The 1970s hell-raiser was a car ride away from the world's greatest gambling fleshpot whereas Lai See is a hydrofoil journey from its potential nemesis in the east.

The razzle dazzle may have gone out of Macau's concept stock boom, with some counters having tumbled 50 per cent since their early January peak, but serious punters reckon the sell-off is nothing more than a bump on the road.

Lai See decided to investigate with his own special 24-hour journey in search of the Macau dream.

Leaving at noon on Tuesday, we rendezvoused with our companion for the day - a former investment banker turned deal maker who for a day job greases the wheels of the concept boom.

First impressions were favourable. Despite our midweek departure from Shun Tak Centre, our ferry was 90 per cent full and the air of anticipation in the cabin was thick.

Fliers for the newly opened Greek Mythology casino greeted us, so that was our first port of call, together with a $650 room on the ninth floor.

Macau's newest casino opened just before Christmas and was effectively the subject of a back-door listing through A-Max Holdings - a superstar performer last year that jumped 82 times from 4.5 cents to a high of $3.67.

Having been the subject of the fastest renaissance paint job in history (and not a bad one at that) the hotel was packing in the punters when Lai See arrived. The owner, who we quickly ran into strutting the floor, is a Godfather-like character called Ng Man-sun, better known to his friends as 'Wet Market Wai'. 'You see hundreds of people are coming to us every five minutes; they come here just like going to the wet market,' he chuckled in reference to his own notorious nickname.

A relaxed Mr Ng proudly showed us the newly minted Greek pleasure palace, which he bought as part of the New Century Hotel from the Bank of China back in 1996.

His $1.3 billion renovation will see a new tower emerge, hopefully rivalling in grandeur the planned Park Hyatt venture just across the road, which will be built by Lawrence Ho Yau-lun's Melco International Development and Australian mogul Kerry Packer.

Since its December 23 launch, Greek Mythology has apparently seen visitor numbers soar sixfold to 20,000 a day on weekdays and 30,000 at the weekend. Had we stumbled across the Macau dream at our first port of call?

Mr Ng did let on but was appropriately philosophical: 'In a couple of years no one knows what will happen. Here we don't talk about mythology, we make mythology.'

Lai See's journey took him through the dusty hinterland of Taipa and across the causeway to the vast $1.8 billion Venetian Casino Resort.

In Macau proper we marvelled at the fantastic Fisherman's Wharf and the timeless money-making power of the Lisboa before availing ourselves of the valet parking at the buzzing Sands Casino.

By 3am, Lai See could report that the Macau dream seemed to live. We counted 300 punters still playing the tables in the Sands and a hop across the road to Uncle Stanley's flagship revealed 200 hardened gamblers still hard at it.

Heading back to the warm bosom of Zeus at the New Century hotel we slumped back into fluffy pillows and the gentle waft of stale cigarette (mainland brand) smoke. Yes, it seems the Macau dream lives.

Orchestra gives a good account

The sound of a screeching erhu or two may not be music to your ears but judges for the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants' 2004 corporate governance awards at least liked what they saw in the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra's accounts.

The musicians came in third in the award's public sector category after the Airport Authority Hong Kong and the Securities and Futures Commission. (It would be something of a worry if the latter didn't make the list, wouldn't it?)

Congratulations also to 'Significant Improvement Award' winners Johnson Electric, PCCW and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing.

In as much as this award category hints at an earlier deficiency, the stock exchange's inclusion is at first glance surprising. Until, that is, you remember this is Hong Kong.

A different kind of donation

China Southern Airlines yesterday announced a 'major philanthropic educational donation'.

We thought that meant something like helping poor children attend school in impoverished rural areas. Not quite.

China's largest airline is donating Sky Pearl Club Gold MasterCards to Tsinghua Management College's MBA students - a very privileged lot already by mainland standards.