Macau, Eastern avatar of Las Vegas(2)
A walk up 66 stone steps led me to the ruins of St Paul's Church. Now only the façade exists as this magnificent church was burnt down by Portuguese soldiers.
Another religious building worth seeing is the A-Ma Temple in the southwestern part of the city, built in the Ming Dynasty which ruled till the 17th century.
But today, Macau is mainly about casinos. In fact I’m willing to bet that there’s no higher density of casinos this side of the Nevada desert! From the grandiloquent charm of biggies to the more modest, traditional Chinese casinos there seemed to be plenty of choice for punters less fainthearted than I.
Looking at the general bustle there, I wondered whether Macau realised there’s a recession afoot...
I thought it was pretty smart of the Chinese government to allow Macau to keep its casino USP — the only city in the Chinese-speaking world that permits such gaming — given that the Chinese seemed to be hooked on it.
As I hopped from one casino to another, I noticed that first timers were initially unsure but soon gained confidence, and there seemed to be casinos to suit all temperaments: rowdy to refined, subdued to lavish!
The grandest of them all was the Wembley-stadium-sized The Venetian, spread out over 10.5 million sq ft, making it one of the world’s largest buildings and twice the size of the original hotel-casino in Las Vegas .
I was amazed to see that the resort packed in a 1.2-million-sq ft convention centre, a 1 million-sq ft mall, a 15,000-seat arena, and a world record breaking 700 gaming tables and 3,400 slot machines. And I did I mention 3,000 hotel rooms?
Gosh, it even had a replica of Venice’s Grand Canal — but built inside the hotel ! It’s an eye-popping man-made wonder, with a real looking sky, gondolas moving in the canal with real Italian pilots... If Venice indeed sinks into the Mediterranean, this may be its only epitaph!
How can any trip be complete without food? Macau turned out to have a wide range of cuisines from all over the world, but the Macanese cuisine is worth a try as it’s a unique fusion of Portuguese and Chinese culinary traditions.
From the freshly made cookies and Portuguese egg tarts at Senado Square to snacky street food there’s much to eat on the go.
But the classic Macanese must-tries include curry crab and “African” chicken which, contrary to its name, is not found on that continent thousands of miles away, but has many versions in Macau as each restaurant has its secret recipe! Predictably there were many restaurants serving Indian food like Aruna’s, Taste of india and the Grand MGM.
A stroll down the streets brought me so much closer to the heart of this city via its sounds and smells. There seemed to be dining options round every corner, to suit every whim and fancy, not to mention budgets and diets.
Shopping was unbelievable too — from cheap to ridiculously expensive! Thanks to its free port status Macau is a shoppers’ paradise for gold jewellery, branded clothes, antiques and pottery as well as wine, cameras, watches and electronics at free duty prices.
So there’s plenty of temptation to splurge with whatever anyone saves or wins at the gaming tables. Clever!
After seeing Macau I can’t help but think that it’s about time India takes a cue from China to launch an accessible moneyspinning island enclave....
