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DESTINATIONS MACAO | ASIA


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mbling around Macao’s Suzhou- style Lou Lim leoc


Garden, with its lotus ponds, towering bamboo and snaking bridges, it’s easy to forget that I’m in the ‘Vegas of Asia’. The only noise is the rhythmic hum of cicadas and a rehearsal of Chinese opera by musicians performing in its central pergola. I’ve walked here from the


Three Lamps District, through a busy market selling everything from spiky durian fruit to mounds of glistening sweets. I popped into a Taoist temple en route, then grabbed a coffee from a Portuguese cafe. On the garden’s edge, I go into a canary-yellow colonial building, home to the Macao Tea Culture House museum, to look at a selection of late-20th- century teapots, then explore the St Lazarus Church District, where colourful Portuguese buildings and cobbled streets are the perfect backdrop for photographs. This patchwork of culture is one of Macao’s most beguiling


features – and it shouldn’t be completely overshadowed by the bright lights of its glitzy high rises or the blackjack tables in its casinos.


Clients who love glamour and gambling will be wowed by the luxury and service in its world-famous resorts and hotels. But they can also complement this indulgence with a couple of days discovering a unique destination where European and Asian influences meet, and where attractions range from a giant panda pavilion to the world’s highest commercial bungee jump at the Macau Tower.


COLONIAL HISTORY Located on a peninsula attached to the Chinese mainland and made up of two islands, Taipa and Coloane, Macao was under Portuguese administration for more than 400 years. Having been handed back to China on December 20, 1999, the city is now celebrating its 20th year as a Special Administrative Region of China. But its history as


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