Blogs from Macau, Asia - page 22

Macao war bis vor 10 Jahren portugiesische Kolonie und wurde zeitgleich mit Hong Kong an China zurückgegeben. Macau ist heute neben Hong Kong die 2. Sonderverwaltungszone, so dass dort der chinesische Einfluss gering geblieben ist. Macao ist auch der einzige Ort Chinas, an dem Glücksspiel erlaubt ist. Von Hong Kong aus braucht man mit der Fähre nur eine Stunde nach Macao, wo ich meinen letzten Urlaubstag vor meine Heimreise verbracht habe. Am Tag drauf bin ich dann nach Nanjing zurückgeflogen, wo ich den Rest meines Gepäcks hatte. Nach etwas Umpacken gings dann von Nanjing nach Peking und von da nach München. Nach dieser Odyssee konnte ich dann endlich wieder alle Dinge genießen, die ich in China vermisst hatte. So gut, wie in der Woche hat die Siemenskantine noch nie geschmeckt! (Nur um nochmal klar zustellen: Ich ... read more

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sadly, before the Travelblog crash, there was a great write-up of my experiences in Macao. I didn't have any backups of this one, so it is as of now, gone for good. I don't think a re-write so long after the fact would do my experience justice, but luckily, the pictures and comments were left unharmed. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------... read more

Sorry, no comments because technical problems on the blog and everything disappeared ! ... read more

Macau is the only place in China where gambling is legal, all part of the peculiar "one country, two systems” rule that allows such anomalies. The Chinese love lady luck and gambling is a big part of traditional culture so Macau hopes to capitalise on the huge Chinese and foreign population with a penchant for gambling. Macau is pitting itself as the next generation Las Vegas; according to the sales pitch it’s destined to be more than just a conglomeration of hotels and casinos, but more an entertainment and recreation destination without the tacky and seedy undertones said to plague Vegas. The numbers favour Macau too. Within an hours flight of Macau is a population of over 2 milliion, compared to a paltry 250,000 within the same distance from Las Vegas. Investors are scrambling for their ... read more

Day 55 Macau was once colonised by the Portuguese and now, like Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China. It still has a lot of evidence of its former inhabitants (apparently less than 2% of the residents here are Portuguese now) both in architecture and food and we set out today to see this for ourselves. Our first stop was the Senado Square, the main central square surrounded by Portuguese buildings and with mosaic style cobbled pavements. This, combined with the portuguese steet names and signs, made us feel like we were nowhere near China, only being reminded by the glimpse of the Cantonese translations of all the signs. Just off the square we saw the beautiful Sao Domingos Church before visiting the ruins of St Paul's Church which now has only ... read more