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Published: September 9th 2009
Most of the exchange students had heard a fair bit about Macau before coming to HK, with it often being compared to Las Vegas and viewed as a party place to visit. Considering it was only an hour away from Hong Kong by ferry a weekend trip was inevitable. Following an absolutely manic weekend it will suffice to say that I haven’t been disappointed.
Between cities such as Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore and indeed all the prosperous up and coming cities in South East Asia, there seems to be a desire to build the most ridiculous pieces of architecture possible. Macau is no different, and once you step off the ferry you can see casinos and hotels towering into the sky in all sorts of bizarre shapes and sizes, you can see Macau Tower soaring above the rest of the city and you can see the suspension bridges between islands incorporating slopes and taking up weird shapes. It’s possible to do these things, so no justification is really needed it seems. We got a decent view of all this in our taxi on the way to the hotel. It was about 7pm so it was starting to get darker and
all the lights were starting up.
As for the hotel itself, I’ve never stayed somewhere so impressive. We decided to put 4 people into each twin room; it was just about possible and we knew we weren’t going to get much sleep anyway. It came to about £20 each which I would never pay if we were travelling properly, but for 1 night I thought it was worth it. With that came a swimming pool, spa, games room, relaxation room and lots of other equally impressive things that we didn’t use. We headed straight down to the pool and spa until about 9.30 or so. In hindsight I regret this somewhat - we missed Macau’s famous fireworks displays which are shown at 9 and 10pm and we were to spend all of Sunday doing the same. It was a very relaxing time, although we exchange students were the only ones donning any sort of swimwear in the spa. Rather off-putting and disturbing, does it really hurt to put even some swimming trunks on? After a decent dinner we headed towards The Venetian.
The Venetian is officially the biggest casino in the world. You’re not allowed to take photos
Relaxing on the IFC
Peter and Teddy on the IFC terraceinside because, logically, that probably means you’re cheating. Maybe if I start looking at all the security cameras and start taking photos of the blind spots I’m up to something, but I can’t really understand how taking a picture of a roulette game is going to harm anyone. Anyhow, it was so grand and glamorous I almost found it too much and over the top. There were hugely extravagant fountains outside, followed by marble archways and corridors inside. Everything, interior and exterior, served the purpose of demonstrating the vast sums of money people throw away in casinos. The owners must be amongst some of the wealthiest people on the planet.
I was planning to go around and make a few small bets and play around with small money, no more than £15-20 altogether. I soon realised that this wasn’t possible. The lowest minimum bet I saw was £5 or so, for which you could have a single bet in roulette (in other words have a 11 out of 12 chance of throwing it away at best if you took up 4 numbers). To bet on red or black or other such higher odds bets, closer to £20 was necessary.
IFC terrace
The view of the skyscrapers in one direction Everywhere I went I saw people betting amounts larger than my student loan in one go. The money flying around was ridiculous, and I didn’t even go into the high stakes area. I still remember the shop in Monte Carlo I saw when I was younger selling Ferrari’s and holiday mansions people had lost betting, and having now been inside a casino with the super rich I can see entirely how it happens. I saw one man change HK$25000 chips back into cash - about £2000. He didn’t seem that happy about it, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d began with ten times that amount and decided to cut his losses. The whole experience made me feel utterly like a tourist in a world I didn’t belong in, which I suppose was the truth. A couple of my friends did well out of the night. Andreas won HK$750 and Teddy HK$650. However far more were losers, with Raj losing around HK$600 and one exchange student I met later losing closer to $HK1000 (£80). I think we may go back to Macau but we agreed we’d enter casinos with lower stakes, people just wanted to say that they’d made bets in
Another IFC terrace
View of the harbour from the other IFC terrace side. They don't even make you buy a drink! the world’s largest casino, and for the lucky few who did well, they can now say that they’ve taken money off the world’s largest casino.
