Macau, China
OCTOBER 9-10, 2009

Taking the 75-minute ferry over from Hong Kong to Macau, also referred to as the Las Vegas of Asia, was smooth and pretty ease free trip. Arrived at our hotel - Sofitel - Ponte 16, very nice 5-star hotel. Beautifully decorated, probably one of the top "modern-meets-traditional" designs we have come across so far during the trip, although the casino was certainly questionable. Way too smoky and very strange lighting in the gambling areas. Felt more like a bingo hall rather than a top-rated luxury hotel. We didn't spend too much time there... After a little Black Jack and some slot play, we surrendered. And no luck was on our side either, really? What a shock! But oh well, at least we had fun for those 5 minutes...

Other than visiting a few other high rated properties like the Wynn and Venetian, there were not too many things to experience in Macau.  Gather that we didn't spend very much time exploring, but to us, the city was just really worn out with Portuguese architectural influence combined with musty air and shady neighborhoods. Perhaps if the city went through a complete face lift our experience would be different, but we highly doubt it. Just not our style.

Out & About

Ready to try our luck at the Wynn. Unfortunately, only Baccarat tables seemed to be popular and a total of TWO Black Jack tables were open. And of course these were full. Grrrr.... But to think about it, perhaps the tables being full was in our favor. We had to leave and see if our luck was better at MGM. Uhmm. NOT! Better to lose at                         one casino than two?!


At night, the view from our hotel room was not too shabby. There was plenty of lights
to illuminate the more desired parts of the city.


Just like in Venice (okay a bit far from it, missing the "true" smell of the gondola city), or the Las Vegas Venetian (which is pretty much an exact replica). Shopping anyone?