Got lost in the Venetian! No, not THAT Venetian...

Wow...and I thought the one in Vegas was huge!
Loving the pictures!

OK, sorry about the delay in posting, but I've been rather busy here. My wife flew back to the US on Tuesday as her visa expired, and is awaiting her dependant visa. I just got approved on Tuesday to stay until October 2016. I haven't been on the internet much, as we didn't get it set up until a few days ago, but I now have fiber-optic 250MB access, which is a helluva lot faster than anything I ever got in Vegas.

OK, I'll try to get out and get more photos this weekend. Macau is fascinating, especially with the money that flows through here, and yet very, very different than Vegas. I'll start up a new thread with some of my observations here in a few days, along with photos. I can't take any in the casinos themselves (they're very strict about that, and I can understand why). Just wandering through one of the casinos that I work for today, I saw a guy betting more than $100,000 USD on each hand.

Oh, and Roulette Man, yes, the water is as blue here in the canal. Or all three or so canals in the Venetian Macao, to be precise. That place is freaking BIG. I ran into there yesterday to stop by my bank branch, and once again, got completely lost and had to head back down to the first-floor casino to get my bearings.

Anyway, I do have lots to post, have been to a number of the casinos here in Macau, seen lots of cool stuff, but need to get some photos for the post. In the meantime, if there are any specific questions, just let me know! Here's a couple photos just for this post (not all casino photo$s):

The Rotunda at Venetian Macao:



Hac-Sa Beach, a black sand beach in Coloane:



A-Ma Temple (ancient Buddhist temple dating from the 1400's, I think):



That's it for now....I'm 15 hours ahead of Las Vegas time, so it's now 12:30am on Saturday. Anyone still interested in seeing more?

Please bring us much more. This is much more fascinating that the politicall threads that are going on right now.

Is Macao going to ever be the downfall of LV?

Downfall of Las Vegas? No. Totally different.

Macau totally overrode Vegas in terms of gaming revenues years ago. For one thing, I read somewhere that Macau is within a 5 hour flight of 70% of the world's population, so there's a lot of people - and money - here.

Las Vegas brought in approx $6.4 billion in gaming revenue for all of 2013, IIRC, whereas Macau brought in close to $46 billion. It's the gambling hub of the world. To put it in perspective, just the two main casinos for the company I currently work for (not a US company) brought in more gaming revenue than all of Las Vegas combined.

Yet, the focus of the patrons is completely different. In LV, entertainment is the focus of the patrons. In Macau, the players treat gambling as if it were a business. Casinos are quiet, restrained, no alcohol is offered, etc. Lots of fine restaurants are available steps from the floor, and tea and water are offered as refreshments - no alcohol. Most casinos have even eliminated bars on the floor.

I went to the the two casinos in Sydney, Australia and Melbourne, Australia. I had access to the VIP rooms in both casinos. They comped drinks in the VIP rooms, but gamblers in the regular casinos had to buy their drinks. To show how different things are, the huge casino in Melbourne had something like 90+ roulette stations and two craps tables (with only one table open at the time I went there). Most of the patrons were Asian and not Australian. I would think LV is losing most of their Asian market to people who live closer to Macao.

Thank you for keeping us up-to-date on the Macau gambling scene as well as on your new life there. The pictures you provided of the exteriors and non-casino areas look spectacular. Too bad we cannot see the gaming areas as well with the tougher security policies they have there. And your new apartment looks lovely and spacious as well, at least on the outside.

Fascinating.

What a great thread, thanks so much for sharing prefect.

No alcohol or excitement running through the casinos? While everything looks beautiful and really cool there, it seems like it wouldn't be as much fun as Vegas. The main attraction to me is walking into a casino and feeling the buzz in the air, people yelling and cheering at the craps tables, or the sounds of a big hit on a slot with the ensuing noise it makes and all the other sounds and noise of a casino.

can;t wait to see more pics, coolest pics ever on here.

Yes, the casinos here certainly don't have the excitement of Vegas. Back in Vegas, I played VP quite a bit for entertainment....here, I played for half an hour or so when we first arrived, and haven't since. It's just not the same...now, I just walk the casino floors to see what others are doing. On the flip side, I'm probably saving quite a bit of money!

Today is Labor Day here (Thursday), so I have the day off. I was planning on going around and taking pics, but as if often the case here, Macau is shrouded in fog (yes, today it's fog, other days I'm not sure as to whether fog or smog). Holidays - they love holidays here....I get 23 holidays per year, plus my normal vacation of 20 days. I've been here for 24 working days so far, and 7 of them have been holidays. Next week, I get Buddha's Birthday off (May 6).

Here's a pic of Taipa from one of my balconies. In the distance, you can see the Macau Tower, which is kind of like the Stratosphere (without the casino). Insane people are free to get strapped into a tiny harness and walk around the top on a little walkway with no rails, or to hop off the edge and bungee jump.



Anyway, with any luck, the fog will burn off soon, and I'll get some photos...but probably not likely to happen as rain is forecast for the next week. It's sometimes a bit difficult dealing with the weather after coming from Vegas, where it rarely rains and there's no humidity to speak of.....humidity here is usually in the 98% range.

Will update again soon, and perhaps start a new thread with a title that references Macau!

Hows the cost of living out there?

Enjoying the pics.