It's Chinese New Year - Happy New Year of the Rat to all Rats which includes me. Sang Lin Fi Lok!
During the weeks holiday I went on the turbo ferry to Macao. Going to Macao from Hong Kong means leaving the country. My advice to all travellers from Hong Kong to Macao is take your passport. I personally have never left mine at home or had to race back causing much inconvenience and undue expense. You know who you are!
The weather in Hong Kong is unseasonably nippy at the moment. There is a mass of snow in China so we must be getting the chilly breeze from the north. Everyone's nether regions are freezing off and the sales of big knickers have hit record figures. I was hoping for some sun in Macao but it was not to be. The weather was colder when we walked out of the ferry terminal, out came the scarf and gloves taken just in case. After turning down a rather over optimistic offer by a rickshaw driver of a cycle trip around the place in the freezing wind and 8C we boarded a bus which delivered us to the Da Vinci Exhibition of Genius which is well worth a look. You can learn amazing statistics about the Vetruvian Man and the Mona Lisa.
The main reason why Hongkongers travel to Macao is to gamble. It always has been a draw fro the Chinese who simply love to risk their heard earned cash in the casinos. During the last few years the development of a Las Vegas style resort has meant that it attracted even more visitors every day. There are no casinos in Hong Kong. They are illegal. There is only controlled gambling on horses and more recently on football, anything else such as playing cards for money is a no no. Of course, it goes on but that's another blog.
Personally, I don't get gambling but I thought it necessary to check out what the attraction was. First stop was an older casino called Lisboa Casino, a somewhat iconic early casino near the centre of town. At around 4 o clock in the afternoon the place was heaving. People crowded round tables participating or just watching with the occasional cheer going up when some one got lucky. During the time we were there someone did win HK$4.9 million on a slot machine. Interestingly within The Lisboa Casino was something called Tokyo Suite which was a closed room with lots of pictures of scantily clad young ladies around the outside. Macao is also notorious for its sauna and massage parlours and this, I guess, was one of them. We were given a leaflet about this extra facility although had to decline the offer due to a previous commitment.
After a circuit of the heavily flocked patterned thick carpeted floor we left the building and went on to The Venetian Hotel and Casino, which is a new hotel/casino/arena. It has been constructed in the style of Venice with an attempt at authentic baroque and rococo architecture in precast concrete together with canals and gondolas not to mention a replica of the tower from St. Mark's Square as the main feature. Inside is a sea of slot machines and gaming tables. We thought The Lisboa was big but this is on another level. The carpets are ankle deep and even more heavily flocked. The arched ceilings are painted with nymphs and cherubs picked out in powder blue and gold all with strategically placed gossamer to hide their modesty. As Dudley Moore once pointed out it's a miracle that the wind always manages to save them. The mock opulence is apparent at every turn. Were it not for the fact that it is actually nothing more than a posh bingo hall which allows smoking it would be easy to get carried away and think you were somewhere special!
But the real reason for travelling the hour across the South China Sea was to see The Police on their reunion/come back tour. I kept the best bit until last. The Venetian Arena is a modern venue better than the NEC or Sheffield Arena. Having been to a number of gigs in Hong Kong before and been disappointed by the lack luster audience (some people can sleep anywhere!) I was slightly nervous that there would be no atmosphere in a cold empty space. I needn't have worried. The boys were fantastic. The show was excellent. Mr Sumner, Mr Copeland and Mr Summers did not let me down in any way. The sound, the lighting and even the audience were top quality (apart from the bloke behind me who insisted singing along like a bleating goat which was particularly annoying at the opening of Roxanne!). He didn't spoil it for me. Nothing could have.
I loved it.
I forgive Sting for all his jazz now that he has performed Roxanne and Don't Stand So Close to Me again - that's all I ever wanted...
It is also worth noting that the support band Fiction Plane was also pretty good with the lead singer sounding just a little bit like Sting. Now I find out he is Joe Sumner - son of Sting! It must be the genes.
Posted by: Lesley | February 11, 2008 at 02:07 PM