Additional: It might seem like we've been a bit frivolous with our taxi-ing around the place, but we've never paid more than £2 (including tip), so it doesn't dent the budget too much, and its far more comfortable. There must have been some accent barrier or something as none of them seemed to have ever heard of our hotel (it has 21 floors, so you can hardly miss it), so we've taken to carrying around the leaflet of our hotel, which has the address clearly printed on it so that wherever we are we can jump in a cab, hand them the leaflet and be back safe and sound in a matter of minutes.. although mild panic did set in last night when we handed our taxi driver the leaflet and he got out his magnifying glass...

Macau... well, ...bright lights... small city... where to begin? I'll start with our hotel, which was fabulously OTT. From the minute we pulled up outside I felt that this was my sort of place; decked out in as many Christmas decorations as they could without obscuring the doors, two gold carriages either side of the door, and two men dressed in sentry uniform. We were greeted by a concierge who guided us into the entrance hall. If we'd thought the outside was a little elaborate, this beat it hands down. Marble and gold EVERYWHERE! Blocks of solid gold and 'diamonique' (as I believe they describe it on QVC) stones encased in glass blocks in the floor, a marble fountain, marble floor (flecked with gold) by the gold lifts, and a car (which I think was involved in some sort of competition) all wrapped up in a gold ribbon. The bits of floor not housing gold blocks or covered in marble were tiled in gold mosaic, and not a square inch of wall, ledge or banister was left undecorated by baubles and Christmas fairy lights. Christmas music was continually pumped out in al public areas to enhance the festive mood. The concierge carried our suitcases up to our room via the gold lifts, with chandeliers in them. It was at this point I remarked to Dave that it felt like that scene in Pretty Woman... he just gave me a funny look. In the room was a massive king size bed, fluffy white dressing gowns and matching slippers, and a huge widescreen TV. In the marble bathroom there were gold taps, and a mini-chandelier type thing on the mirror.... oh the tackiness and grandeur of it all... yes, this was most certainly built with people like me in mind. Perhaps all of this glitz and glamour was supposed to distract us from the view from our window: building sites galore! And actually, if you shut the curtains it did.
What we saw of Macau was a mix of historical ruins, fortresses and museums, and at night-time a blinding array of casino lights, the most garish of which was the Casino Lisboa - I think one of the first and biggest in Macau. On our way past another casino-hotel, we were treated to a musical illuminated dancing water display - to the song "money money money makes the world go round".. very apt! Outside the bright lights of the main central area is a depressing amount of dilapidated tower blocks. We walked through some of these back streets yesterday, and although I found it a bit sad, it really does make you appreciate what you have.
Today we're off back to Hong Kong - Macau has been fun, and a real treat to see, but I certainly won't miss the Macanese food! Looking forward to trying some real cantonese food tonight, as we haven't yet managed to tick that box! We've had Korean, indian, italian... and a coffee and sandwich in Starbucks - yes, I know it's cheating but it's right next to the hotel and we hadn't had any breakfast!

I'll leave Dave to tell you a bit more about Macau and to confess his new-found gambling addiction...


Righty then. The stuff we did in Macau... Tuesday : Lovely ferry trip across from Hong Kong, then a taxi ride past their cool offshore roadbridge, massive fake volcanos and egyptian casino facades, get to the hotel, unload, meander the streets of building sites and half finished new roads, eat Portugese food, drinks lots of Superbock lager (Gin & Tonic for Nat) during happy hour in some dodgy bar, stagger back to the hotel and play roulette while giggling and getting told off for taking photos. We win £16 (HK$230), cash it in and go collapse in bed.

Wednesday : Brekkie of veal sausage and baked beans on toast from the buffet, then a bit of roulette, we win £30 (HK$400) get ourselves cleaned up and head out. Meander through some lovely Chinese/Portugese streets til we reach the Ruins of the Church of St Paul ... there isn't much there except the front of it and lots of glass encased bones of a local martyrs. Then we potter around a Macau Museum which is nicely put together and all that, but a bit bloody boring. After that we potter around something of a fort (Monte Fort) then head off to search for a little garden with 'beautiful water lillies' and a 'bridge of nine turns' (which cunningly defeats all those Evil Spirits who can only move in straight lines)... find garden and all the lillies are dead, so we head off in search of the wine museum and the advertised free tastings.

After an hour of getting lost in dodgy back streets we find THE least impressive museum since Malta's Natural History Museum, but we speed on through armed with the thought of wine tastings. Half a glass of low grade portugese plonk and we're back on the street, so it's taxi and back to the Hotel. Bit of roulette and baccarat (we lose £14 - last of the big spenders that we are), get ourselves cleaned up, head out to a reputed Macanese restaurant, drinks lots, yadda, yadda. Okay, I'm still working on my travel journal style in order to get it actually interesting ... be patient with me, I may or may not get there.

