From Macau's glittering casinos to Hong Kong's city playground!

So, before leaving "quiet" Macau for the sprawling Hong Kong busy life we had a chance to visit some of the new casinos of Macau. After we left the internet cafe and had a nice sushi dinner (yes, we are addicted!) we decided to go take a tour of some of the casinos. We visited the Wynn casino (not yet built the last time I was there). Very nice decor with really nice carpet :) Elegant and modern and of course filled with high-end shops like Gucci and Rolex...The casino was, well, a casino although with a Chinese twist. For example, they dont have dice (you know, the ones you always see on TV with people blowing on dice for good luck) instead here they have an automatic dice machine where you have 3 dice and they are enclosed and you have to bet on which numbers will come out. Then you have one that is with lights, another with dominos and so on. Black Jack and baccarat was there and much to Jo's content there was also a roulette table where he amused himself for a while until of course the house won (as I never failed to repeat to him hehehe - dont worry, he didnt bet much!) Afterwards we went to visit the Hotel Lisboa, which is the oldest casino in Macau belonging to the multi-millionaire, Stanley Ho, that was the owner of the gambling monopoly until the government opened up the licenses 3 years ago. Hotel Lisboa will soon have a next door neighbour, Hotel Lisboa II...which is 10x the size of its precedent with the casino encompassing a huge globe! Hotel Lisboa I still lives on however with its loyal gamblers and beautiful prostitutes roaming the halls looking for their next pay...its the only casino where you will still see them :)

The next day we had again a great breakfast with pao com chourico and pastel de nata (hey, when in Macau...) then we visited Fisherman's Warf which was also still under construction the last time I was there...Its a village with buildings from "everywhere" in the world. You have Amsterdam houses and Portuguese monuments, the Roman Coloseum, a volcano, Aladdin's den, and much much more and of course casinos...Its an amusing park for both kids and adults and his again owned by Stanley Ho...Next door we visited the Sands Hotel and casino (which was the only one I had already visited as it was the first foreign casino to have already been built the last time I was there)...That one already looks old next to the Wynn but the entrance is nicer with a huge glass chandelier...The Sands owner is also the one responsible for turning the strip between Taipa and Coloane (for those that dont know Macau consists of 3 islands: Macau, Taipa (which used to be actually the Taipas as there were two but then land was recclaimed form the sae to make 1 but this was about a century ago) and Coloane (which is the lung of the islands as it still very green) into a gaming strip (like Las Vegas) and a copy of The Venetian is about to finish construction in September of this year, which will consist of a wave pool, gondola lake, 3000 rooms and suites, convention centers and a golf course!!! So goodbye old Macau and hello Las Vegas of the East!! :(

After a nice Portuguese lunch (hey, have to leave with something good :) we got the turbojet to Hong Kong and a comfortable 55 minutes after we are disembarking with our bags in the city that never sleeps (they say thats New york but I think we have found a match!!) Our hostel is dead in the centre of everything on Causeway Bay and the first night we made our way to Kai Wan Fonk where the hard workers (mostly foreigners) come to relax and party the night way. Immediately into the walk up (yep, its a street up a hill littered with bars and restaurants) we were surrounded by Indians (big India population here) and Chinese who pushed menus at us to get us to eat at their restaurant. We opted for a Vietnamese Thai restaurant and had gorgeous coconut seafood rice and coconut curry prawns. We also chatted with our neighbours that had this adorable 2 year old (a mix as the mother was chinese and the dad english)...We then proceeded to explore the area and our choice for bars :) We stayed quite a bit and were whisked away by people wanting to take photos of Jo - he had his hair down and now with his big beard he really looks like Jesus so people were having fun just looking at him hehehe At one point we met a couple where she was a banker and he a pilot and they wanted to do what we were doing - travelling, of course, and they were kind enough to buy us drinks so we hang out until we could no longer walk straight and made our way back to our very tiny but very well positioned room :)

Today, well, a bit of a waste, travelling wise, but very lucrative commercial wise hehehe
Tomorrow we will be visiting the Peak (which you reach by a tram that takes you up a huge hill on Hong Kong island - for those who dont know Hong Kong is composed of many islands which are all connected either by metro or ferry)...

One thing to say about Hong Kong, it is very organised...people queue to take the bus, the metro works great (although it is the most expensive one we have taken so far since in China). They have electrical trams that are high in height but very lean in figure (they dont have much space here so like the skyscrapers I guess everything is trying to be lean to conserve space hehe) they are really cool to watch though, you keep waiting for the moment they topple over! Also, it seems everyone is fashionable. Girls and boys alike have the latest clothes, bags, phones, etc...I feel out of place in my travelling clothes!! Oh, well, its really nice to look at in any case :)

Well, thats all for now, hoping that tomorrow will be a more cultural experience!!

Lots of love,
Jo and Fil