MACAU, China – It is the 26th of December, the first day of our six-day family vacation in Asia’s Las Vegas. Ah, so, this is Macau.
The day before, my wife was a bit anxious because we didn’t get a tour package but only paid for the airline fare and hotel booking at Casa Real. That means no tour guide and no tour bus. We are on our own.
“But that’s exactly part of the adventure,” I told my wife. Besides, I read from a tourist map the night before that you can get around by either bus or taxi. So, with me playing tour guide and map reader complete with a compass, I’m totally relaxed. Maps are provided by hotels and other tourist locations for free, by the way.
Our itinerary today is sky-jumping and bungy jumping off the 233-meter tall Macau Tower and strolling on a circular platform going around the observation deck outside the tower – while tethered to an overhead rail, of course. We are excited because, while we saw the tower from afar during our taxi ride from the airport to our hotel the night before, we don’t know how tall it actually is until we get there.
After consulting the map, we walk to the bus stop a block away from our hotel. The air is at a chilly 20 degrees Centigrade.
Macau is immaculate, I observe with my journalist’s eye. Not even a cigarette butt nor candy wrapper in sight. Now that’s discipline! But I’m also not surprised. Macau may be autonomous, but it’s still under the red banner of communist China. Do you really want to test the authorities’ patience? They never need an excuse to arrest you without a warrant.
The bus stop is a far cry compared to ours back home. It has no name nor initials nor artwork nor coat of arms nor whatever of the local government official in charge of the project that put it up. Not even a portrait of Dr. Sun Yat Sen nor Chairman Mao Tse Tung. Instead, on the wall are bus numbers passing through and their respective routes for the benefit of tourists. To me, that says something about the government’s diligence in doing its job to provide service.
Our bus arrives. We enter the forward door and pay before taking our seats. They have no conductors. There is an electronic coin slot beside the driver. So we prepare exact change before boarding. Long time residents use electronic cards that are read by a scanner also beside the driver. I envy their public transport system. Why can’t we have this in Manila?
The bus immediately pulls away once everybody is aboard. Bus drivers don’t linger for passengers. Once you’re aboard or you’re off, the bus pulls away. It’s common sense. It avoids tying up traffic, improves gas mileage and minimizes air pollution.
Macau, with a population of half a million, is smaller than Makati. Our ride takes less than half an hour. Not once did our bus bounce over any rut nor pothole. EDSA’s 22 kilometers have more bumps than all of Macau! It says a lot about where the territory’s taxes are going. By the way, a smooth road improves gas mileage, just like how a glistening bowling alley optimizes a ball’s speed and trajectory.
We arrive at Macau Tower. Oh, wow, it’s really tall. Now I’m a bit nervous. My wife, our two kids and I begin to have second thoughts about jumping as the elevator zooms up 61 storeys – or 233 meters (700 feet) – at about three meters per second and as we see through the glass door people on the ground shrinking like gnats.
I keep telling myself that my chances of dying while riding a jeepney in Manila is so much higher compared to skyjumping off Macau tower because of all the harness and other safety gear. What a way to conquer my fear of heights! I can’t tell if jumping is thrilling or outright insane.
My 14-year-old son Gino goes first. The drop takes about 10 seconds or less. I get my turn. A video souvenir photographer asks me if I want to say anything before getting into position. I yell: “It’s been nice knowing you!”
I try not to look down to avoid panicking. The railing is retracted and I take my place on the edge of the dive platform. A safety cord attached to the platform is still snapped to my harness in the back while another cord that looks like the type that mountain climbers use – the one that will keep me from becoming street stroganoff on the way down – is attached to my harness.
God, I am on the edge of a 233-meter high tower, my mind races. I want to back out but I also want to do this!
I extend my arms out like diving into a swimming pool, only there’s nothing but air and sheer elevation. The jumpmaster, an American, rattles of their safety routine: “Safety off!” The safety cord is unhooked by a Chinese assistant keeping me in place. Another yell from behind me: “On three! One, two, three!”
The assistant tips me forward and I tumble off. I yell at the top of my lungs as I glide down. Two cables on each side keep me from whipping into the side of the tower and vandalizing it with my blood.
After about three seconds of screaming I discover that the drop isn’t so terrifying after all. The tower is so high, the ground seems to take its time to rush up and meet you. I spread my arms and legs to savor the feeling of flying in reverse.
I gently come to a stop several feet above a huge air mattress. Two assistants, an Australian and a Filipino, help take the harness off. A few minutes later, I see two specks step into space – my wife and our 10-year-old daughter Dana – jump off together, screaming on the way down.
I can’t believe we actually did just that! My hair stand on end later when I learn that Macau Tower is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the highest bungy and skyjump. We are all in ear-to-ear smiles as we make our way up the elevator to get our souvenir photos and videos.
And I also keep thinking: this is Red China?
Now I understand why most Chinese don’t bother about one-party rule, democracy and human rights. If their roads are excellent, police officers are diligent, services are well delivered, everything is well managed and they have a Macau Tower, what’s there to complain about?
