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Taipa Village
By Kelly McEachern
March 4, 1998
 As
we looked in through the heart of the Taipa Village we noticed many interesting
things, the overwhelming smells of the fishes and other meats and vegetables
coming from the roadside markets and street vendors. There were two or
three market stalls per road along with all the other colorful houses and
small stores accompanying them. Many of the stores had signs in two or
three languages (Chinese, Portuguese, and English) indicating a mixed culture.
The houses were small but had colorful tiles. If we had driven through
most of the city we would have seen homes painted with many different colors.
The Portuguese homes seemed to have more variety of colors than the Chinese
homes did. Portuguese homes were often shades of pastel, whereas the Chinese
homes were more of the reds, browns and greys ..... the darker colors.
In some houses, if we listened carefully as we walked by we heard the slapping
of the mahjong tiles against the tables. Majong is a popular board game
played by the Chinese for leisure and perhaps at times for money. Other
buildings in the village included Buddhist temples, Mediterranean style
churches, libraries, and restaurants such as Pinnocchio's and Dumbo's.
 This
village was a small and peaceful one. Our observations allowed us to understand
many things about the villagers who lived there. It didn't seem like there
were very many children because the only school they had was a small one
in a sheltered area of the village. The only other place for children to
go in their spare time was probably the small playground situated in the
center of the village. My impression of the older people in the village
was that they were hard working because you didn't see them hanging around,
they were always working in their stores or praying in the churches.
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