It's the Las Vegas of the East. It's the cash cow for Las Vegas Sands, Wynn, and MGM corporations. The casino floor at the Venetian in Macau is larger than the sum of all the casinos on the Strip. There are two Islands on Macau, and like Hong Kong, it's an SAR. So it is owned by the PRC, but they have an independent government. If the historical part of Noble House is accurate, Macau served as a place to launder money during the "wild west" days of early Hong Kong - which probably explains how it became a gambling hot-spot. Unlike Hong Kong, Macau was settled by the Portuguese. The architecture, culinary influences, etc. are very different, and exciting and fun. There are old churches, mansions owned by noblemen with intriguing architectural elements, cobblestone streets, and monuments to Portuguese heroes.
And then, there are casinos... and more casinos. And mostly they are football-field sized floors of baccarat tables. It's a wonderfully fun game, and one you will want to learn if you want to gamble there. It's basically a coin toss. There are cards involved, but unlike blackjack, you don't make any decisions to take additional cards or stay with what you have. You can bet on the player hand or the banker hand, and then the cards are dealt. There is a hit table that decides if either or both hands takes an extra card, and then the hand closer to 9 (dropping the first digit) wins. The hit table favors the banker hand slightly, so if you bet banker and win, there is a small tax on your winnings. Anyway, five minutes at a craps table in Macau will make you want to learn. Due to the language barriers and the fact that it's not a popular game in the East, craps tables move glacially slowly. It takes at least 3 minutes between most rolls of the dice.
The spectacles in the casinos are very fun. This dragon is inside the Hard Rock Hotel. The picture below is of the outside of that casino.
The Grand Lisboa is also a very interesting building
There are two ferries from HK to Macau - one from TST and one from Central. Buy first class. The accommodations are not much different, but first class gets to disembark first and that saves a lot of time in immigration and customs. Also it's only about $10 USD more expensive. For larger groups, you can rent a VIP private room on the boat.
For dining, authentic Portuguese at Restaurant Fernando is the best you can get. Cash only - but they take HKD, MCD, or USD. Casual, inexpensive, and oh, so good.
Tomato and Onion Salad
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