Grand Prix brings Monte Carlo to Macau

I’m no auto racing fan, but the one motor sports event on my radar is the Macau Grand Prix. The 57th Macau Grand Prix runs November 18-21. Motorcycles, F3 racers, touring cars, and waiters with trays of champagne glasses will all compete on the enchanting streets of Macau. But all you really need to know is that it’s the one week every year when Macau is more like the Monte Carlo of Asia than the Atlantic City of China.

If you decide to go to Macau for the Grand Prix – or any other weekend when you (and, ideally, your partner) want to avoid the Atlantic City side of town – try staying at Ponte 16, along the banks of the Pearl River. For Grand Prix, the resort is a comfortable distance from the Guia racing circuit though still convenient to the course and to Macau’s renowned historical sites. Ponte 16 is Portuguese for Pier 16, the former landing site of ferries from Hong Kong in the Porto Interior (Inner Harbor) neighborhood, part of the real Macau, where local people live and work.

Along with the usual Macau resort amenities – pool, casino, transvestite stage show – Ponte 16 features the MJ Gallery, a Michael Jackson museum with music videos and memorabilia, including his moonwalk socks and sequined glove. As I wrote in Asia Times, you (and, ideally, your partner) may find the Jackson-inspired staff uniforms a Thriller.

PS- A happy FU Day to all on Saturday.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, financial crisis, and cheap lingerie.

Tags: historic center of Macau, Hong Kong, Hong Kong On Air, Macau, Macau casinos, Macau Grand Prix, Michael Jackson, MJ Gallery, Monte Carlo, Pearl River, Ponte 16, Porto Interior, Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM), Thriller, Zhuhai