Side Trip to Macau

Side Trip to Macau

Enter the desperate, smoky atmosphere of a Chinese casino, where frumpy players bet an average of five times more than the typical Vegas gambler. Sit down next to grandmothers who smoke like chimneys while playing baccarat—the local game of choice—with visiting high-rollers. Then step out of the climate-controlled chill and into tropical air that embraces you like a warm, balmy hug. Welcome to Macau.

Follow the cobblestone paths of old town up a small hill to where the intersection of two alleys—Travessa de Dom Quixote and Travessa de Sancho Panca—is marked by a Buddhist temple. Sit beside a fountain or in a square and watch young children play as you listen to elderly Chinese and Portuguese converse about how it once was and what it's like now.

Stroll the black sands of Hàc-Sà Beach before feasting on a dinner of bacalhau com natas (dried codfish with a cream sauce), grilled African chicken, Chinese lobster with scallions, or firey prawns infused with Indian and Malaysian flavors. Wash everything down with vinho verde, the crisp young wine from northern Portugal. Top it all off with a pastel de nata (creamy egg tart) and dark, thick espresso.

The many contrasts in this tiny enclave of 450,000 people serve as reminders of how very different cultures have embraced one another's traditions for hundreds of years. Though Macau's population is 95% ethnic Chinese there are still vibrant pockets of Portuguese and Filipino expats. And some of the thousands of Eurasians—who consider themselves neither Portuguese nor Chinese, but something in between—can trace the intermarriage of their ancestors back a century or two.

Sights & Experiences

Macau is a small place where, on a good day, you could drive from one end to the other in 15 minutes. This makes walking and bicycling the ideal ways to explore winding city streets, nature trails, and long stretches of beach. Most of Macau's population lives on the peninsula attached to mainland China. The region's most famous sights are here—Senado Square, the Ruins of St. Paul's, A-Ma Temple—as are the luxury hotels and casinos. As in the older sections of Hong Kong, cramped older buildings stand comfortably next to gleaming new structures.

Casinos

The average gaming table in Macau grosses almost nine times the average one in Las Vegas, and the world's highest grossing casino, the legendary Lisboa, brings in more than $7 million per day. Small wonder that international casino groups have swarmed the region, driving Macau's explosive double-digit growth during the past five years.

From the late 1960s until 2001, Macau native Dr. Stanley Ho owned all the casinos, helping him to become one of the world's wealthiest people. One of the first steps the Chinese government took after the 1999 handover was to break up Dr. Ho's monopoly and award casino licenses to several consortiums from Las Vegas. The grand plan to transform Macau from a quiet town that offered gambling into one of the world's top gaming destinations is well underway.

The Scene

Gambling is lightly regulated, so there are only a few things to remember. No one under age 18 is allowed into casinos. Most casinos use Hong Kong dollars in their gaming and not Macau patacas, but you can easily exchange currencies at cashiers. High- and no-limit VIP rooms are available on request. Minimum bets range from HK $50,000 to HKD$100,000 per hand. You can get cash from credit cards and ATMs 24 hours a day, and every casino has a program to extend additional credit to frequent visitors. Most casinos don't have strict dress codes outside of their VIP rooms, but you're better off not wearing shorts or sleeveless shirts. Minimum bets for most tables are higher than those in Las Vegas, but there are lower limits for slots and video gambling.

The players here may not look sophisticated, but don't be fooled. Chinese men and women have long embraced gambling, so many of Macau's gamblers are truly hard-core. Average bets are in the hundreds per hand, and many people gamble until they're completely exhausted or completely broke, usually the latter.

Macau is also famous for gambling's sister industries of pawn shops, loan sharks, seedy saunas, and prostitution. This underbelly is hidden, though. You won't encounter such things unless you seek them out.

The Games

Macau's casinos are geared to Asian gamblers, so most tables are dedicated to baccarat, fan-tan, and Asian dice games. There are few blackjack, poker, or roulette tables.

Baccarat is by far the most popular game for Asian gamblers, so most casinos devote the majority of their floors to baccarat tables. Many Chinese gamblers believe that this is the fairest game so they tend to make larger bets on it compared to other games. You can bet on four items: the player's hand, the banker's hand, tie hand, and pair. Macau rules stipulate that you can't take the house, and there are maximum payouts, but you'll still see the biggest crowds and hear the loudest stirrings from the baccarat tables.

Big and Small (Dai-Siu) is a game based on guessing values of three dice under a covered glass canister. You can bet on values, number combinations, and most commonly, "big" value or "small" value. Hear the collective groan when three-of-a-kind turns up, and the house takes all.

