It's like Vegas...but not

Just arrived in Macao after taking the "fast ferry" (not that fast) from the Hong Kong Airport and transferring onto the hotel shuttle bus. The next couple of days, we're calling the brand spanking new Venetian Macao home. They all say that Macao is like the Vegas of the East, except gambling revenues are supposedly now exceeding those of Vegas itself.

But in my short 1.5 hours in town, here are some observations on the ways that Macao is NOT like Vegas:

1) Nobody actually spends money here. Except for on gambling. Case in point -- hotels. I took the free shuttle bus from the ferry pier to the hotel, and the entire 30-something person bus was full. Yet there was only *ONE* person who had luggage of any kind. And yep, that person was me. Not one single person on that bus was planning on actually staying at the hotel. They were just there to gamble overnight and then leave in the morning. As an added bonus, the majority of the people on the bus were swearing profusely the entire ride to the hotel.

2) In order to get to my room, I had to walk past the usual slew of restaurants and the casino. At around 8:30pm, there were a grand total of about 2 tables seated at each of the 3 restaurants that I walked by. Just in case you were thinking it's not a busy night at the casino-hotel, the casino floor was packed. So why no diners? Please see point (1).

3) There are no bellmen readily available in the lobby. When checking in, I had to ask the front desk for help with luggage, and their response was: "Oh. If you want help, it's going to take a while." I look around the lobby and there were no luggage carts, no eager bellmen. Nothing? Why? Refer to (1).

4) There's no such thing as recreational activities here. The complimentary "local" shuttle buses only take you to another casino (the Sands), and the concierge don't actually know of any restaurants outside the casino. In fact, their primary job responsibility is to convince you that you should put down $100K in chips and be part of their VIP club. Riiiiiight.

Ok time for a little shuteye. Hopefully I'll see more of the non-gambling side of Macao tomorrow.