Macau

We got to Macau late on Sunday evening, and began our adventure from there. The Casa Real Casino Hotel had a shuttle bus that picked us up right at the airport. We arrived, and decided to venture out, checking out the Golden Dragon and Sands Casino hotels, in the nearby vicinity. These casinos were not nearly as interesting as US ones, with less glitz and glamour. Additionally, there were seedy activities at the hotels, including one "Crazy Happy Show" at the Golden Dragon which was just a strip-club front for a brothel. Very disturbing...

The next morning, we ventured to the town square to see the main attractions in Macau. For those of you who do not know, Macau was once a Portugese colony, and much of the Portugese architecture style can be found here. Additionally, there are several Christian sites due to this connection. Here's some photos of the town square:We got to Macau late on Sunday evening, and began our adventure from there. The Casa Real Casino Hotel had a shuttle bus that picked us up right at the airport. We arrived, and decided to venture out, checking out the Golden Dragon and Sands Casino hotels, in the nearby vicinity. These casinos were not nearly as interesting as US ones, with less glitz and glamour. Additionally, there were seedy activities at the hotels, including one "Crazy Happy Show" at the Golden Dragon which was just a strip-club front for a brothel. Very disturbing...

The next morning, we ventured to the town square to see the main attractions in Macau. For those of you who do not know, Macau was once a Portugese colony, and much of the Portugese architecture style can be found here. Additionally, there are several Christian sites due to this connection. Here's some photos of the town square:






Next, we visited the ruins of the Saint Paul's. This structure is pretty small, but cool looking and includes a crypt and small museum with old Christian art. One piece of note involves a group of Japanese Christian monks:




Next we visitied the Monte Fort. What can I say, it was a huge letdown. Boring site, with little but a few cannons to see:


After the Fort, we travelled to Macau Tower, for a great view of the city. There is a Hacker Challenge post here, involving three stunts that people can participate in. One is walking around the ring at the top of the tower. The next is scaling the top of the tower. The last is bungee jumping off the top of the tower, apparently the largest drop available globally (233 M or 765 ft). No, we did not do any of that, but we did take some photos (the last one is from the glass floor of the observation point):

From the Macau Towers, we ventured to the Hotel Lisboa, the old-school casino/hotel of Macau. There, we found a delightful Japanese restaurant and had an amazing lunch (tuna was the best i've had):

After lunch we went to the Wynn, which is nearly identical to the structure in Las Vegas:

We spent the evening venturing the local hotels, found a bite to eat and went to bed. The next morning we were off to the airport to fly to Bangkok...