 |
Debbie
Ward has spent more than 15 years
as a journalist, several as Features
Editor of Travel Trade Gazette.
She now works freelance.
|
|
|
| |
Take
a punt on gambling capital's historical side
Travel Trade Gazzette
The room has no natural daylight but the world's biggest LCD
screen is flashing random images of the outside world: trees,
fishing boats, the Whitehouse, the Thames flood barrier. On
a stage in front, a trio of transvestites is dancing and miming
to a Cher song. No-one is watching. Hundreds of heads, many
of which haven't touched a pillow in nearly 48 hours, are bent
over roulette and blackjack tables. It could be Vegas but it
isn't. This is Macau, a Special Economic Region of China set
on a peninsula close to Hong Kong and now officially the world's
highest grossing gambling destination.
The secret of Macau's success is that it's the only place in
China where casinos are legal. The gambling-mad Chinese visit
for a couple of days at a time, most foregoing hotel rooms to
game through the night.
This summer marked a turning point for the destination with
the opening, on its new Cotai Strip, of the 3,000 suite Venetian,
a twin to the famous Vegas theme hotel complete with motorised
gondolas. Several further international brands are due to join
the strip in a move designed to draw overseas visitors in significant
numbers, not just to gamble but to see major shows and attend
conventions.
Fisherman's Wharf, a themed entertainment area with bars, restaurants
and approximations of world landmarks rendered in fibreglass,
is another new facility built with international guests in mind.
On the night I visited there were just a handful of us gathered
in a stage set version of New Orleans's jazz quarter, singing
along to wedding disco hits performed by a Filipino band.
What's ironic is that just a few streets from Fisherman's Wharf
and its fake Roman Coliseum, Macau has impressive culture of
its own. Its Historic Centre is an Unesco World Heritage Site,
celebrating the destination's mixed past of Portuguese and Chinese
rule.
In the old town, streets covered with black and white tiles
arranged in wavy lines are faced by pastel coloured neo-classical
buildings and a host of historic Catholic churches. Macau claims
not only the world's biggest casino - at the new Venetian
- but a sacred bone from the body of a saint.
At the A-Ma Temple I found the air thick with incense as Confucians,
Taoists and Buddhists together made offerings in a series of
prayer pavilions set on four levels. I joined those climbing
to the foot of a Buddha statue through a series of attractive
gardens cut into rock.
The Portuguese /Chinese mix is not just apparent in Macau's
architecture and religion, it also makes for interesting meal
times. I had an excellent dim sum lunch in the opulent Wynn
Hotel, emerging past its Prada and Armani boutiques just in
time to catch fountains and pyrotechnics bursting forth to the
beat of Bonnie Tyler's 'I Need a Hero' in the forecourt. That
night I crossed into a different world of bakers, bicycle shops
and homes to sit outside a rustic Portuguese restaurant and
dine on stewed crab, prawns the size of lobsters and spicy peri
peri chicken.
It's Macau's contrasts of old and the new, Asian and European
that make it an interesting add-on to Hong Kong. You can play
a few spins of the roulette wheel in the kitsch glitz of a casino
hotel then head for a bowl of noodles and a Portuguese custard
tart made fresh before your eyes at an old town pavement café.
If the betting doesn't go your way you can even throw yourself
off Macau Tower, tethered of course to a record-breaking length
of bungy.
Before I left I stood in front of Macau's tourist icon, the
ruined facade of the 17th century St Paul's Cathedral. Looking
down its grand steps to the new Macau I could see cranes adding
gold panels to the Lisboa, a hotel in whose casino I'd earlier
witnessed an afternoon pole dancing show. I hoped that Macau's
new visitors would look beyond its Vegas-style excesses and
discover this is a tart with a heart.
Getting
there...
Jet foils and catamarans depart Hong Kong for Macau (and vice
versa) every 15 minutes and take just over an hour. Tickets
cost about £20 return. The service, in each direction,
runs 24 hours a day. A 45 minute sea transfer is available from
Hong Kong international airport for about £14 departing
four times a day. www.turbojet.com.hk.
Helicopter flights (15 minutes, about £123) between Hong
Kong and Macau ferry terminal helipads are available every half
an hour for much of the day www.heliexpress.com.
UK passport holders do not need a visa to enter Macau.
What to do...
Day trip:
Most major sights and casinos are in the City of Macau in the
North of the Peninsula (as is the ferry terminal) within walking
distance or a short taxi ride of each other.
| |
See the ruins of St Paul's Cathedral -
the tourist icon of Macau.
|
| |
Visit the colourful 600 years-old A-Ma temple.
|
| |
Sample the fantastic Cantonese/Portuguese influenced
Macau cuisine.
|
| |
Visit mosaic-patterned Senado Square and the old town.
|
| |
Try your luck in a casino. |
Twin centre:
In addition to the above you could visit the 17th century Guia
Fortress and try a hair-raising Skywalk, Mast Climb or Bungy
Jump at the Macau Tower www.macautower.com.mo. You could spend
more time browsing the old town, shopping or visiting some museums.
Sample package:
Kuoni Travel (01306 747008 or www.kuoni.co.uk)
offers seven nights in the Far East staying three nights at
the Excelsior Hong Kong in a superior room and four nights at
the Venetian Macau in a royale suite from £1255 per person,
based on two sharing on a room only basis, the price, for 2008
departures, includes flights with Cathay Pacific from Heathrow
and transfers in resort.
Further information: www.macautourism.gov.mo
Return to top
|
Click here
to download the original article
in PDF format |
|
 |
|
|
|