We left the Hong Kong Disney Resort around 6:30am in order to have a full day to explore Macau. Being familiar with the journey, I didn’t even bother to book ferry tickets in advance — just taxi to the pier, buy the tickets, hop on the boat. You’re there an hour later. In Macau, the MGM sent a limo to pick us up (unsure of why, really).

I’m always fascinated by Macau, though this time it was far more familiar and thus less of an unexpected delight. Nonetheless, the mash-up of Portuguese and Chinese cultures (and architecture) with the Las Vegas casino gaming overlay (only with far more gaming revenue) makes it quite unique. To me,

This is where the original draft ended. I’m now completing the recollections en route to Qatar in June 2023…

From what I recall for this part of the trip, we wandered around the historical Portuguese center, visited the primary casino area (Koti Strip?) for mostly “retail therapy” where Libby “discovered” a new (to her) handbag brand (Moyant), and ate some enjoyable dim sum at the MGM Grand (which also gave us a complimentary room upgrade, also for no clear reason).

Overall, our sense at the time was that the visit to Macau was fine/good but not as thrilling as our first time there — whereas Hong Kong was much better. In that way, the trip reminds me of our 1st and 2nd visits to Vienna and Salzburg, which were one was “great” and the other “meh” and then vice versa on second trip.

Upon arrival at Disney, we stored our luggage (Disney provides a luggage check service), bought our tickets (about 50% of the price of a Florida 1-day admission), put my electronic gear in the lockers on Main Street USA, and headed off for a day of fun and compare/contrast. The park is physically smaller (or at least has less on offer) than the Magic Kingdom at home, though they’re building out new areas. In fact, Toy Story Land (2011) and Grizzly Gulch (2012) already opened. Mystic Point—which will house a Hong Kong version of the Haunted Mansion—opens later this year.

Aside from some differences in food options (though standard American fare is on offer), there’s relatively little “Hong Kong” in the Hong Kong Disneyland. This was a bit disappointing to us as American visitors, but I suppose it’s actually what most visitors would want/expect from their Disney experience. The biggest difference we noticed was that all of the buildings seemed to be much smaller in scale. For example, the iconic Sleep Beauty’s castle—when standing in front of it—looked to be little more than “one up, one down.” I don’t know if this was as a result of adherence to Feng Shui or something else, but I thought it may have lost a touch of the magic as a result.

All in all, we had a good time. I’m glad to have seen it. Would we go back? Maybe with Emerson some day in the future, if she expressed an interest. Objectively speaking, Hong Kong Disneyland is more-or-less a typical Disney experience (good, bad, or indifferent). So, unless it’s meaningful for you to visit as a Disney aficionado, I think it could be safely skipped.

We left Disney in the late afternoon and checked into our hotel, the Marriott Hong Kong SkyCity. It’s a fairly unremarkable business hotel at the airport. We enjoyed a free suite upgrade and dinner in the executive lounge. And, it was perfect for our early morning flight home, but it’s not a great place to stay on a visit to Hong Kong.

No, ‘old Macau’ is more for us.

We happily passed a number of hours meandering through the narrow streets of the city to find churches, theatres, libraries, and homes. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, many of the more modern apartment / condo buildings are fairly charmless. Yet, amongst them, you find cheerful squares or vibrant streets that are uniquely Macanese. Here are some examples:

We also stopped at Margaret’s Café e Nata for some delightful Portuguese egg (custard) tarts. A few years ago, we first encountered these delightful tarts during our visit to Lisbon. We had them from the shop in Belem that’s been making them for over 175 years. Margaret’s version was very respectable… perhaps a little less sweet and little more “eggy,” if my taste memory serves correctly.

Tomorrow, we return to Hong Kong in the morning. At Libby’s pleading / urging, we’ll be paying a visit to the Hong Kong Disneyland, which has the benefit of being en route to our hotel near the airport and offers luggage storage. I’m not sure it’s really a great use of our time, but I suspect it will be interesting to compare/contrast it to its American counterpart back home.

The ferry trip itself was pleasant and uneventful. In SuperClass, you’re offered an included meal and drinks. In addition, you’ll find the seats are more spacious, you can bring aboard more hand luggage, and you get priority embarkation and disembarkation. For the extra $20(USD) per person, I think it’s worth it.

Once at Macau, we passed through immigration and customs with alacrity. We then found the Wynn’s courtesy desk, which directed us to the hotel’s free shuttle bus. A few moments later, we were at the hotel and checking into our room (which wasn’t yet ready due to the relatively early hour). So, we dropped off our baggage and ambled around the local vicinity before having lunch at the Wynn. For lunch, we ate at “Red 8,” which specializes in dim sum and was excellent. Yes, this was the Chinese food experience we’d been looking for: steamed barbecue pork buns, potstickers, pan-fried pumpkin cakes, pork rice rolls, etc. Delicious!

After lunch, we got our room key and dropped off our stuff. We’re up on the 14th floor in a spacious room overlooking the hotel’s petite Bellagio-style fountain, downtown Macau, and the bridges to the outlying islands. It’s pretty swank digs, but it’s suitable for this upscale hotel. That said, the best part of the Wynn Macau (and the reason I picked it) is its proximity to the city’s historical center, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Within a 15 minute walk of our hotel, you can find yourself standing in a square that looks like Lisbon… or at least China town in Lisbon (assuming it even has such a thing).

Macau’s just a fascinating place. It’s unlike any place we’ve ever been. No. Let me correct that comment. It’s actually like some places we’ve been… only we’ve never seen those individual elements mixed together in this way. What do I mean by that? The historic city center (which is very attractive) and the surrounding hodgepodge of urban buildings (which is not so much) remind us a lot of Buenos Aries. Of course, Macau has a Portuguese—not Spanish—heritage. Thus, you have to stir in a healthy dose of Lisbon. On top of this, you basically have Las Vegas grafted on to the city with many of the same hotel/casino resorts (our Wynn, plus outposts of the MGM Grand, Venetian, Sands, and Hard Rock to name a few). Yet, all of this exists in China, and the city is chockablock with people from Hong Kong and (most prominently) mainland China looking for a good time. In fact, the irony of watching “communist” Chinese mainlanders play the part of degenerate gamblers and luxury shopaholics isn’t lost on us. Indeed, given the seeming wealth of our fellow vacationers, I’m starting to wonder if the phrase ‘capitalist dog’ hasn’t taken on a whole new meaning?

Today’s box score: +1 country (Macau)