Goa post 2# - Macau for fish!

Macau is strange, but charming place, all the more so since it's lost it's sleazy, gangster reputation and has now a bit of cash floating around, not just in the casinos. It was so bad at one stage that when the Portugeuse told the Chinese that they were leaving and that it was all theirs, the Reds said - no thanks!
Looking across the rooftops from the Fortaleza de Monte, you can see the squalid state of a lot of the old buildings, but also the new constructions around the centre and on the horizon. We arrived by ferry from Hong Kong and it only took an hour. Then the Best Western courtesy bus whisked us across one of the many impressive bridges to Taipa Island. Macau is another place noted for it's expensive accommodation, but is much more sedate, laid back and even colonial than it's neighbour. It's weird to see the portuguese/cantonese mix reflected in the street signs, food - natas and sheets of roast pressed meat are offered to tourists - and especially so in the faces of the people. With a much smaller population than HK, the portuguese integration is very noticeable.








At night, everything goes from colonial whites and pastels to the brash neon street lighting and the spectacular lights of the casinos and the bridges. We managed to track down the Henri restaurant recommended in the RG, which was full of locals enjoying seafood and white wine from La Costa Verde - we followed suit and tryed not to think of the ferry the next morning which would drop us to Shenzhen airport for our flight to Kunming in western China.