Wednesday

Today, we went to visit Macau. Originally, we were just going to go for the evening - but upon reading all that there was to do there, we decided to go right away. Good thing we did - becasue there is ALOT to do there, and the place is just getting started!

We took a turbo jet ferry which brought us to Macau in about one hour. The ferrys are like planes on water - assignned seating, not outdoor areas, but fast and efficient. I think it was only like 15 American round trip. Macau is on Mainland China, so you have to go through customs leaving Hong Kong and entering Macau (and then vice versa), but it is really a simple procedure - more of a formality, really - and hey - we got more stamps in our passports! Oh - and no visa is required for Macau.

SO what is MAcau - well, it is part Chinese town, part Portuguese settlement, and part Las Vegas. We spent the morning walking around the middle of the peninsula - through the ruins of an old fort, the facade of a cathedral which is the only part of a church still standing after a fire destroyed it, seeing the mixture of Chinese and Mediterranean architecture, and wondering the garden/zoo area nearby.

Next, we went to Macau tower, which is the tenth tallest observation tower int he world. It is similar in structure to the Stratosphere. It only cost like 10$ (American) to go to the top. The view is spectacular, as it is out on the tip of the peninsula so you are right over water. Also, there are glass panels in the floor that allow you to look straight down - or walk over the m and stand on glass and look past your feet. This tower is where Amazing race All Stars was filmed. The "Sky Walk" was part of a Roadblock - you can actually walk around the outside of the tower - strapped in of course. You can also bungee jump off of the tower.

Finally, we headed to the Venetian, the first Vegas style hotel in a new section that is being created shat will be similar to the LAs Vegas strip. There are many casinos already on the Macau - as casinos have always been a popular draw - but is the Venetian is any clue as to what is to come, this area of Macau will be spectacular. The casino was HUGE - way more table games then we have. We walked around the shops - much like our Venetian at home, with canals and gondolas. We watched the "living statues" and the American actors dressed in Venetian finery interact with the guests. We had dinner int he food court - which contained mostly Asian food - but one notable American choice - Fatburger! Go figure! And a pizza place coming soon.

Finally, we spent some money in the casino. We found slots that you could bet 5 HK cents for, which is less then a penny. I think I lost all of 10 American Dollars and played for like an hour and a half. A really cool feature about their slots is that - on their video slots - each time you win some sort of pay, you have the option to "take winnings" or "gamble." If you gamble, you go to a screen where a card will be drawn. You can guess the color - red or black - and double your winnings, or you can guess the suit and quadruple your winnings. If you guess wrong, you lose all of your winnings. If you guess correctly, you can continue to gamble with your new total by guessing again in the same manner. I took to playing the gamble each time I got a low winning - like 20 - 50 credits. Once I gambled 3 times correctly and turned a 50 winning into 400 credits. Way fun.

We took the complimentary hotel shuttle back to the ferry terminal and caught the 10:30 shuttle home.