Holidays - Macau

Macau, along with Hong Kong, is one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China. It lies on the western side of the Pearl River Delta, bordering Guangdong province to the north and facing the South China Sea to the east and south. Macau was a Portuguese colony, and is both the first and last European colony in China. The mixing of the Chinese and Portuguese cultures and religious traditions for more than four centuries has left Macau with an inimitable collection of holidays, festivals and events. The biggest event of the year is the Macau Grand Prix in November, when the main streets in Macau Peninsula are converted to a racetrack bearing similarities with the Monaco Grand Prix. Macanese or Macau Creole is a creole language derived mainly from Malay, Sinhalese, Cantonese, and Portuguese, which was originally spoken by the Macanese community of the Portuguese colony of Macau. It is now spoken by a few families in Macau and in the Macanese diaspora. In Macau attractions are The A-Ma Temple, located in the southeast of the Macau Peninsula, is the oldest temple in Macau. The Ruins of St. Paul's stands adjacent to the famous Mount Fortress and Macau Museum. The front façade and the grand stone stairs are the only remains of the greatest church in Macau. The Venetian Macau-Resort-Hotel is located on the Cotai Strip, Estrada da Baía de N. Senhora da Esperança with an area of about 980,000 square meters. it is the largest single block style hotel in Asia and the second largest building in the world. It has the function of performance, entertainment, shopping, exhibition, hotel and large scale gaming. In Venetian Macau there are two main areas—the tourist area and the casino area. In the tourist area, there are the Venetian styled buildings, canals and plaza. The most amazing thing is that all of these are on the third floor of the resort hotel. The Grand Canal Shoppes is also on the third floor and is the largest indoor shopping mall in Macau with an area of 22 acres and with more than 350 stores.