Macau

Teaming up with Chellis and Hobart again, the four of us spent the last two days in nearby Macau, a Portugues colong until 1999 and best known for its casinos. Touted as the New Vegas, Macau posted higher gambling revenues than Vegas for the first time in 2006. While it's not yet as flashy as Vegas, it's well on its way. We went to see a bit of the Chinese gambling world, but mostly to see the Portuguese-Chinese fusion of culture and, of course, food.After settling into our hotel we spent the rest of the evening exploring the streets and, after dinner, the casinos. Vastly different than the big city bustle of Hong Kong, Macau felt more like a busy carnival. Extravagantly lit, rediculous casios shoulder up next to ancient Portugeuse archetecture and old world cobble stone meandering streets. The architectural contrast was interesting and bizarre. Besides the buildings, food was specifically Macaunese - noodles and rice from China combined with African chicken and cheese from Portugal. Available on the streets were almond biscuits, a kind of meat-roll-up (think fruit roll-up made of meat - sounds gross but was tasty), and egg custard tarts.The casinos weren't very busy and we looked totally out of place - the standard gambler in Macau is a cleancut middle aged business man wearing a suit. Instead of free alcoholic drinks, as is common in Vegas, gamblers are served complimentary tea or coffee. Except for an occasional outburst of cheering, the rooms were quiet compared to LV standards. The only game we recognized was black jack and the minimum bid of $12USD was too steep for us cheap travelers. Instead we stuck to slot machines and people watching.The highlight of the evening was easily the water foutain show outside the Wynn casino. Water and fireballs danced to the tune of "Holding Out For A Hero" by Bonnie Tyler (you may remember from the movie Footloose) and we laughed. Just hearing the song makes me laugh because it reminds me of watching that movie a million times as a kid, but the added dramatic effect of the water and fire show was even more hilarious.

Being cheap, we resorted to playing cards in our hotel room with drinks from 7-11. Stay classy. We focused more on the cultural aspect of the city on our second day by visiting The Museum of Macau, Macau Museum of Art, and The Cathedral of St. Paul.On our way out of town we stopped at an arcade. Nicole and Chellis engaged in a fierce battle of Dance Dance Revolution and Hobart and I battled it out on Taiko: Drum Master.It was intense.