For the weekend I'm in another SAR, Macau, just across the Pearl River delta from Hong Kong but a different world! Enormous casinos flashing above a still Portuguese-seeming old city. My hovercraft-ferry from Hong Kong arrived at 5; got to my hotel just as night was falling. The center (where
I'm staying) is kitted out for Christmas, and it all feels remarkably European. Arcades line the main streets, and pavements and squares are tiled in white and black marble mosaics - just like Lisboa! (I got lost, too, as one does in old ungridded cities.) Can't wait to see how it all looks in the daytime...