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Published: August 7th 2007
A 1 hour ferry ride took us from Hong Kong to Macau. At first glance, the place seemed similar to Hong Kong but with some Las Vegas ingredients supplied by the casinos - the cheesiness of the Sands, the tackiness of the Lisboa, the awesomeness of the under-construction Grand Lisboa, and the plain but still opulent Wynn. Subsequent ramblings revealed elements of the mainland (not an enormous amount of English spoken, people staring at us, and more smoking than Hong Kong) as well as Portugal (cuisine, especially baccalau i.e. salt cod, architecture, narrow streets with thousands of mopeds, and street signs written in Portuguese and Chinese).
Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule from British ownership attracted much attention in 1997, but the similar return of Macau by the Portuguese 2 years later barely registered on most people's radar, despite it signifying the end of foreign ownership of any part of the mainland. Though enjoying a brief heyday in the 16th century as sea trading routes made the Silk Road obsolete, Macau had been superseded by Hong Kong as the commercial centre of the region, and legalised gambling had been introduced in an attempt to make up the shortfall in income.
Flowers
Fortaleza do MonteIndeed, Macau had become so much of a backwater that Portugal had been trying to give it back since the 1960s, and China had been refusing to accept it.
Since the handover, and triggered by a ruling in 2001 that removed the casino ownership monopoly previously enjoyed by Stanley Ho, as well as a relaxation of the rules governing access to Macau for mainlanders, the territory's economy has been flourishing. Sands and Wynn are 2 famous Las Vegas names that are now operational, and the territory's income is from the same sources as those of Vegas - gambling and conferences.
Prices are lower than in Hong Kong though still more than the mainland. The local currency, the pataca, is interchangeable with the Hong Kong dollar on a 1-1 basis almost everywhere, though it's more equivalent to 1 yuan, i.e. worth slightly less than 1 Hong Kong dollar. Macau shares with Hong Kong its irritating shortage of Internet cafes.
It seemed even hotter and more humid than Hong Kong and our increasingly sweaty wanderings progressed from the main square, Largo do Senado, to the church of Sao Paolo (originally an entire place of worship but now only a
facade courtesy of a 19th century fire) and finally the battlements of the Fortaleza do Monte overlooking the city.
The casino crawl we conducted on our first evening revealed that comparisons with Vegas were not really valid. Though the external appearances of many of the casinos were a triumph of garish neon, the insides were dull. There was none of the Vegas atmosphere, no sense of people from all over the world coming together to have fun. To enter, you had to pass through a metal detector and show the contents of any bags. Most tables had unsmiling, non-drinking, chain-smoking mainlanders around them with baccarat being the game of choice. A quick punt on a slot machine and a couple of hours whiled away at a half-empty bar watching Western girls inexpertly execute dance routines on a neighbouring stage completed our Macau casino experience.
I was astounded to read in the local press that 6 people had been killed and over 100 injured in an inter-village "war" in Sichuan regarding territorial rights for harvesting winter worms (the fungus we'd seen for sale all over Sichuan). Supposedly the best quality worms are worth about $5,000 per kilo, which in
some way explains the violence - I suppose. Such incidents seemed a world away from the atmosphere in Macau and it felt as though we'd already left China, even though it would take a further flight to actually take us away from the People's Republic.
Dull but possibly useful info Getting there: Take a ferry from Hong Kong to Macau (many through the day), costing 138 HKD and taking about 1 hour.
Stayed at: Hotel Sintra. Cost 1150 MOP for a double. Good location, and a free shuttle bus for this hotel (and its sister the Lisboa) runs from the ferry terminal every 15 minutes. Would stay here again.
Notes: i. Supposedly there are buses that run to the airport from town, but the bus stop we were directed to seemed to indicate they only ran for a couple of hours in the morning and evening. A taxi cost us 46 MOP.
ii. You can't change MOP outside of the country so make sure you get rid of them before you leave.
iii. The souvenir shops at the airport are dire - buy any mementos before you get there.
iv. At check-in for our flight to the Philippines, we
were not asked for proof of an onward ticket (supposedly a requirement for flying to the Philippines).
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Great photos
I'm glad the photos on your blog were restored! Beautiful photos.