Rice is Nice

This being Sunday, it was maids' day off here in Hong Kong. Though we got a reasonably late start, the fact that we made it out of central by noon and it was a hot day, I think, accounted for the relatively thin crowd of Filipina and Indonesian maids that were camped out in the few public places available in Hong Kong, including the pedestrian overpasses. Hong Kong is not a place that is accepting of loitering. Even in its many high-end malls, there are no seats for just parking your butt. Yet on Sundays, hundreds of thousands of Southeast Asian women spread blankets on the middle of sidewalks, snack, play the guitar, and braid each other's hair. And nobody seems to bother them.

The ferry to Macau, which is owned by Stanley Ho's company and leaves from a mall owned by his company, on its way to an SAR dominated by him, was smoother than I remember it being. There was no skipping over waves today. But upon arrival, we made our way to Taipa village, had a Portuguese lunch, and then went to the Taipa House Museum. There, you can learn about traditional life in Macau in sea-green colonial houses that overlook a lagoon. And if you literally look over the lagoon, you see the Venetian casino, which is nearly done. Its footprint is large, at least as large as that of the Venetian in Las Vegas. Actually, all over Macau, there are cranes on large sites, apparently building new casino-hotels. The MGM Grand looks like it's coming along nicely, though I'm embarrassed to say that the colors of the building are kind of ugly.

Stephen was beaten down by the heat. He is not built to live in these humid climates. I do fine in them, however. We sought air conditioning by going to the Macau Museum inside one of the old Portuguese forts. Then we strolled by the ruins of Sao Paulo cathedral and the Largo Senado, where we had coffee in a Portuguese coffee shop. I would have guessed there would be few Portuguese left in Macau, yet I saw a lot at the food and beverage establishments that we frequented today. I'm not sure what they do there, other than run restaurants, but many are still there. We walked down the street through some of Stanely Ho's casinos. The casino floors there are shockingly small. Perhaps, most of the tables are in private gaming areas. And there are no bars other than service bars. Restaurants are relatively hidden. If you are not there to gamble at least, or preferably there by invitation, Ho's casinos are not welcoming. We then went in the newly opened Wynn. The layout is more appealing than that of the Wynn Las Vegas. Other than that, it's similar. I parked myself at the bar and taught the bartender how to make dry Rob Roys while Stephen played blackjack. The table minimums were not any different than one would see in Las Vegas, and the casinos weren't busy. This is the same thing I saw a year ago. I'm not sure how Macau, then, creates the numbers that it does, and how people concocted stories of customers standing four-deep around gaming tables, desperate to play. To me, it's like Las Vegas without the revelry. It's quiet (unlike most of China), there's little drinking, and gambling lacks the association with sin that it has in the US.

Macau street, from the Pawn Shop Museum

Look at me! Climbing the ruins of St. Paul's, Macau's best historic site

View of Macau from atop Monte Fort. These gritty apartment block scenes are now so trendy in Hong Kong.

Anyway, I chatted with a couple of Irishmen, including one who works at Wynn Macau, while Stephen won decent money. After that and a great Portuguese dinner, serenaded by the Filipino waiters (they are the multitalented itinerant workers of Asia, I tell you), we came back to Hong Kong.