The Kowloon Diaries

Macau diary

We went to Macau at the weekend for the first time in ten years and were dismayed at what it has turned into. It used to be a quaint little getaway, where you step back in time from Hong Kong and get a taste of a more rural, European culture. The old parts are still there, but they're dwarfed by the huge new casinos. We couldn't believe the size of these places, couldn't believe that there are really so many millions of people willing to come here just to gamble. (I never win when I gamble, so I don't understand the allure.)

I thought it might be glamorous like Las Vegas, but it's not at all. Inside, the casinos are opulent in a predictable, cliched sort of way. We took an obligatory gondola ride on a fake Venetian canal, and a Filipino named Guiseppe sang Santa Lucia for us. It might have been amusing, if it weren't so expensive and we hadn’t had to queue for an hour for a fifteen minute ride.

Outside, around the Cotai Strip, it's just messy, with lots of construction sites and long stretches of wasteland. We stayed in the Regency where we also stayed ten years ago. I remembered it as a decent five star place, but now it's falling apart.

We were only there for two days which probably isn't enough time to form an opinion, but I didn't get the impression that all this casino money has filtered down to the local community. The schools are still run down, the local shops and streets are still shabby. The only difference is that before Macau used to be shabby in a charming way, now it looks like it's just waiting to be torn down.

The only thing I liked was the Grand Lisboa Casino. We didn't get a chance to go outside, but from the outside it's so bizarre I couldn’t stop staring at it.

Stumped

A new poem inspired by something I saw today.