Thursday, November 20, 2008

Macao Holiday (14 - 17th Nov '08) part 1 of 2.

3:25a.m, 19-Nov 08, Home.

You can view all Part 1 pictures in a slide show.

Go to Part 2:
Macao Holiday (14 - 17th Nov '08) part 2 of 2.

It was such a great holiday in Macao, China. We were there for 4 days and 3 nights on our company incentive trips spanning from the 14th till 17th of November 2008. Personally, I do not have much knowledge about this tiny island but a gaming haven :). Research is done on Wikipedia that surprisingly gaming industries are the core business for the Macao government with 70% revenue generates from casinos and that reflects 40% of the Macao's total GDP!

We are all blessed with the opportunity to stay in one of the most luxuriest, humongous, single structure hotel building in Asia, The Venetian Macao Hotel, largest among the 28 hotels cum casino in Macao. A brief history, The Venetian Macao is owned by the distinguished Sheldon Adelson via his Las Vegas Sands corporation. Over 10.5 million square foot mega-resort features 3,400 slots, 800 tables, 3,000 suites and a convention center! He spent almost $2.1 billion on this mega project and further construction on other hotels are still on going while I'm writing this blog :)!

This hotel is built on the concept of the Renaissance-Venice architecture, also a sister hotel of The Venetian in Las Vegas. Moreover, the concept do take human's greed into consideration. After checking in, all of us had to drag our luggages from the counter, then must pass by the casino and eventually into our hotel suite :)! Smart design isn't it? It's very tempting indeed with all these sound effects of "chip, chip, chip" (chips stacking on each other), the rolling sound of the Roulette's ball and the vending jackpot machines :). No matter where you go, there will be always an entrance into the casino. The casino is built in the heart of the hotel.

Many more facts about this amazing construction of this hotel can be acquired at their official website. Quoted from the website "The volume of sand used in the reclamation of land for The Venetian Macao, is enough to build one of Egypt's largest pyramids"! Check them out :)!

Here's the fabulous video of the making of "The Venetian Macao" at Youtube:




Pictures taken ensue, click on it to enlarge.

All of us boarding the Venetian Hotel's periodical bus from Macao airport to its hotel. Frequency of 20 minutes each and it only takes 5 minutes to reach there.



Impressive main entrance to the hotel!


Another view.


Stunning bridge, a flyover for guests to enter into the hotel. Guests are not allowed to walk into the main lobby via the road but the bridge for safety reason. Behind the bridge is the building that holds 3,000 suites! We stayed in there :).


Wonderful side view of the guests' bridge. A replica of Rialto Bridge in Venice, Italy. "The Rialto Bridge is one of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. It is the oldest bridge across the canal and probably the most famous in the city", quoted from Wikipedia.


August view of the authentic Rialto Bridge in Venice, Italy. Picture courtesy of Wikipedia.


A clone of The Campanile Tower at the entrance of the Venetian Macao. The actual Campanile Tower in Venice, Italy is a beeline of tourists and tallest structure in Venice. "Campanile" in Italian stands for a "Bell" in English, thus it's a.k.a The Bell Tower.


Imperial view of the original Campanile Tower in Venice, Italy. Picture courtesy of Venice Origination.


The billboard of the hotel with a big LCD screen in the middle. Its summit is similar to a design of a mosque, meanwhile the bottom ditto to a Western's. Venice is a culturally mixed influence place of the Western's and Eastern's, hence the design.


A small lake surrounding the billboard. This lake is meant for a Gondola ride, obviously an outdoor ride. Indoor ride is also available, see later part of the pictures below.


The cars' exit point from the main lobby.



The suites building with the word "Venetian".


Hmmm, the suites, similar to a shape of a butterfly :)?



Strings of branded stuffs along the entrance road to the main lobby. Gucci, Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Prada...you name it, they have it!



Sizable drop off point to the main lobby.



Oh! my God! Spacious taxi waiting compartment.



Drop off point - other dazzling view.



Uhhhh! Magnificent ceilings crazily built at the drop off point of the main lobby! An evidence of Renaissance-Venice theme!



Radiant ceilings - other view.



