Macau

Billed as the “Vegas of the east” and being the highest volume gambling centre in the world I was very much looking forward to my visit to Macau.

The place is very different to what I imagined. There are heaps of casinos for sure, but I found the place to lack a sense of excitement. The casinos are big, with lots of tables for most budgets. Baccarat is the game of choice, with some other Chinese games I’ve never heard of as well, but most of the games I’m familiar with were there too. Although I started off positive, in the end, craps let me down,

To me, most of the casinos looked the same. The one that really stood out was the Venetian. Apparently the 4th largest building in the world by floor space, it has to be seen to be believed. The outside is modelled to look like a series of buildings from Venice, but the inside is the most amazing. A series of indoor canals, complete with gondolas, singing gondoliers and fake sky make it quite the experience.

Aside from the casinos, Macau has a very European feel to the city with narrow cobblestone street and old churches etc. – which is a strange feeling when the city is full of Chinese people. I found that English was used a lot less than expected. Luckily I travelled with a Cantonese speaking friend, but otherwise things would have been more difficult. Most shops have signs in Chinese only.

On the plus side Macau is very easy to get around and for free too! The place is so small that you can walk to most parts yourself, but when you can’t, there is usually a free shuttle bus offered by a casino which will take you to the right general direction. As a result, paying for transport is almost unnecessary.

The airport in Macau is also quite cool and worthy of noting. The runway is quite literally a narrow strip of land in the middle of the sea, with the planes able to drive onto the runway from the airport on small causeways. The plus side to this is that take offs and landings are more exciting, the downside is that the taxying from the airport takes ages as the plane has to drive the entire length of the runway each time

Inside the Grand Canal, Venetian Casino Macau