Day 9 - Macao

After lunch I headed to the Hong Kong Ferry Terminal to head to Macao.  Immigration and security here were much simpler than at the airport.  The ride took an hour, but was very scenic and the ferry was nice, if a bit cramped.  Then again, everything in Asia is cramped.

View of Kowloon from the ferry.

After getting off the ferry and going through the usual queues, I was rushed upon by young women wearing traditional dress trying to entice me into a specific casino.  After being handed 15 different colors of paper fans (very popular here due to the heat) I decided to take a girl up on her offer and use the Venetian shuttle.  Why walk when I can ride in air conditioning for free?  However, I probably should have checked my map to see where it was located.  I ended up incredibly far from the city center.  Rather than ride all the way back and try a different shuttle, I decided to tour the Venetian and compare it to its Las Vegas counterpart.



Venetian Lobby...and dog?



Nice bathrooms!

Looks like Europe.

They import Italians to operate the gondolas.

Spontaneous opera session.

They certainly like gold here.

The sky is pretty convincing in person.

I couldn't resist trying my luck at one of the 3400 slot machines, so I put in 500HKD and pressed the button once or twice.  (OK, fourty or fifty times.)

I was not a winner :(

As sad as it was to lose, it was less than $10 USD, so I wasn't too concerned.  Besides, it was nice to escape the overcrowded room.



The horde!  (sea of people in back)

After touring .09% of the Venetian, the world's largest casino, I took the free shuttle to their other property, the Sands.  Then I walked from the Sands to downtown.  Macao was only transferred back to China in 1999, so there is still Portuguese everywhere.



Portuguese instead of English.



Portuguese architecture.



I'm not so sure about this color...

I began my search for a Macanese dinner, but didn't have much luck in the casino area.  Without a map, I didn't want to risk wandering too far, so I settled for a casino dinner.  I found a dish called Macanese Beef Curry, so that seemed like a nice compromise.  In my excitement over finding a local dish, I forgot about my rule to never order beef in Asia.  Of course, I was served stomach and intestines.  I made it through five or six bites and decided it wasn't worth it.  The flavor is decent, but the texture just kills it.



At least I had my mango juice.

 After dinner it was time to head back to Hong Kong.