Macau - The Vegas of the East

We jumped on a ferry from Kowloon to Macau which took an hour. Strangely enough we had to go through the whole immigration procedure again to leave Hong Kong and enter our new destination …more stamps for the passport.

After a debacle regarding our first hotel when we arrived (nothing unusual there then for us!) we finally made it to a decent hotel on the mainland.  Our first night was spent relaxing and trying to catch up on some much needed sleep after the noise of Hong Kong. Although we did go for a little walk and had a quick look in the Sands hotel and casino!

The next day we decided to explore and see what sights Macau had to offer. Strangely enough we both felt a sense of familiarity as there is a large Portuguese influence still to be found in Macau, particularly the street names and the food. Like Hong Kong it is very built up and seemingly wealthy in parts but definitely not as busy, which is probably because they are all in the casinos!

We went to take some photos of the unusual architectural design of the Lotus, then walked into the central area. We walked through Senado square which has a patterned tiled design on the floor. At this point we could have been in King Street for all we knew, it was quite clean, buzzing and there was a Starbucks and a Body Shop too.

Is this King Street???

We made a detour through the Street of Happiness which was historically the red light district and the small alley still has the red shutters and doors on every building to prove it.

We continued onto the Fort for a view over Macau and managed to walk past the ruins of St Paul’s. All this was an amazing feat considering you had to battle past the ‘It’s all about me!’ model photo shoots of the Chinese at every corner. Seriously, every male thinks he’s Mario Testino and every female thinks she’s a Kate Moss, posing in every possible position and place. That’s of course when they are not doing the victory sign or jumping in the air for ‘fun’ photos! Their holiday photos must be a laugh a minute –‘ here’s me getting on the boat, here’s me sitting in my chair, here’s me outside the toilet’, etc!!!

Macau Skyline - The Lotus taking prime position

That evening we took a taxi across the bridge to Cotai to have a look at some of the larger casinos that dominate this area. This is where the Venetian and the MGM are based. The Venetian was fairly mind-blowing and with its gondolas on the canals, happy couples on the bridges and Venetian styled buildings it did actually look like a mini Venice. The inside was just as opulent and over the top with plenty of gold and chandeliers to be found.

After dinner at a small restaurant were the staff annoyed us with their over-attentiveness and we were surrounded by the usual smoking (that is still allowed in restaurants and other public areas) we took a taxi back towards our hotel but stopped for a quick drink just around the corner at The Wynn. Again the gaming tables were packed with Chinese and the décor was just as opulent as the other hotels. When we walked in a huge dragon was making an appearance out of a golden cave in the lobby floor! We managed to find their large Jellyfish tank to gawp at for a while, then headed into the mirrored Crystal bar for a couple of cocktails. Well we couldn’t possibly have gone to Mini-Vegas without enjoying a cocktail or two could we!!??

Here’s me waiting for my cocktail in the Crystal bar!!!