THERE'S MORE TO MACAU THAN MEETS THE EYE. It might be famous for being the ‘LAS VEGAS of the EAST
Channel: ELLAHGIRL
Date: 2021-06-28

Known as the 'Vegas of China', Macau is indeed an epicentre of gambling and glitz. While luxury entertainment here is world-class, the city has much more to offer than that. Macau was a Portuguese colony for 300 years, a history marked by a cultural hybridity that manifests itself in all aspects of life: Chinese temples stand on maritime-themed Portuguese tiles; the sound of Cantonese permeates streets with Portuguese names; and when you're hungry, it could be Chinese dim sum, pastéis de nata or Macanese minchi that come to the rescue.

Macau Peninsula holds the Unesco World Heritage–crowned old city centre. Further south are the former islands of Taipa and Coloane, joined together by a strip of reclaimed land named Cotai. Taipa has lovely Macanese houses and quaint boutiques; Cotai hosts the new megacasinos; while Coloane is a laidback village with shipyards and beaches.

Originally a sparsely populated collection of coastal islands, the territory has become a major resort city and a top destination for gambling tourism, with a gambling industry seven times larger than that of Las Vegas. The city has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, and its GDP per capita by purchasing power parity is one of the highest in the world; however, income inequality remains high. It has a very high Human Development Index, as calculated by the Macau government, and the fourth-highest life expectancy in the world.The territory is highly urbanized; two-thirds of the total land area is built on reclaimed land (land reclaimed from the sea).