Venice in Macau

On the last day we wanted to go to the Venetian as we heard on TV that there was a gondola ride in the Venetian. 

We were delighted to learn that Hotel Royal had a bus going to Macau Tower and from Macau Tower we were informed that we could board another bus to the City of Dreams and thereafter the Venetian. God planned everything for us as we had also planned a visit to Macau Tower in our program!

After a breakfast of the famous Macau pork chop bun and curry fish bread with 2 cups of delicious lai cha (milk tea) just a few shops away from the Hotel, we hopped onto the bus to Macau Tower. Incidentally Tim had planned to go to Tai Lei Loi Kei, the famous Macau pork chop self service kiosk but it turned out that we ended up eating at the TLLK in Pandan Indah as we could not make it to the Macau outlet!

Nothing much at Macau Tower except photo taking and watching people moving down from the Tower on harness!

Another bus took us to the City of Dreams, a 5 star shopping center with a lovely mermaid backdrop. However the branded items selling at the City of Dreams were way beyond our budget. 

Next stop - the Venetian. One of the loveliest shopping complex in Macau must be the Venetian. Walking into the complex, you could check in your luggage at one entrance and check them out at the other entrance. I understood why...right smack in the center of the complex is a huge casino...one cannot avoid walking right into the casino as it was designed in this manner! Perhaps people spend night and day gambling in the casino without sleep. 

Indeed in every shopping complex in Macau there is a casino. Not only casinos, there are horse racing and dog racing centers as well! 

However the second floor of the Venetian is the most beautiful part of the shopping complex (in my view). It was amazing to step into a different world, a different city! One could see a beautiful artificial sky painted on the ceiling with artificial lights as though we were in an open city. The lights could dim to reflect different times of the day. There was a lady dressed like a 15th century Venetian court singer singing a lovely soprano song. There were musicians playing the harp and other instruments. Facades of buildings looking like houses in Venice and Florence surrounded us. I felt transported to Venice - one of the most beautiful cities in the world!

Right in the center of the Venetian (it is very long and very big) runs a canal with many gondolas. Gondoliers dressed their part call out to visitors to take a ride in their gondolas. It was amazing!

We walked and walked and took photos of bridges over the canals. We stopped at the famous Lord Stow bakery and had egg tarts, carrot drink and ginger juice to accompany our meals.

From the Venetian we boarded a bus to the airport.

Farewell Macau!