A Surreal Odyssey Through Macau's Supernatural Underbelly
It was a chilly November afternoon in Macau. I had just finished an unusually hearty dim sum lunch at the famous Tai Long Fong restaurant, of which the truffle xiao long bao formed a particularly memorable item. I was now sitting alone in my 30th-floor apartment overlooking the neon-lit Cotai Strip, my feet propped up by the floor-to-ceiling windows. On the table next to me were the remnants of some egg tarts I had picked up from Lord Stow's Bakery, along with a few bottles of Macau Beer and baijiu.
Earlier that morning, I had been reading some famous Chinese legends and folk tales on my tablet. I am willing to confess, therefore, that I now felt a bit hazy, my mind swimming with fantastical images of monkey kings and moon goddesses. I made an effort to arouse myself with a few more sips of baijiu, but to no avail. In despair, I opened up the Macau Daily Times website on my phone.
Having carefully perused the classifieds for apartments to let and jobs available, I moved on to the editorials with determination. But after reading one abstruse opinion piece from start to finish, I began to wonder if it was actually written in Chinese rather than English.
Just as I was about to close the site in disgust, a peculiar news headline caught my eye: "Freak Accident at Macau Fisherman's Wharf Kills One." The article went on to describe how a local resident had died while playing sic bo at the casino there—apparently, he choked on one of the dice after trying to swallow it for good luck. Upon seeing this, I flew into an inexplicable rage.
"What nonsense!" I exclaimed. "Clearly, this is nothing more than a ridiculous hoax, concocted by some hack journalist to increase this rag's click-through rates. With the way society's gullibility has increased lately, these writers now feel compelled to dream up the most improbable tales and frame them as freak occurrences. But to a keener intellect like my own"—and here I tapped my temple meaningfully—"it's evident that the real oddity is how common such manufactured 'odd news' stories have become. Well, no more! From now on, I vow to believe nothing that bears even a hint of being 'singular'."
No sooner had this oath left my lips than a deep, heavily accented voice responded: "Aiya, you really zuo si bu jiu wan la!" Startled, I looked around for the source of the Cantonese exclamation.
At first, I thought it must be a ringing in my ears, the result of one too many shots of baijiu. But then the voice grumbled again, and now it sounded like a rice cooker filled with boiling congee.
"Zou san! Do you not see me sitting right next to you?" Turning my head, my jaw dropped open at the unbelievable sight now confronting me. There, perched on the armrest of my leather sofa, was the oddest creature I had ever laid eyes on.
Its body was shaped like a giant mahjong tile, with the bamboo suit's character "one" etched on its surface. Two spindly arms protruded from its sides, ending in tiny hands that clutched a smoldering joss stick and a half-eaten pork bun. Atop the tile was a head that resembled a miniature Ah-Ma statue, complete with a traditional headdress and an enigmatic smile playing across its stony lips.
The peculiar being fixed me with its glowing, almond-shaped eyes and spoke again.
"Haiya, your Cantonese really ma ma dei, ah? Let me repeat in English—are you blind or just ji sing?" The creature took a long drag from its joss stick and exhaled a cloud of fragrant smoke. "I am Siu Faat Zai, the God of Improbable Odds. And I've come to teach you a lesson, you skeptical fool."
Before I could respond, Siu Faat Zai leaped from the armrest and landed on my shoulder with surprising agility for a deity made of stone and bamboo. He jabbed a finger against my temple and tsked disapprovingly.
"You think you're so smart, ah? So above it all? Well, let's see how you handle a few games of chance, Macau style!" With that, the god snapped his fingers, and the world around me dissolved into a swirling kaleidoscope of neon lights and incense smoke.
When the haze cleared, I found myself standing in the middle of the Cotai Strip, surrounded by the towering facades of Macau's most extravagant casinos. Siu Faat Zai, now human-sized, stood beside me, grinning mischievously.
"Welcome to your personal Enigmatic Encounter," he announced, sweeping his arm in a grand gesture. "You're about to embark on a mystical odyssey through Macau's supernatural underbelly. You'll confront the improbable, the bizarre, and the downright absurd. And if you survive with your sanity intact, maybe—just maybe—you'll learn to embrace life's glorious unpredictability."
And so began my surreal journey through Macau's neon-soaked streets under the guidance of the trickster god Siu Faat Zai. From the labyrinthine alleys of Coloane Village to the incense-shrouded altars of A-Ma Temple, I encountered a fantastical array of characters and challenges designed to test my understanding of chance, fate, and the inescapable chaos of the universe.
At the iconic Ruins of St. Paul's, I engaged in a philosophical debate with a ghostly Jesuit priest who argued for the existence of divine order while levitating in front of the facade's crumbling statues. In the echoing halls of the Grand Lisboa casino, I played a high-stakes game of baccarat against a trio of ancient Chinese sages, their long beards flowing as they conjured winds of fortune with every turn of the cards.
Atop Guia Fortress, I found myself in the middle of a tense standoff between the Monkey King and a mischievous moon rabbit, their celestial armies poised to clash over the fate of Macau's mortals. As I watched the battle unfold, Siu Faat Zai whispered cryptic koans in my ear, challenging me to find meaning in the apparent madness.
Throughout my adventures, I grappled with the fundamental questions that had always haunted me. Was there a grand design to the universe, or was it all a series of random, meaningless events?
Could I find purpose and order in the midst of life's chaos, or was I doomed to be a plaything of the gods, forever at the mercy of their whims?
In the end, as I stood atop the Macau Tower, gazing out over the glittering city below, Siu Faat Zai appeared beside me one last time. "So, my skeptical friend," he said, his eyes twinkling with amusement, "have you learned to embrace the enigma of existence? Or are you still clinging to your illusions of control?"
I pondered his question for a long moment, the wind whipping through my hair as the neon lights danced across the bay. And then, with a wry smile, I turned to the god and shrugged.
"Maybe there is no grand plan," I said. "Maybe life is just a wild, unpredictable ride, full of strange detours and unexpected encounters. But you know what? I think I'm okay with that. Because in the end, it's the mystery that makes it all worthwhile."
Siu Faat Zai threw back his head and laughed, a sound like the ringing of ancient temple bells. "Well said, my friend. Well said." He clapped me on the shoulder, and then, with a final wink, he vanished into the night, leaving me alone with my thoughts and the endless, glittering expanse of Macau.
As I made my way back to my apartment, I couldn't help but chuckle at the absurdity of it all. The Enigmatic Encounter had been a wild, surreal journey, but somehow, it had also been strangely enlightening. I may not have found all the answers I was looking for, but I had learned to embrace the chaos, to find joy in the unpredictable twists and turns of fate.
And who knows? Maybe that's the greatest lesson any of us can learn in this strange, beautiful, enigmatic world of ours.