Day 11 - Macau's Sights!

Saturday morning in the Royal Suite in the Venetian Hotel & Casino...

Breakfast in the fancy Food court...curry veggies and steamed rice!

We took ourselves on a walk around the Cotai gambling strip and found the Hard Rock Hotel and the City of Dreams, which unfortunately didn't have any performances for the highly recommended House of the Dancing Water show until November 17th.

Lobby of the City of Dreams hotel

Water feature with reflection!

Undeterred, we hopped on a shuttle bus to Macau proper, hoping to find cheaper gambling.

View from the Wynn lobby

Wynn Water show

Not as extravagant as the Bellagio

It was still too expensive to gamble at the Wynn and the MGM so we pressed on.

Avenue de Amizade in Macau

Nam Van Lake and the bridges to Cotai 

Grand Lisboa Hotel

We cruised through the Grand Lisboa gambling area but the blackjack was still $30 USD a hand so we continued on...trying to find lunch or some of Macau's attractions.

Awesome waterfall feature in the middle of the slums

We eventually found the Senado square in the heart of Macau's city center.  St. Domingo's church was established in 1587 by three Dominican priests who came from Acapulco, Mexico.

St. Domingo's Church

Government building in Macau

International School of some sort

MGM Hotel

After having a croissant and chocolate tea drink on the street we wound our way back to Cotai and our hotel for a rest.  After dinner at the food court, we were feeling refreshed and ready to try our hand at blackjack and slots so we separated and I found my favorite...

Sex in the City...Macau style!

After losing some HK dollars on the blackjack machine and tables we met back up at the Bellini Lounge for some drinks and some fun.  There was an amazing DJ ripping it up in between sets of a live band, who played everything from MJ to Aretha to Lady GaGa.

Live music lounge in the Venetian Macau

Singing MJ's hit "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough", marvelously!

Great live band with rotating lead singers

After several hours of drinking and dancing I had made a few new friends and Ty had shocked the dance floor with his delicious moves...but we were ready for bed!

Day 10 - Bring on Macau!

Rather sadly, we left Hong Kong and boarded a 1 hour ferry across to Macau, which is considered a different country than HK or China.  Macau is a former Portugese colony and was administered by Portugal from the mid-16th century until 1999, when it was the last remaining European colony in China.  Macau maintains its own legal system, police force, monetary system, customs policy, and immigration.  Gambling was apparently legalized in 2001 and since then it has been raking in cash at the world's biggest casinos.

We checked into the Venetian Hotel & Casino, the largest casino in the world, and were surprised to hear that we were getting the Royal Suite...which turned out to be a big step up from the minuscule Ibis hotel room we just left.

Whooaaaa!
Dinner was at the Food Court...

Venetian Roof

Food Court delight

A graphic meal preview...

We searched the Venetian & Casino mall for the "supermarket", which turned out to be a super expensive market that was selling up to $10,000 USD bottles of wine.  I found a bottle of red that was only $10 USD and some Oreo cookies and we enjoyed our spoils in the room!