o sole veneziano
macau | travelled in 2016 | posted on jan 28, 2016
piazza san marco, palazzo ducale, canale grande, ponte di rialto, campanile di san marco - venezia. this is music in the ears of any italy lover.
after staying in bangkok for some months, it is actually a quite nice idea to see some other place for some days. so, why not got to venice for a weekend?
too far from bangkok for a weekend trip? italy's venice? indeed. so what about macau's venice? yepp, i am talking about the former portugese colony macau in south-eastern china. yes, yes, you can find a venice there, too. sort of...
the venetian is a luxury resort and casino in macau. its total space of 980.000 m2 makes it one of the largest buildings in the world. and with 3.400 slot machines and 800 gambling tables, the venetian macao is not only the biggest of all 33 casions in macau - it is the biggest casino in the world.
of course i had to try my luck playing roulette (for the first time). but unfortunately, this did not end up with me being a millionaire. so, having no big bucks in my wallet, doing some luxury shopping was no option. but instead, i could enjoy the quirky artificial interior of the venetian's shopping mall even more. like the outer front of the building, this indoor shopping area is venice-themed all over - below an everlasting sunny artificial sky, it's all there: the canale grande, the palazzos and even gondolas waiting for a ride. obviuosly, the sometimes not so italian looking gondolieres do wear the red-and-white-striped shirts. and i am quite sure, if you ask politely, they will also sing "o sole mio" for you - which is by the way a song from napoli.
some more details about gambling in macau: except for two state-run lotteries, gambling is illegal in mainland china. in contrast, in macau gambling has been legal already since the 1850s. but chinese people love to gamble. so, among many other foreigners, a steady stream of visitors from china flood into macau to try their luck - mainly in the casinos - but betting on horse or dog races and on other sports events is also possible. this generates about 50% of macau's income and also makes it one of the richest cities in the world. even though the gambling revenue in 2015 has declined by 34% compared to 2014 - $29.000.000.000 is still three times more than las vegas' gambling revenue and even more than the combined revenue of the next ten major gambling areas worldwide!
so much talking about gambling but no pictures showing it? given the huge amounts of money that are handled in the casinos, it is no surprise that there are strict security regulations, a stern no-photography policy being part of it. and with hundreds of surveillance cameras installed everywhere and an army of security people present, you shouldn't even think about taking out your camera.
but again, even more time to focus on disneyland venezia.
