TRAVEL Sunday, December 9, 1990 - North Shore News - 45 Macau more than gambling and snake pancakes WHY IS it that every time | visit some new country I do just about everything wrong? Just lucky, I guess. 1 had made up my mind that | would make a dav trip to Macau while on a recent visit to Hong Kong. A friend gave me two pieces of excellent advice and | screwed up on both counts. “Do not visit Macau on a weekend AND take the Jetfoil, not the hydroplane.”"* That was me you saw fined up with 40,000 other people on Sunday morning, clutching my hydroplane ticket. Weekend visits to Macau are simply awful — there is no gambl- ing in Hong Kong and Macau has casinos all over the place. Half of the population of Hong Kong seems to be there. The hydrofoil takes an hour and 15 uncomfortable minutes to reach Macau while the jetfoil makes it in 45. The return ticket cost me ap- proximately $45, including the cost of the runner who picked it up for me. The transaction was handled through the Bell Captain at the hotel, who had a lot of trouble getting tickets on anjthing for that day. I had two objects in mind: gambling and Portuguese food. Any little bit of sightseeing t crammed into the visit was ac- cidental. Gambling is one of my favorite occupations — as you read this I’m waiting at the airport to grab a flight to Reno! I’ve gambled in every country I could find a table and lost in most of them. Don’t ask me how I happened to win over $200 in Macau! Cabs are cheap in Macau; about $1.60 got us from the ferry termi- nal to one of the largest casinos, the Lisboa. It’s quite a place! I can’t tell you how many gaming floors there are; ] quit when I got to the third. The rooms are circular and huge. Around the outside edge is a gallery with rows of slot machines. Swarms of people waited in line for seats at the various tables, most of them of- Early booking discounts Book before Jan. 31/91 for Europe, Alaska, the South Pacific or Mexico and Save up to #1600 per cabin Call for details 985-7447 (SHIP) 1823 Capilano Rd., N.Van. eruisesiiipeenters, fering games I was bewildered by. 1 searched in vain for a tradi- tional roulette table, gave up and joined the line for something simi- lar. What was it called? Don’t ask me. It had a wheel, but instead of a button it bed a tennis ball jump- ing around. Instead of 36 numbers, it had 24. The odds on various combinations were roughly proportionate to roulette. The minimum bet was $10 HK ($1.64 CDN), but as any roulette player will tell you, you need at least six bets on the table. Expen- sive when you play a Sel system, as I do. Fortunately, 1 won the first couple of rolls and got out when things starting going sour. The dealer uutomatically takes « share of each win -— upping is not op- tional in Macau. I retired to the slots — these are not crowded — obviously not very popular with the Chinese. All the machines I saw (and played) took a $2 HK coin and reluctantly. The coins are about the size of a quarter but sculptured around the edge like a flower. Nevada- built slots don't like them — for every one swallowed, two get spat out. It’s frustrating. My guess is that the odds of hitting a jackpot are somewhere between slim and none. Lunchtime rolled around and with it my next big mistake. 1 forgot to bring the guidebook with the list of restaurant recom- mendations. Instead, we took a cab to the city centre and had the driver point out a restaurant that served Portuguese food. It was dreadful! J wanted to try bacalhau (salt codfish) and it ar- rived smothered in garlic and simply soaked in olive oil. With it was a quarter of a cabbage, boiled in oil, a big chunk of yellowish potato and a golfball-sized hunk of oiled carrot. If you visit Macau, try the Res- Barbara NMcCreadie TRAVELWISE taurant Grill Fortaleza (Pousada de Sao Tiago) or Alfonzo’s at the Hyatt Regency Macau or any other restaurant the guidebook suggests. Have the name and ad- dress written in Chinese before you leave your Hong Kong hotel. After lunch we took a walk through some of the back alleys and had a few real eye-openers. Before we left the ferry terminal | picked up a free map at the in- formation desk and it gave us the courage to wander around the vicinity of the Rue da Felicidade and the Travessa do Matadours, through clusters of small shops and restaurants. Snakes! Can you imagine a shop window full of big cages each filled with all sizes of snakes — alive? Interested shoppers argue the merits of each before getting just the right one to take home for dinner or to become the main ingredient for snake oil or snake wine. One sad sight was a stack of cages full of litters of baby badgers. Adorable, but doomed. The cages were at the front door of a restaurant. The delis are fascinating and |! wished I had a guide to tell me what some of the products were. | could recognize only a few of A special Christmas carol songbook will be delivered with your North Shore News on Sunday, December 9. DON’T MISS IT! them. There were heaps of what look- ed like meat jerky, but one thing } could easily recognize was snake pancakes — whole snakes cooked up in some sort of batter, about the size of a dinner plate. This short walk took us right to the famous Floating Casino, a retired ferry. Here, as at the Lisboa, the tables were jammed but the slots deserted. We didn’t stay long. The Floating Casino and the Lisboa have two other things in common — they’re both tacky and dirty. Our last stop was the best. The upstairs casino in the Mandarin Hotel. You can see it from the ferry terminal. Here's where [ gor a lesson on blackjack, Macau style, First, the minimum bet is $100 HK ($16.40) and you don’t want to get into one of those games if you're a novice! The game is played Nevada-rules EXCEPT another player can take over your hand. All he has to do is place a larger bet than you, placed on the outside ring of your betting circle and he has the right to call the shots — hitting or passing and you get to shut up. Carnival offers this winter's best vacation yalue with savings of $600 per cabin* on 7 day JUBILEE sailings from Las Angeles, Jan. 20 through March 10, 1991. FROM uss VANCOUVER The dealer takes an automatic share out of all winnings. The day over, we headed for the ferry, cleared customs and set- tled down for what we thought would be a smooth ride back. It was something else. We hit the great-grandpa of all storms, Passengers were sick ev- erywhere, one crew member was injured and J hummed Nearer My God to Thee. Next morning [| read that a cargo ship sunk about the same time, same place — 26 saved, two drowned. Here are a few quick tips for Macau: — Be at least an hour early to catch your boat. You must clear customs at both ends AND in both cases our hydrofoil left 15 minutes early. — Hong Kong dollars can be used in Macau. If you get any of the local money, change it before you leave Macau. — If you must use a washroom, head for the bar in a top-line hotel. In case of an emergency stop be sure you've got plenty of tissues and a clothespin for your nose. Public facilities often have ho paper, no water, no soap and no towels. Per person trom (twin basis), taxes and port charges (US S48/pp} extra Sailing to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas, this all-inclusive “Fun Ship’ vacation has everything .. . exciting nightlife, dazzling Las Vegas- style revues, the largest casinos afloat, terrific food and outstanding service. “Applicable to Cat. 3 through 9 accommodation only. 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