On the second day, we went to the renown Venetian Resort located in Cotai Strip, Taipa (氹仔). Although a relatively newcomer in Macau compared to Grand Lisboa, the publicity that it has been receiving is extraordinary. It definitely helps though to have a famous brother in the form of Venetian Las Vegas. In order to get a grasp of the location of this resort, a quick explanation on the background of Macau's geography is necessary. Macau consists of two islands, Taipa and Coloane and a peninsular that is connected to the mainland. Due to reclamation, the two islands have since joined into a single large island (Bottom). Cotai was derived from "Co" from Coloane and "Tai" from Taipa. Up till now, all the landmarks I have mentioned in Day 1 are located in the peninsular.
Before we embarked on the journey to Venetian, I needed alot of energy so we had a hearty breakfast. I always have the desire to have dim sum everytime I am in this part of the world and not just any dim sum for that matter, but preferably from one of the best restaurant in town. Therefore early in the morning, we headed to Restaurante Tou Tou Koi (陶陶居) located just off the main street of Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro (亞美打利庇盧大馬路) at 6-8 Travessa do Mastro in the old part of Macau. The restaurant, Point B in the Google map is located 400m from the hotel, point A (Bottom). This restaurant offers one of the best dim sum around, if not the best, hence reservation is a must.
Besides ordering the typical dim sum affair of siew mai, char siew pau, har gaw and hor yip fan, we also had local specialties like Fried Fresh Milk with Almonds (煠鲜奶) - dun ask me how they did it (1st bottom), Custard Bun (溜沙包) (2nd bottom) and Cha Leong wrapped in Cheong Fun ( (3rd bottom). I liked all the three although the rest are just as delightful.
After breakfast, we hopped onto the free bus ride to Venetian resort. When we arrived the crowd was huge, so huge that the main doors never had a chance to close. True to its hype, the Venetian architecture did not fail to amaze me. The management has gone through great pains to deliver Venice in Macau. The facades and decorations were carefully designed to be almost identical to Venice although I feel that the scale is smaller than the real thing. I must say though they did a pretty good job since I have been to Venice. The loveliest thing is the ceiling of the resort has been painted to be sky-like (1st and 2nd bottom).
For a small fee, they have even provided the Gondola for a complete "Venice" experience (Bottom). After being awed for 15 minutes, the rest of the resort is just rather like a megamall with shopping and restaurants. They have super high-end stores selling products that are just way beyond ordinary folks like me. Example? Panerai watches for USD 30k. Like every resorts in Macau, the main meat of the place is still its casinos.
Since I was not really interested in gambling, I spent my time exploring the rest of the resort. My interested was piqued when I saw this poster (Bottom). "Wow awesome!...Tempting...but perhaps some other day."
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