Holiday in The Venetian, Macao.

Just got back from a 5D4N holiday in Macao, and since we were staying in The Venetian, we spent most of our time there.

Sam loved the gondola boats in the 3 man-made canals distributed around The Grand Canal Shoppes (level 3 of the complex). We took a ride in one on our 1st evening there, while we waited 2 hrs for our non-smoking room to be ready for check-in.

Our boatman was an entertaining fellow, chatting freely with us throughout the 15 min ride. He had a fine voice too: it was fun to hear his Italian song end with a flourish & a bow while we waited for the other gondola to pass us on the narrow Marco Polo canal.

The show at St Mark's Square was a bit of a disappointment. It was hard to see the performers surrounded by throngs of camera-clicking tourists, since half of the performance was done on ground level instead of the 2-step-high mini stage. We did manage a photo with one of the entertainers on another day though.

For such a big complex, there is only one baby room, which I did not have the occasion to use, since we stayed in the hotel upstairs. On hindsight, I should have explored the room - perhaps there's some mini playground in there. As it was, there's no play area to entertain Sam while we tried to shop there.

We managed to buy something from ecco, simply because the sales assistants were nice (& wise) enough to help entertain Sam, so we could try the shoes & handbags to our satisfaction. It must be the 1st time Sam had someone helped him try on as many girls' shoes on display as he wanted!

On hindsight, we really should have taken the advice of a fellow traveller in the TripAdvisor: it was really inconvenient to bring a young child to a casino-affiliated hotel. Though the suite was large & nicely, newly furnished, & there's all the shopping downstairs without having to go out into the blazing hot sun, it was kinda troublesome having to travel along the "family-friendly" route on level 3 before going down to level 1 for the taxis/buses/restaurants, just so to avoid going through the casino.

If I ever travel to Macao again, I'll much rather get a hotel on Macao itself where I can visit the World Heritage sights more conveniently, then spend a day visiting the splendid-looking Venetian.

Lengthy blog of the restaurants in The Venetian here.