Macao

We departed the hotel just after 9am for a walk to the ferry terminal, bound for Macau. After taking a while to find the ticket counter, we bought tickets for the 10.45am departure, but were also told to line up in the standby queue for the 10.15am ferry... and got on that quite easily!

On arrival in Macau we caught the hotel free shuttle bus, checked in to one room and caught the local bus to the Macau Tower. After a quick lunch, including our first Portuguese egg tart, KT and Chris braved the Skywalk, a vertigo inducing walk around an outside platform 322m up, secured by only a cable! The rest of us stayed inside and enjoyed the views across Macau and mainland China.

After a cuppa and another egg tart, we caught one of the casino shuttle buses to the Cotai Strip, a Las Vegas style extravaganza of massive buildings, neon lights and copies of famous world attractions. We had a ride in "the world's highest figure of eight ferris wheel", suspended between 2 towers of the Studio City casino (we suspect it's the only one in the world!).

Unfortunately we then made the mistake of entering The Venetian, a labyrinth of shops, complete with canals and gondolas, and spent the best part of an hour trying to find our way out! We found out later it's the largest casino in the world... no wonder it seemed to go on forever!

By the time we emerged it was dark, so we caught a free shuttle to another casino near our hotel - the casino's are only too pleased to take you if they think you'll spend some money at their establishment, so they are a popular form of transport between the islands.

Tea was a Mecanese and Portuguese buffet at the hotel (and more egg tarts), followed by a trip to the supermarket and a quick swim for KT, DC and Chris before bed.Read more