Macau

Yesterday, I took the hour-long ferry ride to Macau. The former Portuguese colony became a Special Administrative Region of China in 1999, and just like Hong Kong now features "one country, two systems". After standing in line for half the morning at immigration, we made our way to the Kun Iam statue, an odd bronze monument to the goddess of mercy. The statue is built on a man-made island and has a library in the basement.


Next, we walked along the Praia Grande to the A-Ma Temple, dedicated to the goddess of seafarers.


We ate a buffet lunch that left me somewhat glutened, despite my attempts to explain to the tour guide that Celiac disease is not the same as being a vegetarian. Oh well. After lunch, we went to the Macau Tower, a 338 meter tall building that features the highest bungee jump in the world.


For $3000 HKD you can take the uninsurable free fall. I saw one person do it and he looked scared shitless the entire time...I'd like to go bungee jumping, but I think I'll work my way up to this height.


Next we saw the ruins of the Church of St. Paul, a giant facade that was built in an attempt to help the illiterate understand the Passion of Christ.


But all of that history aside, Macau is known today mostly as a gambling mecca for the residents of Hong Kong. Gambling is the main source of revenue, and according to my tour guide, Macau surpassed Vegas in annual profits from gambling last year.


At the end of the day we were running out of time to catch the ferry back to HK when we finally made it into a casino. With only 12 minutes to gamble, I put $100 HKD on black and of course I won. It's a flawless betting strategy, really: 48 percent of the time, it works every time.

Location:Great George St,,Macau