Oh Wow Macau

A nice cool morning to wake up to and after breakfast at  a slow pace I walked to the nearby Macau Ferry Terminal. Luckily I didn't need a Visa and decided to splurge a bit and took a ticket the equivalent of business class on the ferry. A mighty $90 AUD but hey. Through immigration and customs very quickly. I was a little concerned when they took my landing card which I think I'll need to leave HK on Monday, yikes. Window seat in a separate part of the ferry but nothing grand. Surprise for me was the delivery of a meal of a roll with meat, some salad, a pannacotte and some water - pity I'd only just had brekky. Popped the roll into the sick bag (hopefully not a portent)and into my holdall for eating later.

Trip took justover an hour and fairly painless passage through Macau immigration and out of the terminal, touts for tours, taxis and rickshaws but I just headed to the bus. Convoluted route into Senado Square and it wasn't announced as such (the main street was the name of the stop)so took a punt on it being the right stop.

I had expected Macau to be a smallish place with the old Portugese area separated from the hustle and bustle but no you are at one moment in the streets of the city and then you're in the World Heritage area. Gee it's magical though and feels like you might have steeped into Portugal and even the deep south of

America. Lots of winding streets and nice buildings to keep one's eyes on the move and camera clicking. The streets are all tiled as per the photo above so all delightful. Very busy day, crowds galore which was a bit trying to be frank but lots of good spirits around. The ruins of St Paul's are the highlight and sit at the top of a hill catching your eye. Sat there for a while and consumed the souvenired ferry roll. Also took the opportunity to call Grey Line and indeed tomorrow's tour has been cancelled. Really disappointed but will pop out to Lantau and Stanley so all is not lost.

Time was getting on and I hopped a bus back to the Ferry and a much classier ferry thiis time. We went past the casino area and what a hideous bunch of building and crassness they were. I'm sure it's quite pretty at night and that thhey're all 'spectacular' inside but gee they looked tawdry, trashy and c.o.m.m.o.n. in the daytime.

On the ferry I (and everyone else) had to put up with a pair of boring Aussies behind me who seemed to have an opinion on everything and obviously thought they ought to share them with each other peppering

most of the diatribe with the 'f' bomb, oh they makes ya proud! The snack going back was sausages of indeterminate origin and species with noodles (delish) and a yoghurt.

Lined up at immigration only to be sent away to fill out a landing card!!!! Anyway annoyed but just filled one out and got in the queue again so it was bloody annoying and I was glad to get out of there and head back to the hotel for a few hours. Macau had been a real revelation and I'm pleased I went over therre.

At 7 I jumped the train to the Cultural  Center to watch the Nightly Lights Spectacular which plays across Victoria Harbour and lights up the sky and buildings. I watched it from where the Golden Bauhina Statue is, the spot that marks the ceding back to China by Britain in 1997. The lights were fun but a bit ho hum which is shocking to say because really it is amazing. What is wrong with me?

Back to the hotel by 9. One full day to go.