Situated a few kilometers west of Hong Kong, Macau makes for a great day trip. Although the city is not officially part of China, it enjoys the use of their military defense and foreign affairs while it maintains it’s own legal system, public security, monetary system, customs policy and immigration policy.
Amazingly, for such a small region, it has many “largest in the world” attractions:
1. It is the most densely populated region in the world
2. It hosts the world’s tallest bungee jump, at 764 feet (233 meters) from the Macau Tower
3. It boasts the world’s largest casino, the Venetian Macau, with 39 stories and 10,500,000 sq feet (980,000 m2). Previously to visiting, I thought Las Vegas would have this honour, but nope
4. In fact, it surpasses Las Vegas as the largest gambling market in the world
Cool beans!
A high speed ferry dropped me at the harbour, and I spent the day wondering aimlessly around the city. Apparently, I made it just in time for a duck festival, and there were yellow rubber duckies all over the city. At Fisherman’s Wharf, there was a ducky gala while the Do De Rubber Duck song from Sesame Street played on loudspeakers, over and over and over and … yeah, I ran away screaming.
The Formula One museum and Wine museum were entertaining, and once I got my fix (hint: my feet were tired), I made my way to the gambling region of the city. Comparing it to Las Vegas, it was more classy, more sophisticated, less busy, and less intense. It was also money, big time money.
I visited the City of Dreams and Studio City before going to the Venetian casino, because go big or go home! Upon entering the hotel, I was able to snap a picture of the casino floor before security warned that pictures were not allowed. Then I attempted to gamble at my favourite game, blackjack, but the minimum bet was 50 CAD (34 EUR). Man, that’s expensive! Looking around the room, I realized my backpacker budget is no match for those rich folk.
Luckily a 30 CAD table opened and I played a few rounds to soak up the moment. While I was slowly losing, someone walked by and casually bet with another player sitting at the table. This random walker placed over 1000 CAD per hand, and must have lost about 4000 CAD (2700 EUR) in 3 rounds. He shrugged it off as though nothing was lost. Ya, BIG money here.
The Venetian hotel also had a curved escalator and a water moat with boats on an upper floor; very cool beans. Maybe I’ll return when I am a multi-millionaire.
