Halo

Surreal. There is no other word for Macau, the once sleepy heritage town which balloons into Las Vegas everywhere one looks. With one of the world's highest GDP per capita* and tens of millions of tourists**, Macau is full of material extravaganza. This is a city whose desires have so much outgrown her tiny body of inhabitants and their way of life, that living is more like drowning. 

While night time is usually a time of rest in most parts of the world, Macau comes alive after dark with its mega gaming businesses. And this is not restricted to casinos and their sprawling collaterals. In a place ruled by the values and aesthetics of speculative riches, everyday materiality is a mirror of extrovert asset.

It is now quite impossible to pinpoint at the exact moment when this all started - newly-built residential buildings in Macau worthy of the nouveau riche must all be furnished with awe-inspiring lightings as back-up to their elaborate facade once night falls and obscures its opulence. The competition has raised the bar so much that some upmarket residential complexes now own light installations that can bring smaller casinos to their knees. 

With all due respect, One Grantai has low-key lightings in comparison. But still one can see its halo from the other side of the the tallest hill on the island of Taipa.

Currently a typical three-bedroom apartment of One Grantai is selling at slightly under MOP 30 million (around USD 3.6 million), a steep drop from its heydays. Even at its much depreciated value, the residential complex remains the cathedral of prestige in Macau's property market. Seated on Colina da Taipa Grande, it has sweeping views of the Cotai Strip, Macau's equivalent of Las Vegas Strip. Yes, hence the name one and only Grantai.

As halo marks the divinity among human in religious iconography, light-after-dark in Macau is a measure of worth concealed by night, and a defiance of the day light sovereign to illuminate possession.

* “Macau ranks among world’s wealthiest by GDP per capita in 2025”, Macau Daily Times, 17 June 2025 and

“Macau poised to become richest place on the planet by 2020”, South China Morning Post, 8 August, 2018

** Total Visitors Arrivals 2025 (40,060,390 times), Macau Tourism Data Plus, Macau Government Tourism Office