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Day Eight: In Macau, you Wynn Some, You Lose Some
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January 28, 2007
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« Day Seven: Macau Bound | Main | Day Nine: Fisherman's Wharf, and Meat Is Sexy Murder »
Friday morning, we got up, ran some errands, and took the hydrofoil
into Macau. Immediately after stepping off of the boat, you know that
Macau is not like Hong Kong. It's much more "in-process". There's a
lot of dust on the streets, and empty lots. The highly developed areas
are much more localized, and the empty areas aren't as lush. And there
are scooters everywhere! Macau, we discovered, means "city of Vespas"
in Portuguese.
Checking in to the hotel room was quite a surprise. The door opened to a huge suite with dark woods, a marble entryway, and a giant bathroom with a huge tub and separate shower stall. The bathroom itself was probably half of the size of our entire suite over in Hong Kong. And the rooms are about the same price! I'm not sure why the prices are so different, since this hotel didn't even have a casino in it, I don't think.
We immediately set out to have a look around Macau. It's a really interesting place. Certain parts of it have the same signage aesthetic that Hong Kong does, only all the signs are low-tech -- many of them don't even light up. The architecture is a mix of old Chinese highrises, casinos built in the mid-1970's, some odd, garish modern buildings, huge contemporary casinos. One thing you notice right away is the huge number of construction projects. This place may be a low-rent Vegas for now, but somebody's banking big on rent to go up.
After walking around town for awhile, we decided to meet our Hong Kong co-workers, who were just getting out of their day-long meeting. Our rooms were at the Landmark, but they were staying at the StarWorld hotel. I didn't visit any of the rooms, but the expansive lobby is as impressive as any I've been to in Vegas. Each of the hostesses were more than 6 feet tall and wore giant heeled boots. If you have Yellow Fever and a giantess fantasy, this is the place to be. Joe and I had a drink at the hotel bar, waiting for our friends to come down, and when they did, we all piled into a couple of chartered busses and went across town to a Portuguese restaurant.
These Hong Kong engineers are an enigma. They seem like wallflowers at work during the day, or at best, quietly confident. But get them all together en masse at night, and they're a boisterous (though orderly) bunch, raising their glasses and shouting "Gom bui!" (though very few of them were drinking alcohol) and egging each other on (though in a generally respectful manner). Several folks were suggesting that one of their number could put her entire fist in her mouth, and soon everyone was trying to get her to do it. For a few moments it looked like she might do it. I had my camera out just in case.
We left dinner and headed to a casino -- the Wynn, as it happened. Joe and I arrived a little later than others, and we were shocked by what we saw and heard. Or rather, what we didn't hear. Do you know the feel of a Vegas casino? The low rumble of conversation, the comforting chime of the slot machines, the buzz of life? Well, the Wynn had none of that. Now, I've never been to the Wynn in Vegas, but the Macau Wynn is more like a library! They had carts rolling around serving hot tea! I wanted to ridicule them for this, but I kept quiet for fear of getting shushed.
Most of the engineering talent was crowded around one table, where they'd pooled all of their money and given it to one player who had some proficiency in Blackjack. He was slowly winning against the house, which while entrancing to the people who had money on the line, was boring us to death. We tried to peel people away to head to a more interesting casino for drinks and carousing, but it proved to be a really tough sell. The same people who were loud and boisterous in the restaurant were content to wile away the time quietly in the Wynn.
After much persuasion and whining, we finally managed to convince a couple of great folks, Alex and Terrence, to join us as we went wandering. We blew through the Lisboa, decided it wasn't our kind of spot, and then decided to try the Sands.
Immediately upon entering the Sands, we knew we'd made the right decision. There was a hum to the place that reminded me much more of a Vegas casino, an energy that puts you in the mood to party. There was a stage with a bar front and center -- our kind of place. We parked right in front of it and ordered a round.
A cover band from Canada took the stage and began to play, fronted by a guy and two pretty girls, all of whom alternated singing lead vocals. I don't mean to brag, but one of the two female singers sang several songs directly to me, including one in which she asserted that I wished that my girlfriend was hot and raw like she was. I wanted to explain to her that while I was willing to concede that she was hot, my girlfriend is also hot and likely is quite a bit more raw. I suspected that if I got to know her further, I might be in the position of wishing instead that the singer was as hot and raw as my girlfriend.
The cover band played a good set, and the four of us -- but particularly Joe and I -- had a good time. The band liked us, I think, since we were among the few in the place who got the pop culture references they would make. During breaks we alternated between playing video poker and watching dancing girls do various routines, with the Hong Kong folks largely in the video poker camp and Joe and I more firmly in the dancing girl camp. Subsequent sets by the band, despite quality covers of the likes of Stevie Wonder and Gloria Gaynor by way of Cake, were marred by such wedding-band staples as "Play That Funky Music". I wanted to stay for awhile longer so I could explain at some length regarding the hotness and rawness and freakiness of my girlfriend, but Joe was afraid that they'd launch into some Kool & the Gang or do the Locomotion or something, which is indeed something to fear, so we left them to descend into banality alone.
Tipsy and hungry, we prowled the streets in search of food. After a few moments, we wandered into a well-lit walkway. The shops were all closed, and the street was full of ... women. Good-looking women, dressed for nightlife. They were very friendly. I've never seen anything quite like it. It was like the Whole Foods of prostitution. I'd have taken a picture, but I was afraid of how much I might be charged for it.
Dodging women left and right and avoiding eye contact, we stumbled into the first restaurant we saw -- a dirty little place with scummy fishtanks full of angry crabs, cross-looking lobsters, and big, dumb fish. We asked the price of a particularly angry crab, but they were clearly enforcing a steep westerner tax, so we settled for some shrimp. Turned out to be some of the best shrimp I've ever had, but for the price, I'm certain we could have had some oreos and one or two of the women outside.
After gorging ourselves, we headed back to the hotel, to dream of Kool & the Gang and prostitutes.
January 28, 2007 in Hong Kong | Permalink
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