Macau.

I'm writing this first blog on my first full day in Asia. I'm stood in Senado Square in the centre of Macau, and a man nearby is eating soup that looks like tar. He doesn't look happy. 

Weird and wonderful is definitely the way to describe things so far. After a fairly disgusting long-haul flight - the highlight an enthusiastic pat-down from a moustachioed Swiss security guard - I landed in Hong Kong to meet my old pal Sophie Robinson (henceforth known as Robbo). I haven't seen her for almost eighteen months, so that was pretty exciting of its own accord. I had a lovely meal in a Vietnamese restaurant with Robbo, her friend Johnny and his sister Jen. Hong Kong seems a really cool place, and it seems strange to see place names like Aberdeen, Wellington and Victoria. Colonialism eh?

Today I've visited the giant casino where Robbo is performing in a circus show of gargantuan proportions. I'll be going to watch that later in the week. We then took a taxi into the centre of Macau, where I've been wandering around taking pictures, grabbing free samples of what I hope is beef jerky and getting stared at. A lot. Lucky that I'm used to being famous. 

I've sadly got no bizarre food encounters of my own to report as of yet. I'm also having to get used to the currency, which is called mop and thus is hilarious. My next change off location is on Tuesday and Vietnam, which seems to have its currency in the millions. That will be fun. Besides that I don't have too much to report, probably because to me it's still breakfast time on Tuesday or something like that. I have, however, got to hear loads of people coughing up phlegm. Always good for the soul. 

Keep checking back on this wee journal: I'm here for another month and as well as Vietnam I'll be heading to Thailand and Hong Kong again as well.