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Arriving first thing in the morning on the night train from Fujian we were met by our final guide for the Dragon Trip, Tjice, a Dutch national who seems to be working 24/7 and speaks five languages. From the station we took a two hour coach transfer to the China/Macau border and said fairwell to mainland China. Macau, our final destination of the Dragon Trip is an ex Portugese colony which gained independance in 1999. Its economy revolves around the gambling industry and we were told that its turnover is five times that of Vegas!
The Venetian Casino is one of the largest casinos in Macau and we started our tour by dropping off our luggage there and venturing into the casino to see how much we could lose. I began by playing blackjack before moving onto the slot machines. It wasn't much but I lost all the money I gambled. We then went upstairs to see the attraction of the Venetian, a mock venice canal that runs through the indoor mall to the food court. It looked impressive and surreal as the high painted/lit ceiling mades it feel as if you are outdoors.
The old town is a short bus journey from the casinos. It boasts Portuguese architecture and a lot of history as the first Portugese settlers came ashore in the 1550s. We walked around the main streets before heading up to the ruins of St Paul's which is a church facade which was left standing after a fire ruined the majority of the builiding. The steps in front of St Pauls was filled with tourists taking photographs so we took it apon ourselves to see how many photos we could photobomb before hiking a little further up the hill to the fortress to take some pictures of Macau from this high vantage point.
After one last look at the casino, we took the catamaran ferry back to Hong Kong marking the end of our day trip to Macau and of the 25 day Dragon Trip. It was an amazing experience to see and experience what China has to offer, from the culture, to the history, to the food. But more importantly to meet the people I have met along the way. I would definitely return!
:)
Max.
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