Dispatch from Elsewhere: Goodbye Asia
Day 17: Macau -> Vancouver
Dear friends, I’m coming home today! Well, time zone fuckery means that we are actually twiddling our thumbs until 5pm today before setting off to the airport, flying to Taiwan, then to Vancouver over 10 hours, then returning back to Thursday, July 17th.
I pick the last breakfast, and we return to Kong Fai for that good, good, mixed noodle.
Instead of twiddling our thumbs all day, we decide to meander a bit. We go to Paradis New Mario, a bakery where I used to go as a kid. It’s been a long time, but they do still have the raisin Danish of my childhood…I forget to take a photo, so here is an old photo from a blog.
We meet Auntie B for lunch, another favourite among my mom’s friends. She’s a light-hearted soul, definitely at least a little neurodivergent. She married into a soy sauce tycoon family, to a husband we definitely think is on some spectrum of queer, and lives in Hong Kong in a building full of celebrities. She loudly complains about Hong Kong media royalty the way I complain about Caroline and Jacqueline (my black widow neighbours). So and so is terrible at parking. So and so’s mom is always yelling. “Oh god, when that scandal happened, I couldn’t leave the house,” she exclaimed when recalling a recent headline. We talk about her daughter running marathons around the world, and encourage her and her daughter to come to Canada to run. She buys us a pastille de nata from a viral shop nearby—it’s better than the ones that I’ve had in Spain and Portugal, but not as good as the Macanese-Portuguese egg tart.
Soon, we bid her goodbye, and it’s time to pack up the last of our things.
My grandma zooms away as we leave my grandpa’s apartment for the last time. She doesn’t say goodbye, as is her way—constant zoomies, that one. It is a bit bittersweet, and strangely, I’m not feeling quite ready to leave despite my readiness for my own hovel.
Edificio Caravelle Court—that is the name of the building where I spent my early years. A caravel is a ship—one that carried many across the oceans. The ocean is an entity that carries much of my memories across time and space. It’s also the building where my mom spent many happy years, so much so that when a thief broke into our 27th floor apartment when I was a few years old, we simply moved high up. The weather has been terrible, so I wish I had photos of the view for you. I’ve asked my mom to take me some.
She agreed and additionally sent me some photos from her walk home from the airport after we parted ways.
I took this walk with my parents last year one evening, and it’s really lovely. There are exercise apparatuses hanging around, as well as a manicured park/garden situation for kids to play around. I think this walk was the first time I noticed how lush Macau could be.
I’m writing now from Taiwan, as I’m waiting to board a plane. There is a confident little girl named Empress running around. I’ve just eaten a ham and cheese sandwich from New Mario (it really hit the spot).
While waiting, I finally hear back from O—finally, finally, she has sleuthed for me who the Pale Boys are. I’ve been searching in vain for many minutes over the last few days. I told O I thought they were BL actors from the way they’re always depicted in pairs. She laughed and said that would be an interesting experience for Macau. I guess Macau isn’t quite ready yet for the real gay agenda. (I also learn from O that the Galaxy is contracted by the government to do 200 shows a year, hence there are events every week—Thai GL royalty Engfa and Charlotte are doing their first fan meet in Macau early August and I’ve asked O to send me pics if she peeps any ads that look even vaguely queer.)
The Pale Boys is actually a Chinese boy group called TF Family, made up of a whopping fifteen members. I don’t think I’ve seen that many ads, but I could be getting my Pale Boys mixed up. Here is a gallery of them if you’re curious, but I’m mostly stunned that these boys are mostly babies. The shocking number of 13 year olds… I just hope the itabag carrying fans are also 13.
On the plane, I’m planning to sleep and listen to Epic one more time. I’ve been trying to drag my sister into it for ages.
I feel like I’ve been away forever and feeling like time is just moving on without me. One more sleep, however, and I’m back on home soil. We’ll pick up Bee afterwards, and I will give him a big hug 🥹