Meeting Macau’s famous fortune teller
THERE’S something strangely reassuring about meeting Macau’s famous fortune teller who has 30cm-long sprouts of hair protruding from parts of his face.
As he stares at me above his thick glasses, I’m at least confident that he looks the part.
It’s not what he says I can’t understand anything that comes from his mouth but rather the calm way he says it that comforts me.
We are sitting in a suburban park in Macau. It is an important part of the local community. Because flats in Macau are small, people tend to use the parks as their extended lounge rooms.
So I find myself sitting on a metal chair, baring my soul through an interpreter, while surrounded by children playing, mothers gossiping and old people just watching their lives go by day after day.
The fortune teller is very important in Macau culture and this man has been recommended to me by Joao Novikoff Sales, a public relations executive from the Macau Government Tourist Office.
I pay Macau’s famous fortune teller $HK200 (about $25), asks for my date of birth and what time of day I was born.
The book of numbers
He consults his book of numbers and writes five lines of numerals.
Then he holds my left hand, pushing it in different parts. He then replicates this with my right.
Next he grabs my chin, mouth and cheeks. All of this takes about five minutes and is done in silence.
To be honest, I’m not sure I believe in fortune tellers. But I don’t think it can hurt and locals consult these wizened gentlemen for just about every important decision in their lives.
When he speaks, he delivers his assessment of me in staccato fashion with his voice rising and falling for effect. Joao translates. It appears the fortune teller knows me better than most of my friends. He nails my personality, my fears and my failings. It is frighteningly accurate.
He then tells me about the good and bad periods of my life. And most of it makes sense. Apparently in 2009 (when I took the sou
ght-after job as national travel editor) one of my work colleagues tried to stab me in the back, but it didn’t work. Look out, I know who you are now, and revenge will be mine.
He then predicted that I would have a healthy life until I was 85, but that I had to be careful at 59, 69 and 79. When I asked what that meant, I was told that if I had a mark on my skin during those years I should see a doctor immediately. I’m already a melanoma survivor so that’s certainly advice I will be heeding.
My time to ask the questions
I was then invited to ask questions.
Tempted as I was to ask about how to win on the gaming tables – Macau is the gambling capital of Asia – I refrained and instead asked the question every parent asks. And that’s what is in store for my three daughters?
That’s when he again grabbed my chubby cheeks and told me that he could see much goodness, love and joy coming from these relationships and some rocky times.
That was it for me. Next up was one of my travelling companions for her time with Macau’s famous fortune teller. He didn’t have to do a lot of maths this time as she was born two days before me. What he did do though, with amazing accuracy, was tell her about two times of turmoil in her life not in general terms, but in detail.
When he told her that 29 was a bad year for her and that she suffered a significant loss she burstinto tears. He father died when she was 29.
Lucky guess? I think not. After all, he is Macau’s famous fortune teller.
We left the park on foot and Joao led us through the narrow streets of Macau’s old town to the centre of the city, which in 2005 made the UNESCO World Heritage list.
Macau certainly has good neighbours
Macau, a 60-minute ferry trip from Hong Kong, lies on the southeast coast of China, but the territory was run by the Portuguese from the mid-16th century until 1999. It is a tiny island with nothing more than 20 minutes away by car.
From the centre of the old town, the streets get wider and the quaint antique stores are replaced by modern international merchandising giants. Macau is an easy place to walk, albeit hot and steamy (average July temperature is 31.5C), like most of Asia.
It is safe even at night. There are no street hawkers, no one offering cheap massages down dimly lit streets like many other Asian countries.
Joao walks us to the Grand Hotel Lisboa which, because of its likeness to a giant lotus flower, is one of the city’s most obvious landmarks. Built by Stanley Ho, it is not only a 1000-bed hotel but it is also a casino and home to three Michelin-starred restaurants: Robuchon au Dome, The 8 Restaurant and Don Aliveness 1890.
We decide to spend our gambling winnings on lunch at Joel Robuchon’s. The 68-year-old chef is a food legend. In 1989, he was named chef of the century by the guide Gault Millau. He has restaurants in Hong Kong, Las Vegas, London, Monaco, Paris, Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo and Macau. At last count he had 28 Michelin stars to his credit.
His lunch menu at Robuchon du Dome starts at $HK458 for two courses plus dessert. For another $HK220, you get two matching wines. The restaurant is on the 43rd floor with the best views in Macau and perhaps the best food I have eaten. It certainly was the best meal I have had for just over $80.
Meal fit for a king
The three courses are really five and start with l’amuse-bouche of cherry gazpacho with goat’s cheese and pistachio flakes. For the first course I had the politically incorrect, but amazingly tasty lightly smoked foie gras shaved on warm potato salad with black truffle dressing, followed by lamb, a cheese platter and a selection of decadent calorie-fuelled desserts.
Miramar, owned by Antonio Peralta, is about as far from Robuchon as you can get literally. It is on the other side of the islands that make up Macau. The food is very Portuguese, as is the beachside feel. We dined on ham from pigs fed only on acorns. Chef Rosa then indulged us with fresh fish baked with tomatoes, oil, potatoes, onion, olives and garlic.
This was followed by pork, lashings of Portuguese Vinho Verde green wine and dessert, but in something of a rare feat, I could not fit in any of the dozen different desserts on offer.