Macau: More Than The Las Vegas of the East

Located in China, although classified as a Special Administrative Region the same as Hong Kong, Macau was handed back over to the Chinese in 1999 by the Portuguese, who had ruled the area for 500 years. With no visa required to visit the city from other parts of China, that makes it a very popular day trip from Hong Kong, but it's also a huge attraction for the mainland Chinese. The reason is simple; Macau is now known as the Las Vegas of Asia, and with very good reason.

If you arrive on the regular ferry service from Hong Kong, which takes just over an hour, the first sight that will greet you is the Sands casino. You don't have to go far before you see billboards for other famous-name casinos, such as the Wynn, Bellagio, and MGM Grand, so the link to Las Vegas is soon obvious. This is something that is only going to keep growing, with around 27 million gamblers visiting Macau last year from mainland China. It's easy enough for them to get here, with complimentary shuttle buses offered from across the border. And it's a short trip, with China easily seen just a short distance away across one of the rivers around Macau. With that sort of potential audience, it's no surprise to learn that more casinos are being built all the time.

But there is much more to Macau than just gambling. The city has a fascinating history and everywhere you look, you can see the influence of the former European rulers, from the street signs written in Portuguese and Chinese, to the Mediterranean-style buildings that are littered throughout the different districts.

The history really starts at the A-Ma Temple, dedicated to a Taoist sea goddess and completed in 1488, as this is where the Portuguese first came ashore in the early 1550s. They quickly adopted the name for the city they had discovered and, eventually, A-Ma became Macau. Today, the temple is still standing and attracts people wishing to pay their respects. The sensation you get here when you walk in, like many of the other temples we visited in Hong Kong, is one of serenity. You're also greeted by an intense aroma of incense, which can easily overwhelm you.

Fast forward to the early 1600s and a church, Sao Paulo, was built in Macau, but the site they chose was obviously not a good one. Not long after it was constructed, fire ripped through the building. Undeterred, the church was rebuilt and stood proudly on the site for the next 200 years, until history repeated itself and fire broke out again. This time, they were able to save some of the building and, in particular, the main facade at the entrance, but it proved impossible to re-build the rest of the church, so today those ruins are all that remain.