Sin City

Forgive me it has been 25 days since I last blogged!

In fact, since early July my blog entries as a whole have tended to be few and far between. This is not due to a lack of interest, I hasten to add, it just happens to have coincided with a new temporary job assignment which has me now working out of Macau, on the completion of a large scale hotel and casino development. My involvement, which was supposed to require visits to Macau 2-3 days a week, soon required that I was there full time. This sees me half commuting/ half staying at hotels in Macau, with very little spare time for anything else, let alone blog.

It has, however, given me chance to see more of the "Las Vegas of the East" in all of it's dubious glory. The enclave has seen a recent boom in the construction of casinos since the monopoly on licensing was broken a few years back, allowing some of the big foreign players (pun intended) to enter the market. With the new casinos has come the increase in business, with money taken per annum at Macau's 26 casinos now exceeding that of the entire Las Vegas strip.

There is no shortage of patrons (particularly in consideration of Macau's proximity to the Mainland), who appear quite happy to part with their hard earned cash, often at quite frightening speeds. I have spent many an evening sat at the cafe bar of one of my preferred establishments, enjoying my sandwich and Calseberg, watching the high roller wannabees below in state's of near fervour, emptying their wallets on games of chance. This is of course all good news for those involved in the casino business, and for those of us in the casino construction business. Those running the nearby pawn shops also appear to be fairing quite well.

I still have someway to go before I can return to my 'normal' job back at my HK office, although I can just about see the finish line ahead through the haze of construction dust. Until then, I'll post when I can, and round off with some pics below of the city at night.