After a long hiatus due to the COVID border closures (they had a tougher containment policy than Hong Kong and more alike mainland China's), I'm back in Macau, and so are plenty of other tourists.
Just across the street from Galaxy Hotel, Taipa village encompasses a set of narrow streets with lots of restaurants, cafes, and shops, culminating in another major souvenir mecca along Rua do Cunha.
Macau's light rail line opened on December 10, 2019 with the first passenger train departing from Taipa Ferry Terminal at 3:33pm. Carrying over 820,000 passengers in its first month, the line extended across the sea to the peninsula in December 2023 with the opening of Barra station. The line now runs 12.5km long, taking about 27 minutes.
The grand lobby of the Morpheus Hotel is certainly impressive. The work of Zaha Hadid Architects, the 42-storey building houses some 770 hotel rooms that are accessible by 12 glass elevators.
In 2023, gaming revenue in Macau exceeded 183 billion patacas (about USD $22 billion) with visitor arrivals reaching 70% of pre-pandemic levels. While the government has renewed a number of international operators' casino licenses in 2022, they are also trying to diversify the economy beyond gambling. A number of new casinos have opened on Cotai recently along and near the main strip, such as the Grand Lisboa Palace and Lisboeta.