“To be in China and Portugal at the same time? This works in a strangely charming way in Macau – independent of the casino flash.”
Of course, you can toss a coin before you decide to travel to Macau. After all, the small peninsula off the Chinese coast is the richest gambling metropolis in the world. Each table here earns seven times more money than one in Las Vegas. But the Special Administrative Zone is worth a visit even without the pastime of the fruit machines. Nowhere else in the world do the Portuguese way of life and Chinese pragmatism embrace each other as intimately as in Macau. A wild mixture of morbid European charm with pioneer facades and church tower squares and Chinese crowds – in groups, without any body distance, also with umbrellas or selfie sticks, and always quite loud.
But opposites attract each other magically in this city: While on one side the stately medieval fortress with its “cannon view” is enthroned high above, in the new Macau, the Macau Tower invites you to the world’s highest bungee jump. And a tour of the narrow footbridge, which leads around the viewing platform at a height of 220 metres, also provides unique insights into, and views of the city.
Hardly a hotel without a casino
Macau is really worth a trip for more than one day. Hotels to stay in are like sand by the sea. The MGM Macau, for example, is located in the “old” part of the former Portuguese colony. The five-star hotel regularly wins international prizes for outstanding service and is a rather small hotel with only approx. 500 rooms. By comparison: The Venetian on the newly built Cotai Strip has six times as many rooms. And no matter, whether a small hotel or a mega complex – a casino is here as well at each hotel. Differently, however than in the USA no free drinks are served in the play halls. Because: The Chinese take the game really seriously – and completely without evening dress chic just like us. Baccarat, a local alternative to 17+4, is played up to 18 hours a day. If you don’t want to gamble at the MGM (old rule: “The casino always wins”), you can lie down by the pool, relax in one of the cafés in the covered Portuguese patio – or let yourself drift through the city again and again.
In the Long Wa Tea House (3 Rua, Norte du Mercado Almirante), for example, the Chinese sit from early in the morning with green tea and Dim Sums and read the newspaper. From the light-flooded room you can see the blood-red brick building of the Red Market: a Chinese meat and fish market is a real border experience for European minds. António Coelho’s cuisine is quite different: in his restaurant he serves authentic Portuguese delicacies in a historic ambience. Make sure you reserve one of the few tables on the beautiful roof terrace.
Kai Böcking und Sylvie Konzack …
find that one does not do justice to Macau by reducing the city to an artificial casino answer to Las Vegas. The Portuguese old days are omnipresent and provide for a wild, peaceful mixture of Good Old Europe and Chinese pragmatism.
Fotos: © iStock/Sean3810, © iStock/smshoot, Konzack