Fan-tan is an ancient Chinese game that most Westerners have never heard of. The croupier (counter) plunges an inverted silver cup into a pile of porcelain buttons on the table. He then moves the cup containing a number of buttons to one side. After bets are placed the cup is lifted and the buttons are counted off in groups of four until either one, two, three, or four buttons are left at the end of the count. Cash bets are placed on the table on the numerals one, two, three, or four; odds or evens; corners; or divisions between numbers. This game is becoming less and less popular, though Lisboa and Sands still have several tables.

Pacapio is basically a Chinese version of Keno. Tickets are printed with 80 Chinese characters and you select 10 characters to bet on from a computerized draw of 20 characters. There are six locations for Pacapio betting, with the most popular one being the Lisboa Betting Centre. The game operates from 10 AM to 2 AM.

Pai kao has been a popular Chinese game since the 19th century. It's played with dominoes and a revolving banker system where one player assumes the role of the house while the casino gets a percentage of all bets. The rules are relatively complicated, and the game is offered at the Lisboa and a few other casinos.

Roulette is played using the European wheel with a single "0," giving you a slightly better chance of winning over the American wheel with both a "0" and a "00" slot. You must exchange your cash or chips into special, roulette-only marker chips before playing and then exchange these chips back to casino chips when leaving the table. This game isn't very popular, so you'll find, at most, one or two live tables plus a handful of electronic tables in the larger casinos.

The Casinos

Cream of the Crop

Sands Macao Casino Hotel (Largo de Monte Carlo 203, Downtown, Macau. 853/883-388. www.sands.com.mo). Mandarin Oriental Casino Hotel (956-1110 Av. da Amizade, Downtown, Macau. 853/567-888. www.mandarinoriental.com). Wynn Macau (6-8 Av. da Amizade, Downtown, Macau. 853/889-966. www.wynnmacau.com). Venetian Macao Resort Hotel (Cotai Strip, Macau. 853/883-311. www.venetianmacao.com).

Landmarks

Hotel Casino Lisboa (2-4 Av. de Lisboa, Downtown, Macau. 853/377-666. www.hotelisboa.com). Hyatt Regency Hotel Casino (2 Estrata Almirante, Marques Esparteiro, Taipa. 853/831-537. www.macau.hyatt.com). Jai Alai Casino (Jai Alai Building, Av. de Amizade, Downtown, Macau. 853/726-086). Macau Jockey Club Casino (Grandview Hotel, Estrada Governador Albano de Oliveira 142, Taipa. 853/837-788). Golden Dragon Casino (Hotel Golden Dragon Rua de Malaca, Downtown, Macau. 853/727-979).

Fantasia

Greek Mythology Casino (889 Av. Padre Tomas Pereira, Taipa. 853/831-111. www.newcenturyhotel-macau.com). Pharaoh's Palace Casino (The Landmark Hotel, Av. de Amizade 555, Downtown, Macau. 853/781-781).

Where to Eat

Macau is legendary in the region for the diversity of its cuisine, which reflects the range of influences on its long history. There are a number of excellent Chinese restaurants, particularly Cantonese and Chiu Chow, which are particularly well known among Hong Kong residents. A large number of weekend Hong Kong travelers actually go to Macau just for dim sum, weekend brunches, and seafood feasts. In addition to more affordable prices, many people believe the ingredients are of higher quality, fresher, and there are fewer lines of people snaking out of the more popular places.

Macanese local cooking mirrors the colorful city, blending the flavors of East and West. For years this food was difficult to find outside private homes, but a few restaurants (such as Balicha O and Litoral) have stepped in to fill the gap. One of the most distinctive Macanese ingredients is the purple-grayish balicha o, a flavorful shrimp paste for which every family has its own special recipe. Another Macanese staple often served at lunch or dinner is minchi, a blend of ground pork or beef sautéed with onion, garlic, a bit of soy, and diced potatoes. In addition to these local favorites, you shouldn't miss the spicy and creamy Macanese interpretations of traditional Cantonese dishes such as baked prawns, braised abalone, and seafood stews.

Prices for both food and wine are, on the whole, reasonable, and a drinkable Portuguese wine often costs little more than a bottle of mineral water. Outside Chinese restaurants, the service trade is almost completely run by Filipinos, so ordering in English is rarely a problem—indeed, many Macanese have to order in English to make themselves understood. Meals are on a southern European schedule: long, leisurely lunches last from 1 to 3 PM and dinner doesn't begin until after 8, although it's possible to eat earlier. The majority of tourists don't arrive until Friday or Saturday, so weekday late-night dining options are limited after 10 PM. Most restaurants are open daily year-round, with perhaps a few days off around Chinese New Year (in late January to early February). Dress is casual, and reservations are rarely necessary except at the very finest restaurants, and even then only on weekends. The government tourism office produces an excellent magazine, Eating Out in Macau, which has an exhaustive listing of local dining spots. Most restaurants will add an automatic 10% service charge and a tip of about 10% is expected where there is no automatic service charge added to the check.

