Home Travel Diving Running Kids Mail us		26 October to 1 November 2003 Another Sunday island trip, this time to the former Portuguese colony of Macau. This is a 45 mile trip from Hong Kong amazingly covered in an hour by the high speed jetfoils. We splash out and travel 'Superclass'. With wide comfy seats, rumble of engines and cabin service it feels more like Cathay business class than a boat. Macao is famous for its casinos and gambling. And nowhere more so than the Daliesque hotel Lisboa. This huge mecca to gaming has several floors of gaming rooms for high roller and punter alike. Also famed for its ladies of the night we have a very sober rush through it avoiding all evils! The Lisboa hotel also has an amazing collections of Chinese antiques. From a beautiful scale model of a Beijing temple to a large jade dragon boat (above) and elaborate statues and carvings, it shows what could be yours if you break the bank. On the assumption that the bank is more likely to break you we pass swiftly on and head for the more classical sights of the city. The Largo do Senado is a large square in the centre of Macao which preserves many beautiful old buildings. While concrete high rises spring all around, in this square paved with curves of black and white mosaic you can still see the old buildings and churches that represent the Portuguese trading centre. Macau is a much older colony than Hong Kong having been ceded to the Portuguese in 1557. From here they traded along the Pearl River estuary for hundreds of years. The huge facade of the old Jesuit church built by fleeing Japanese Christians in the 1600s makes an imposing monument and photostop. The church burnt down in 1835 but the 'Ruinas do Sao Paolo' has covered Macau post cards for over a hundred years. The last spot on our sight seeing tour is the Jesuit stronghold, the Fortaleza do Monte. Perched on the hill above the ruins it provides a peaceful climb through the trees and away from the crowds. From the ramparts you can look over the rooves of the city - a sprawl of windy streets and concrete towers. It is noticeable that while Hong Kong has thrived as a commercial mecca, Macau is a rather seedy and delapidated second best. I am sure that there are treasures to find but with the exception of a fine courtyard garden off the Largo we did not find it. We brave a Chinese restaurant on the way back and find that no one speaks any English at all. The meat eaters have a fine dim sum lunch picked from the only English/Chinese menu although the veggies have a tougher time struggling with the waitress in sign language.