I awoke and got to the ferry terminal early this morning, all ready for my three-day trip to Macau and Guangzhou. I was exhausted from staying up late at Repulse Bay what is that??? last night so I was trying to sleep on the ferry terminal floor, but these two women started screaming at each other. They were both standing outside the ticket office and shaking their fists at one another and I thought a fight would break out any minute, but everyone walking by didn’t seem to pay them any attention. Every once in a while people would come up to one of them and buy something from them but it took me about 15 minutes to realize that they were both scalping tickets and the one was trying to pick a fight because the other one was on her territory. Once I realized this was the case and that they weren’t about to pull knives and start swinging, the argument got much more enjoyable to watch. By the time it was time to board the ferry I was awake and ready to go. In the United States anything of this nature would be completely illegal so it was really interesting to see two ladies doing it so openly. Everywhere I look in China there is someone finding a way to make money, even if it is not necessarily the most moral way to make a living. At least they are making an effort!

I boarded the ferry to Macau and wasn’t able to see out the window due to the air conditioning condensation, but when I stepped off of the ferry in Macau there was a line of complimentary buses waiting to take us to casinos. I knew Macau was the gambling capital of the world, but I never imagined anything like this. We got on the bus to the Venetian where we had a behind-the-scenes tour that began in the baggage handling service department. The Venetian is so big that they have giant conveyor belts to move the luggage from one end of the building to the

other. I’m not sure if I was there at a slow hour in terms of baggage movement, but in the whole 15 minutes I was in the baggage room I only saw one bag come through. The conveyor belts seemed like an extremely inefficient way to move the baggage. I think that maybe a golf cart or simply paying some one to roll a baggage cart from one end to the other could have been just as fast, if not faster, and

it would have been significantly cheaper. The only benefit I was able to see was that the conveyor belts allowed luggage handling to be carried out where the guests couldn’t see it. The casinos are completely focused on putting people in the right mood to spend money and I’m sure the luggage conveyors are part of the grand money making scheme for the entire casino.

 

After the luggage handling, we went into the staff kitchen, the guest kitchen, and wardrobe services, which were all impressive in the volume of people they served. The meat of the tour started when they took us into the electrical and mechanical systems rooms. We first went into the maintenance operations center where I learned they answer over 100 calls per day and answer to calls about issues on the gambling floor within 20 minutes. This

is very impressive for a building the size of the Venetian and relates back to what I said about casinos optimizing the spending mood of their customers. Even going into the mechanical control rooms and chiller plants was based on pleasing the guests, at least in terms of thermal comfort. The mechanical equipment room was massive. It was probably as big as a soccer field and housed 6 pairs of chillers, with plans for 2 more, and was a 48,000 ton chiller plant, soon to be 52,000 tons. The Venetian is forced to run air-conditioning 24 hours today and 365 days a year because Macau has such a tropical climate. The load on the system is alleviated during the winter months but air conditioning is still required to maintain the desired air quality within the building. As I looked at all of these chillers, massive pipes, and the electrical distribution systems for the building I got angry thinking about all of the energy that is wasted on running this excessively huge structure (and all the others like it). However, when I thought about it, I

remembered how in the United States so much energy is wasted, because our power grid is designed to be able to support the peak loads, but for much of the time they are producing too much energy, such as at night. Assuming this problem holds true for China too, perhaps much of the energy that the casinos use during the night is energy that would have otherwise been wasted. Either way, I came away from the entire tour having seen and learned so much about how a facility of that size is run.

 

After the Venetian tour, we proceeded across the bridge to the northern section of Macau and began a walk through the city. We started out in the core of modern buildings under the Grand Lisboa, but it quickly turned into what felt like an old European street. The Portuguese influence really became apparent when I turned the corner onto a street and it just did not feel like China at all. All of the buildings were painted yellow and had green shutters and the street was just a giant plaza for walking. On this street the mix of old and new created a striking contrast. For

 

example, I was able to stand inside of a McDonald’s and look out at the oldest church in Macau. Then, a little further down the road, I found myself looking at an Adidas, Samsung Store, and Starbucks with beautiful old Church ruins as the backdrop. I think this section of Macau has done an amazing job of preserving the old while embracing the new. I wouldn’t think the combination of these two very different styles could go together but everything just seems to work, and it was a pleasant experience walking through the streets. Even the old church wall at the top of the street and the watchtower on the hill were both elegantly preserved and meshed into the modern culture.

After the official group tour of the city ended, I split off on my own to explore the city. I’m not old enough to get into the casinos so I didn’t want to hold anyone back. I started by walking to the middle of one of the bridges connecting north and south Macau. I stopped in the middle for a while just to take it all in. There were so

 

many huge, fancy buildings with all the lights illuminated, and hundreds of buses and cars with their headlights on. Even the bridges had decorative lighting. What amazed me the most however, was the amount of construction sites and cranes. I already knew that Macau had developed rapidly over the past decade, but trying to imagine what it will look like in another ten years is nearly impossible. The other thing that really perplexed me was the way that the people of Macau and Hong Kong seem to like filling in the ocean so much. It would appear as though the land most valuable to developers in these two

SAR’s is the land that doesn’t actually exist! (yet) I think this is probably because Hong Kong and Macau are both small islands that are incapable of expanding because of their big brother China who sits dauntingly above the two. So what better way to expand than to literally create your own land. Despite the negative environmental effects of fill, expanding into the water is a great idea, because buildings can be added right into the core of the city. Instead of having to expand outward and stretch the city out, they can keep the various districts of the city consolidated and well planned.

I walked off the bridge, saw the light show at the Wynn and started walking into any fancy mall or casino lobby I could find. My favorite thing to do was walk into the lobbies and look at the models. The models were consistent with what I had observed so far with the land reclamation, in that the casino companies never

 

seemed to be satisfied with what they had. I would be standing in a 5 star lobby that looked amazing and then I would see this elaborate new plan for a massive new complex, because that is the only way they can compete with each other. They are all forced to develop, expand, and renovate constantly in order to make any money and stay relevant. As long as this keeps the people entertained and spending money, I guess it is all worth it.

I ended my night by getting a chocolate sundae from McDonald’s and walking back to my hotel. I found it quite ironic that the McDonald’s I found in the historical street earlier in the day had a view of a church and this McDonald’s in the casino district was next to a strip club, featuring “Asenka; The Russian Beauty”. The culture surrounding casinos is rather… inappropriate to say the least. Then, as if I hadn’t seen enough, I saw a blood transfusion service directly across from the MGM Grand casino where people could go to sell their blood. Nice job Macau, you sure know how to keep them coming back! Or keep them from leaving too soon.

Here are a few more pictures I have that didn’t really fit into my post but that I think captured the unique blend of old and new seen in Macau.