Surly They Won't Make It

16/8/25

Being a Christian hotel we should have apparently expected the utilitarian breakfast. Toast, no jam, only butter. Plain porridge. Tea and coffee. Cornflakes. No soya milk. Sad was putting it mildly. Staff monitored the progress of guests in a weirdly overbearing manner.

Macau offered free ferry tickets to visit. We gladly obliged ourselves of the TurboJet tickets on a hydrofoil boat. Slightly miffed by our choice to enter Hong Kong by high speed train, the ticket officer thankfully allowed us to avail ourselves of the offer.

Views from our small windows included the many islands, wind turbines and of course, helicopters. Crossing the brown, typhoon muddled, water at remarkable speed we soon saw Macau. Far bigger than we hoped, exploration in a day would prove difficult. Macau was the mostly densely occupied place on Earth. More than 20,000 people lived in every square kilometre. Much of the land had been reclaimed from the Sea. Still, a shocking amount of space was given over to pointless road infrastructure.

Occupied by Portugal, but initially by mutual arrangement, the Chinese were far more accepting of the heritage of the land. Much like Hong Kong, pedestrians were ‘kept safe’ by rather angry street furniture, preventing crossing of the road in unauthorised locations. Multiple stairs to walkways were required, making us hot and sweaty.

Calling first at Rise for some expensive vegan pastry, we went to the iconic Ruins of St. Paul. All that remained was a facade atop the recently excavated crypt which contained a crypt. Items were described in four languages. English, Portuguese, Cantonese and Mandarin. Climbing to the top of the nearby Fortaleza do Monte for a view, it was very apparent there were no cannons facing the mainland of China.

Meandering from one historic attraction to another we visited Cascade Lou Kau, Senado square, St. Augustine’s Church, St. Lawrence Cathedral, Lilau square and Mandarin’s house. The latter was once home to Zheng Guanying. A businessman who helped boost Macau much like Sun Yat Sen did for Hong Kong.

While there we met Michael, a friendly local who ran a stainless steel company. His real passion however, was culture. Passionate about keeping Macau as an openminded, outward looking place, unlike the closing doors of Hong Kong, Michael spoke excellent English and gave us a crash history lesson. 

Last but not least we checked out A Ma temple, older than the SAR itself and the potential namesake of Macau, to finish our tour of the old timey neighbourhood. Now able to check in to our room we headed all the way back to the hotel, showered, and took the bus again to Taipa. Twenty minutes of hunting around finally had us finding a buffet restaurant, only to discover they were having an event and our cheap unlimited dinner was not to be. 

Nova mall was right behind us, and had an IKEA, the home of plant balls. Fighting through the maze like store to find the cafe, we had to shun the milk infused mashed potato and gravy. And pay extra for chips. Substitution was forbidden. 

Feeling much better for having some food we walked south to start our tour of the casinos. They were the only reason anyone lived in Macau anymore and the lure of most visitors. Curiosity drew us, not being gamblers in the slightest ourselves. Approaching the insanely big buildings and loud music, we first came to the Galaxy. If only one of the behemoths existed it would be madness. Entering the casino floor we were struck by the high minimum bids. Initially wanting to chuck a few dollars away, there was no way we would part with $500 just for a single flutter. 

Cameras covered the ceiling like growths. People sat playing electronic baccarat or slots. Craps tables and roulette wheels were manned operations. Glass windowed smoking pods extracted the fumes so the user didn’t have to leave. Employment in Macau was universally tourism. They didn’t make anything. Hundreds of staff members manned tables, monitored security and dolled out refreshments. We saw staff entrances, staff shuttle buses and no doubt there were plenty more areas dedicated to them.

Many of the casinos had attractions. The Galaxy had a large diamond that rose from the floor in one of their lobbies every half an hour. After the show we went to the Venetian. For the second time in our trip we were in Venice walking along the Grand Canal, in what felt like daylight. Entertaining the entire family, meant a plethora of brand shops. Every label under the Sun. Repeated, over and over again. In every casino we visited. Part of the same mega casino complex, the Londoner had a replica Big Ben and a ‘changing of the guard’ show which included an actor playing the Queen. We weren’t sure why they hadn’t switched to a King. Our last stop was the Parisian. Of course it had a large replica Eiffel Tower and lots of French cafes.

Ambitiously we’d open to visit more of the casinos in a flash tour to see the shows and buildings built on the fake land. At almost 10pm we cut our losses and decided to take a bus home. Every single one was jammed with people so we savvily walked up to the previous stop. When the bus got to our original boarding point, people shoving each other caused a fracas. Back in our overpriced Holiday Inn we couldn’t help but wonder if any of it had been worth our time.