Material for thought

Here are few pictures of Macau and its casinos. The place lost its appearance from the 19^th and even 20^th century. Found guilty: the massive arrival of new casinos, the construction of the airport and the merger of the Taipa and Coloane islands. You can still find very nicely preserved Portuguese buildings in Macau though, and not all casinos are tasteless. In fact, the distinction between the old and the fake is not always so clear here. Casinos are after all part of the history of Macau. So, I wonder, what is the most authentic? Macau or Las Vegas? I know that the question is pointless anyway because I don’t believe in the word ‘authentic’. But still, I had the feeling that Macau had more depth than Las Vegas, even though Las Vegas remains much more impressive.

I visited Hong Kong Disneyland the other day. It was not without any resistance as the park has not the reputation of being the best of its kind. But it was only 20 minutes away by public transport and I’m a specialist in theme parks after all, so I could not resist and did my duty.

The park was definitely lacking a level of details in the execution of the themed areas. The budget was too tight it seems. It was nowhere more apparent than on Main Street USA and the Disney castle. The buildings were smaller than in other Disney parks and didn’t have enough details; some looked as cheap as in second class parks.

I was at the Hong Kong art fair last weekend. It was not as big as the Frieze art fair of London for example, but this was the place to buy Chinese artworks it seems.

Christie’s had an enormous adjacent section, maybe even bigger than the fair itself. The quantity and quality of the Chinese contemporary art displayed was truly amazing. They also had ancient Chinese artefacts, watches, wine and many other things to sell, anything that is utterly expensive and related to the established idea of a cultural lifestyle.