On the other hand, after over 100 years since the Philippine Revolution – and in spite of democracy and human rights – we Filipinos have nothing to show except asphalt roads that dissolve in typhoons, Gloria Arroyo, the Ampatuans and their kind, and everything else that’s miserable.
Sure, the Chinese are also having problems with corruption. But each crook they catch is guaranteed to get prison if not the firing squad.
For the record, I am not saying we go the way of Red China because I’m a socialist democrat for one. What I’m saying is that we need an honest-to-goodness diligent government in order to rid our Pilipinas of the wrenching poverty and finally achieve economic prosperity.
So, my question to my fellow Filipinos is this: are we willing to do what it takes to get our Pilipinas back on her feet no matter how inconvenient such as, for starters, observing traffic rules?
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The Beauty of the Philippines compares to any of these tourist spots.
Only, we have too much poor people.
great insights..
Pilipinas does not have to look with envy to Mainland China — the Philippines has a few things to show for what has happened over past 100 years, even when compared to Mainland China. Pilipinas is going to have one of its major past times in a few months — elections. When was the last time one heard of democracy elections in Mainland China? China has had changing of the political leaders, but somehow one didn’t hear of elections. Aren’t Pinoys in Pinas proud about the scores of political parties that it has, compared to China one-party rule?
Pinas weather is better, too, wouldn’t you say? Two seasons versus China – four seasons.
And maybe a reason why Mainland China is more progressive is that the country does not spend huge money building churches. There is a church in Beijing (lots of people around it even at midnight — if I remember right, the church is on Wangfujing Street and is a short taxi ride or a long walk to Forbidden City and Tianamen Square). I suppose there may be more but I only saw one Christianity-type church in Beijing. Now, Pilipinas, Pinas has churches, temples, mosques — Pinas even allows proselytizing so there is no impediment for preaching the Bible in Mindanao. Proselytizing in China — not allowed. Would this be worth giving up if it results in Pinas improving faster with per-capita-income?
Now don’t get me wrong, Beijing offers a lot of opportunities. I would grab it if offered a 6-month to 2-year work-assignment in Beijing especially for technology and business management work.
the same feeling i had when i first saw kuala lumpur in the late 80′s (as i compared it to manila). how we are cheated!
and yet we always proclaim we are world-class on the basis of the minor achievements of pacquiao, charice and arnel.
to answer your final question, we have to identify the ‘énemy’.
Manila is really uglified, so neglected and with garbage piles all over the city. But I don’t tell that to foreigners if they ask about what to see in the Philippines, they don’t have to know. I tell them about Palawan beaches and Rice Terraces.
Philippines anytime, all the time! Mabuhay ang Pilipinas, mabuhay ang Pilipino!
never been to macau. i should try it one day. thanks for this Norman.
Fabulous, Norm! Dunno if I would’ve had the nerve to jump, tho…
Yes, I know what u mean about China. Altho of course there’s a pretty awful human rights record (enforced organ donorship of prisoners on death row, Falungong, etc, etc) and press censorship, Han hegemony, Uighur oppression, Tibet, etc, etc… So it’s not all rosy and dandy. But there r certainly limits to excessive “democracy” when u lack the rule of law and constitutional liberalism (Zakaria), as we do in the Philippines, and some benefits to the one-party system, as u say. Our “system” has most decidedly become a circus…
Thanks. :-)
Great insight Norman. And what an exciting adventure.
China has the longest history of civilization. In each and every dynasty it was ended with a rebellion by the peasants due to luxurious and abusive rule by emperors. Communism paved that way to stability and peace (of course the start was bloody).
I like this policy of state owned public transportations like buses. We really don’t need RFID or some other high-tech nonsense. We just have too much vehicles on the road. If the state can own the bus companies and other forms of public transportation on the road, they can REGULATE, and impose a moratorium policy on buses, taxis, etc.
Before anything else, I want to thank everyone for your comments. They contribute different perspectives to the issue.
Edward, I also like the idea of a state-owned public transportation system because obedience to traffic rules is ensured. My own idea is for a public cooperative to own half of the system’s equity, so that money goes back directly to the people. A private company may be hired to run the system professionally. Too bad the pre-war Manila tranvias never made a return after 1945. Sayang talaga.
Macau became part of Red China only in 1999. Prior to that it was under the Portuguese.
The transportation system in Macau says a lot of convenience. Imagine, in 7 minutes you can go across from one islet to the next. Traffic is not in its vocabulary.
I think, it’s not just because of the ‘good’ government they have but it’s also because of the discipline and effort of every person living there. A-kilometer walk to the bus stop is no big deal for the Macau people but when you translate it to Filipino it becomes too much and a reason to get irritated at the puv drivers for not unloading anywhere.
Although, on second thought, the weather is a big factor. It’s not too convenient to walk under the strong heat of the sun here in Phils. compared to walking along the cold breeze of the wind in Macau.
But I guess, sacrifice is the key to this one. We can’t blame all the traffic and irritation to heat. We just need to walk, sweat and sacrifice before something gets better.