Casinos or Integrated Resorts?

Hi everyone,




I'm back to blog on Macau again, there are lots to write about Macau. Of course, the most interesting topic will be the casinos or we called them integrated resorts in Singapore.


I visited the 3 new casinos, Grand Lisboa, Wynn Macau and the Venetian Macau. When you take the first look at the buildings, you can't help to notice the stark differences between the Chinese architechure and the American architechure. Though I must say that each has its own uniqueness and beauty.






The Grand Lisboa by Stanley Ho is situated right across the road from the original Casino Lisboa. It is shaped like a giant lotus flower with a sparkly round base. It houses a 430 room hotel which will open soon. The casino has 5 floors of gambling tables and slot machines. I took a walk inside the casino, well, it is well ventilated and not stuffy. Each of the tables are filled with people, no wonder Macau has surpassed the Las Vegas Strip as the world's most lucrative gambling center.

After Grand Lisboa, I strolled to Wynn Macau. Wow! I love the fountain in front. It really has the signature curved-tower look of the Las Vegas Wynn. The whole image is very neat, very Americanised. I took a rest at the Cafe Esplanada, ordered BLT sandwich, fish n chips and an iced-latte. I sat back and relax, really enjoy!








After I have finished my afternoon snacks, I walked around the resort, checking out the place. Wow, the resort has a shopping gallery that houses most of the high-end brands like Louis Vuitton, Prada, Channel, Tiffany, Rolex and many more. The swimming pool is fanstatic, very resort-feel. The gaming space in the casino is comparable to Grand Lisboa, more than 200 gaming tables and 300 slot machines.


As I walked out of the hotel, I found out that the musical fountain display was about to start. According to the bellman, it plays every 15mins. Wow, just in time to watch, I have recorded the last part of it. Click on the video above and check it out!



The last casino I visited is the Venetian Macau at the Cotai Strip, due to time constraint, I just had a quick look inside. Again, it is very impressive and really has the 'wow' factor. The resort is really huge with the largest casino of 3400 slot machines and 800 gambling tables. It also has a replica of the Grand Canal in Venice inside the resort with retail shops by the sides. The whole shopping street is modelled like the St. Mark's Square in Venice, completes with the Rialto Bridge where visitors can take the gondola rides with Italian opera singing! Check out the photos which I took.




I will definitely come back to the Venetian Macau again coz I have not really explore the resort yet. As I took the free shuttle bus back to the ferry terminal, I passed by the soon to be ready MGM Grand. The next time I'm back to Macau, a few more super casino resorts will be open by then, yeah! I will strongly recommend Macau to anyone who would like to spend a great weekend holiday.

Signing off for now!

My First Blog on Travelsightseeing!

Hi everyone out there,

This is my first public blog, and I would like to talk about one of my favourite subjects, which is travel and sightseeing.

When I was young, I always envisioned myself flying here and there travelling and sightseeing. I only manage to do so recently. I often do homework before travelling to a certain place because I do not like the feeling of being totally lost or blur in a new place. With the internet, I am able to get a lot of information about the place which I intend to travel to.

So now, I wish to contribute my travel experiences for the benefits of anyone who wish to travel to those places which I have been. This is one of my ways to pay back the society, I guess!

To start off, I will talk about Macau and Shenzhen which I just came back from a few days ago. The casinos in Macau are really an eye-opener! After you have been to Macau, you will never want to go to Genting Highlands which is in Malaysia. Compare to Macau, Genting is a total rip-off!

Most of the hotels in Macau have casinos in them, and the hotels provide free shuttle buses to the Hong Kong / Macau ferry terminal and Macau international airport. So transport is very convenient for tourists. All the major attractions are located within walking distance in the city center, for example the Senado Square and the Ruins of St. Paul. Macau still preserve the historical buildings and most of the pavements are in cobble-stones, very Portugese.

The street names are in Portugese, for example Avenida Almeida Ribeiro which is the main shopping street in Macau. In the narrow streets leading off the main square (Senado Square), inexpensively priced goods of all kinds can be found, with a good selection of local snacks conveniently located nearby. As you walk along the narrow streets leading to the Ruins of St. Paul, you will be offered free food tasting of the popular local snacks like peanut candies, almond cookies and pork jerky by the vendors. The candies and cookies are freshly made and laid out for free tasting. The cookies are very delicious, I bought peanut candies and almond cookies from Choi Heong Yuen Bakery, an old trademark brand of Macau. You can check out http://www.choi-heong-yuen.com/

My brother bought some pork jerky and Portugese egg-tarts as well. If you are wondering what is pork jerky, they are like those BBQ sliced pork from Bee Cheng Hiang of Singapore, Singaporeans call it 'bakkwa'. (http://www.bch.com.sg/) I find that the pork jerky from Macau tastes better than those from Singapore and Malaysia and cheaper as well! So if you are in Macau, must buy and try for yourself!

I will sign off for now, more on Macau soon!