MACAU advertises itself as a fun haven for visitors from Hong Kong and all over the world but, for me, the experience is memorable only because it has been so frustrating.
I am a Christian Filipino national who worked for several years in Hong Kong for a prominent family. Last week my companion and I decided to go to Macau for one night to visit a friend.
We arrived at the ferry pier in Macau and waited patiently in the queue. When we arrived at the immigration counter, we produced our travel documents and we thought it would be just a formality.
The immigration officer, after leafing through our papers, ordered us into a room in which there was already another Filipino. We were rudely asked to explain why we wanted to visit Macau, how long we intended to stay and whether we had HK$8,000 in cash each. He then searched our belongings and counted our money in Hong Kong denominations and in pesos.
Since I wanted to visit Macau for one day, I did not bring so much money.
It would have been foolish to bring so much spending money.