So the weekly photo challenge is forward. I must start by saying if you are a little bit squeamish then this post may not be for you. I will post the pictures at the bottom and I will write the blurb at the top to explain what it is all about. The pictures are from the Bodies exhibit at the Venetian hotel and casino in Macau.
So over the weekend I went to Macau with some colleagues, Macau is another Special Administrative Region of China just like Hong Kong, the key difference is that it was a colony of the Portuguese. The two regions are similar in a lot of way but also very different. Macau is more laid back and definitely has a very European feel, in some ways it reminds me of living in Italy as a child. Part of the reason for this more “European feel” is probably due to the fact the Portuguese governed in Macau from the middle of the 16th century where as Hong Kong was only under British rule from the middle of the nineteenth century. Another big difference is size, Macau is smaller in population than Hong Kong by a long way. There is about half a million people in Macau and 7 million in Hong Kong.
Macau is growing and is becoming more economically strong because of gambling. Before the hand over in 1999 most of the major investment in this part of the world came to Hong Kong. Macau was known as the Sin city of south china, it was seedy casinos and loose women all the way. Now it is big Casinos and loose women (some things never change.) These new Casino’s are massive and you have all the big players in town, The Wynn, MGM and the Venetian to name a few. Macau has become such a powerful gambling location, that the casinos since about 2009 have made more money in Macau than in Las Vegas.
I have been to Vegas, Macau is completely different. Gambling in Macau is business, the minimum bet on tables is 300 HK$ (They have their own currency in Macau, the Pataca. But the casinos will not accept it opting for the Hong Kong dollar instead. Apparently this is due to the security of the HKD being second to none.) 300 HK$ is equivalent to about 25 pounds, 30 euros or 40 US$. These tables are rare to find as well with most being 500 and 1000$. (one of my colleagues was shooed off the craps table for bidding too little, by the other players! the staff diplomatically suggested he might want to try the other table with lower limits)
Anyway we arrived on the boat and set off for lunch at a Portuguese restaurant called A Lorcha, an incredibly busy restaurant that should be on every ones list of things to do in Macau. Afterwards we set of for the Bodies exhibit, something I had been looking forward to seeing. I am a biology teacher and so I know all about the plastination technique of preserving bodies.
So we got there to be greeted by this fellow.
As you go through the exhibit they showcase various structures in the body. So this one was looking at the muscle system and how it all goes together.
This one was looking at the combination of all the different layers.
And finally the image that got me thinking of forward. The body in full run with the muscles exposed and in some cases disconnected.
So there you have my post for forward. All about a city that is moving forward fast, with an exhibition that some my say is forward thinking, whilst some would say it is not.
Jamie.
A week in the World. 