Meat, Delays and Portutuese Custard

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Bags on our backs we made our way across Hong Kong to the Macau ferry terminal, timing it perfectly as a ferry was just about to leave. We were sold the tickets at a last minute discount and rushed through customs where we boarded the catamaran.
The journey between Hong Kong and Macau takes around an hour and it passed quickly as the back and forth motion of the boat rocked us to sleep. On arrival in Macau we by-passed all of the big, glittering casinos and headed for the older part of the city.
China meets Portugal here as warm egg custard tarts sit side by side with dried seafood and meats, churches rub shoulders with temples, and winding cobbled streets are filled with Chinese antique shops. We walked around, seeing the cathedral and the ruins of Saint Paul’s. Then it was up a steep hill to the fort. The views from there showed the real contrast of Macau, not between the Chinese and the Portuguese but between the rich world of the casinos and the run-down high-rises in which the majority of the people live.
On the way back down from the fort we stopped at a sandwich shop. Strangely Dad seemed to have got his appetite back after eating very little at the vegetarian monastery yesterday, as he tucked into the most enormous sandwich I’ve ever seen, filled with just about every meat imaginable.
After lunch we had a look around an old temple, where the room gently filled with the sweet smoke of incense coils which hung overhead, and the occasional local would come to pray. By then it was time to sample those Portuguese tarts which were very rich but tasty.
A mini-bus back to the airport and we found that our flight was delayed by half an hour, which gave Mam an extra thirty minutes to glare at a bunch of Chinese men flicking through pictures of girls in bikinis. Oddly enough they were also on our flight to Bangkok. Which brings us to our third country of the day, Thailand. We arrived late, only having time to check in and go to bed. Julie and Pete were given a free upgrade for the first night which they have since decided to keep. A good night’s sleep is in order before we hit the streets of Bangkok tomorrow.

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Comments

[Grandma Prawn]

Wouldn't you just know it
Typical - Pete getting a free uprade