Macau

Before heading of to Singapore on this semester's only GLOBE study trip, after which I fly back home to Denmark, the previous weekend was to be my last in Hong Kong anno 2012. So after hitting up the last beach-visits and touring the few remaining unseen areas of down town Central and Kowloon, it was time for a memorable farewell - destination: Macau.

Macau is located about an hour west of Hong Kong by hydrofoil, and is China's other Special Administrative Region (with HK). Located between Guangdong Province to the north and the South China sea, the small peninsula of some 10 square km was originally inhabited by Chinese fishermen and became a port of trade before the Portuguese settled there permanently in 1557 to create the first European colony in China. The Dutch were unsuccessful in their attempted conquest of the colony in 1622, and up until the Opium Wars in mid-19th century, Portugal continued to pay tribute to China. Following the wars (mainly waged by Britain in response to the trade imbalance following the Canton System), the defeat of China, and the continuous flow of Portuguese to the colony, Portugal was granted sovereignty of Macau in 1887. During WWII, there was a brief protectorate of Macau by the Japanese, but it wasn't till the Carnation Revolution in Lisbon in 1974 (where the new government decided to relinquish all overseas possessions) that Macau received a large measure of autonomy. It gradually came to be regarded as Chinese territory, and the Chinese government assumed sovereignty in 1999.

Since then, Macau has prospered, mostly on tourism and hospitality services and not least its favourable gambling laws. The Macau peninsula is the original colony, but two new bridges connect it with the islands of Taipa and Coloane to the south. The varying colonizations are obvious, making the peninsula a quirky mixture of Mediterranean charm with pastel colours, wooden shutters and cobbled roads, as well as Chinese lanterns, huge neon signs, rice / noodle restaurants, and not least Asians (50% of tourists are Chinese, and 30% are from Hong Kong). Old Catholic churches, the ruins of a cathedral on the central hill, as well as the old forts, lie side by side with bustling shopping streets, rickshaws, and aggressive salesmen shouting in Mandarin.


Gambling is effectively Macau's raison d'etre. After the government broke the monopoly license of Stanley Ho and the Lisboa casino in 2002, a host of casinos moved in, and essentially turned Taipa into the Asian version of Las Vegas' Strip with names such as the Galaxy, the Sands, the Wynn, the Grand Lisboa (next to the still functioning original), the Hard Rock, the MGM Mirage, and not least the enormous Venetian (just to name a few). With them came luxury hotels, shopping, and entertainment, but gambling is still the centre of attention - gambling revenue quickly surpassed the Strip's, and now is estimated to be 5 times higher than its American counterpart.

We booked a suite at the Venetian for a night and decided to party rock-star style. Arriving in Macau at mid-day, lugging a suitcase full of speakers and a DJ turntable, we saw a couple of the sites, had hand-made noodles and the Portuguese egg-tarts for lunch, and checked in at 17:00. Emptying the suitcase, we took off to grab dinner in Taipa and to fill said suitcase with as much alcohol as possible, making sure to be back at the hotel for 21:00, when the 20-odd friend-group arrived. After a second round of buying drinks and setting up the music, it was socializing, drinking and gambling (for those with money to spend) until we checked out at 7 AM to catch the first ferry back to Hong Kong.

If there is one thing I'll remember from Macau, it is Baccarat. A card game of chance between the "player" and the "bank", somewhat resembling Blackjack to the untrained eye. Up to 8 players at the table, they bet on either the "player" (which is only a single pair of cards, not every player) or the "bank" winning. Either they lose their money, or they double it. As a student with limited funds, gambling never had my interest. However, strolling down to watch the high-stakes gamblers at 5:30 AM when most others were falling asleep, it was amazing to see the amount of money being won and lost in this high-speed game. Minimum bets were 4000 HKD, but 30-50.000 HKD bets were not uncommon. 10 seconds later it could be gone or doubled; no wonder it is addictive. It is said that one only leaves the casinos from being either economically broke or physically exhausted - we definitely fell into the latter.