macau vs vegas: a reflection

macau at night is interesting. to me, it’s just like hong kong — a very “night market” type place. everyone is on the streets, not drunk, but hungry and seeking delicious and cheap fare from the local street vendors.

macau and vegas are very different. people always compare the two, but the only thing they have in common is that their main source of revenue comes from the local casinos. people go to vegas to party, get drunk and have their bachelor/bachelorette parties. people go to macau with stacks of cash ready to gamble. it’s no surprise that macau rakes in 5x more profits from casinos than vegas. 

walking through macau, i couldn’t spot a single night club. maybe they are tucked into the hotels somewhere, but even so, there are not that many large hotels. the ones that are large, however, are extravagant. case in point — the venetian which is apparently 4x the size of its vegas counterpart, and also has the largest casino floor in the world.

the wynn macau has a fiery fountain show and inside, a crazy “rotunda” that twists and turns and opens up and plays music. it’s absolutely nuts.

fountain show:

rotunda:

one thing also to note is that in vegas, you can drink anywhere– one of my favourite things about vegas. but in macau … i’m looking at the casino floor and everyone either has tea, water or coke. i asked my cousin and he told me alcohol is served ….. in the VIP areas.

walking through the streets of macau at 1AM, nobody is drunk and nobody is rowdy. everyone’s crowded around the many, many bacarrat tables in the venetian with their life savings in chip form, not knowing what the next few minutes of their life would entail. 

comparing and contrasting some other things..

in vegas, you have street people slapping their escort cards and shoving them in your face. in macau, they just throw these on the floor and hope that as you walk home alone to your hotel room with your head slumped from losing your life savings in a game of sic bo, companionship may be the one thing you seek.

similarity: long taxi lines in both vegas and macau.

the hotel rooms were large, keeping in mind that you are in china.

also, the hotel receptionist told me that everything in the mini-bar is free of charge. i was so excited, until i discovered the contents:

dat san miguel tasted good, though.

so, macau- you alright. but i’m more of a vegas girl. though, I must admit, you have delicious food.

derp

today was a slow day. i was feeling a bit sick (huge headache) so i stayed in most afternoon to rest/nap. i ended up waking up around 6pm and my aunt was making dinner, so i just ended up staying in for the rest of the night. it was a good resting period — the last few days have been really hectic.

Day Four Thoughts

Travelling is exhausting. Lots of walking, no napping, not much rest in between except maybe the occasional bus ride.

Ok, actually that is a ridiculous thing to complain about. #firstworldproblems

anyways, I’m having a lot of fun! Seeing my uncle today was interesting, in a good way. Him and my aunt look exactly the same as I remembered. I feel like there could be a character on television based on my uncle. He would be the OCD angry one who is funny because he doesn’t intend to be that way. 

In fact, I jotted down some -isms that I overheard him say throughout the day 🙂

 

—

two people get up from the bus and leave and my parents are about to take their seat

“no! don’t sit yet. you gotta let the seat cool down first.”

—

my aunt, my parents and i went to a wonton noodle place to eat. it’s a hole in the wall restaurant that my uncle saw and was like “NOPE” and wandered off by himself. he said he would meet us after we finished eating.

after eating

“aren’t you going to wash your mouth?”
“no”
*shudders*

like, an actual shudder.

also by washing mouth, he doesn’t mean just splashing water around the mouth and stuff, he means actually rinsing and scrubbing the inside

—

at Stanley Bay

uncle wanders off
he comes back
“everyone gather. I have good news. I walked around and someone asked me something in English. congratulate me, I don’t look like an uneducated person.”

—

at Stanley Bay

he likes to walk off a lot and we lost him for a bit so we go up the escalator toward mall

we pass him on the way up; he’s coming down

“I just walked around [the mall]. it’s good. you’ll enjoy it. see you outside.”

—

at the restaurant, we’re sitting near these white people

“hey, look! those westerners are drinking coke. it’s very rare for westerners to not drink alcohol.”

pinyin: sai yun ho siu ng yum jao

—

 

I should mention that everything sounds much funnier in angry Cantonese… and not repeated by me. i’ve been told i’m horrible at retelling jokes. 😦

Day Three Thoughts

First of all, I swear everyone here has a Samsung Galaxy Note. 

Or maybe I just realize it because that thing is HUGE and everyone here is glued to their smartphones 24/7.

Okay, now that I got out that out of the way …

I think I’m really starting to like Hong Kong. Travelling with my parents can be frustrating at times just because our interests and mentalities are so different. My parents grew up here and have preconceptions about most places (i.e. Temple Street) and cannot seem to grasp the idea that things have changed and Hong Kong is a super touristy place now. Also, that coupled with the fact that they are protective of me makes them want to avoid most (fun) places altogether.

At the same time, it’s nice to spend all this time with them. Being away for so long at a time due to work is difficult and a 20 minute per week Google hangout doesn’t really do much for our relationship. I think I just need to realize that this is more of a trip for them and less for me.

Ok, back to less mushy stuff now…

I’m really impressed at how efficient the public transportation here. If San Francisco or Toronto were half as good, I would be happy. Everything here is coloured/symbol-coded which makes it universal and very friendly for tourists. On top of that, people have been very helpful to my parents and I, especially when we are pretty much completely lost at the end of the day trying to get home. I also feel very safe in most parts here which is a huge plus. I’ve only encountered 1 crazy person since landing here… usually that would be a record for the hour in San Francisco.

Anyways, I’m seeing my anal retentive uncle tomorrow. I’m supposed to fight for the dim sum bill and to be honest, I’m a little frightened. I’ve seen some pretty intense fights over the bill and I don’t know if I can win against an ex-cop.

Wish me luck!