Sitting at Heathrow Terminal 2 waiting for a flight to Budapest (then to Chisinau in Moldova) - just a weekend away but with indirect flights it takes nearly as long to get anywhere as it does flying out east!

Since Vietnam I was in Hong Kong and Macau - HK was it's usual self - it's wierd energy bears you up. I arrived feeling exhausted and pissed off and by the end of the first day I was on a rush - wierd place!

Macau is also an eye-opener. Only 1.25 hrs by fast ferry from Hong Kong, but an ex-Portuguese colony, not British as HK was. Feel the difference! It isn't all built up and there are still lots of lovely old Portuguese colonial buildings. The biggest building in town is a massive casino - Macau is the only place in China where gambling is legal and they are planning to turn it into China's Las Vegas - good way to spoil it if ever there was.

Macau Chinese are really...well, Portuguese...? They chatter incessantly, are wonderfully friendly and are just so different to the HK bunch (who I also love dearly - but they are different!).

It's worth going to Macau for a day if you're in Hong Kong - there's a lot to see...in a day. And they do great dim sum in the restaurant at the base of the TV tower. Then you can climb to the top and bungee jump off - the longest permanent bungee jump in the world apparently. Perhaps best to do this before you have your dim sum...

Photos later...no time!