Macau - The Gambling Island

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13th February - Over to Macau!

We left the Chonking Mansions early morning and there was a deep sense of sadness amongst the group....NOT! It was good to get out of the crumbling squalor. We then made our way to the Macau ferry pier where we caught the one hour turbofoil journey across to the island of Macau.

The first surprise when we arrived was to see all the road signs in Portugese. This was due to the Portugese once settling here and the influence has remained ever since. We took the bus to the centre and arrived at a small guesthouse which only had room for four. We booked in and decided we would chance it with five later on. The city had a very mediterranean feel and as we walked through the sidestreets there were many stalls selling speciality egg tartes, cakes and nuts. The best thing was that they allowed free sampling and after spending about 20 minutes in the stall we no longer needed lunch 😊

We then walked through the centre and made our way to Macau's main attraction...the casinos! There are several of them with well known names from Las Vegas such as MGM Grand and The Wynn. The buildings were spectacular and featured over the top lights and fountains. In the evening we ate at a little restaurant off one of the side streets. The food was amazing! The island is very well known for its sea food and at only 2 pounds the king prawns didn't disappoint! (that ones for you dad.) We finished the night off by watching the impressive fountain show at the Wynn casino and then having a drink at one of the waterfront bars which had a live band playing.

14th February - Valentines day at the casinos....how romantic!

I woke up with Rick looking into my eyes romantically!It was valentines day and we had to make a quick exit from the guesthouse as we had an extra person. After some moves that James Bond would have been proud of we checked into another guesthouse which was situated more central. I then ate my way through 3 egg tartes for breakfast...they were just too good! It was then over to Guia Hill which is the highest point on the island. We walked up and took some time to take in the views of the island, with the casinos dominating the skyline.

We then came back to the guesthouse before preparing to go out for our romantic valentines meal...just the five of us! We ate at one of the portugese restaurants and it was probably one of the best meals yet with all of us enjoying something different from a noodle dish. We then went to the MGM grand to try our hand at some gambling (Its part of the culture so it had to be done!). We all had a go at the roulette and some of us came away happier than others. A great experience.

15th February - Back to Hong Kong

Woke up fairly early to finish off James' mohican haircut which he had opted for last night but half way through the job the razor ran out of battery. Ross and I were very pleased with the finished job!...although after a day, and some second glances James decided it had to go. We caught the ferry back to Hong Kong island for a brief stop at the ferry terminal before switching platforms to head to our next destination...Lantau. In the terminal we saw our first Chinese New Year dragon (a sight I expected to see a lot more of over the new years celebrations).

After switching platforms we were on another ferry off to the nearby island of Lantau.

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Photos

Macau
The little square in Macau where new years celebrations had been taking place