Macau – Asia’s Sin City

Just before I began my next chapter in life, I dragged my friend to Macau, Asia’s Sin City. Macau is located on the southeastern coast of China and is Asia’s premier gambling destination. In fact, Macau is not just Asia’s premier gambling destination but the world’s gambling destination as Macau surpassed Las Vegas in gambling revenues. I guessed this has to do with Asians being the biggest gamblers.

After talking so much about Macau as the gambling destination, we were not there for gambling. Check out my earlier post for a brief itinerary on our visit.

We caught a morning flight to Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) and took the ferry from the HKIA’s SkyPier Ferry Terminal to Macau to optimise our time. The SkyPier is a restricted area within the HKIA and is only for transit passengers. Passengers originating in Hong Kong or officially considered to have entered Hong Kong for immigration purposes have no access to the SkyPier. For a smooth transfer to the SkyPier, we brought our luggage on board our flights from Singapore to HKIA.

Upon arrival at HKIA, we headed to the Ferry Terminal ticket counter to collect our ferry tickets that I booked online three days before our departure to Macau. Upon collecting our ferry tickets, we grabbed some food, bummed around at the airport then took a walk to the SkyPier to board the Cotai Jet to Macau.

After slightly over an hour and some snacks on board the ferry, we arrived at Macau’s Taipa Ferry Terminal. The ferry ride was smooth as the water was calm. Upon arrival, we took the shuttle bus to The Venetian located at Cotai 路氹城.

Cotai is a piece of reclaimed land on top of Seac Pai Bay between Taipa 氹仔 and Coloane 路環 islands. It was created to provide Macau with a new gambling and tourism area, many hotels and casinos are found in the vicinity of the “Cotai Strip”.

By the time we checked into The Venetian, it was already evening. We walked through the casino to our room at the South Tower. The Venetian was just as busy and crowded with visitors like my first visit six years ago.

The Venetian may not be new but it is well maintained. We were impressed by the hotel room as it was a junior suite. The bathroom is also huge with a separate dressing table.

After we freshened up, we walked around the mall area, took some pictures. Nothing much has changed at The Venetian since my last visit.

After walking around a bit, we had our dinner at the food mall in The Venetian. We had roast pork and roast goose for dinner. The store is generous in their serving. We ordered two bowls of rice and only finished half a bowl each, we also struggled to finish the roast pork.

After dinner, we stepped out of The Venetians and took some pictures of the surrounding Casino Resorts. The weather was nice but the sky was cloudy.

After taking some pictures, we went to the concierge and requested for the map of Macau. Then we went back to our room to plan our visit for the next day. Our original plan was to stay two nights with just one full day of sightseeing in Macau. After looking at the map, we decided to spend one more night in Macau that we may have two days for sightseeing as there are many interesting places to visit in Macau. Instead of spending two nights in Macau and three nights in Hong Kong, we spent three nights in Macau and two nights in Hong Kong and we are glad about the change in plan.

Below picture was taken from the hotel room, a view of Galaxy Macau, another Casino Resort within the Cotai strip.

Stay tuned for my next post on our visit to the famous St. Paul’s Ruins at Macau Peninsula.

This trip was made in Spring 2017.

The Lowdown

Getting to Macau: Catch a direct flight to Macau airport or via ferry from Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), Kowloon or Hong Kong Island. If you are planning to stay at Cotai, take the ferry to Taipa Ferry Terminal. If you are planning to stay at Macau Peninsula, take the ferry to Macau Ferry Terminal. Free shuttle bus services are provided from the Taipa Ferry Terminal to the Hotel Resorts at Cotai.

Thank you for stopping by, Happy Living for Experiences!

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