Asia's Vegas

Like Vegas, Macau conjures up images of glitzy casinos, gambling and fancy dining. While it does have all this, visiting with 3 kids gave us the chance to see a whole other side of this wonderful city. In fact, since neither adult wanted to watch 3 kids while the other gambled away, we did not even step into the actual casino.

Normally, travelling with 3 kids who have multiple passports requires checking and rechecking to ensure our paperwork is in place (not to mention carrying several passport holders). But travelling to Macau was a breeze. We did not even buy tickets ahead of time. There are two main ways to get there - ferry or bus. Given our ferry obsessed boy, this would have been our first instinct, but from where we live, the bus actually seemed easier. We hopped in a cab, got to the airport and in line for the 'golden bus' to Macau.

Living in our DB expat bubble, and having moved during Covid, we have been generally shielded from the crowds associated with one of the most densely populated cities. That bubble definitely burst. I have never seen such a sheer amount of endless (and maskless yay!) bodies. It felt like everyone had decided to go to Macau that day (it wasn't even a weekend, though it was a public holiday).

I could feel my heart sink at the thought of the hours we would have to wait to get through, but hubby and I were amazed at how quickly we got through immigration and we were on a bus within half an hour. Forty five minutes later we were in Macau, but this is where things stalled. Macau immigration was not so smooth. Here the crowds caught up and it took us over an hour to get through.

Our hotel was in the old town area, a little bit away from the casino strip, but the whole city isn't that large so only a ten minute drive to the main Cotai casino strip. Despite three children, my attitude to make the most of being in a new place has not changed (my poor family has to put up with a go go go attitude) . After dropping our bags at the hotel, we set off to check out the old city. We must be getting old as our first stop was an Indian restaurant :) Being vegetarian really limits your choices in an Asian country and we went for the sure to have veggie food option. After lunch, we walked along the water and discovered the world's coolest (and by far largest I have ever seen) playground. The kids were now very impressed with Macau :) We had to literally drag them out with promises to return before leaving.

We walked to Fisherman's Wharf a lovely open area with beautiful architecture and some (or so I have heard) great restaurants.

Our next stop was a bit off the beaten track, but a track I had promised our little car obsessed boy - the Grand Prix museum. As predicted, he loved seeing all the life sized race cars and his favourite part was a simulated driving experience (based on how many walls he crashed into I can safely say he won't be an F1 driver anytime soon:). We then visited Senato square, where the European influence of the city was clear - it felt very much like several squares we have been to in Europe.

The next day was our one full day and we spent it exploring the main Cotai strip. Our first stop was a Teamlab experience. If you have never done one of these, I highly recommend it. Its an art visual experience (I know this sounds very vague, but its hard to describe). An art experience doesn't sound like something you would take three young kids to - but this one was almost geared towards them. There were several rooms with light, bubble balls, a trampoline and more, but incorporating a real visual experience. The kids loved it and had to be dragged out of there. We then visited some of the casinos - Venetian, Parisian and took a nostalgic walk down memory lane at the Londoner. It really made me miss London a lot! The casinos themselves are like walking through a mini version of the cities - much like Vegas. The gambling in Macau though it very different than Vegas (or so I have heard). Unlike Vegas where a lot of people just use the slot machines and gamble for fun, here the gambling is serious business. In fact, although Macau seems like Vegas's less known sibling, it actually generates significantly more gambling revenue than Vegas.

On our last and final day, we headed back to the park by the water as promised to the little dictators of our lives :) We combined this with a visit to the Science Museum which is right next to the park. I was not expecting that much, but the museum turned out to the be the most hands on museum for children that I have been to. They had several floors of various themed exhibits like robotics, lights, space with hands on activities in every exhibit. They even had a soft play for kids to expend some energy. It was a half day well spent and we left Macau with very happy children, who were clamouring to return to Macau soon. Since hubby and I also had a great time, we will definitely be going back!