The bottle next to this one was Portuguese wine. Very odd.  瓶子旁边的这本是葡萄牙的葡萄酒。很奇怪

*****

I had just read an article on the New Yorker about how the Las Vegas millionaire Steve Wynn had poked an elbow (and ruined) a 139 million dollar Picasso - Le rêve pictured above - he owned.

我刚刚读到一篇关于纽约人对拉斯维加斯百万富翁史蒂芬·永利出价139万美元拍得毕加索的评论 - 《Le rêve 》如上图 - 他所拥有的

Wynn opened a luxurious casino in Macau. While walking around the obssessive looking gamblers, I said to R. I had no idea how did the roulette thing worked. Just to show me the mechanics of the thing, he bets on my birthdate. The roulette spins and the ball falls on 7 - I was born on Oct 7th! We collect our money and leave immediately; oh the joy of taking money from the I-have-so-much-money-I-can-dig-a-hole-on-my-own-Picasso Steve Wynn!

永利在澳门开了一家豪华赌场。走在著魔之地寻找赌徒，我跟R说我对赌轮盘不甚了解。他即示范这个力学原理，他的赌注落我的生日，轮盘旋转球停在7 - 我的生日是在10月7日！我们收起我们的钱便离开，哈，兴奋的谈论着钱的得来，我有很多的钱，我能挖到自己的第一桶金！毕加索，史蒂芬·永利！

*****

Macau has the feeling of a ghost town or something out of a twilight zone episode. There are signs written in Portuguese everywhere but I couldn''t see any portuguese people neither meet anyone who spoke the language.

澳门感觉象一个鬼城或是一些东西的阴森迷离地带。这里到处都有写着葡萄牙文，但我看不到任何葡萄牙人和没听到谁在说这种语言。

A pharmacy and Portuguese custard pies, a traditional pastry. Apparently it''s a Macau specialty too.

Posted by claudia

西药房和葡挞（一种传统糕点）。显然，这也是澳门特色了。

Macau, Largo do Senado, 1930''s and today 
澳门议事亭前地，1930年的 和 今天

Macau, Post Office Building, 1930''s and today

澳门邮政局大楼，1930年的 和 今天

Posted 

My maternal grandfather was stationed in Macau in the 1930''s as an infantry soldier. The army duties weren''t heavy since he was also one very good wing back at soccer and played for the Macau Army Football team. The childhood memories I treasure the most are the quiet afternoons when he would tell me stories of Macau, of football matches and of the goals he scored, the Chinese ladies he dated, how he found impossible to eat with chopsticks and when he''d show me the scar on his leg, the imprint of a boot stud a Hong Kong player left on him during a ball dispute.

So, my first visit to Macau felt like a revisit.

*****

在1930年我的外祖父是驻澳门的一名步兵，军队的职责不重；因为他是一个优秀的足球边锋效力于澳门陆军足球俱乐部队。我很珍惜儿时的记忆，最深刻的是在恬静的下午，他会告诉我澳门足球比赛的故事和他比赛的得分、他约会的中国籍靓女。发现自己无法用筷子吃饭，或是展示他大腿上的疤痕，在一球纠纷中身旁一个香港球员留给他的印记。

所以，我第一次访问澳门的感觉就像在故地重游。

Macau, Camões Garden and Grotto, 1930''s and today.

澳门贾梅士花园（白鸽巢公园）和石窟，1930年的 和 今天

Macau, border with mainland China (Portas do Cerco), 1930''s and today.

澳门关闸（与中国内地的边境），1930年的 和 今天

Going over half of the world to:

- kill many saudades (a literal translation; give me a break, I''m portuguese);
- revisit a place where I''ve spent my early childhood dreams.
- attend a wedding - the main excuse.

I''d say it''s mainly an anthropological expedition.

跨越了超过一半的世界：

- 解除了许多的“ saudades [渴望]”（我是葡萄牙人，翻译过来：可以歇一下叻！）；
- 重温一个在那里有我幼年梦想的地方。
- 去参加婚礼 - 主要借口。

我要说的是，这主要是一次人类学的考察。