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.