Macau June 2010 - 21 photos - 730 views

Our first visit is the A-ma Temple which is the oldest temple of Macao. Built during the period of Chenghua Reign in the middle age of the Ming Dynasty as said, it has a history of over five hundred years. At the gate of the Hongren Hall there are couplets engraved on stone: "Holy virtue flows and Putian receives radiance; divine mountain stands elegantly and mirror-like sea sends benevolent waves." The four walls of the Hall are made of stone and the altar is placed under the roof. There are some relief engravings on the wall beside the altar, such as water monsters and fairies. The Hall is dedicated to Tin Hau.  
 
Our next stop is the Chapel of Our Lady of Penha which was originally built in 1622 on top Colina da Penha or Penha Hill, also known as Bishop Hill because of the Bishop Residence. This was the first chapel that was erected by the crew and passengers of a ship which had a narrow escape from the Dutch. Later the chapel served as shrine for sailors embarking on often hazardous voyages. The chapel today dates back to 1837 when it was completely rebuilt along with the Bishop's Palace.  
 
Our third stop is of course the casino & shopping. We went to the Venetian Macao which is a hotel and casino resort owned by the Las Vegas Sands. The Venetian is a 40-story, $2.4 billion anchor for the 7 hotels on the Cotai Strip in Macau. The 10,500,000-square-foot Venetian Macao is modeled on its sister casino resort – The Venetian in Las Vegas – and is the largest single structure hotel building in Asia and the fourth-largest building in the world by area. The Grand Canal Shoppes inside include nearly twice as much leasable area as The Grand Canal Shoppes in Las Vegas and significantly larger than the top malls in Hong Kong.