The morning started with a large buffet breakfast at the hotel. Laura was feeling very heady and bunged up but knew she had to eat and was determined to have a productive day. After munching our breakfast that included noodles... toast... egg... bacon and rice we headed out into the sunshine armed with a map and lonely planet. It was evident walking in the day that our fears last night were likely just down to being in a strange place. The town had an obvious Portuguese feel to it given the architecture and cobbled pathways and wasn't scary at all. We wandered around and found ourselves in Senado square which is the city's hub with the town hall and gorgeous fountain.

The narrow streets were relatively quiet but soon grew in noise as the ruin of St. Paul's cathedral loomed in the background. A large stone stairway lead up the ruins which basically is the front entrance wall of the once grand cathedral. It was beautiful and contained various tombs and so on... We then made our way up the Macau fort on the hill, where we were informed a very good museum was located. To our fortune we were not let down, the museum contained a running history of Macau from its fishing trade origins to the urban jungle it seems to be now. It contained interesting interactive exhibits including a reconstruction of an old Macau street which was pretty cool. It was a mere £1.50 entry fee and well worth it. We had a good look around and even purchased a magnet from the gift shop. We spent sometime admiring the view from the top of the fort alongside the canons but it seem somewhat spoilt by the tower blocks and the massive casinos in the distance.

We continued on our trek through the hilly town and we took a quick cable car ride up to Guia fort which has an old lighthouse and chapel on top (thought id be kind to Laura who was coping was struggling a little with her chest). The light house and chapel were beautiful with the chapel containing one the most valuable mural paintings in Asia. The view was amazing and you could almost see to the casinos on the Cotai strip... But there was a little mist obstructing our view. After a while we decided to head back down and grabbed some iced tea for refreshment. Our walk then took us to a small temple, another fort and by that time we were heading back towards the hotel. Laura then stumbled across a tea museum full of various facts, teapots and antiques which was accompanied by a gorgeous oriental garden out the back. The find was a little gem as it was so relaxing sitting by the stream and the rest was most welcoming. Laura was in her element as she adores tea and anything related to it! She often gets out her vintage china tea set and cake stand to entertain her friends with cupcakes and tea. I could see her eyes light up in the gift shop at all the ornate Chinese tea pots but they would surely be broken before we got home so she left empty handed.

By now we were both tired and Laura's cough was getting a little worse so we headed back to the hotel. After a freshen up we decided to head to Taipa, the lower island of Macau where the famous Cotai strip was located. We took a free shuttle bus that runs throughout Macau put on by the casinos to get their patrons to their resorts. The resort we were heading to was The Venetian, basically a replica of the one found in Las Vegas. On arriving you saw these massive hotels that were mind blowing, just incredible designs which looked so out of place on this once farmland. The bus pulled up at The Venetian and we headed inside and at once you realised how big this place is, it is a mega resort. It was incredible and way out of our mere budget...

The casino was in the centre full of tables and slot machines with the grand hall in the centre above it which looked like something out of the Sistine chapel. Around the perimeter was an inside recreation of Venice with actual gondolas taking people up river, this was accompanied with a string quartet. Even the ceiling was painted like the sky and gave an optical illusion of the clouds moving as you walked. All the shops were designer and products were more expensive than home, Laura again found Tiffany's and was like a kid in a sweet shop trying on the jewellery... After a good look around we headed to The Galaxy which was very grand but contained no shops, it was more restaurants, bars and of course the casino. I got frustrated because the ticket machine for the casinos did not accept my money... maybe it was mocking me for putting in such a minuscule amount. The Macau casinos do take more than Las Vegas daily apparently!? I gave up and decided not to gamble away our travelling money but then again maybe I could of won a fortune, but probably not.

We both looked at each other and agreed that bed was calling, so we waited for a shuttle bus back to our hotel. We had walked miles today and both of us fell to sleep very quickly.