Hong Kong - Day 2: Macau

Today we headed off to the island of Macau - it is another sub-country of China (like Hong Kong) and is the only area in China where gambling is legal.

Here's the view across Victoria Harbor looking at the other side of Hong Kong (Kowloon)

Here's Vanna, er Chris, displaying the jet boat we took to Macau. The one we took on the way back was a bit different and called a JetFoil and actually went up on skis (Chris will have to explain that one!).

There was some sort of Panda celebration going on at the MGM. This courtyard was really cute!


Macau used to be a Porteguese colony. Before hitting the casinos, we took a taxi to one of the older parts of the city. We had a Macanese/Porteguese lunch - it was like hashbrowns, eggs, onions and fish - all shredded and fried. It was VERY tasty!

This is an old temple that still remains among all the buildings.

A view from the top of the temple.
MGM Grand

Casino Lisboa

The MGM Grand was celebrating Oktoberfest, so, of course, we had to check it out! Survey says they should leave those celebrations up to the Germans - only 1 beer to choose from and very strange and disgusting dinners involving sausages! This is Chris finishing my sausage - I don't think it is supposed to taste like nothing and sound crunchy when you bite into it!
We had a good time at the casinos - we ended up winning $70 Hong Kong dollars ($10 USD)(and yes, that's net)! There is a lot of hype about how they are trying to build this up to compete with Las Vegas, but I'm fairly certain it won't draw the Las Vegas crowd! Almost all the tables are Bakaratt and all the machines are slots! We went to 3 casinos and found 1 set of 4 craps tables, about 5 black jack tables in each, and 1 set of 4 video poker/black jack! Chris was pretty sad he couldn't find the 10-play black jack that he LOVED in Las Vegas. He got over that after he won $400 Hong Kong dollars on the 25 cent slot maching about 20 minutes in!

We have figured out the subway system - it is a very nice train, very clean, and very easy to use. We got an "Octopus" card that we can just put money on, touch them to a sensor, and go. So far the subways have made it super easy to get around. We can even get the extra money back when we leave. They work on the buses, as well, so we'll see how it goes tomorrow on our bus ride to the beach! (That's what the sticky board says is on tap!)

Oh, I have to take back my post from yesterday about how brave Chris is being on the 49th floor...last night at dinner he asked me if we could find a raft that he could sleep on in the pool that is on the 2nd floor! Ha!