Excellent night view of the West lobby.



Night view of the West lobby - other view.




Now let's venture further into The Venetian Macao internally:

Wahhh! Ravishing grand lobby of The Venetian Macao!


Ohhhh! Copious reception counter!


Wohhh! 3 exquisitely capacious pictures hung on the wall!


Goshhh! Vast check-in counter! How do I express next :p?


Urhhhh! Admirable inner dome architecture!


Fuhh! Statuesque foyer!


Ahhh! A gigantic sculpture!


Me together with the fountain :)


Wooo! An elegant colonnade!


Portrait view of the colonnade. Observe carefully at the marble floor, it has a 3 dimensional effect! Another "Wah!" expression for this :p!


Splendid perspective view of the colonnade! I am drop dead :p!


Appealing high rise elevator to the 2nd floor, a shopping area name "The Grand Canal Shoppes"!


Prodigious hall walkway!


Soothing....! The Bella room (my room), more than 700sf in sized! And that's the mini TV room! Cosy :)!


2 gorgeous queen-sized beds. You can roll yourselves everywhere you like on the bed :)! Picture courtesy of Doreen.


A colossal 47 inches LCD TV just in front of the 2 queen-sized beds. View at your pleasure. There are 2 TVs all together in the room! Picture courtesy of Aida.


Cushiony sofa and can be transformed into a bed too!


Refined cupboard!


A tray of goblets, wine glasses arranged tidily and an instant noodles costing a boom to you haha :p!


A cute refrigerator just below the tray of glasses!


A 27 inches TV secretly hidden on the other side of the cupboard! Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon :)?


A neat study table with a scanner cum printer!


A cute LAN cable and a WiFi modem meant for internet accessibility. The LAN cable is retractable!


Lovely entrance of the Bella room!


Uhhh! Pleasingly enormous toilet!


Alluring bath tub!


The toilet bowl entrance!


Not a friendly toilet bowl, as you have to wait till the water tank fulled, then able to flush! Not the case when I was in Istana Hotel locally! You can flush anytime you want :)!


An innovative transparent weightier. Oh! crap I have had just gain an extra 2 kg after swept all the irresistible buffet foods :p!


The food court, named "Festivita Food Court" in the hotel (3rd level) with a superb artificial sky view. The sky view looks genuinely real! A closer look, you can see lots of circular bumps of water sprinkler haha :)!


One of the stalls - the Fatburgers!


The Fatburgers menus - the manager abruptly ceased me from taking more pictures of their menus, afraiding of spying, perhaps :p?


Yummy! The Fatburgers (HK$50, RM25), all in all recommended by Edwin Chua. The beefburger very juicy indeed, the patties' juice splat all around your mouth for every single crunch on it by your teeth :p!


Palatable beef curry with white rice (HK$53, RM26.50)! Weirdly the rice is more delicious than the beef. Ditto to a Japanese rice?


Appetizing sesame seeds on glutinous rice (HK$10, RM5 each). Chewy indeed!


Time out! Enough pictures snapping, now it's the time to taste it :p!


2nd floor - full of branded things for you to shop named as "The Grand Canal Shoppes". All in all are indoor but looks like a factual small city in The Venetian Hotel!


The extraordinary almond cakes store!


The Mc Donalds in The Grand Canal Shoppes!


Eye catchy columns with a vase on top individually!


Imitation of gorgeous St. Mark's square (Piazza San Marco) in The Venetian Macao Hotel.


St. Mark's square - hopefully it won't get flooded during winter and early spring as can be seen in Venice, Italy.


The mimes. Guests take turn to have had a picture with him.


Resplendent indoor Gondola!


Subliming waterway for the Gondola!


Night view of classy swimming pool!


Classy swimming pool - other view!


Opulent night view of The Venetian Macao. Picture courtesy of Wikipedia.


That's all for Day 1 trip at The Venetian Macao Hotel, largest of all hotels cum casinos in Macao! For Part 2, click on the following link:

Macao Holiday (14 - 17th Nov '08) part 2 of 2.

Non-related but a meaningful sentence.

Our true acquisitions lie only in our charities, we get only as we give - William Simms.
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