Ciao, Macao(3)

(Photo: Bruno Maestrini/China Daily)

The hotel's museum exhibits include immense carved jades and The Star of Stanley Ho, a 218.08-carat diamond experts say is "the largest cushion-shaped, internally flawless D-color diamond in the world". You don't really have to know what all that means to be impressed.

The Macao Museum of Art is a huge treasure trove of works by Chinese and Western artists－the latter including painter George Chinnery (1774-1852), who spent much of his adult life wielding a brush in Macao.

The Maritime Museum celebrates the city's seafaring traditions, with a mock-up of an old Hakka fishing village and displays featuring dragon boats and the intriguing Feast of the Drunken Dragon.

We were too early in the year to see the real thing, which happens in May or June when a crew of cheerfully intoxicated men performs a dragon dance through markets and lanes. It's a wet party, and though not clear from photos whether the onlookers are being sprayed with water or baijiu (traditional Chinese liquor), it's good, mad fun.

Appropriately next door is the charming temple of A-Ma, known to Chinese as Tin Hau, the goddess of the sea.

The city's contemporary traditions may seem driven by gambling.

Omnipresent billboards from Guangzhou to Hong Kong to Macao itself project the image of a tuxedoed David Beckham making himself at home at the Venetian. A fleet of Venetian courtesy buses ferries a constant stream of tourists to and from the resort and the ferries and airports. (If fortune smiles, you can also rent a helicopter.)

While you're living the high life, don't miss the Macallan Whisky Bar &Lounge at the Galaxy Hotel. In this warm cocoon of paneled oak, fine rugs and 400-plus whiskies, the finest malt is most enjoyable in front of the (real) fireplace.

When you've had enough glitzy fun, though, seek out the charms that Las Vegas will never know: the cobblestone lanes of the St. Lazarus district, a thriving artist's colony; the Guia Fort, sporting the oldest lighthouse in China; unpretentious but classic dining at Alfonso III, Antonio or Litoral; a comfortable hike around the island on the Coloane Trail.

You don't need to be a high-roller to enjoy every minute in Macao.

If you go

Macao is easily accessible via flights from major Chinese cities and by ferry from Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

There is free shuttle service to and from the top casinos and the nearby airports and ferries.

The local currency is the pataca. ATMs are plentiful on the island, particularly near the casinos, and dispense your choice of patacas or Hong Kong dollars. HK dollars are accepted almost everywhere, but your change will be in patacas.