July 2, 2023
Days P3-4: Macau for the Wynn
The long awaited Macau trip with with my wife was finally able to happen. Originally we were planning to do this last December but then covid struck (the actual virus) and it got postponed. Sophia was able to fly in this weekend and it was perfect timing for a lot of reasons.
The first is that my life coach said to me after the successful completion of many half-year goals, "You need to find a way to celebrate and make memories." Macau would be the perfect place for that.
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It was an amazing hotel. The premesis was also slam packed because Macau is the top destination for mainland China weekend tourism. You have to book well in advance and be prepared for long queues to check in and out. Then on Sunday afternoon it suddenly quiets down once everyone checks out at the last minute.
We also noticed many service workers from the Philippines. Who are the locals in this place anyway? More research would be needed to verify this, but by far and away the majority of the people in Macau would be Philippine service workers and mainland tourists.
Another thing we noticed is that Macau is an extremely tiny and densely populated territory. The food prices were insanely expensive and everything seemed very cramped. My best guess is the locals are living in these cramped quarters and not mixing with the tourist crowds in the casinos and other places we frequented. It would only make sense, as they were the ones running the small restaurants and driving taxis. They had set things up so that it was somewhat convenient to use digital payment, for example you could use wechat to order food.
The question has to be asked: how did the locals survive the covid pandemic? For nearly the entire time there wasn't a single case of the virus in Macau, even with omicron at the beginning of 2022. If there was any place in the world that could implement a zero covid policy, Macau was it. But it came at a massive price: the entire territory was locked down for years. We are talking a very small place of cramped conditions and nowhere to really go. Was it any better than the Shanghai lockdown? Ours was a lot stricter but it was only for a couple months. In Macau you could technically leave your house and walk on the street with a mask but keep in mind the overall restrictions went on for years, not months.
Whatever the case, things were back to normal now, and business was back with an absolute vengeance.
We tried to find some interesting things to do in Macau but it quickly became apparent there was only one thing going on around here: gambling. That was certainly fun, yet at the same time we noticed so many people looking bored out of their minds and not enjoying themselves at the casino. It seemed that Sophia and I were the only ones having any fun. She took it easy on the gambling and helped me out with risk management strategies. In the end I kept up the small winning streaks and then bounced at the right time. I came out ahead the entire trip by 200 Hong Kong dollars and that helped cover the cost of food.
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In the end the plan was kaiboshed to throw down $200 US on the roulette wheel and try to double my money. I just wasn't feeling in the right mood for it, and it quickly became apparent that I wans't willing to risk the loss. So why bother then? Sophia reasoned as well that it wasn't worth it and she was quite right. Sometimes the best way to win is not to gamble at all.
We kept walking around and checking out other tourist attractions, but for whatever reason the Wynn Casino staff stopped the cable car rides and weren't very enthusiastic about starting them up again. So forget about it. A more relaxing time was spent chilling at the hotel swimming pool.
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Another massive success was to get rid of all the Macau coins and carefully manage the cash so that they didn't build up again in future. This meant frequent headaches trying to calculate what to buy at the 7/11 as well as documenting it all for my budget, but in the end it was a success: I left Macau without a single coin.
It truly is hard work to manage this and it's not because I'm stingy but just the fact I HATE all this coin change. It's a mess if it's in your pocket mixing with all this other stuff. When you put things in and out, the coins fall out, you have to stop what you're doing, etc.. just a massive nuisance.
We got a taxi to the airport later on and just said, "Keep the change" to the driver, so that's a win/win way to deal with all this.
After seeing Sophia off, the plan was to haul the bike bag for 900 meters to the adjacent ferry terminal and catch the boat back to Shenzhen.
It was definitely not easy seeing Sophia off at the security gate and I tried to hold back tears but to no avail. We'll see how this trip goes. I do need the downtime to properly grieve the loss of my father from 9 months ago as there was just no time to do that with all the bullshit I had to deal with since.
Macau is a strange place and the airport is even stranger. I am very familiar with it as for the past years of my travels I had always used Macau airport as a sort of transit hub. It is where all the Air Asia flights go to and from Bangkok, as well as the Spring Airlines flights to Shanghai. Nowadays there isn't any more need to use Macau airport for this purpose as the flights are all direct anyway.
Hauling the bike from the airport to the ferry terminal went easier than expected. The weather was cooler and I found a technique to carry the bike a little easier (thanks to all those previous checkpoints) so the 1km went pretty fast. There was only a little bit of sweat this time.
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Make no mistake about it, the walk sucked. Despite all the potential for how Macau and Hong Kong could be walkable and bikeable cities, we know that cars will always rule. Even in small territories like this. And that is all part of the backbone of the casino industry, you sure aren't going to ride your bike to the front door. Believe me I already tried.
Thankfully the walk was shortlived and there were luggage carts at the ferry terminal to ease the load. I was glad to be getting out of here.
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