We spent one day in Macau. Took the ferry over in the morning, and I discovered that I don't like sitting at port in a closed room with no windows. I mean, it's not like they couldn't have added windows for people to see out the sides and the front, but no, for whatever reason, when you're on ferries in HK the only thing you're allowed to see is the back of the seat in front of you. Ugh.My dad had just gotten back from China (in time for roast suckling pig and roast goose for dinner the night before!). Aaron had to work, so he took off to the Venetian. Unfortunately, he also had the camera in his backpack, so all the photos ended up being taken on my dad's camera. Oops.
Macau's colonial overlords were Portugese, rather than British, and so everything is still European but with a definitely different twist. The churches are Catholic, the architecture is more colonial, and the food includes egg tarts, bacalhau (salted cod), and african chicken. The plazas and older roads are tiled in pretty black and white patterns. They have awesome little side streets away from the crowds of tourists, where you feel transported into an older time and life moved more slowly.In contrast, they also have lots of casinos. The gaming industry (and associated services) is over 50% of the GDP. Many of the big Vegas casinos have opened in Macau as well, and it was kinda disconcerting to walk into the Venetian and feel like you're in Vegas, except all the help staff are Chinese. And no one drinks as they gamble. At most, you'll see someone order a tea or a soybean milk, but no beer or liquor. I guess they take their gambling seriously.
They also play different sorts of table games. There was the normal poker and roulette, but there were also crowds of people around baccarat, pai gow, and fan tan. It's surprisingly hard to figure out what is going on, especially when everyone is speaking in a different language!