After an hour or so in The Venetian, at around 12.30 or so, we headed to a nightclub D-2 where most of the exchange students on the weekend trip were meant to be meeting. We met up with lots of people there and had a good time until about 3.30am, but truth be told night clubs all over the world are similar in a lot of ways. At 3.30 Teddy, Andreas and I decided to go for a walk around Macau and see it by night. It simply never stops moving. There are lights flashing everywhere from casinos trying to persuade you to waste your money inside. Taxis continue to drive people about left right and centre, and there is still a considerable about of movement and atmosphere on the streets. We weren’t interested in any more gambling but we walked around all the local casinos anyhow. They were all considerably smaller and also appeared to accept lower stakes. Maybe people were only foolish enough to bet their life savings in these places, not
Inside the Venetian
They let you take photos in the hallway. their mortgages. We also found ways into the hotels connected to these casinos and decided to sneak around and check out their luxuries as if we were customers. Once again the wealth on display was ridiculous and we once were in a lift with some genuine customers who looked at us like we didn’t belong there and grumbled some words in Chinese which were blatantly about us. I couldn’t stop myself from bursting out laughing in front of them in response because I could understand the snobbery from their point of view.
After a couple of hours looking around I got back to my room around 5.30, to find one roommate Raj had got back just before me and the other 2 were out. We grabbed a bed each. Jack got back about an hour later and was tired enough to sleep on the floor. We were then all woken up at about 9am by the final room mate, Christien, banging on the door and asking us to let him in at 8.30, before announcing that he was leaving straight away to go to the beach (which apparently is very nasty with lots of medical equipment lying around). Jack
Macau's strip at 3.30 am
So glamorous it borders on insanity. eventually climbed in with Raj but I got the bed to myself for the entire night which I was delighted with. We had to check out by 12 so we didn’t get a great deal of sleep.
The next day was once again spent by the pool and in the spa - all very relaxing before we headed back. A lot of exchange students headed to Macau Tower to do the world’s highest bungee jump - 233 metres high according to Wikipedia. I’ve seen some videos and pictures. It looks as incredible as it does scary, but the price of around £150 is enough to put me off. If I find I have that lying around I’m off to Beijing or somewhere, I won’t be blowing it on a 20 second adrenaline rush. I think there will be another trip to Macau, partly because one of our group, Peter, is Taiwanese and was told at immigration that he needed a load more pointless bureaucratic documents to travel into Macau and be allowed back into HK. It was pretty disgraceful, not so much the rules but the treatment and enjoyment the Chinese immigration officials seemed to take from denying him
Casino Lisboa
Another casino illuminated by colourful lights entry. Anyhow, the rest of us had a great time so a return trip definitely seems worthwhile.
I have been up to more apart from going to Macau since my last update. At Saturday lunchtime I paid £10 for an all you can eat buffet on Hong Kong Island. I wasn’t paying so much for the food as the view, as this was in fact a revolving restaurant on the 61st floor with views of the harbour and the skyline. I’ve seen views like this often enough now but I can’t imagine ever getting tired of them. There’s such a massive contrast from one tower to the next. Some apartment blocks are tiny, narrow, ugly towers built in the time when the government were simply trying to find a home of some sort for Hong Kong’s ever increasing population. Some on the other hand are large, spacious and complete with swimming pools and terraces on the roof for residents to use. When talking of roof terraces, the one on top of the IFC shopping mall in central Hong Kong has to be mentioned. It’s free to go to, there are seats which are free to sit on; you’re not
Bank of China Tower from the bottom
Simply walking to the tram offers enough photo opportunities. even made to buy a drink. After lunch we sat around there for a couple of hours relaxing and looking at the skyscrapers towering above us on one side, whilst we looked over the harbour on the other side. It’s a great way to burn time in central Hong Kong.
Since returning from Macau I have also been up the peak at night. It’s where all the photos for travel guides and tourism brochures are taken from. I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking but would add that I still want to go up there during the day. Were I with somebody with a bit more money than me - parents for example - I’d go up around 6pm and look out whilst the sun’s still out before buying a decent dinner up there and coming back out around 8 to watch the lights show below. To get to the peak we got the tram. It’s not as hair raising as the Lonely Planet makes out but it is pretty steep and takes you directly up there very quickly, and you can watch the view develop as you go up. The walk between Central MTR station and
In the tram
Me and Tom on the way up the peak tram is very worth paying attention to too. You go past the central financial district and the Bank of China tower and a few other significant landmarks, and at 9pm or so after the working day it’s entirely empty. It’s actually quite a surreal experience walking through central Hong Kong and hardly seeing a sole.
That’s pretty much all for now. I’m planning to take my chances with a hair cut in Mong Kok tomorrow. It’s supposedly very cheap but they might not understand English and do something completely unexpected. I just hope that the recent events of people throwing acid off the roof into the crowd below won’t be repeated…….speak soon. Rob.
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Mum
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Another great episode.
I look forward to the next one - it really is a very good read Rob. Hope the haircut is to your liking.