MACAU

Macaua is, quite simply, excellent!!! Having endured the miseries of India it was with untold, unimaginable joy that we took the ferry from Hong Kong to Macau .... into what we consider to be a normal civilised society.

Our mood was further helped by the fact that we stayed in a beautiful hotel with crisp, starched linen sheets, comfy slippers (how old do I sound) and spotlessly clean carpet and bathroom. To make things even better (if they could get any better) we had our first crisp white wine in absolutely ages .... actually it ended up being 3 bottles in the Cinnebar lounge area of the Wynn Macau .... thus blowing our budget 20x over ..... expensive but definately worth it!

Thought we might make up the shortfall by trying our luuck at the Blackjack tables ........ $500 later (and less than 5 minutes) we discovered that we really are rubbish at gambling .... good fun though.

Macau has a more 'european' edge to it than Hong Kong and retains some of the old Portuguese buildings which are great. Like Hong Kong it is a clean city with suprisingly green open spaces that you stumble upon if you wander around long enough. Teh colonial cemetary is worth a visit as it impeccibly maintained and is quite moving when you read the stories behind the people who are buried there. Essentially though, it's a casino town for it's visitors with the Wynn and the Venetian (across the bridge) being the pick of the crop. Looking forward to heading back there to check out the MGM which should open early next year.