Bridging the Gap
By Henry F. Funtecha

Macao, the gambling capital of asia

 
(Note: The writer was in Macao during the second week of April 2005)

Macao, a former Portuguese colony before it was returned to China in more recent times, is known as the Gambling Capital of the East. It is also referred to by others as the Sin City of China. Wherever casinos are, it is expected that prostitution and alcoholic drinks also thrived. It is situated in the southern tip of China and occupies a land area of only 480 square kilometers.

Macao today has a population of 460,000 people, mostly of Chinese origin. Only two per cent are the descendants of the Portuguese. 85 % of the people are Buddhists while there is a small minority, only 5 %, who are Catholics. Interestingly, there are about 25,000 Filipinos working in Macao, mostly in the casinos and the entertainment sector.

There are seventeen casinos in Macao, mostly associated with the name Stanley Ho, the gambling magnate of Asia, and still their number is growing. Some American gambling lords from Las Vegas in the United States, in fact, are putting up casinos in Macao because of the brisk business. This has called for the expansion of facilities in the tiny enclave. Two more bridges, each about five kilometers long, have been constructed to connect Macao to its satellite islet to allow motorists to have greater mobility in shuttling between the two points. The Macao government can easily spend millions of dollars for infrastructure because of its enormous revenues estimated at US $14 billion annually. On the average, 2,000 tourists enter Macao everyday.

From the China side, one gets to Macao through its neighboring city on the mainland, Zhuhai. As it is in Hongkong, every Asian including the Chinese from China proper, will have to secure a visa to enter Macao. The ones exempted from this rule are the Japanese due to their economic affluence.

Because of its limited area, Macao is really crowded. The streets, most of which are the legacies of the Portuguese colonizers, are too narrow that they could hardly accommodate two cars going the opposite directions. This is confounded by the fact that one person out of four owns a car in Macao. It must be pointed out that Macao's traffic follows the drive left flow, similar to Hongkong,

The prominent monument in Macao is the statue devoted to Quang Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, who is also identified by the Catholics as the Virgin Mary. Quang Yin is also known to the Chinese as Kung Lam. Then, there is the statue of Maco, Goddess of the Sea. It is claimed that the name Macao is derived from this particular goddess.

Other than the casinos, there are other points of interest in Macao. Among them are the colorful Portuguese cobblestone streets, the colonial administration building, the old Buddhist temple complex, the Portuguese residences, the Lotus Park, and the remains of the St. Paul's Cathedral.

The Lotus Park, or Linpa in Chinese, is centrally located, guarded by flags of more than a dozen countries, and surrounded by famous casinos. One who intends to try his/her luck in gambling must first visit this park for its perfect fengshui set-up. The St. Paul's Cathedral was built in 1602 by the Portuguese who started occupying Macao in 1557. In 1835, the cathedral was burned down due to a strong typhoon. What remains today of its former grandeur is just its facade.

Tourists and residents coming from Hongkong could easily get to Macao through regular ferries that have continuous schedules throughout the day. It takes one hour and twenty minutes for the ferry to negotiate the distance between Macao and Hongkong. The fare is HK $130. When Hongkong residents say that they would like to go gambling, what they mean is that they will go to Macao.