The Kumkuat Korner

Macau reminded me very much of Hong Kong and Las Vegas at the same time. Where Hong Kong used to be governed by the British, Macau was governed by the Portuguese.  The primary language is Cantonese and Portuguese. Even the dialect sounds like some weird fusion of both Cantonese and Portuguese. You can see the influence of the Portuguese everywhere. The buses, the streets, the restaurants and the buildings. It's everywhere. Many buildings and businesses had Macanese names that showed their Portuguese and Chinese roots How did the Portuguese get Macau you ask? Around the year 1535, Portuguese merchants quickly settled and somehow took over as a Portuguese colony. The Ming Dynasty literally LEASED Macau to Portugal because it was a great port for trading. 200 years later Portuguese arm twisted  forced made a treaty from China agreeing to let Portugal keep sovereignty over Macau. China was, during this time, unstable and the Portuguese government knew that and use...

Have you ever seen that one movie or read that one book that fills you with so much emotion, you become a wreck by simply the half of the whole thing? The one that makes you feel so wrapped up in the characters, and you grow with them, emotionally attaching yourself to the main character because you feel you understand him... Or her. And then, as you are nearing the end of the story, you are a sobbing mess of emotions so thick you can barely breathe. You feel hot. Your heart pounds in your chest. You feel excitement, sorrow, broken, jealous, angry, content, annoyed, a wild tide of feelings that you can't  .... won't settle on one in particular. You are happy for the ending, but you begin to feel empty because you return, to your body, your own feelings, your own story. You wonder how you would act if it was you in the place of the hero... or villain, or monster. or foe. That feeling that there is something more . An ache in your chest, a sort of hollow...