 |
| The Macau Tower at night |
 |
| All that remains of St Paul's Catherdral in Macau Almost burnt down in 1835 |
 |
| The Mini Vegas of the East |
There are tonnes of hotels to choose from in this tiny little place. I am pretty sure this whole city basically only consists of hotels and casinos, or hotels WITH casinos. Often it is criticised for this factor as people feel that it could be more of a tourist attraction if there were more things to do besides gambling. I do still rate this place though and I think it is a great escape from Hong Kong or Mainland if you are looking to go away for a weekend or even one night with friends or family.
I don't know about cheap accommodation here such as hostels, but I'm sure Hostel World will be able to help you out with that. In fact I just typed in a quick browse of Macau and there is the:
Fu Hua Guangdong Hotel
Judging from the pictures it looks really nice! It also only costs £30 for a private room, which I think is pretty good considering you pay around £25 for a shared dorm in a hostel in some places in Europe anyway. So all in all I would say a pretty sweet deal.
 |
| Private room at Fu Hua GuangDong Hotel |
As I said, Macau has an abundance of hotels and I would definitely look into hotel deals out there because despite being a place where there are a lot of 5 star hotels, it is also a place where the competition is very high. Therefore, you find the hotels competing against one another to offer people the best service, the best quality, but for a lower price. There are normally a lot of hotel deals floating around, or a package holiday for Macau, which will include your ferry ride. The reason being that a lot of the 5 star hotels have their own casinos within their hotel. So naturally they expect their guests to probably reside in their own casino hotel for convenience purposes and hotel guest perks - Thus probably making a profit from the guests staying in their hotel and gambling their money away on their own accord!
The Venetian
Coined on the Vegas version of The Venetian, this place is HUGE. It is very grand and very impressive and is apparently the largest single structure building in Asia, and third largest building in the world! They have actually constructed a small river with Gondola rides, a fake clear blue sky and Italian/Chinese men dressed in striped tops and straw hats to take you on these Gondola rides! You will feel like you have been transported back to Venice. I did find myself questioning slightly whether I found it tacky or impressive, but nevertheless this place is quite something. There are soo many shops in this place, it's like a little town in itself! You could have hours of fun playing hide and seek in this place. I got lost every day trying to find my way back to the room!
 |
| The Venetian (Yes this is all indoors) |
 |
| A small snippet of the hotel itself |
Sands Casino has managed to establish itself as a landmark in Macau. It's casino is a must see if you come to Macau. It used to be the largest casino in the world I believe, until it got overtaken by The Venetian. But it has a great reputation and oozes luxury. Situated in the centre of the peninsula and a well established tourist attraction. The downside to this would be that it is older than the other hotels it is competing with so perhaps it is a little dated and a bit more worn down than the other hotels out there.
 |
| Sands Hotel |
The city's first 6 Star hotel. As if 5 star luxury was not enough, they have now introduced the 6 star hotel to Macau. It makes sense though I guess because the other hotels have already exhausted every trick in the book to try and make their hotels look and feel like the best of the best, and if Altira have managed to come up with an even better alternative than that, then I guess hats of to them and they do deserve 6 Stars! I would certainly like to go back and stay there to try this out.
 |
| The Altira Pool |
 |
| The Altira - 1st 6 star hotel in the city |
This very unique little city has a huge variety of traditional cuisines. On the one hand it is known for its Portuguese influence and the Portuguese restaurants and food. Fish dishes and the piri piri chicken are very popular, especially Bacalao (Codfish) in terms of the popular fish of choice. The Portuguese egg custard tart is also a very popular and traditional dessert.
On the other hand we have the Asian influence. Like all places in China there is a huge selection of different Asian cuisines to choose from. Shanghainese, Szechuan, Guangdong, Japanese....and the best of all in Macau is the Street food. There are tonnes of stores situated in the city centre with open doors, pouring onto the picturesque cobbled stone street of Macau, openly welcoming you in to sample all the snacks in there.
 |
| Macau's Food Street |
This is the oldest Portuguese restaurant in the city and is situated in the Macau peninsula. I guess if you are looking for an experience and a place to tick off the list, this would be the ideal restaurant. It is well known for its African chicken as well as other popular Portuguese dishes.
