I never thought there would come a time when I would find myself going around in circles indoors, trying to find the direction I should take in getting to where I wanted to be. I mean, I just wanted to have dinner in the hotel but it took me almost an hour finding my way. It didn’t help either that one had to walk practically “several miles” from one “marker” to another just to follow the directions given by the hotel employee.
The beautiful Venetian Macao is a 39-storey luxury hotel and casino resort in the Cotai Strip of Macau. Everything in it is big. It has 2905 tastefully decorated suites, including a Presidential Suite that has four bedrooms. It offers a large gaming area that accommodates 3400 slot machines and 800 gambling tables. It boasts of an entertainment venue, the Cotai Arena that has seats for 15000.
This humongous piece of architecture is also known to have Macau’s biggest indoor shopping mall which houses 850 shops, and guests can have a choice of a different menu every meal from the hotel’s 150 restaurants. The convention and meeting facilities serve thousands of guests at any given time.
And, living up to its name, the hotel has a winding canal with serenading gondoliers, singing contemporary Italian and English songs, in real gondolas, carry passengers who want to experience the romance of sailing leisurely along the Grand Canal, San Luca and the Shoppes, much like the real Venetian attraction in Italy.
Although patterned after its sister casino resort, The Venetian Las Vegas, the Macau property has won the recognition of having the largest casino in the world, and of being the largest single structure hotel in Asia. Its neo-classical architecture always merits a photo op from the thousands of guests who go through its portals every day.
Since I already had the opportunity to experience the accommodations of its Las Vegas counterpart, I was excited to try out the much bigger Macau property. Unfortunately, nobody warned me that I would be doing a lot of walking indoors. Just to go from the Front Desk, after check-in, to my assigned suite, I already reached my quota of walking exercise for the day.
But, I hasten to add that my stay at this hotel was a beautiful experience. It just felt great to be inside such an amazing architectural wonder, being attended to by a caring staff, a lot of whom are Filipinos, enjoying the comforts of my well-designed suite which had a breathtaking view of the city, and hobnobbing with Asia’s crème de la crème and fun-loving denizens in the entertainment venues and in the restaurants.
Advertised throughout the hotel was the Monkey King China Show at the nearby Sands Cotai Theater that my friends were raving about. It looked very interesting so I bought myself a ticket for a front seat. Of course, it was again a long trek to the venue, but I didn’t mind it because I wanted to see for myself what my friends were gushing about.
The performers were a mix of classical dancers and acrobats, gracefully portraying various colorful Chinese traditions and beautiful scenarios. The brochure for the show says it took eight years for the cast to perfect the different production sequences on stage, and costing a total of US$300 Million to stage. No wonder I was seated transfixed and in awe over the show as it unfolded for almost two hours. It was well worth the pricey ticket.
So, if someone asks me what I think of The Venetian Macau, I will readily say, “I’m willing to get lost inside it all over again.”
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