We took the Helicopter to Macau, the flight was all of 16 minutes but offered some amazing views of Hong Kong and the surrounding islands, you could see hundreds of ships and got a good view of some of the more industrial areas on the outskirts.

Macau seems well serviced, the Helicopter flights are every 30 minutes, there’s a stream of high speed super ferries that look like some bond villains turbo boat, shooting back and forth constantly taking pleasure seekers to the new gambling mecca.

We checked into the Wynn which is like a miniature version of the Vegas one, completed to the same exacting standards, once inside you could be in America, everything is high quality and service is excellent, only the price is lower, which was a very pleasant surprise.

Macau has the feeling of a weekend at a party town, the Miami, Vegas, Blackpool, Brighton, etc. type feeling but without the army of shell suit clad Americans, or the short skirted, orange tanned chavettes munching kebabs and wanting to fight in he street. 

There’s a safe, “everyone’s here to have fun” feeling to the place but I’m not sure how many days I could manage here as I’m not a big gambler anymore, three really harsh nights in a row at UK casino a couple of years back cured me of my desire to make the casino owners even richer.

There’s huge scale development going on in Macau, new buildings are leaping up all around, as with everywhere out this way the papers seem filled with positive business news, things are going great in Asia, all this new development rains money on the supply industries (it must be great to own a concrete factory anywhere in the east at the moment) which in turn filters down to the local economy so whilst it’s doom and gloom in the west it’s party time in more ways than one out this way.

There’s not much of a business vibe in Macau though, it’s strictly pleasure orientated but then again after experiencing Hong Kong’s more stressed lifestyle I can see why there are so many ways to get here to let off some steam.

I’m glad I came to Macau and whilst one night wasn’t enough here I think a week may be too long unless you’ve spent lots of time in Hong Kong, then again I’m still missing Shanghai so I’m a little biased now.

The next stop is Bangkok, after a lazy afternoon between flights in Hong Kong, I’m looking forward to Bangkok with mixed feelings, I’m intrigued with Thai culture but the only two books on Thailand I’ve ever read were both by drug smugglers who’d spent years locked up there in amazingly harsh conditions, so you can guess who’ll be taking a serious look though his suitcase before checking it in !