Lord Stow's Bakery
People come from all over the country to visit this store, including our family. It has the best Portuguese egg custard tarts that you will find. That does sound quite niche and not much of a claim, but I do promise that it is very good and served sooo fresh. You could say I technically travelled half way across the world from London to Macau to go to this store really.
 |
| Ordinary looking Lord Stow's Bakery from the outside But boy has this place built up a good rep for itself |
 |
| Portuguese Egg tarts from Lord Stows |
Although you are spoilt for choice when it comes to selecting street food and the very famous jerky in Macau, this shop is 25 years old and it specialises in the roasted meats. But honestly you can feel free to walk down the street and there are just a long line of stores handing out tasters, especially of their jerky, so just try as many as you want and decide which one is best suited to your taste.
 |
| Beef Jerky |
Choi Heong Yuen Bakery
Another snack that Macau is very well known for is its almond biscuits. They can vary in size and I think the little bite size ones are the best. They are often a great gift to take back with you as a souvenir from Macau. In a lot of the shops you can see that there will be sections in which you can watch these snacks be made right in front of your very eyes.
 |
| Mini Almond Biscuits |
 |
| Watching the Almond Biscuits be made |
Cafe Tai Lei Loi Kei
This low key restaurant has a very traditional local Chinese feel to it - i.e. quite run down, plastic stools, round tables and placed in a rather exposed semi exposed outdoor area. Very informal dining but you honestly would not believe it until you saw this place how popular it is! It is renowned for its Milk Tea and its Pork buns. Don't even bother ordering anything else from the menu, this is all you need to try. And if you aren't interested in having either of those 2 items, I would probably look elsewhere, but this is another tourist attraction almost of Macau.
 |
| Cafe Tai Lei Loi Kei |
 |
| Pork Buns It may not look that appealing but it tastes good! |
I can't say that Macau is best known for its nightlife. Unlike Vegas it is not as glamorous, in terms of no limos waiting to take you out to a nice club sipping on champagne. This place is much more about the gambling aspect. Although I have compiled a list of activities that you would want to do if you were in Macau. Otherwise, the best bet is to stick to the hotel bars as they are open til late and always very busy.
Casinos
So you can't really go to Macau and ignore the fact that you are surround by a LOT of casinos. Literally everywhere you go you will see a casino. Partly because they are just everywhere and Macau is tiny, and partly because the casinos themselves are absolutely enormous constructs, you can't really miss them. And if you do, the neon lights come on in the evening (totally Vegas style) to draw your attention to them in case you were still trying to ignore them. People come over to Macau from Mainland China and Hong Kong after work, gamble through the night and take the ferry back in the morning just in time for work. It is pretty brutal gambling out there, some very high stakes and quite a few suicides too off the bridge, on a darker note. But anyhowww.... I'm sure if you gamble responsibly that will not happen!
These are the following casinos that you should definitely check out while you're there....
Sands Casino
Used to be the largest casino in the world and as I mentioned earlier has become a landmark in Macau. A must see if you are interested in visiting a few casinos in Macau. Careful of the table you sit at though because minimum bets can vary immensely within the casino.
The Venetian Hotel Casino
Currently THE biggest casino in the world! Before you ask, yes even bigger than any of the ones in Vegas. I think it was actually set up by the Las Vegas Sands group. Very grand, absolutely massive and most certainly worth a stop off to try your luck.
 |
| Just one area in the Venetian Hotel Casino |
Grand Emperor Hotel Casino
Gives you the opportunity to step of 78 bars of gold, each 1kg in weight and worth about $50,000 US dollars each! Supposedly gives you good luck before entering the casinos.
 |
| 1KG gold bar embedded into the Hotel floor & steps |
Many of my guy friends have come over to Macau for a spot of Go-karting on the weekend. It is just a quick 1 hour journey after all so why not. It probably takes me more time getting from my house to South London. But anyway a great way to spend the day and have some exhilarating fun and challenge your friends to a few laps around the track.
 |
| Go Karting in Cotai area - Macau |
Bungee Jumping
If you're looking for something a little more exciting than sightseeing then why not jump off the side of one of the main tourist attractions in Macau. You can either do sky walks around the edge of the tower, OR you could bungee jump off it! I was pretty tempted to do it myself, but chickened out last minute. At 764 feet it is not a small jump. But if you dare to, I bet it would be a great thrill to dive off the side of a famous building in the middle of a city.
| The Macau Tower |
 |
| Bungee Jump off the Tower |
My parents went to see this show and they thought it was the most incredible show they have ever seen. Apparently the staging was just unbelievable, some of the stunts were amazing and it was just something that you came out of thinking... Wow.... I guess so it should be because apparently millions of pounds were invested into putting the show together!!
Helicopter Ride
If you are looking for a more exciting way to get to and from Macau you can also take a helicopter ride from Hong Kong to Macau and vice versa. I did go on the helicopter ride and it is a fun experience, as well as a great way to have a birdseye view of the sights. If you time it right, perhaps around sunset time, it could be a fantastic view of the 2 cities.
 |
| Map of China with Macau at bottom right, right by Hong Kong |
 |
| The cobbled streets of Macau |
No comments:
Post a Comment