Monday - Kowloon:
Decided to have a proper explore of Kowloon's main street, Nathan Road. This is where the majority of shops, restaurants and hotels seem to be. It's exactly how you'd imagine - every single outlet has their sign extended as far into the road as they can, all competing with each other to be the biggest, brightest and most noticeable. You'll find a couple of snaps on our flickr site (link is on the right, if you haven't found it yet) as Dave managed to snap a couple of pictures before we got carried along in the crowds once more! The street itself was pretty chaotic, which is one thing, but because it was raining, the risk of being poked in the eye by hundreds of low-level umbrellas made it even more perilous. When we'd gone about as far as we could, we crossed over and walked down the calmer side of the street (in search of the vegetarian indian place I'd spotted in the Lonely planet guide), picking up some cheap Crocs on the way - these are like a modern-day jelly shoe, for those not in the know!
Finding the restaurant was an experience... it was situated on the first floor of a building in a backstreet - we had to buzz to get through the heavy duty security gate at ground level, which was slightly disconcerting, but it was well worth it - I had a really yummy paneer curry - this place is definitely recommended, even if you're not a veggy!
Later on in the evening we carried on our search for the perfect Cantonese restaurant and went to Arirang - a Korean restaurant which was a cook-it-yourself type affair. There's a hot plate in the table, and the game is that they deliver various dishes of stuff to your table and you have to guess which bits to cook. The staff then retreat behind a screen and snigger to themselves as they watch you trying to cook the bits that you shouldn't, and eat the stuff that should be cooked... we feel we gave them value for money as I think we pretty much cooked everything except the salad!

We really must try to find a Cantonese restaurant when we get back from Macau...

(p.s. we haven't had internet access for a few days so apologies that all our postings are appearing today!)

We've landed!

Safe and sound in Hong Kong after a 'not too bad' 11hr flight, where the highlight was definitely looking out over the snowy mountains of Tibet ... amazing. Landing so close to water was crazy, but Natalie coped remarkably well with it.

We were out of the airport pretty quickly and then onto a local bus to Kowloon for the cheapo introduction to Hong Kong ... loads of islands, bridges, mountains, clear blue waters, hundreds of tower blocks, an irish pub, millions of tiny shops of 'things', neon, amusing street signs and even some chinese people ... So, exhausted with this already, Nat is currently conked out in bed for a power nap. We're in an executive suite in the HK YMCA with glorious harbour views - as they gave us a free upgrade for some reason I dunno, but I certainly can't complain :) (although I havent yet found a mini bar in here)

We'll be out later for a local food experience (or be a bit lame and go for western food but then lie and say we tried monkey brains with snake eyes and rocket, or something), drinks and a 'symphony of lights' (a nightly fireworks and light show across the rooftops and harbour) at 8... taking it easy for our first night while our bodies and heads adjust. Tomorrow is pretty likely to be a shopping day ... I doubt anything could stop Nat. Luggage restrictions be damned!

To all our friends and family,

Just wanted to say absolutely HUGE thanks for all your good wishes, your company at our various leaving dos, the brilliant cards, presents etc - we're really going to miss you all so much.

We really appreciate the sentiments, presents, and of course your most excellent company at our parties - don't know how we'll survive without you all. I suffered from severe dehydration and a painful stomach on sunday, but that was only due to the amount of tears shed and the pizza I insisted on getting on the way back. The hangover was nowhere near as painful as the thought of leaving everyone. sob sob, sniff sniff...

To make the going away slightly less traumatic we've been discussing what we might spend the vouchers on. I think I'm going to go dolphin surfing* and kiwi hunting* (the feathered variety - the fruit put up less of a fight and are far easier to catch), Dave is still hellbent on throwing himself out of a plane but I've told him he must wait until we actually get there. I don't suppose the staff on Cathay Pacific would appreciate the door being opened mid-flight, apparently it causes all sorts of pandemonium.

Anyway, had better get off to bed now - another party tomorrow and more drinking. Then on saturday I'll get off my face on valium... what fun!

Next stop Hong Kong.... eeeeekk!!


*I'm not sure either of these are an official option but I'll see what I can do.. :)

Wellll ...

It's Thursday night and we're now in Nat's parent's place in Essex. After a nice meal, some wine, beer and champagne it's sinking in that we no longer have a flat in London. No longer Londoners! Blimey. Tomorrow we try and think about packing a bit, and then the family drinks and more drinks in the evening ... then Saturday we fly! Eiiiieee ... (and other dramatic exclamations to that effect).

As this is the first time we've had a breather since last weekend, we'd love to now say THANKYOU so much to all of you who came along to our leaving drinks n cuddles in Wandsworth. It went really well and it was great to see all of you together - all very emotional. Enough to bring a big beardy man to tears ... (sniff). As for Natalie, well .. she woke up crying already ... the beautiful emotional wreck that she is. Family mates, work mates, school mates, uni mates, (vamp mates) ... all of you mates mates ... made your way through the joyous trials of London Transport to join us for a bevvie or ten in that cosy little spot. It was certainly an au revoir, not goodbye, as Nat is already planning on coming back to buy Green Wing on DVD, as well as planning future spots for us to live in London... and a Return Drinks session. :)

Drop one of us an email with your address if you want a postcard,
be well and look after each other!

Nat n Dave

Hi all, and welcome to our blog... not much to say so far as we're still in Wandsworth. Off to Essex tomorrow so maybe we'll have some exciting travelling stories after that.
This is really just a test to see whether this thing actually works - which if you can read this means the test was successful.
Roger and out.
(or Dave & Nat, as most people like to call us)