streets of Macau and the museum is full of actual cars and memorabilia. Racing greats like Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher have won the race in their pre-Formula 1 days and it was great to see the cars they drove and feel some of the history especially for a petrol-head like Jonathan.
Michael's Macau GP car
Right next door is the Macau Wine Museum with fascinating stories of wine-making, principally in Portugal but with details of wine from all over the world including South Africa. Great stuff, with a glass of Muscadel at the end.
Before dinner we had a great, informative visit to TDM, the public service radio station. This was great for all of us but especially Santosh – the radio man. We started with a meeting with Gilberto the station manager. He was joined by the news editor and a good-looking young DJ called Giorgio. They had a discussion comparing notes and then we were shown around the station and had the privilege of going into the studio where we met the “on-air guy’, a DJ who had worked in Mozambique. It is a Portuguese Radio Station in Macau. Quite small but it was interesting. Lotus FM is huge by comparison. Everyone was very friendly and as they said, ‘no room for ego’s here – we just get on with it”. Giorgio is allowed to select his own playlist which Santosh says is every DJ’s dream. A great vocational visit.
Before dinner we had a great, informative visit to TDM, the public service radio station. This was great for all of us but especially Santosh – the radio man. We started with a meeting with Gilberto the station manager. He was joined by the news editor and a good-looking young DJ called Giorgio. They had a discussion comparing notes and then we were shown around the station and had the privilege of going into the studio where we met the “on-air guy’, a DJ who had worked in Mozambique. It is a Portuguese Radio Station in Macau. Quite small but it was interesting. Lotus FM is huge by comparison. Everyone was very friendly and as they said, ‘no room for ego’s here – we just get on with it”. Giorgio is allowed to select his own playlist which Santosh says is every DJ’s dream. A great vocational visit.
Santosh and ex-Mozambique DJ Fernando
Dinner was with a joint meeting of the Rotary Clubs of Guia and Macau Central. Held at the Riviera Hotel, it was a Chinese supper and we did our first presentation without Siyanda. It felt very strange and we split his part of the presentation between Santosh and Brendan. We miss you Siya, mate!
It was also the dinner where we met the shortest Rotary President in the world (has to be) – the pictures show that he is a smidgen shorter than Nivashni. Jonathan looks like an over-fed giant next to him. Still, you never know in the East – he is probably a Black belt 7th Dan Kung Fu sensei, so we treated him with great respect.
Spot President Jackie - great guy!
Joking, we really liked him, a great guy. President Anna of Macau Central had to leave early for an MC’ing gig so the stand in Macau Central President was IPP Joyce Choi who is also Nivashni’s for the first half of her Macau visit.Once again, Macau is a beautiful place – so most contrast of old and new. Great people and I am impressed again at the youth of the Rotarians. I am sure it is because of the strength of Rotaract in the District. Especially in Macau. There are many, many Rotarians in their 30’s here.
As you have seen a really busy two days, but very interesting and satisfying. Until later.
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