Macau

Macau is a former Portuguese colony which was handed back to the Chinese in the late 1990s. Located just 65km by sea from Hong Kong, we travelled by TurboJet boat and reached Macua ferry terminal in around an hour. Had we chosen to go by helicopter, we would have made the journey in just 16 minutes (at ten times the cost).

Navigating the local transport system gave us a few problems at first. We accidentally went to the Chinese border but luckily the bus stopped before we crossed. We eventually found our way into the old town after a pleasant detour through the back streets.



Lunch was some tasty seafood in rice – paella in a pot. It was certainly a lot more edible than some of the local meat.




We then went on an afternoon stroll through the old town, looking at a number of beautiful old buildings including the ruined façade of St Pauls. The rest of the church burnt down a long time ago.



We tried to go for a cup of tea at the Cultural Club, but it was 100 HK dollars per person. Ouch! We made our apologies and left.

Once the city got dark, it transformed itself into Las Vegas, with all the casinos brightly lit. We went to the Macau tower to enjoy the view. It's home to the worlds highest (and most expensive?) bungee jump but we didn't fancy it.




Returning to Hong Kong, our boat glided into Hong Kong harbour with all the buildings lit up around us. Back at home, Delme and Neringa had bought a lovely cake for Andy's 34th birthday. It went down very well with a gin and tonic.



A birthday to remember.