Macao Beats out Vegas for Record Winnings

by Neil Woodburn on

We posted a few weeks ago about how the casinos of Las Vegas (and Nevada in general), posted their highest revenue ever in 2006.

Hapless tourists bet a record $170 billion dollars in Nevada casinos over the course of the year and the Las Vegas Strip walked away with the lion’s share, holding on to $6.7 billion of winnings.

While this is certainly impressive, the bigger news is that this new Vegas record was actually beaten in 2006 by the Chinese territory of Macao. The Chinese are legendary gamblers and Macao is rapidly becoming the Las Vegas of the East. Their record take in 2006?

$7 billion.

Wow. That’s more than the GDP of Chad and slightly less than that of the Republic of Congo. I’ll bet the Good Fellas in Vegas aren’t very happy about that.

The World’s Sexiest Penthouses

by Willy Volk on

Private, elegant, and with a hint of superiority, penthouses are, by their very definition, sexy. Way up high, looking down on all the little people scurrying about like so many ants, penthouse users seem eternally to be sipping cold drinks (brought to them by their in-house butler) and snuggling by the fire (sparked by the aforementioned butler). Though I like my adventure a bit more rough-and-tumble, I could certainly enjoy a night or two of high class in a penthouse. Don’t agree? Check out the view from Trump Towers’ Penthouse, and your opinion might change. Golden…and dizzying.

If you’d like to try a night of living large, then check out Concierge’s list of the top 10 sexiest penthouses. From Miami to St. Barths, from Australia to the Maldives, the list is To Do List for people who love Big Pimpin’.

Generally, penthouse luxury doesn’t come cheap, however. The costliest penthouse profiled (the Hong Kong Intercon) runs a hefty $11,215 per night. Yikes. For the rest of us, Milan’s The Gray runs a more affordable $648 a night — and, frankly, looks way cooler. Now you just have to get to Italy.

Researchers to Measure The Great Wall

by Willy Volk on

The Great Wall of China, built to protect the northern border of the Chinese Empire, is an amazing spectacle. In fact, the Great Wall — known to the Chinese as the “Long Wall of 10,000 Li” — is actually a series of walls and earthen works begun in the 5th Century BC and connected centuries later. Since it’s so old, it seems odd that no one really knows the precise dimensions of the iconic structure. Didn’t anybody bother to measure it when they were building it? Or when David Copperfield penetrated it? So weird.

In any event, researchers with both the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping are planning to undertake a detailed survey to establish just how long the ancient barricade is. In addition, they also plan to map the wall’s exact route and check its fortification. After all, a wall over 2000 years old probably needs some patching.

Though you can’t really tag along on the 4-year project, you can walk the Wall yourself with a tour company like China Hiking Adventures or the Adventure Center. Alternatively, you can arrange for the permits and try to tackle it yourself, like Eddie Davis and Beau Bacevicius did in 1997. It took them 109 days, and they clocked it at a paltry 1800 miles. Curiosity piqued? Brendan Fletcher and Emma Nicholas are walking the Wall right now — and blogging their adventure!

Seven Wonders of the World: Bollywood Style

by Jamie Rhein on

Can you name the Seven Wonders of the World? I made it through a partial list before I became stumped. Here’s a refresher course. In true Bollywood fashion, a musical number is linked with gorgeous costumes, scenery — and a bit of name-that-place. All are rolled into one fun package of a tour around the world to seven of it’s most famous places.

This montage is from the Indian movie, Jeans. Aishwarya Rai, actress and former Miss World, sings and dances with a mighty handsome male partner to the song “Ajooba.” They start dancing at the Great Wall of China and don’t stop until they do a dance segment at the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Okay, that’s two of the wonders. What are the other five? Check the first comment to find out.

Thanks to Fahed Zariwala, uk2k4u, for sharing this on You Tube.

Vanishing Chinglish

by Iva Skoch on

China will never be the same; at least Beijing, that is. As the Olympics approach, a quasi-government group in Beijing has set out to correct the city’s English menus and signs.

The WSJ just ran an article detailing these efforts: to date, for example, these language cops from the Beijing Speaks Foreign Languages Program have replaced 6,300 road signs with often odd, sometimes downright hilarious, English phrasing, the result of bad translations.

We’ll definitely miss the restroom signs saying “Genitl Emen” (aka, gentlemen), such great attractions as the “Beijing Hospital for Anus and Intestinal Disease” (aka Hospital of Proctology), and street signs telling us “To take notice of safe: The slippery are very crafty” (aka, be careful: slippery). Or, “Little grass is smiling slightly, Please walk on pavement” (aka ?).

Fortunately, we’ll still be able to relive the good ol’ days on various websites, such as pocopico.com, flickr’s chinglish pool, chinglish.de, and google images, of course. Any other good collections out there, dear readers?