I love my travel, and I am a fairly good planner. But I have two issues: I don't do my travel homework as thoroughly as I should and I have a serious problem with follow-through. On this occasion, I assumed that because Macau was close to Hong Kong, it would be easy to get to. A quick jaunt for a bit of gambling and nightlife.
I was wrong. I also might have not known that Macau was a different country, but I would never admit that here.
Macau is an autonomous region across the Pearl Sea from Hong Kong. It is a one hour ferry journey, complete with passport control and security. No matter how much I travel, I never seem to understand that ferry trips are not like a bus ride. There is a scheduled timetable and you can't jump on, you need a ticket. Needless to say, I very rarely make the ferry.
Macau was a Portuguese territory until 1999. It is now known as the
'Las Vegas of Asia' and has the world's largest gaming industry, valued at US$ 24 million. The casinos that dot the Cotai Strip account for 24 % of Macau's workforce.
There is not a whole lot more to Macau than that.
Several sites have sightseeing trips for Macau on offer. They visit the Ruins of St. Paul, Kum Iam and A-Ma Temples and the modern Macau Tower. But most visitors to Macau simply go to gamble.
We stayed in the Venetian Hotel, which was a bit of a mind trip. The hotel has 10,500,000 square feet (980,000m), is the largest casino in the world and the largest building in Asia. It is also a copy of , not Venice, but it's sister Venetian in Vegas.
After 30 minutes gambling and one cocktail enjoyed while listening to an Asian BeeGees cover band, we abandoned our high-roller plans for some dim sum and an early evening.
We left a day early, abandoning the ferry in favour of a bus ride over the new Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.
This bridge, opened in 2018, is the largest sea-crossing bridge in the world. It takes about 40 Minutes and costs between 65-70 HKD. We bought our tickets at the Venetian Hotel. You still need to go through passport control on both sides of the border.
Macau is a great place to vacation if you like gambling, shopping, and never leaving your hotel.
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