📸 Macao

I recently went to Macao for the Teamfight Tactics Macao Open. It was a great time, and I enjoyed both the event, and exploring the city for a week.

A Tale of Two #

Macao isn’t very big, but the duality of the city makes it very interesting.

The first thing that hits you in the face is just how split the city is. Macao is split down the middle by water, into a north side and a south side. The south side is all gambling casinos, just like Las Vegas. In fact, many of the hotels on the south side of the island are owned by the same companies! The biggest different from Las Vegas is the environment. It’s very humid here, and there’s a lot more nature, especially on the most southern side of the south island.

The north side of Macao demonstrates the other duality of the city: its Portugese influence. Like Hong Kong, Macau has had strong foreign influence, and it’s clear to see this kind of mixing. All the signs have Chinese and Portuguese, the architecture is a mix, and the Chinese/Portugese fusion that is Macanese food is super tasty.

Macao has a lot of interesting history. My friend’s uncle lives in Macao, and he was happily telling us many interesting tidbits and stories about Macao. For instance, many people come to Macao for buying jewlery because their laws require shops to accept returns of jewlery they sell. For this reason, people have higher confidence that the jewelery is of high quality.

Also, he told us how Macao is the only place where gambling is legal in China, due to its history and the importance of gambling to the city. This is one of the major reasons it’s a huge tourist spot for many people in China. While most of the modern casinos are on the south side of Macao, the oldest casino still exists on the north side. The Lisboa:

TFT Macao Open #

手打咖啡 #

Wouldn’t be a Ben blog post without coffee, no? 手打咖啡 is an interesting use of instant coffee; whipped into a very light and fluffy and strong coffee drink. Got it hot and iced at 漢記咖啡 with a sandwich. Yum!