01/02/11
I quite enjoyed Macau and found it a good fun place. With thanks to Hollywood we all kind of assume that Las Vegas is the world leader for gambling revenue, but the truth is Macau absolutely towers over Vegas in terms of gambling income! It does, however, significantly lack the razz-matazz of Vegas’s legendary scene and there is little in the way of doubt towards Vegas’s eclat. I suppose Macau still has a lesson or two to be learned from them. You can go there on a family holiday and be entertained and looked after fabulously well, whilst in Macau, the only thing for the kids to do is watch hopelessly as daddy plays boom or bust and places the whole of the would be college fund on black. Good luck with that by the way. I wouldn’t mind seeing the free drinks for gamblers policy creeping in sooner rather than later though! That was sadly missed by me as I placed down an insignificant last few Macanese Patacas and HK $’s for good measure. Me being a usually redatt person (I don’t think I’ve ever used that word before now), this was slightly atypical behaviour, but when in Rome you know?
It is a city definitely worth exploring in a day though with all the UNESCO listed buildings and squares. Of course you can find superb Chinese cuisine here, with the province’s own spin on dishes which adds interest. I’d definitely recommend a visit and wander into the hotels, just for the gimmick if nothing else. The Venetian over the water in Taipa is paving the way for the new Cotai strip which will be similar to that of Vegas, and man that will be a sight in a few years time! My fav though was certainly the very British Grand Emperor Casino containing pictures of Her Maj and the monarchy complete with the fake Irish Guard at the entrance, donning the familiar bear skin hats. They were English too! It made me chuckle anyway.
So back to Hong Kong and British Airways bound for Manchester, I sneaked in one final trip to the Avenue of Stars in time to stalk some American cheerleaders due to perform in a few days as part of the lunar new year celebrations, and took a final glance at the nightly Festival of Lights. Later I went out shopping for some speakers for my netbook, but came back with a darn sight more than that! For some reason I bought a new camera, probably thinking in advance given my track record (I've gone through eight cameras in two years, breaking them in various unfortunate circumstances), but this one is 'the dog's', and an external hard drive, which I do not need! I already a 500MB one which pretty much contains my life story, why the hell do I need a TB one? Just because it's a bit cheaper than in the UK - ridiculous frivality on my part again. Luckily the shop had sold out of iPhone 4's and no new stock is due until after the holidays and I'm back on UK turf. This was almost as bad as the time when I bought a didgeridoo just for a four day road trip before posting it home at an expense of £90, and now it sits as little more than a forgotten decoration, hidden behind my wardrobe! Anyway, it has been a good trip, and there’s plenty more in the pipeline for this year and the following one's thankfully. There’s not much time for boredom in my life, so I’ll go home and quickly recover before gearing up for the likes of Belgium, Spain, and Romania trips before seeing where the travels take me next later in the year.
Well that is all for now, but let it be said that oh my god how I’ve missed Cadbury’s chocolate and Yorkshire Tea, so I’ll make for damn sure to nip into Tesco asap! Yes I still have that crazy sweet tooth with the moorishly addictive personality for a handicap. A lot of people still find this very funny, the b****rds with the greatest of schadenfreude qualities, namely Gibbo etc, but a lot of new friends from travels have laughed at my expense when cake and other sweets have appeared!
I’ll see you tomorrow Manchester – have the kettle on please.
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