Where to Stay

Macau's primary industry is tourism and specifically the heavy weekend flow of tourists and gamblers from Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, and other parts of Asia and the Pacific Rim. In turn, this has led to many luxurious accommodations in a wide range of hotels, with spas, and restaurants to complement the glamour and excitement of the casinos. But although many luxury hotels cater to high-end travel, Macau also has hotels for travelers on a budget.

Higher-cost hotels often come with landscaped swimming pools, luxury spa and massage facilities, meeting rooms, fine restaurants, and guest rooms with deluxe beds and huge bathrooms. But you don't have to pay top dollar for many other places that have efficient service and comfortable accommodations, with air-conditioning, TVs, and good-size bathrooms. These are the most popular among those who come to gamble, as well as regular Hong Kong visitors, and budget tour groups. Note that in some of the lowest-priced hotels, staff speak limited English, so be patient. Some hotels may also have shared bathroom facilities.

For a true Macau experience, try staying in pousadas, which are state-owned historical buildings that have been restored and converted into hotel accommodations. You can sleep in a hand-carved mahogany bed in a former Portuguese fort and wake up to watch the sun rising on the South China sea, just as missionaries did in the past. The quality and price of a pousada can vary quite a bit, and advanced reservations are necessary as they all have very limited occupancy.

For both hotels and pousadas, bear in mind that Macau's heavy weekend traffic means that there are two distinct markets: weekday, from Monday to Thursday, and the popular weekend period. You can save up to 50% off the published rate if you book a room during the week. Call your hotel and ask about weekday deals and discounts.

Nightlife

Old movies, countless novels, and gossip through the years have portrayed Macau's nightlife as a combustible mix of drugs, wild gambling, violent crime, and ladies of the night. Up until the 1999 handover back to mainland China, this image of Macau was mostly accurate and worked to drive away increasingly higher numbers of tourists.

Outside of the casinos and a few restaurants, today's Macau shuts down after 11 PM. You can slip into any dark, elegant lounge bar inside the larger hotels, and enjoy live music and expensive cocktails, but don't expect much energy or big crowds. And most late-night saunas are glorified brothels, with "workers" from China, Vietnam, Thailand, and Russia.

Shopping

Macau, like Hong Kong, is a free port for most items, which leads to lower prices for electronics, jewelry, and clothing than other international cities. But coming from Hong Kong's intense shopping utopia, Macau seems like a poor country cousin. Currently, there are no Hong Kong style-megamalls here at all, and so shopping in Macau is a completely different experience, with a low-key atmosphere, small crowds, and compact areas. Commercial rents are not in the stratosphere as is the case in most Hong Kong shopping districts, so retail shops have had a longer history and look older. Sales staff aren't as pushy and persistent as in Hong Kong; their command of English isn't as good either.

Most of Macau's shops operate year-round with a short break in late January for Chinese New Year. Opening hours vary according to the type of shop, but most retail stores are open from 10 AM to 8 PM and later on weekends. Macau's major shopping district is along its main street, Avenida Almeida Ribeiro (more commonly known by its Chinese name, San Ma Lo); there are also shops in Mercadores and its side streets; in Cinco de Outubro; and the Rua do Campo. Shop names reflect Macau's Portuguese heritage, as in Pastelarias Mei Mun (Mei's Pastries), Relojoaria Tat On (Tat's Watches and Clocks), and Sapatarias João Leong (Leong's Shoes). For the best selection of traditional Chinese furniture, scroll paintings, porcelain, figurines, fans, silk robes, and lacquer ware, search the area around the ruins of St. Paul's, particularly Rua do São Antonio and Rua de São Paulo.

Macau also has its share of phony antiques, fake name-brand watches, and other rip-offs, so buyer beware: these "gray items" have no return or warranty policies. Shop around and compare prices. Get receipts and signed warranties for expensive items. Most shops accept all major credit cards, though specialty discount shops usually ask for cash. For most street vendors and some smaller stores, some friendly bargaining is expected; you should ask for the "best price," which ideally produces instant discounts of 10%-20%. The shopping mantra here, and in most of China, is "bargain hard, bargain often."

Getting There

International flights do come into Macau, but there are no flights from Hong Kong, which is only 10 minutes away by plane. There are, however, 16-minute helicopter flights between Hong Kong's Shun Tak Centre and the Macau Ferry Terminal; they leave every 30 minutes from 9:30 AM to 10:30 PM daily. Prices are HK$1,268 Monday to Thursday and HK$1,477 Friday to Sunday and holidays. Reservations are essential.