Macau
 

I have just been offered a job in Macau. I am considering moving myself and my wife there for the next three to five years Has anybody spent any time there? Curious what you think about..... well everything. Thanks for any info

Macau used to be an extremely charming city with a very interesting and diverse ethnic mix.
The local macanese food, developed from 400 years of inter-marriage, is fantastic. The liberal use of curry is unlike anything found in Hong Kong or Guangdong. Even for Cantonese cooking Macanese tend to stick with old receipes and not cut corners (as most restaurants in HK, due to high rent, are forced to do).
The advent has the Vegas-style casinos have changed things a great deal, mostly for the worse, for me personally. While their physical impact is quite limited, being built mostly on landfill, I feel the city is also adjusting into its new persona. The casinos are bringing in concept restaurants, pushing up labor and land cost, turning old favorites into tourist traps.

It is still a place well worth to consider.
You might want to read a bit through the Macau forum of geoexpat.com
http://macau.geoexpat.com/

Thanks for the info folks. I accepted the job today!

only been there once (2005) and that was for a day but here are my two cents.

Good: It's world's away from HK. It's relaxed, peaceful, lovely Portuguese architecture (didn't get to eat the food, sadly), and tree lined.


Bad: Glitzy Casinos, lots of prostitutes (and I mean everywhere), cheapening of things. Basically, what one of the above posters said...