Player, dealer...

Macao. It officially came under sovereign Chinese rule in 1999 being handed over by the Portuguese. Almost all the signs in Macao are bilingual: Cantonese and Portuguese. It's peculiar why Portuguese still remains such a part of Macao when it's clear that there are very few Portuguese on the island and it is no longer taught in the schools. Mandarin is now being taught and stressed quite heavily, as was the case in Hong Kong, and subsequently, with the mainland influence now really taking effect, Cantonese has decreased in popularity and significance.

The official currency of Macao is the pataca and it's used exclusively in Macao and only in Macao. The pataca has a 1:1 exchange rate with Hong Kong dollars, and Hong Kong dollars can be used interchangeably througout the island, but the downside is that patacas cannot be used in Hong Kong. The analogy that Ethan and I came up with was that Macao was essentially a big Disneyland where you could buy lots of Disney money that you could use on the rides or to buy cotton candy, but it would only be of value while you were at Disneyland. Once you left Disneyland, or in this case Macao, the Disney money became useless and you would be forced to take a hit in order to exchange it back. After two days in Macao, we ended up having 4000 patacas ($500) left over, and Ethan took it back to the US with him to exchange there. Stupidly, we didn't realize that patacas were so exclusive to Macao, or otherwise we would have used the Hong Kong dollars everywhere.

There's still a lot of colonial architecture that remains and the many areas are reminiscent of the Portuguese-style streets and facades. A lot of the churches in Macao are painted bright colors in a way that immediately reminded me of the multicolored houses of Valparaiso, Chile. Pink, green, and yellow, as in Chile, were all quite common colors.

Macao is the only place in China where gambling is legal, or at least approved by the state. Ethan noted that the casinos in Macao were much quieter compared to those of AC, and I agreed. Though I don't have as much experience as Ethan does when it comes to casinos, it was clear that the people tended to keep to themselves and rarely talked while at the table. I was disappointed that there was no poker in Macao. 24 casinos. No poker. That being said, there was not a big expat contingent as there was in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, or even Guangzhou which would explain why certain Western games wouldn't be played here. Comparatively, Macao seems like a relatively exotic location within China where very few backpackers visit. The rooms are expensive, it's not easy to get to, and nearby Hong Kong is much more of a draw.

Baccarat is an interesting game. It's all the rage in Macao and people wager anything from 100 yuan to 10,000+ a hand. The play begins with a betting round in which you can bet on the dealer, the player, or a tie. You get dealt two cards and the goal is to get closer to nine. The closer your two card total is to nine, the stronger your hand. Let's say you bet 100 yuan on the player. The dealer then deals you two cards and two cards for himself. You win if you beat the dealer's hand. When the hand is over and the winner has been determined, the dealer flips over a chip that says "Player wins" or "Dealer wins".

It sounds simple, but Ethan and I were unable to figure out how to play exactly because we didn't know the value of each card. It didn't stop us from playing though and as a result, the real excitement came from trying to guess which chip the dealer was going to flip over as we couldn't understand what each card was worth. I think Ethan finished up about 1,000 yuan playing a game that neither of us really knew the rules to.

The most fun part of Macao was the greyhound racing park. I had never seen a greyhound, let alone a greyhound racing park. I remember a long time ago when I used to listen to Opie and Anthony when they talked about visiting a greyhound track. They would tip some guy to go to the paddock area and watch which dog took a dump last because it was always the fastest one. I explained the strategy to Ethan who like myself had absolutely no clue how to handicap dog races in China, so we began watching the last one to take a dump. We didn't have to tip anyone because they brought the dogs out and paraded them on the dirt before the race. Each time we would bet on the dog who shat last. We were picking winners, placers, exacta boxes, you name it. I think we finished up about 150 yuan, which was a lot considering we were betting 10 yuan a ticket.

Interestingly, the dog track seemed to attract the same sort of clientèle that a horse racing track would attract in the US: single middle-aged balding men. There might have been one woman in the whole place. We were the only foreigners. I might have been the youngest one there.

The race itself was anti-climactic to say the least. After the dogs are paraded around, they're placed into a big metal box. After they're locked in, all the dogs start barking and scratching and howling and the metal box starts to shake. When the door opens a small stuffed animal swings by on the inside of the track and the dogs bolt out. The race was incredibly difficult to follow because there was no camera that would follow the action and the whole race was literally over in about ten seconds. Like with playing baccarat, the excitement really came at the end seeing who won after all the action was over, and not with the actual event itself.

Before visiting the dog track, Ethan and I went to check out a Jai Alai stadium but unfortunately, it had been torn down a few years ago. I would have guessed it was demolished because the city wanted to make room for more commercial or residential development in the expensive downtown area. Ethan remarked that a similar fate probably awaited the dog park. This huge open space in downtown Macao was surrounded by enormous skyscrapers. It's hard to believe that in ten years, the track will still be there serving this handful of single middle-aged men while Macao develops and expands at such a rapid pace.

We hit up some more casinos looking unsuccessfully for a 10 yuan minimum blackjack table and then took the ferry to Hong Kong.