Macau

And then there was Macau... We left Hong Kong by ferry on a rainy morning to arrive in Macau and find a hot and burning sun. Home of the Portugese for a long time, Macau still has many of the original Portugese buildings and sometimes you forget that you are in China (actually after having passed through customs and having to change HK Dollars into the local currency Pataca, you ARE in a different country), but, again, it wasn't half as beautiful as we had expected (maybe we just expect too much?). Our driver/guide told us that in recent years many Chinese have started to come to Macau to gamble (as it is forbidden on mainland China) and a lot of Macanese have left their small and traditional shops/restaurants to go and work for the big casinos that are rising up everywhere on the small peninsula. Oh, and by the way, prostitution is also legal in Macau. With all the money that is flowing from China to Macau like this, I wonder if Macau will ever let herself become a part of China again...